Having completed all three professional development sessions of my Kenan Fellows program, I feel like I have grown in two major arenas: advocacy and improvement.  I know that it sounds odd to say that I’ve improved in improvement, so I’ll start there.

I entered education through Teach for America, a program that I have mixed feelings about some days, but when it comes down to it, prepared me very well for the challenges of the classroom.  I still think in terms of TFA’s Teaching as Leadership rubric that forms the basis of their training, one category of which is ”Continuously Improving Effectiveness”.  It was the rubric row I always scored low on, because as a first year teacher in the 5th lowest performing middle school in NC, I was always trying to keep my head above water.  Once I broke the surface, I stayed at about the same level, comfortably adequate.  I think several of the Kenan PD sessions inspired me to improve my effectiveness and do so with quickness.  Justin Osterstrom and Paul Cancellieri’s presentation on data literacy and valid assessments encouraged me to pore over all my summative tests and revise them.  Within two weeks of Vance Kite’s infographics session, I shared with a coworker what I learned and he implemented it in a project with his own students.  I shared what I learned about augmented reality apps with a charter school teacher I met at FLANC (the Foreign Language Association of NC) conference and we talked about how even elementary students could use the technology with low-level speaking skills in world language classes.  Admittedly, for the past 3 years or so I’ve been coasting as an educator, and now it’s nice to feel a sense of urgency–to feel that right this second there’s technology being developed that I can use in my classroom within the week to engage my students, that one county over is someone who has an innovative idea about how to assess my students and all I’ve got to do is ask.

I think the other way in which I’ve grown is advocacy.  I always found policy foggy and dull when I started teaching–I didn’t know who was making the laws that affected me, and I sort of didn’t care because I felt so detached and helpless.  I felt like DPI, school boards and legislators were a million miles away and unreachable, so I just kept my head down and did my job.  When Representative David Price, Education Advisor Eric Guckian and J. B. Buxton spoke, (all very different perspectives), I was riveted.  During the surprise fire drill, I had an unexpected opportunity to chat with Rebecca Hite about advocacy in general and advocacy possibilities for world language teachers.  I now feel like I have a voice, and that the people who make the laws that affect me aren’t a million miles away anymore.  I no longer feel like I have to keep my head down and do my job, because I feel like it’s my job to keep my head up and keep speaking for the future of my students, some of whom want to be teachers when they grow up.

I am proud to have had my experiences with the Kenan Fellows program.  It is exciting to invite my DPI mentors into my classroom to see a lesson and have them comment on all the formative assessment they see.  It’s encouraging to challenge my administration’s no electronics policy in lobbying for a possible bring-your-own-device policy that I think will benefit my students.  It’s energizing to feel that what I’ve gained are the mindset and the spark to drive forward again as an educator.