The process of this lesson was much more than I had initially expected and I don’t mean that in a bad way. My beginning plan was to create one unit that incorporated the Engineering Design Process and tied into National Engineering Week, but what happened was much more. Once I felt that my rough draft of the plan was taking shape I realized I needed to test my lesson structure and the process as a whole.

My first attempt included some work in class and assignments at home that pulled in family support and we made contraptions to save Humpty Dumpty. It was AMAZING. From this lesson I decided to attempt a smaller scale unit of my Kenan Project and make a Mayflower project. By doing this I was able to see what areas of my future project would need modifications and how my students would handle a multi-step and multiple day project. It truly was an amazing project and I know my students and their families will always remember the day they launched their Mayflower.

Now I sit here reviewing my big project and reflect on how it went versus my expectations. Our project was to create rubber band helicopters and launch them at our local airport. Quickly I discovered a couple of alterations that needed to be made in terms of what the teacher should prepare in advance, but luckily I had some amazing volunteers thanks to my mentors and they took care of it immediately. I also found that I had not allotted enough time but again thanks to volunteers we got it taken care of perfectly. Our field trip day had finally arrived and we were off to the airport. We had some great speakers at the airport and they let us look inside at the aircraft on their facility. Students also were able to see what a refueler was (happy moment to me because that was part of my previous job before teaching), watch an airplane take off and land, and meet some very special people. They were so excited to show their helicopters (or other flying devices since they could choose the aesthetic piece) to their family and the members of the airport. I couldn’t have asked for a better day, a better project, or a better group of kids to experience this project with . . . EVER!

My kids are anxiously awaiting our next project to show off their engineering skills and many of my students have gone home explaining engineering jobs to their families. I have had parents email, call and write me about how they had no idea their children would learn these things in kindergarten and they are so grateful for the experiences they had in my room. In turn, I am thankful I have had the opportunity this program has given me to make me a better teacher for the students I am teaching and will teach for years to come.

What I would love to see is more lower elementary grades implementing projects like this. I have had a few schools contact me about getting copies of the lesson plans and obtaining some guidance in implementing this next year. I think this is how it is supposed to be. Teachers forming networks with other teachers and spreading their ideas. This is how we truly reach every child and provide them with purposeful and meaningful lessons that provide hands-on opportunities to explore the world and learn their curriculum. My dream would be to present on a state-wide platform and then move to a national level. I would also like to see more opportunities for STEM fellowships for K-2 teachers. It appears that many companies who offer grants or fellowships don’t touch teachers below grade 3 and even most don’t go into elementary schools at all. I think this is a huge disservice to teachers and students because if they don’t ignite the spark at this age, their interest will be dull or diminished by the time they reach middle school.

I must admit that I’m a big advocate for iPads in the classroom, but as a teacher the Lenovo was excellent. Lately I have been making parent instructional videos so my students can have a better understanding of the Common Core and how I am teaching their children. It also assists us in having the same vocabulary and directions at home and school. I love that I can manipulate the programs as a tablet and as a laptop, it is compact, and the battery life was good.

I love that a company believes enough in the teachers of North Carolina that they would provide us with a new technology to use, explore, and share with others. With that being said I have used it more for my own professional use versus student use since Apple dominates the market with educational apps that are geared towards my grade level and I have received 6 iPads for classroom use. However, I think the gap in the market with reduce in the near future and this would be a great option for teachers and students. I’m curious if they would be sufficient for EOG testing????

Wow, this has been an amazing second year teaching. This fellowship has really made me challenge myself to bring exciting, hands-on, and content-rich lessons to my students. We started the year learning all about Nursery Rhymes which led to our first engineering project. The students were faced with their challenge: “What can you make at home that would protect Humpty Dumpty from his fall off the wall?” The response was overwhelming and the kids LOVED it!!!

