I have so many highlights from our week at NCCAT!  I enjoyed meeting so many fascinating and positive people!  EVERY presenter was incredible and provided so much for me to work with and adopt in my school setting!  Our rafting trip was totally memorable!  But after lengthy consideration (I didn’t arrive home until seven o’clock last night and it provided a lot of time for contemplation), I think the highlight intend to focus on is the evening “decompression” sessions.

I’m not really a shy person.  AND, I absolutely adore talking and sharing.  But, I do seem to fight some weird inner battle about joining groups that are already sitting around together.  I don’t want to intrude, but I would love to “belong.”  I arrived to the patio on the later side — close to nine — and there were multiple chat sessions in progress.  I stood next to the closest group so that I could just listen and observe and found myself immediately welcomed and included.  In my life experiences thus far, that is a rare response.  Not only that, but the group I sat with seemed genuinely interested in my input and personal stories.  I found myself reluctant to leave almost three hours later, even though there were only three people left on the entire patio, because it had been such a pleasant, entertaining, and informative evening.

I think this highlight also captures what I have come to expect and appreciate about our Kenan Fellowship.  Everyone is open to new ideas, has educated opinions and perspectives to contribute, and values the contributions that everyone else can provide.  I truly believe that it is the most positive group of educators with which I have ever had the privilege to spend time.

I honestly thought that perhaps I was getting too old (mentally) to get myself down a river whitewater rafting.  I was ashamed to even find myself thinking that way, but it’s certainly the truth. I am so glad I just hit “override” and did it anyway!  I rode with some new friends and had a truly wonderful day!

I have already gained so much from this Fellowship!  I have met some of the most fascinating and dedicated professionals who are open and ready to share and listen!  I have experienced thoughtfully relevant professional development workshops and break outs over the past ten days.  So, in fact, I have exceeded my original expectations and I have not really completed half of the NCCAT experience!

At the most basic level, I hope to build life-long professional and personal relationships.  And, naturally, I intend to garner valuable classroom tools to share with my regional colleagues.  I also want to encourage colleagues to look for opportunities to join their own Kenan Fellowship and renew and strengthen their professional passion.  But my purpose as a fellow this inaugural year is to create a Common Core curriculum unit for eighth grade ELA classrooms that can serve as a model of best practices and a template on which North Carolina educators can confidently build future units.

We’ve had our awesome introductory day (LOVED the activities) and we’re getting ready to get started.  I am really enjoying getting to know the ladies in my cohort!  I feel like Annie (in the musical of the same title) and want to say, “…somebody pinch me, please!”  I can’t believe that I get to build relationships with people who not only love their students but also enjoy building curriculum for them!  I appreciate this time to get away from the routine at home and focus on laying the foundation for this project.  I truly am privileged to be here!