There have been a few a-ha moments for me this summer. My eyes have been opened to things that have been lighting up on my control panel for a while that have needed tending to, and now I know that I must do something about those flashing little lights.
- Professional Development: The level of PD that I’ve experienced with this program has been out of this world. I’ve been engaged, I’ve been challenged, and I’ve been left with a mind that’s just reeling with questions and ideas. I’ve never left a PD at my school feeling this way, so this is quite refreshing. My time with Morehead Planetarium and the NCSF has also opened my eyes to what it means to be a true professional. It’s been an honor to be called the “in-house teaching expert” while I’ve been there, and it feels so good to be seen as competent, trustworthy, and knowledgeable about my craft. I keep a personal blog and word exploded this post about PD — feel free to check that out if you’re so inclined.
Action steps: Take my PD experiences with Kenan Fellows and do my best to translate them into my school environment. Continue to stay positive and implement all I can while on the school’s leadership team this year. - Citizen Science: THIS is how to engage kids, y’all. This right here. I had never heard of citizen science before this summer, and I am HOOKED (if you think I’m joking, as any of my non-teaching friends what I’ve been talking about for the last few weeks). The ways we’ve had the chance to engage in citizen science projects with Dr. Holly from NCCAT or with Prairie Ridge Ecostation, all I can think about is my kids and how much they’d love what I’m doing. I’ve always believed science, and education in general, should be very hands-on and experiential, and this concept of citizen science has totally renewed my teaching spirit in this thinking! I literally cannot wait to take this idea back to my school and my kiddos in a few weeks — those eight-year-olds are going to love it!
Action steps: Integrate citizen science into my every day classroom curriculum. Already thinking of ways I can get involved through our science units this year!
There’s been another overarching a-ha moment for me as well. I really love what I do. I’ve known this and have felt completely confident in my decision to be a teacher (or did teaching choose me? Of course there’s a blog post about that, too). This overarching a-ha comes in the form of reinforcing my passion for this profession. I take this job so seriously, and I am absolutely humbled to call myself a teacher to these precious children in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. I am also humbled at the fact that I have the opportunity to work with all of you Kenan Fellows. I can’t help but think “A-ha! This is exactly where I need to be!” every time we get together. Thank you for that, fellow friends!
Looking forward to experiencing many more a-ha moments as this journey continues.