During my Kenan Fellowship I made much use of my Lenovo tablet. The tablet was a handy way for me to snap pics and make videos to share on my blogs, but also to share with my students.

Several times I handed the tablet to my students to create videos about what we were doing with gamification which I later used in presentations to teacher groups.

Sooo the tablet was super easy and definitely used a lot. The portability of the tablet made it my “go to” over my personal (and large) laptop.

Initially, I used the tablet to record everything that I learned during my externship at NC A&T. These recordings helped me to understand what was going on in the lab, and were an easy way to review as I developed my lesson plan.

And, of course it was a cool way to photo my visitors. Like when Lisa dropped by

Or, when my colleague texted me, “I’m at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering,” and I replied. “I’m next door, stop in!”

I am so happy I had the tablet to help me with my fellowship and I highly recommend the use of this type of technology with future Kenan Fellows.

Oh for Heaven’s sake! How did I miss this??

The pics below are taken from my implementation of my Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Energy Resource lesson, which was created as a part of my Kenan Fellowship.

The twist – I have gamified my classroom. This was not a part of my Kenan Fellowship, but rather a strategy I learned from another Kenan Fellow during an offline session. Networking has really helped me learn and integrate new ideas in my classroom!

This pic documents one class determining our world rules.

I used all four classes as my focus group, then we narrowed down our rules.

This pic shows one of my “shy” students presenting her research to a sixth grade science class!

Overall, I have found gamification to be an intrinsically motivating way for students to learn.

Networking – a perk of Kenan!

The Kenan Fellowship Partnerships are crucial. Without these, I  do not know how the summer externships would exist. Without the externship, I think the fellowship would just be a networking opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, the networking opportunity is an excellent part. But the externship sets Kenan apart from other fellowship programs.

Speaking from experience…

NCSLA fellowship – main focuses are networking and advocacy.
NSF RET fellowship – main focus is on teacher as researcher and curriculum development.

Kenan fellowship – A trifecta! Networking, teacher research, and curriculum development!

Kenan partnerships are integral to this fellowship.

All three of the Kenan professional development sessions recharged me on my journey as an educator. Super opportunity to network, absolutely! But beyond networking was the development of a realm of support as I tried all the new and wonderful things I learned during professional development.

I am wondering if I would have dared to try these new things without the feeling of support from my fellow fellows. I am certain I would not have discovered them.

In addition to networking, all of the Kenan presenters were timely, engaging, and inspirational. I truly enjoyed our last session on advocacy. What a great opportunity for me to meet and listen to those involved in our state’s politics.

I have witnessed a shift in my school district’s acceptance and use of social media. A few years ago I asked about having a Facebook page for my classroom, and it was greatly discouraged. Issues of student confidentiality and higher ups not understanding how social media worked halted my desire to establish a web presence. I set the project aside and moved on.

I revisited this at the end of last year and learned our district now has a “go to” for establishing classroom Facebook pages, and the use of other social media. It was refreshing to learn our district had advanced to this stage. We as teachers are always asked to meet our students where they are. Well, most of our students may be found in social media, and that is where we too need to be.

I’ve already written all about the cool and timely technologies I’ve learned. And, since I’ve moved back to 8th grade science I am so happy that my externship experience was in biofuels. That experience allowed me to create a couple of really great labs that go along nicely with the 8th grade curriculum.

One thing I learned more about was gamification in the classroom, and I’m already incorporating this strategy. My students were so excited when I explained what I was going to do this year. This methodology will certainly help engage students, but I plan to take it a bit further, and include students in the planning. It was refreshing to see students excited about having lunch with their teacher to discuss strategies for our game play.

I am slowly adding gamification to my curriculum, and trying to get others on board. This is just one of the many excellent experiences I’ve had as a Kenan Fellow.

So many things!

Technology, teamwork, and collaboration.

I have learned about all kinds of technology I can use in my classroom. Kahoot, Socrative, Edmodo, and student boards on Discovery. These sites and all the others I learned about during my fellowship will help make my job a little easier, and a lot more fun for my students.

I am so impressed and appreciative by how everyone has come together to help each other out. Most of us were strangers, but it never felt that way. Everyone seems genuinely eager to help in each others’ successes.

Collaborating with my fellow Fellows has been a rich experience. There is no shortage of hands to catch, or prod 😉 should I feel I’ve hit a block. The input with from my colleagues helps give my curriculum greater depth and dimension.

Wow!

Summer always flies by, but this year!  I can’t believe I’ve reached the end of my summer internship. Where did the time go?

I’ve learned so many great things during this experience. Everything from learning about lab procedures, lab safety, to best practices in education, technology, and grant writing. All are areas that will impact my classroom.

I can’t wait to use some of the cool apps I’ve learned this summer! Our school will try one-to-one learning with tablets being issued to my grade level in November.

Ugh!

November!

I am also excited to share with my students what I learned in the labs at NCA&T State University. When I applied for the Kenan fellowship, I was a 6th grade teacher. I’m moving to 8th grade in a couple of weeks. And, the 8th grade curriculum more closely matched what I learned in my internship! The lessons I’ve created this summer will greatly enhance my curriculum.

Finally, I will reenter the classroom feeling recharged, and renewed, feeling greater confidence and just happy to get the year started!

What an outstanding feeling when I connected the dots regarding the increase of surface area by using a mesoporous surface.  This was familiar to me from the last two summers spent trying to create thin films, and nanowires to also increase surface area.

I also felt a sense of relief as I realized how I could translate what I’m learning into what I’m teaching next year to my 8th grade students. I’m also excited to know that although they will not be able to do the cutting edge research of my mentor(s), they will be able to reproduce a small part of the experiment on a more classroom appropriate level.

I am hopeful the lab I’m creating, coupled with the video of the researcher, will excite my students into considering a science related career.

I don’t have a video to upload, but here I am loading the world’s smallest crucible with sawdust, before heating the sample in the furnace. This was taken at the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering lab.

As a writer, I look forward to any writing opportunities. I write middle grade and young adult novels in my copious free time 😉 and I am a community writer for our local (very local) newspaper, which is a whole other kind of writing.

But, writing curriculum…

That’s a whole other other kind of writing.

Curriculum writing is challenging in many different ways. It’s like driving with a car full of kittens running, hiding, and chasing over and under the car seats.  When I write curriculum, I feel as if I’m trying to corral a whole bunch of things at once. Is the curriculum engaging? Is it easy to understand? Easy to implement? Did I stray too far from the standards?

In this experience with my externship, I have additional challenges. Take a high-level experiment, or research, and bring to the level of a middle school student. In my first lesson, I felt as if I were reinventing the wheel, or maybe the mesoporous support 😉 In this go ’round, it has taken a lot more time than in my previous experience with curriculum writing.

However, I’ve had an equal amount of successes.

In creating a lesson plan from scratch, I feel a certain amount of creative license. And, when I find that perfect supplemental match, I feel I’ve accomplished a great task. I’ll have to admit, it also felt pretty darn good when my mentor’s critique of my first lesson plan only had a few minor suggestions. That’s success!