Next came our Mayflower Project. Our class created our own Mayflower ships in class as well as at home. We had a blast showcasing our work to our school, community, and legislative officers. Our next project begins next week with Rubber band helicopters. Next month we are creating our own homes to withstand the devastating blows of the Big Bad Wolf!!! It’s been an amazing year and I can’t wait to see how they do over the next few months!!!

I could probably go into specific details of my entire externship and describe exactly how important my mentors have been to me during this fellowship, but I’m not. Instead I am going to share with you an event that involved my mentors interacting with my students to show you how amazing our partnership has been and what this fellowship has not only done for me, but also for my students.

Friday, November 22, 2013, I anxiously awaited the running feet of 24 amazing children entering my room. Dr. Bill Fortney (one of my mentors) met me bright and early at Ben D. Quinn to set up our “ocean”. Curious? Our ocean (aka – pine box with plastic liner) was made for our students to launch their very own Mayflowers. We spent the entire week discussing the Engineering Design Process as we constructed our own Mayflowers. This was to end our Thanksgiving unit and to expose my students to engineering in more detail. We were fortunate enough to have local engineers come in during the week to work one-on-one with my students after they explained what they did as engineers.

The bell rings at 7:45 and I hear their excited voices and they come down the halls. Once they come in they get to meet Dr. Fortney and share their Mayflowers with him. As we prepare for the event getting our Pilgrim hats on and Mayflowers in hand, a huge crowd is gathering. We have families, school volunteers, County Board of Education members, Partners In Education members, managers of Weyerhaeuser (who provided a grant for our project as well as engineer volunteers for my room), State Representatives, County Commissioners, local television reporters. Then I spot one more face. My other mentor, Mr. Mark Meno, who rushed to get to us after an exhausting flight so he could support my class and assist with our event.

Mark and Bill operated our wind (aka large fan to blow our Mayflower’s sail) and placed the boats in the water for our students. They not only assisted my class, but two other Kindergarten classes as well. Watching the two of them interact with the students made me so appreciative of what Kenan Fellows has done for me and thankful for the mentors I was given. Not only did they physically show up, they were engaged with these children who worked so hard to be “Mayflower Engineers.” This was one of my greatest days of teaching (granted this is only my second year 🙂 ) and none of this would have been possible if it was not for the two mentors I have and the partnership we have formed.

Below is a link from our local news as well as a link to my webpage documenting the event.

http://www.wcti12.com/news/students-build-their-own-mayflower/-/13530444/23110898/-/3fw2je/-/index.html   (News)

http://mrschristywilson.weebly.com/1/post/2013/11/kin-gineers-setting-sail-on-the-mayflower.html  (Class blog)

I don’t even know where to begin with how I have felt about the Kenan Fellow’s Professional Development. I’m sure it’s quite different for me since I am new to teaching as well. I was nearing the end of my first year teaching when I received my letter saying I was chosen to participate in the Kenan Fellows program. My life will truly never be the same.

At our first PD, I was like a kid in a candy store. Many would have felt they were in information overload but all I could do was see the vast potential of exciting programs that could be brought into not only my classroom, but the rooms of many other teachers around me. Some things would not apply to my kindergarten classroom, but boy were there some fascinating tools that upper grades would benefit from and I was more than eager to share.

Our second PD was wonderful because we gained more insight into how our project would be shaped and molded into exciting lessons for ourselves and others. Then on my selfish note, my own two children were able to experience the NCSU campus and the Hunt Library. I saw a light in my children’s eyes that had them on fire for college and engineering. That is when it really hit me that I was going to have an opportunity to share this with the children in my classroom.

Before our last PD I was feeling defeated in so many areas in teaching. It has been a year of transitions in my school and disappointments within our state. However, as soon as I was surrounded by the wonderful group of educators and staff of Kenan Fellows my entire outlook changed. I left feeling empowered and motivated. Being able to listen to our guest speakers and collaborate with other teachers in the program lit the spark in my life that was slowly beginning to dim. I wish every educator was able to have this experience. More than that, I wish every educator wanted to experience it for themselves.

