“Recognizing that you are not where you want to be is a starting point to begin changing your life.” ~Deborah Day

It has never been easy for me to admit when I am wrong. To this day, I don’t like to make mistakes. Granted, I know I am far from perfect, but if I have some sort of control over a situation, I want things to be as right as possible.

That being said, I am a firm believer that nothing happens without a purpose. Good, bad, or ugly, every situation in which we are placed has a higher purpose. Often we fail to recognize that purpose until all is said and done, but everything happens to allow us to experience growth.

Writing my dissertation provided a big dose of humility for me. I had always prided myself as a decent writer. When charged with a writing task, I could produce a decent product. I had little experience with revising and editing my work until that experience. Though not always an easy pill to swallow, that work allowed me to identify my true strengths and weaknesses as a writer and work to improve the weakest areas.

Remember, all things happen for a reason. The Kenan opportunity was provided to me following my dissertation writing. Fresh off that humbling experience, I entered another. Having always thought of myself as having fairly good lesson and unit planning skills, I was surprised when I became flustered and uncertain when faced with creating an exemplar unit. It couldn’t be that hard…..this task I’ve completed countless times before. Yet, it was and is challenging. Because now this task is no longer just about my classroom and my students. Many other students and teachers will use what I create for their own practice. My planning has just graduated to a much larger scale. I really do have the ability to make a difference on a much larger scale than ever before.

My “aha” moment has been that realization. I have a huge responsibility, as we all do, to make learning and teaching better in NC. As Kenan Fellows we will all experience growth, professionally and personally, during our experience. Through that growth we will change and none of us will be the people we were when we started this journey. Are you ready for the change?

“Learning never exhausts the mind.” ~Leonardo da Vinci

Connecting my summer externship experience to life in the classroom will be an easy task, considering that my work is with the English Language Arts curriculum for my assigned grade. As I am gathering materials and creating a unit correlated with Common Core Standards, I find myself imagining how my students will respond to the activities and resources I plan to use. I know that, as with any new plans, there will be hurdles along the way; however, as I work closely with my mentor and colleagues who are also involved with the same fellowship, I know that I won’t stumble for long, as I have a wealth of resources from which to draw. I anticipate the creation of a unit that will be useable by teachers across the state, and even country, that connects ELA and Science curriculums for my grade.

I do have a confession to make….even though it’s early July, I’m excited about getting back to school and testing out my unit with a new crop of students! Imagine that….a teacher actually excited about going back to school. I only hope my students share in the excitement!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10593285@N02/2115767229

“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” ~ David Warlick 

Ahhh…technology….what can feel like a friend to one educator can seem like a foe to another. Though advancements in technology are happening at a mind-boggling pace and the tools available today are far greater than those of a decade ago, the approach some schools take often fails to build the excitement in teachers needed for successful use. Often times “the best laid plans” of placing technology in classrooms can seem like little more than a dash and drop, where technological tools arrive in the classroom for teachers to use, having little to no training in appropriate use. Yet, despite these challenges, teachers must learn to leverage the technological tools available to them appropriately in order to best serve the students in their charge.

I remember a time fifteen years ago (give or take a few years) when all classrooms at my school were provided with a laptop computer and teachers were trained on programs available for use. Despite my excitement about having a laptop for use, many of the veteran teachers were wary, stating “this too shall pass” and “don’t get used to it….it won’t last.” Looking back now I question if those teachers were actually scared of having to use this new technology in their classrooms rather than being unsure of the livelihood of the new tool. Some of those same teachers are still teaching today and, believe it or not, the laptops are still in their classrooms, along with digital cameras, Smart Boards, document cameras, iPads, iPods, and countless other technological tools. Most of those teachers who were so uncertain of the staying power of the computer have accepted (and even embraced) the fact that technology is a tool for advancing learning and are now using those tools daily.

When I reflect back on the differences in my classroom from my first year of teaching to today (year nineteen), what a difference technology has made! I get frustrated if, upon arriving at school, I learn that Internet access is unavailable, or the Smart Board is not working properly, or laptops are not available for my students to use. What was once an occasional technological treat has now become an expected part of each day. After spending a week with my fellow Fellows at NCCAT, I know that I could be using the tools available to me at a far greater capacity….and I also know that my school has a long way to go.

The biggest challenge to leveraging technology to empower learning for my classroom and school lies primarily in the availability (or rather, lack) of technological tools and the likelihood that those tools available will work properly. No longer is the desire of teachers to use technological tools an obstacle; rather, making enough tools available for all to use has become the greater challenge. Ideally, my students should have laptops or iPads available to them throughout the entire school day for use in all curricular areas. Unfortunately, this is not a reality and I have to bargain with other teachers to ensure all students have shared time on the three laptop carts available for our 300+ student population

Also, the question must be asked, are we leveraging technology effectively to best meet the needs of our students? Can we truly say that technology is used in a transformative manner in our classroom? Just having technology available means very little….having my students use technology to to do things they didn’t even think were possible, that’s the real beauty of teaching and learning. To truly leverage technology, students should be connecting with other classrooms around the world; sharing what they are learning with others through blogs, videos, and digital portfolios; and making choices about how to use technological tools to help them learn.  

I am entering this school year with a new perspective on how to best leverage the technology available to empower my students. This will be the year when we envision, plan, create, and do things we’ve never done before. This is the time to expand my students’ minds and help them accomplish things of which they have only dreamed.

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcanevet/300763362/”>manuel | MC</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>