Hurray! I just submitted the final version of my standards breakdown and questions. I am so excited to have finished what I set out to do and I feel it is everything I hoped it would be. I can remember sitting in my interview and explaining to my soon to be mentor how I thought the state needed to offer more sample multiple choice questions in order to help teachers better understand the make-up of the state tests and how to better prepare their students for the tests. Once I learned the basics on how to create the questions, I started in on writing sample questions and matching available questions to the standards, it turned out to be much harder than I expected. Writing good questions, creating plausible answers, identifying bias, using the proper vocabulary, and making sure the questions fully aligned with the curriculum was a very difficult task. As an added bonus one of the main requests that came from teachers on our assessment survey was the need for more sample questions and more resources on aligning questions to the standards. Having the affirmation from other teachers that my work was needed made finishing the project that much more satisfying.

Now that they are done I have submitted the standards and questions to the DPI Assessment office and I am hopeful they can find a way to use them to help other teachers feel more comfortable teaching their curriculum and preparing their students for the state assessments. It is my hope that the questions can be used as a framework for other disciplines and can help guide the DPI as they offer more resources to districts and teachers across the state.

The Lenovo tablet has been a wonderful addition to my technology resources. Right from the start I embraced the use of the tablet and filled it with all of the Kenan electronic files and resources. The first days I spent at DPI I added notes, files, and downloads pertaining to DPI assessments and curriculum. All of my standards work, my assessment questions, and resources were created on my tablet and having that one stop place for all of my work made my organization and productivity that much more efficient. For my classroom my school initially provided me with a laptop, but having the Lenovo tablet for use at home has given me another dimension for finding classroom resources, downloading and playing multimedia presentations, and accessing the internet at home. Living in a busy household with 2 teenage kids of my own, finding the availability of a computer can be difficult. Having the tablet as an additional piece of technology allowed me to accomplish simple tasks such as grading, updating blackboard, and communicating with parents via email without having to fight with others in my house for the one household laptop we had.

The portability of the tablet has allowed me to carry it to meetings, sports activities, and on trips so I could continue to work and access my files on the go.  In addition, the tablet is fun! My daughter has downloaded games, simulations, music, and pictures, all kinds of fun activities that I’m not allowed to put on my work computerJ. Just one more wonderful bonus of the Kenan Fellowship!

The time I spent working at DPI and the continued contact with Wendy
Wooten and Dr. Tammy Howard in the assessment office at DPI has been an
invaluable experience. Getting to meet the DPI staff, see their dedication to
education in NC and their enthusiastic support for teachers and students was
very reassuring. As teachers we tend to get closed into our own classrooms and
schools, having the opportunity to meet others involved at different levels of
education was just wonderful. Spending time at the DPI offices allowed me to
experience jobs in education outside the classroom and I feel like it helped
reaffirm that being in the classroom is the best fit for me. While I enjoyed my
time in the DPI offices, I was able to see the drawbacks of having an 8-5
schedule and I missed the (somewhat) controlled chaos of my classroom,
hallways, and school. In addition, being able to meet and work with my other
DPI fellows, Kari Haddy and Emily Jolley allowed me the opportunity to see what
their jobs as high school teachers is like and what they deal with at their
level of education. They are both such wonderful teachers, dedicated to their
profession and great role models as teachers, I have enjoyed collaborating with
them. So, while my fellowship is a bit different since it is with DPI and
involves a more unconventional project, I have really enjoyed the people and
the process and I feel like it has helped improve my dedication to the
classroom and to the profession as a whole.

When I first applied for a Kenan Fellowship my friend Gail (a former Kenan
Fellow) told me that, although I would enjoy the externship and certainly get a
lot out of my project, the real benefit of the fellowship would be the
professional development and the other fellows that I would spend time with.
Having now gone through the 3 Kenan Institutes I am passing that same advice on
to others who are interested in applying for a fellowship. The sessions offered
through the Kenan Institutes have been some of the best and most meaningful
professional development I have had since moving to North Carolina. Some of the
sessions have forced me to reconsider a few of the entrenched practices in the
classroom, some have made me think about what it means  to be an innovative teacher, and some have
helped me to think outside the box and look for new ways to deliver instruction
and offer my students a rich learning environment. I think what has been most
meaningful for me is the way the topics and activities have pushed me to become
a leader in my school. I often find myself thinking, how am I helping other
teachers in my school and how can I be a positive role model for others as they
navigate the changes that are occurring and the frustrations we are all feeling
in education? I have learned to embrace the leadership role rather than avoid
it, and I have learned strategies to help others navigate change and progress. I
am so grateful for all of the opportunities this fellowship has offered and I am
most appreciative of the time and talents that have been shared through the
Kenan Institutes.

I think the reason some districts ban the use of social media while
others encourage its use comes down to a districts willingness to take
risks.  It appears to me that sometimes
larger districts who are in the spotlight and have so much to lose if they make
a mis-step are much more hesitant to try new ideas and open themselves up for
criticism should they fail.  I guess this
makes sense if you think about it. If a small, rural county makes a decision
and a few students mis-use it, the district can respond to those students and
rework their policy pretty quick.  If a
district like Wake County makes an error and hundreds of kids exploit the
decision you now have a much bigger public perception problem for that
district. I also believe it comes down to trust and control. How much can we
trust out kids to make good decisions and how much control do we have over them
when they make bad decisions?