I am thankful every day that God allowed me to research more into this program when the initial email came out from my county. I am thankful that the interview committee saw something in me and took a chance on a kindergarten teacher to introduce engineering to five and six year olds. I am mostly thankful for the wonderful experiences this program has given me and the amazing friendships (and accountability partner) I have gained.

I would love to hear if any of our Kenan Fellows Elementary teachers use math centers/stations for part of their instruction. If you are, what type of centers do you use and what type of schedule do you maintain? I am desperately trying to accomplish this in my room, but I’m uncertain of where to begin!

I truly believe districts are trying to protect their students as well as making sure learning experiences are authentic. I feel there are ways to use almost any social media in the class, but are they always appropriate is the question. In terms of utilizing this in my room I sit in an easier position than many because I teach Kindergarten. My students don’t come to school with tablets and cell phones (well maybe I have a couple) trying to text, use Facebook and Twitter, and “surf the web.” However, there have been times when I wanted to use social media like Twitter to connect with other classes and couldn’t because the site is blocked in my district. Or the time there was an awesome math video on YouTube, but this was blocked as well. This year they have opened up YouTube (still need to check on Twitter . . . tomorrow!) which helps, but educators have to make sure they are using this media as a means to enhance a lesson in their class and not teaching the lesson for their class.

This year I’ve started a Global Learning project (thanks to Mrs. Rene Herrick) that is introducing my students to diverse cultures and other countries. One thing we are trying to do is make personal connections with other classrooms in our four countries (Japan, China, England and South Africa). We chose these countries because of the families in our classroom. We really want to incorporate Skype into our room this year so our students can “see” one another. Without social media this may not be possible. So it has a place in our room, but it should not be where we focus all of our instruction.

The biggest impact I feel this experience will have on my students is producing true, high quality, and authentic lessons for my students. Using the Engineering Design Process I will construct lessons that cover standards required, activities to support lessons, and exciting opportunities that will engage my students. This will in turn engage me and make me a more productive, efficient and exciting teacher.

Now comes the biggest challenge . . . having my team members jump on board. It’s easy to feel excited about this on my own because I was a part of a great group of Kenan Fellows this summer who were equally as excited as I was and they applied to be a part of this program. It’s just not the same when you come back to school after a summer of legislative disappointments that have discouraged our teachers and made them feel defeated. I’m praying I can find a super hero cape that will enable me to have mystifying positive influences that will “light the education fire” in my co-workers!

Through my summer externship of Engineering with my mentors I explored the Engineering Design Process. What’s funny about this process is I felt that I was previously using bits and pieces of this, but not in a consistent and sequential manner. After participating in my externship and attending the summer PD’s I have seen how important this process is to me as a teacher. I find myself jotting down the steps as I am planning lessons and will now use this as I plan, prepare, teach and evaluate all of my lessons.

Through the Data PD I also realized how important it is to document my students work through the year as well as my own. I will be creating a digital portfolio for each of my students as well as for myself to use as an observation/evaluation tool. As it was mentioned in our PD, our observers don’t get to see EVERY lesson we do in class so they may miss key pieces for our evaluations. I will be making videos, taking pictures and documenting work in my room to use as assessment pieces for my students and myself.

My project is all about introducing Engineering to my kindergarten students and hopefully expanding to others in my school, district, state and possibly at a nationwide level. The more I have worked with my mentors I have realized I already use the engineering design process myself, however, not as often as I should. As I am beginning to prepare my  lesson plans for the school year I have implemented this process in every step and have been so thrilled with the outcomes. I truly feel that once students understand this process they will be able to produce better work, presentations, and projects. As a teacher, I will provide better lessons because I will know what my students need and my lessons will all be meaningful and engaging.

This fellowship has given me many “aha” moments when my inner child was energized and excited with the possibilities that I could bring back to my class. It has challenged me to think outside the box and pushed me to provide as many genuine experiences for my students that I possibly can. There has been this amazing encouragement from so many of the other fellows during this time of discouragement within our state. I am so thankful for this opportunity and for all the friendships made by being a part of this program.