Throughout this experience, I have loved the collaboration with teachers across the state.  It has really helped me to realize that I am not alone and that everyone is feeling the same emotions I am.

I would have never gotten the experience of going to Murphy Brown and learning about the importance this company has to Duplin County without being a part of this program.  So for that part, I am eternally grateful because that will be a long-term relationship that will hopefully help bring some students back to Duplin County and have successful careers while  helping out the economy.

As for the professional development, it was evident the thought process was elaborate and very well-planned.  While all parts my not have been relevant to everyone, the information we received was very valuable.

I hope I will continue to keep my relationship with Murphy Brown and bring relevancy to my classroom.  Thanks for the opportunity.

I think the viewpoints taken by school systems about social media are definitely polar opposites.  Most of the school systems that I know of ban the use of social media.  I think this stems from the misuse of social media sites by both students and staff.  I also believe that if a school system bans the use and doesn’t allow teachers and students to be “Friends”, it will take away the finger pointing to the school system if a teacher/student gets into trouble and it is published there.

I think the use of social media could be useful if it was able to be monitored, but I do not see how that could be done easily.  It would be a great way to disseminate information to the students.

During this experience I have learned so much.  I hate to keep talking about the same things over and over again, but I have been amazed to learn about the careers offered and the math used at Murphy Brown.  Also, to be right here in Duplin County.  I have lived in this county for most of my life and was never aware of the opportunities that Murphy Brown offered.  Furthermore, I have always struggled to find real-world examples that are relevant to my students and applicable to the math I am teaching.  This experience has fulfilled both of these areas and taught me a lot about Duplin County.

As I begin to plan for my school year, I envision talking with my seniors in my AP Calculus class and informing them of the careers that are available at Murphy Brown and right here in Duplin County.  I will possibly get someone from the HR department to come in and speak to give them specifics of the types of careers, education needed and the salary for these jobs.

For my Math 1 students, which are mostly Freshman, I plan to talk with them about my experience and to get them thinking about the careers they could have with Murphy Brown.  Also, I plan to incorporate the real-world examples into the units throughout the course.

While Craig, Amneris and Amy came to visit, I had my “aha” moment.  As I explained what I was going to do for my lesson, I realized the real math examples that I was getting from my fellowship were enough to incorporate into each unit of my course.  I felt like at that point, I could show the students the relevancy of the math they are learning and how it is used right here in Duplin County.

Common Core is definitely a big change, but when the students have had enough years to get comfortable with the different way of learning, it will be a good thing.  Because math is so problem-based and requires real-world examples, technology such as graphing calculators are necessary tools.  The numbers in real-world examples are not easy to calculate without the use of technology, so I feel that if we are use make it relevant, technology will be necessary.

The experience that I connected with the most was at the veterinarian services lab.  There I helped to run tests on samples taken from different farms to determine if they swine had a respiratory virus called PRRS.  In my Math 1 course, we will do an entire unit on statistics and the information I received from the lab will connect with all of the statistics we will be covering.

The many tools we learned about while at NCCAT were all fantastic and they all got my wheels turning as to how I could apply them in my classroom.  The problem I had with some of them was how to get them up and running in my classroom.  While they worked at the institute, I did not completely understand the logistics of how to get them working in my school.  For example, I would love to use the Aurasma but I did not understand how to get the channel that would allow my students to access their projects.

Wow, what can I say about this experience.  This has been truly an amazing week!  It started with driving to the for the first time and safely arriving… however, I was a basket case when I got there.  The many wonderful tools we learned about are going to be wonderful in my classroom, but……. my highlight was definitely the whitewater rafting.

During this experience, our Duplin County team plus our honorary member Jennifer used this as a team building opportunity.  We did not really know each other prior to this week and it really helped us to become closer and really be a team.  Personally, this was just a great experience for this first-timer.  From the rapids to jumping off the rock and not killing myself, I felt like a kid in a candy store.  While everything this week was phenomenal, the rafting trip was by far an awe-inspiring experience.

My fellowship is “Pork Beyond the Fork” with Christine Phillips at Murphy Brown in Rose Hill, NC.  In my fellowship, I will be talking with various employees in the company that use different types of math in their daily jobs.

My plan is to talk with veterinarian services, geneticists, data managers, nutritionist, and engineers.  Hopefully through these experiences, I will be given examples that I can use in each unit of my course.