My first post was the Friday before NCCAT.  I had not met any of the Kenan teachers and had only talked to the Students Discover group through Google chat.  I remember being excited and nervous for the summer to start.  And now, I still can’t believe that this part of Kenan Fellowship is over!!  One of my best friends who I teach with just accepted her fellowship with Students Discover Ants project and I’m so jealous!  This experience taught me to be a more reflective teacher, to think outside the box, and allow my students to participate in more real science experiences–citizen science.  My externship, my mentor, and my fellow shark teeth fellows all made this such an amazing experience.  Working at the Museum of Natural Sciences was exciting and a fun place to work, surrounded by people who loved what they do and all to happy to share their findings and interests.  My mentor was so down-to-earth and a really cool guy to work with.  He made learning fun and taught me so many valuable skills that I brought back to the classroom.   My fellow, fellows made the day-to-day work fun and interesting.  I was able to learn how they implemented certain topics into their curriculum and different labs for different content.  I was new to teaching 8th grade science and they were amazing at giving me ideas!  I can’t say enough amazing things about this experience and I recommend the Kenan Fellowship program to all the teachers I know!  Thank you 🙂