I primarily use my Lenovo tablet when I need to demonstrate something in the Windows environment for my computer science class, and to edit documents at school. I dislike school computers because I always run into restriction issues, so I use the tablet to display and run small java programs on my projector for the class. I will try to add some pictures on Monday.

As a math teacher, I use the equation editor in Microsoft Office a lot when creating tests and other assignments. I am really fond of the 2013 Microsoft Office Suite because it seems to have solved all of the issues I have encountered with previous versions regarding the equation editor. I have it on my desktop at home, but we have only Office 2007 at school. It’s funny because through WCPSS, we can get the product so cheap (I think I paid $10) but our school computers still run Windows XP and Office 2007.

The only thing that keeps me from using my Lenovo tablet more is performance. You cannot do anything too demanding on it because it will take a significant amount of time. This is understandable given that it is a tablet running pc software, but I have a lot of technology options available, so I end up using something else.

The Kenan Fellows professional development experience has had a significant impact on me. First, I started working on my Master’s degree at NC State in instructional technology as a result of this experience. I am always striving to better myself, and I think improving upon my instructional technology skills is the best way to do that. I also believe a degree in this area will also enable me to better help others. However, I feel the most resounding impact has been on the way that I view my contribution to education.

Before this Kenan Fellowship, my mindset was to focus only on what happened in my classroom. What other teachers did in their classrooms was not my concern. If people asked me for help, I would always do as much as I could, but I did not seek opportunities to offer assistance. I often kept my technical abilities quiet because I was afraid that I would be overwhelmed with requests for help. That is what always happened to me in the past when people found out about my computer science background.  However, after thinking about it further, I think my reluctance was due to other responsibilities that I had, and the stress I felt because of those responsibilities.

Now, as a result of this experience, I feel that I have a responsibility to try to improve the education experience throughout my school, and eventually, outside of it. This year, I joined the instructional leadership team at Athens, and started a program called “Tech Tuesday.” The purpose of this program is to help other teachers in my building use instructional technology tools to help them teach more effectively. I have had one meeting thus far and it went really well. I have already had other teachers, and even administrators, do some pretty interesting activities with their students after developing confidence with the technology tools we discussed at Tech Tuesday.  I hope that this will be a stepping stone to leading similar activities at the county level.

Through the Kenan Fellows PD, I have gained confidence in myself and my leadership abilities.  I continue to learn and get better every day with a goal of gaining a more significant teacher leadership role in the future.  I am not sure what I want to do yet, but I know that my participation in these activities will only open up more opportunities for me.

One thing that I learned as a result of my Kenan Fellowship that will change how I teach this year is how to be more data literate.  Previously, all of my knowledge of the subject focused on student-learning data.  I now appreciate the other types of data (demographic, student perception, and process) and hope to use them to take my classroom experience to a new level.

As a result of taking and viewing/using other types of data, I hope that I can foster better relationships with my students.  I have realized through my teaching experience that positive relationships can be one of the only things motivating some students to do necessary coursework.  I have had several students in my class who have failed the same class before.  When I ask them “what happened?” I often get, “well I did not like the teacher so I decided I wasn’t going to do anything.”  As misguided as this thought process is, it is one that seems to occur often.  For me, getting them to “like me” is not as important as getting them to know that I care about them, I want the best for them, and I will do whatever I can to help them. Hopefully, collecting will help me get these ideas across to students.

I also hope collecting this data helps improve/maintain a positive perception of my classes.  I teach a new computer science course at my school and I want to see it thrive.  Right now, I have 45 students, which is huge for a computer science course in comparison to other schools.  I want it to stay that way.  I plan to collect and use data to get feedback on what works, what does not, and what changes to make along the way.  I also want to gauge the way students communicate to other students about my class in conversation.  If there are negatives that I can change, I obviously want to change them.

I learned a lot through my summer Kenan Fellows experience, but I think the data literacy information will change my class the most. I have been focused on creating a more positive classroom/school environment the past few years and that is probably why I found it so helpful. It should help my evaluation too!

I envision two ways my summer experience will impact my students.  One way is that my students will learn more about electricity and the power industry.  The power industry employs people with a wide variety of backgrounds, and hopefully, some students will gain an interest that may result in a well-compensated career choice.

Another way my experience will impact my students is through the classroom experiences I will develop, that I believe will improve my classes and make them more interactive.  The time this summer has given me a chance to work on problem based learning activities, which will hopefully make my class more interesting and meaningful.  The professional development I have attended has increased my awareness of available technology and I plan on using that to enhance learning as well.  The technology will also enable me to communicate more effectively with my students, parents, and the community.