I am learning so much through my Kenan Fellowship that will directly affect my teaching for years to come. The professional development I am getting through the institutes has been wonderful. I find that it is constantly challenging me to get outside of my comfort zone and try new things, even if I am afraid they might not work. Because of the presentations on technology I find that I am seeking out new ways to use technology to motivate students and offer new opportunities for my students to learn. For example, after a few years of contemplating it I have attempted to flip both my science and math classrooms this year. While I have found great success with flipping the math class, I have been less than happy with flipping the science portion of my instruction. My district created and offered free prerecorded videos for math that included a notes sheet that accompanied each video. I have found the kids use the videos for pre-learning and for remediation before the test. However, in science I found that the flipping took away from the discussion and discourse that occurs when the students are taking notes in class. At this time I am still seeking a balance for note taking in class which fosters questioning and sharing ideas without taking up so much instructional time for students to hand write notes during class time. All of this is a direct result of my Kenan Fellowship.

I have learned so much already from my externship, it is hard to pin down just one “AHA” moment and call it my biggest. Going to work at the DPI, I somewhat expected to find serious policy wonks who were disconnected from the classroom, had low regard for teachers, and who lived by the rule that they were in charge and teachers just needed to do what they were told. Instead what I found was a wonderful bunch of professionals who believe they are there to serve the public and support schools and teachers as they work to improve public education in NC.

My mentor, Dr. Tammy Howard who is the director of the assessment division, is driven by the idea that students from all regions of North Carolina deserve a solid, equal education and she believes the testing and accountability office can help ensure that for all schools. It is easy to see that the staff has bought into this ideal and is working to fulfill their mission to “promote the academic achievement of all North Carolina public school students and to assist stakeholders in understanding and gauging this achievement against state and national standards.”

As I speak to my colleagues about my externship I always make a point of telling them how much of the staff is former classroom teachers who moved to DPI as another way to serve in education. I let them know how much the staff at DPI appreciates what we do in the classroom and how they are eager to hear from us as we share our experiences with the EOG’s and EOC’s as well as the new MSL’s and constructed response questions. It is reassuring to know that the folks at DPI are there as a resource for us, that they care about both students and teachers, and they are our partners as we work to offer the students of NC the high quality of education they deserve. The opportunity to meet and interact with the assessment staff has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my externship and I feel so fortunate to have had the chance to get to see the behind the scenes work that goes into building and maintaining standardized testing in NC.

Every day I am assessing my students, encouraging them to think about what they are doing, and working to develop high quality formative and summative assessments that let me know what my students have learned and what they are able to do. Just the other day, as I was going over our first major test, I was reviewing the most missed questions and discussing with them what the correct answers were and why they might have chosen the incorrect answer. Getting them to see how questions are written, analyzing what their misconceptions were, and correcting the errors they made on the test, allowed them to analyze their own test taking and studying strategies. Further, this type of analysis allows me to address their misunderstandings and gives me insight into how I can develop lessons, incorporate labs and discussions, and use technology to better teach a concept to my students.

Will the implementation of the Common Core allow for more use of technology or will it be just too much for teachers to add more to their already full teaching plate? To be honest, I think it is just too early to ask this question. The rolling out of the Common Core curriculum last year was, to say the least, a bit of a disaster. Districts were not ready, teachers were not fully trained, materials were not available (and still aren’t), and most importantly, students (particularly middle school students) were thrown into a curriculum they had not been prepared for. Having survived my first year teaching the Common Core curriculum, I now have only a basic understanding of what the curriculum is asking for and a beginning knowledge of how to implement it. At the heart of the curriculum we are asking students to think differently about what they are learning and to take a more 21^st Century approach to their learning. The collaborative nature of the curriculum, the push towards group work and higher order thinking skills, and the move to authentic assessments leads me to believe the implementation of the Common Core will lead to the use of more technology, but the first year real world application of the curriculum has left me feeling more overwhelmed than inspired. I have been told that it can take up to 5 years for a teacher to fully understand a new curriculum. Now that I am in my second year of teaching the Common Core I find that I am still searching for what the curriculum is expecting of me, what my students should know and be able to do, and most frustrating, what materials can I use to help implement this complex and challenging curriculum. I would like to think that the implementation of the Common Core will lead to the use of more technology but I’m afraid the jury is going to be out on this one for just a bit longer.

Since the focus of my Kenan externship is on assessments, connecting my externship to the classroom is an everyday experience. Whether I am discussing topics with students, conducting informal classroom inquiries, developing formative assessments, or collaborating with colleagues to develop common summative assessments I am constantly considering what I have learned through my days at DPI and how I can be sure I am using that knowledge to enhance my students learning and their understanding of material. Through my fellowship I have learned what makes a good test question, how to evaluate and create good questions, and most importantly, how to break down the essential standards based on Revised Blooms Taxonomy. The ability to breakdown the standards into separate parts allows me to really consider what my students need to know and what they should be able to do as they work their way through the curriculum. The training I received has already helped me become a better teacher and hopefully will help my students have a better understanding of science and the application of the content they are learning. While I would like to think all I need to do is teach the curriculum and the kids will be ready for whatever comes their way, the reality is this generation of kids need to understand how to take what they know and put that knowledge to use to answers questions, whether it is a classroom test, district and state assessments, or the all mighty national tests, they must be good test takers to show what they know and be as successful as they choose to be.