#1: NCCAT Itself

Image courtesy of nccat.com

• Friendly 
• Warm
• Respectful
• Informative
• Yummy (especially the dessert)
• Relaxing
• Beautiful
• Healthy
• Refreshing

#2: All of you!

us!

• Kind/welcoming
• Intelligent
• Talented teachers
• Innovative
• Social
• EXCELLENT and fascinating conversationalists
• Helpful/supportive
• Fun (and brave)
• From counties all over the state that I got to hear a lot about
• Did I mention you all are really talented teachers?

#3: Technology Professional Development

This picture cracks me up. I think this is about when I started getting mental overload.

• Before: Hmm…this all seems very complex! How will I make it work in my classroom in addition to the billion other things I need to do? 
• During: Maybe it’s just that I have become stuck in the ways I see work for me and am therefore less willing to be open to such big changes. Surprising since I’m only a sixth-year teacher…
• After: Ok! I totally see where some of these strategies successfully meet student needs that I have so far had trouble meeting.
• Biggest takeaway: Learning to look at innovative classroom strategies with an open mind without automatically comparing it to what I’m currently doing.
• Favorite technology talks: “Flipped” classroom; infographics; Evernote; inquiry-based instruction; effective blogging, other Kenan Talks

#4: Speaking of which, MY Kenan Talk… 

My first official talk as a woman with business cards.

• Scary
• Scary
• Scary
• Not so bad!
• Hey I did a talk!

Thank you to NCCAT and the Kenan Fellowship staff for making this such a wonderful experience for us all. I look forward to seeing everyone again in July. And now, back to my internship tomorrow morning…

Illustration by John Antonios; image courtesy of www.njutningtillsalu.com

Well my blog is not fancy yet as per the excellent suggestions we received yesterday, and I am too tired right now to start its fancy-fi-cation, but I need to talk about what I expect to gain before I start gaining too much and then it will be hard to look back and remember what I expected to gain in the first place. That sounded more complicated than necessary.

Where was I? Oh yes. What I hope to gain. I am remembering back to why I first applied for this. I am an English teacher, so wasn’t sure if what seemed to be a STEM program would find me valuable. But they did! And now I see why. Even though its roots are in STEM (I could have said its stem is in STEM, but I thought that would be too much), this fellowship is unique because it takes educators of all grades, subjects, perspectives, and walks of life and pushes them out of the classroom to both enrich their own teaching and help them become innovative leaders who reach out to others.

That is exactly why I want to do this. I am the type (and, other fellows, I now know from talking to you all this week that you are the EXACT SAME WAY!) who, when I hear a problem, my mind starts automatically brainstorming what I can do about it. Some in the field of education have, understandably, begun feeling that they have no power or say, that they can only control what is in their classrooms, and increasingly, maybe not even that. When something changes or a problem arises, we sometimes feel we can only complain to each other, hold fast, and hope it blows over soon.

I wanted this fellowship so much because I think there is another way. I truly believe that in order to feel more powerful, we need to be informed. We can change education from the inside out by not retreating into our classrooms, but by making ourselves part of the process.

From this fellowship, I expect to gain the skills I need to give shape to my philosophy. I need to learn how to gather complex information and disseminate it clearly and diplomatically. More than anything, I want the skill that enables me to hear teachers with problems and make them realize that they can work toward a solution.

Tomorrow my fellow fellows (!) and I will be meeting at the Department of Public Instruction for the first day of our internship. I am, of course, very excited, but also a little nervous. Funnily enough, the thing I’m most nervous about is commuting to Raleigh! My current “commute” is less than 15 minutes on an empty road, so this will be a very different experience for me. Getting ready for the first day is always the hardest, when we are the most full of  superficial concerns—What should I wear? Will I not be cool if I pack my lunch? (just kidding…mostly)

This week, it sounds like we will be getting settled in–meeting people, learning about all the different things that are going on in the building, starting to gather ideas about our work there and our project, etc.. I feel so lucky to have received this fellowship, since I can tell already that so many opportunities for learning and growth are going to be opened up to us. It sounds like Dr. Howard will have us deeply involved in the going-ons both inside the building and out. Exciting stuff!