Our first assignment for our Kenan Fellowship blog is to talk about our expectations for the 2013-2014 fellowship.This question leads me back down a road that started well before my acceptance as a Fellow. Throughout my teaching career, I have sought out ways to connect myself to other educators, as an attempt to grow my practice of teaching and learning. I am extensively involved with Discovery Educator Network and the SMART community; I am active in the Twitterverse; and I am still always looking for ways to connect myself further.
I chose to apply for a Kenan Fellowship for many purely selfish reasons. I knew that I would be able to meet other professionals who are passionately connected to teaching, learning, students, and the profession. When I was notified of my acceptance to the program, I knew that this was what I most wanted to participate in as a Fellow. I hope that the friends and colleagues that I meet are the ones that I will maintain relationships with throughout my professional career and personal life. I know that my professional path will be woven among these people for a long time to come, and I am hopeful that our common bond of this fellowship will lead to stronger connections.
As related to my fellowship and content area, I am looking forward to improving my own instructional practices in language arts, finding ways to educate and mentor other teachers in the transition from the NCSCOS to the Common Core State Standards, and creating instructional units that go beyond the basics of ELA instruction and into the rich and meaningful.
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