Because my Fellowship was with DPI and not an entity outside of public education such as a business my partnership was quite different. However, I’m sure in some ways it was the same.

I benefited from the expertise and resources of my mentor. As someone who has been out of the classroom for a while it was so helpful to have the viewpoint of a curriculum expert. With the demands of Common Core changing the way we do business it was helpful to have the point of view of someone else. I had my own perception of what the shifts were, but it is always helpful to compare that to someone else’s and see where you were right and where you need to adjust your thinking.

I also benefited from the feedback of my mentor. Was it always what I wanted to hear? No. But was it helpful in helping me grow and challenge what I thought? YES! We can all benefit from constructive criticism when it is truly constructive!

And finally it did lead to growth. I was challenged, coached, and sometimes led to frustration…but in the end I am a better educator than I was before. I have a deeper understanding of the content and I am more prepared to share it with others!

Expectations…it is a word used frequently in education. We are to have high expectations of our students…people have high expectations of teachers. But what are those expectations really?

I attend meetings frequently where the expectations are explained in terms of achievement. Achievement defined by test scores. And I must admit it is easy to fall into that definition of expectations.

But sometimes something will come along..something that causes you to increase the expectations you have for yourself and for your students. The staff development we have experienced as Kenan Fellows does just that. Creativity, exploration, student centered instruction…these are the areas we should hold to high expectations. When we talk achievement we have to look at data from all areas. Instruction needs to be engaging on a whole new level for today’s students.

So in short the staff development has led me to increase my expectations of myself and look at how we define high expectations. Whether delivering staff development or teaching in front of a classroom what we used to hold as the epitome of high expectation just isn’t enough today.