This week at NCCAT has been packed full of growth and highlights..  As a beginning teacher in a rural and disconnected region of NC, I haven’t had a lot of contact with other STEM teachers.  It has been incredible to learn from and collaborate with a group of inspired STEM leaders, coming from all over the states.  As a young and inexperienced science teacher, especially as a Teach for America teacher with no science or education classes in college, I came feeling somewhat intimated by this amazing group of experienced and accomplished Kenan Fellows.  But mostly, I came ready to question, observe, listen and learn and to soak up everything I possibly could from this amazing new team I am blessed to be a part of.  So, I did just this. Apart from the awesome sessions, I spent my meal times, break times, evenings, etc. reaching out to everybody I could to learn about their experiences and ideas in the classroom and in life.

The week was a nerdy science teachers dream come true..  I got to learn about exciting new research going on all over the state, creative STEM education and real-life application happening in classrooms all over the state, and exciting new ways to make STEM better at my school.  I even got to spend my off time nerding out about education and science these with passionate people.

The professional development at NCCAT has been the best professional development I’ve ever experienced.  It has been rich with knowledge and awesome tools that I can bring back to my classroom and share with my school as a whole.  Here are some of my favorite tools I learned about and plan on implementing in my teaching and at school: Kahoot, Trello, Pintrest, Discovery Ed, Educreation, Citizen Science, Evernote, Kahoot, Answer Garden, Sketch Up, Poll Everywhere, Wing Clips and Teachingtolerance.

I am leaving the conference feeling inspired and motivated.  I will utilize the knowledge and resources I will build through my Kenan Fellows experience to make important transformations in my classroom, school and community.  And, I am leaving feeling like I am part of a supportive team to collaborate with in this endeavor.

I am a 7th Grade Science teacher at Charity Middle School in Rose Hill, North Carolina.  Rose Hill has a population of about 1,500 and it is part of Duplin County, NC, in the South Eastern corner of the state.  It is a very rural area and the primary (only) economy is agriculture and meat processing. There are more hogs in Duplin County than there are people in all of North Carolina.  There is not a lot of STEM awareness or industry or opportunities.  The schools here have very limited funding and resources, and not a lot of connection with outside professional learning communities.  The kids grow up with very little excitement for STEM subjects and without awareness of the STEM opportunities out there for them.

The Kenan Fellows program is completely new to my school and an incredibly opportunity for the students, staff and the community.   My externship is with The Duplin Winery, which is probably the biggest industry in Duplin County (apart from Murphy Brown’s Hog Factory), and the place with the most STEM happening and connections to be made.

Through my Kenan Fellows experience, I am really hoping to change my students perspectives of STEM education and classroom learning as a whole.  Currently, our students are pretty disheartened about classroom learning.  Education as a whole is not generally a huge community value, and there is not a lot of outside support within the schools.  I hope to make more connections between our school and the community, and to create communities and spaces of collaboration.  I want to make classroom learning more meaningful, purposeful and relevant to the students lives and futures.

I am hoping that experiencing STEM that is personal to my students will help me be an empowering person in their lives.  I will be enabled to create a curriculum that is directly relevant and inspiring to them and aligned to standards.  Being able to show to show my students why learning matters to them as people in the world beyond the classroom will be invaluable. Together, we can uncover how learning matters to important issues in their lives and communities.  Many students dislike and struggle with STEM, especially when it entails meaningless repetition in the classroom.  STEM makes so much more sense when it is learned through applicable means, and I want to help STEM education come alive for my students.  I believe education becomes empowering only if it is truly meaningful and purposeful.  For this to happen, learning must be experiential, and directly relevant and relatable to students’ lives.  Students learn best when constantly connecting classroom learning to their daily lives and the world around them.  In this way, learning becomes authentic and real, thus engaging students to invest themselves.  When learning comes to life, students will steadily build invaluable skills and work ethics that outlast the classroom.

I am hoping that my students will greatly benefit from a hands-on, real-life, problem-based curriculum that the Kenan Fellows Program will help me construct.  With practice, my students will form the mindset of making connections and continuously applying the things they learn in school to the real world as 21^st century citizens in a globalized society.  Through exploration and discovery, they will develop deep critical questioning, reasoning and analysis skills.  This mindset is one of the most powerful and liberating assets that a child can hold. This is the mindset that will help students recognize education as the pathway to opportunities.  When students can consistently connect their classroom learning to their lives and futures, they will conceptualize the big picture and what they are work.