I think that the creators of the common core and NC essential standards intended for technology to be used more often in the classroom. However, I do not believe the standards themselves will have any influence on the use of technology for learning. Regardless of the standard, teachers are responsible for determining how material is presented. Teachers who place an emphasis on the use of technology will continue to do so and influence their colleagues to do the same. The opposite is true for teachers who do not emphasize the use of technology.

Piggybacking this notion, I think the common lessons (CMAPP anyone?) districts provide teachers will influence the use of technology in the classroom. This will especially be true in the beginning as common core and NC essential standards are rolled out. If the provided lessons incorporate technology, more people will use technology in the classroom to teach it. For better or worse, it has been my experience that a lot of teachers follow what is readily available to the letter.

I want my classroom to be an environment where students consistently learn by doing.  Therefore,  I intend to connect my internship with Duke Energy to the AP calculus and AP computer science curricula by creating problem based learning activities, related to the power industry, that can be used throughout the year.  My goal is to meet every objective in the curriculum while providing students with a deeper understanding of the power distribution system.

In AP calculus, students will be asked to analyze and apply calculus concepts to real world scenarios approximately every two weeks.  Students will present their findings through various mediums.  A few of these will be related to the power industry.  One example of this is a scenario I created to study related rates.  Students measure the change in power factor of a power system energized by Shearon-Harris, and the two Roxboro coal plants.  Students solve related rates (my objective) while learning about power measurements, the power triangle, and what power plants power the Raleigh area. 

In AP computer science, I hope to achieve the same goals.  To do this, students will write programs that mimic the behavior of power grid devices and calculate industry measures.  These activities will lead up to the a larger project where students create a small scale virtual power grid using the AP computer science case study of GridWorld.

I can think of three great challenges for leveraging technology to empower student learning.  Those challenges are time, consistent access, and understanding what is out there.  There are ways to overcome all three, but they remain challenges nonetheless.

The challenge of time includes both a teacher’s personal time and classroom time.  Developing meaningful lessons that incorporate technology can take a significant amount of preparation.  These lessons generally take more in-class time also, which can be scary for teachers who already feel pressed for class time.

A second challenge is consistent access.  In my experiences, I have always had to share technology that I can put into student’s hands amongst all other teachers in the school.  This is difficult for a few reasons.  One, you have to sign up for this technology far in advance which limits the ability to alter lessons or take extra time.   I also run in to the issue of not being ready to do the lesson when the time arrives.  There is also a learning curve for every technology.  Not having consistent access means that more class time has to be spent learning and relearning how to use the technology.

Finally, knowing what tools are available is a challenge.  When I say tools, I mean software and applications.  Finding useful technologies that suit your lesson needs can be painstakingly difficult.  I perform web searches about once a month looking for tools that would be useful for my classroom and I still run into things like Aurasma that I had never heard of.

I find these three challenges to be the most difficult in incorporating technology effectively.  However, I do think that effective teachers succeed in trying to overcome these challenges.  For example, to combat the lack of consistent access,  I use technology that incorporates smartphones which students already have.  What would you do to meet the challenges of time, consistent access, and understanding what is available? What other challenges would you add to the list?

The highlight of the week at NCCAT for me was the rafting trip and the other times I got to spend getting to know the other fellows.  It improved our conversations during sessions, which allowed me to get more out of them.  This time also helped rejuvenate my positive feelings towards my job.

During the rafting trip, my boat had a lot of interesting things happen to it.  We brought a young girl to her mother, who we watched fall out of their boat about 20 minutes before.  We had to tow a raft that another group left behind and I saw the largest spider I have ever seen in the wild. Everyone in my boat also jumped off of the rock into the river, which was cold enough to be literally breathtaking.

I am glad that I got to know most of the other fellows through these experiences. Being around such passionate teachers has been awesome.  I am looking forward to our next professional development together.

I am working with Duke Energy for my Kenan Fellowship.  My mentor, Sharene Pierce, is the manager for the Distribution Control Center (DCC) in Raleigh.  The DCC manages all parts of the power grid from the substation to customer’s homes for most of eastern North Carolina, a small part of South Carolina, and Asheville.  Another group controls power transmission from the power plant to the substation.

During these beginning weeks, I have been sitting with individuals who hold different positions with the company to see what they do.  I have also been given some solo time that I have spent trying to learn about electricity in general.  Through these experiences, I have a deeper understanding of Duke Energy’s new “smart grid” technology which allows them to save power and money by optimizing the way their power grid runs during peak use times.

Over the next few weeks, I will begin working on a telecommunications project.  The key component to the smart grid is the data gathered from the devices out on the power grid and those devices communicate over a cellular network.  Some of those devices have issues for one reason or another.  I will be working to improve their efficiency as well as evaluating the company’s procedure for increasing that efficiency.