Gosh there have been so many! I have been to several “age talks” relating to the communication with students and younger peers during my career, but I have never been to one that explained to the younger generations how to relate to me. A-ha.  When speaking to Mike, one of the project managers about solar (I won’t go into details.) there was a confirmation and an epiphany. A-ha.  When I started to take apart my project that I am planning for the students and realized the same bosses were being displayed on a car part  that is having an assembly station designed and built, there was an A-ha you should have heard in your location.  While reading the local paper, I discovered I was a science teacher. Wow! Big A-ha!  I am helping to present at a local Kenan Fellows presentation day to new teachers and am facilitating for a presenter that can’t be there. Guess what! We are meeting today and we are doing flipping the classroom! Big A-ha. Connie is a former Kenan and has helped in establishing this opportunity for us newbies.  She has my greatest thanks!  This project is allowing me to connect with another awesome teacher I may not have met otherwise. A-ha.  By the way that goes for over 50 more that I just happened to see this weekend.  I want to also include the Kenan staff  and guests too! Though I will need a week of not actively  preparing for school, I still have a brain that sees a lesson or technique in every corner.  A-ha, this must make me a Kenan Fellow.  I look forward to returning to school with a “perky” attitude, new experiences in my resume and some awesome ideas to share with fellow teachers and most importantly, my students.  By the way, living organisms are some of the most efficient machines that have some of the most effective equipment.  I think I know how to work the bees and butterflies into the technology class. A-Haaaaaaaa!

I teach a curriculum called Integrated Systems Technology which is part of the IST Academy of Engineering at Jack Britt High School.  The goal of the program is to prepare students to go into an engineering or a technological field with hands on and knowledge based skills in the areas of hydraulics, pneumatics, computer numeric control, automated materials handling (robotics), Mecatronics, AC/DC, programmable control logic, and logic control.  I have recently added Arduinos and a solar power station to the mix and still have much to learn.  I plan to incorporate basic laser technology into my program with the assistance of the Kenan Fellows program this year.  I cannot forget the soft skills that include teamwork and presentation which also play such a large part of of life and work.  I have gotten off the task of answering the question talking about the program as many reflective teachers do. My externship has allowed me to see all of these areas used in the “real” environment and will allow me to have an awesome contact in an area that meshes totally with my program.   I am so looking forward to taking what I have learned back into my classroom.  One thing, as an educator of many years, I have to say.  So often, in education  we work in a reactive manner according to what society dictates.  As a Kenan Fellow at Mertek Solutions, I have the opportunity to see what my students will need to know when as they graduate

high school and go further in their education.  They will need to be prepared for 8 years from todaynnot the last 5 years. This opportunity makes me a proactive teacher by using what I have learned and implementing it in my classroom; it has also provided me with validation that the skills I introduce in my classroom/lab are what my students need.

I learned so much at NCCAT and other professional development sessions and classes but have often found as wonderful as some of the programs are, it is hard to get support in the classroom lab.  Getting software added to the computers in a lab can be a challenge too. This year our LEA is moving from XP to 7 since XP is no longer supported. They will be changing the computers in my lab and will need to have software that controls the PLC station, the CNC Mill, the 2 robotic arms, and the MecLab station.  I  will need to be prepared for the technician as soon as I get back to school if they allow me to operate stand alone.  I hope I will be able to use them at the beginning of the term since my curriculum is dependent upon the equipment. There is  a solar trainer newly  assembled and a new MecLab with extensions waiting when I return. I have the manuals open on the dining room table to look at during the spare time all teachers have.  Challenges! Challenges!  So much of what I do  in class is manufacturing technology and not social or information technology.  (I try to keep up with it too!) My externship at Mertek is wonderful.  I plan to hitch my wagon to the PLC (Programable Logic Control) writer  Monday.  I learned so much talking to him Thursday afternoon and asked if I could sit next to him and learn. I know some about what he does but I want to learn more as it is applied in a real world problem.  I digress. Often in my classroom we have something called “Jutson’s Rule” like “Murphy’s Law ” but more localized.  You know when the technology works perfectly 20 times until you need to demonstrate it to a group or a teacher (Mrs. Jutson).  It happens frequently  so we just laugh and try to have a plan B.  I hope to get things situated as soon as possible when we get to Fall Semester.  I am grateful everything is on Edmodo so I can revisit the technology we learned in at NCCAT.