I didn’t know what the Kenan Fellows Program would be like. I heard wonderful things about the program helping teacher grow professionally and building strong collaborations with researchers.  I experienced great summer institutes. The more I got to know the other Kenan Fellows, the more I admired each of them. Many fellows have become an incredible resource for me as I plan lessons and share instructional strategies.

The externship was challenging. I have a better appreciation of the research being done on pest control. I learned so much about biotechnology and pest control by working in an entomology genetics lab and at the GES center. Dr. Gould is an incredible scientist, who is respected by his entire community. Dr. Kuzma’s work is also challenging as her group tries to understand people’s sentiment about new biotechnology and their opinions about the safe use of these new technologies.

As an educator, the Kenan Fellows program impacted me in many ways. The fellowship experience has allowed me to build strong collaborations with scientists and teachers. Through these collaborations, I built background knowledge in biotechnology by working in a research labs and with Genetic Engineering and Society institute. I now have contact with experts as we cover topics in biotechnology. The Kenan experience has made me realize the joy of exploring and learning. The Kenan externship has helped me develop a keen interest biotechnology. I even started to research the topic with my media specialist at school. My students have been much more excited about biotechnology than in previous years. In fact, many students have enriched our class discussions by mention biotechnology articles they have read about the topics that we covering in class. I think, yes! I hooked you. I have relished providing more opportunities for my students to explore topics of biotechnology.

The Kenan Fellowship has been a STEM experience. I worked with scientists and social scientists to explore a field of study, biotechnology, and then designed a lesson based on this experience. During the externship, I had time to explore current research projects while I was learning about biotechnology. As a result of the externship, I chose to reflect on two questions regarding my instructional practice: Do I provide a STEM experience? Do my students have time to explore the science topic we are covering?   I reflected on these questions as I was building my lesson plan. I wanted a lab activity that will help students understand how science, technology, engineering, and math have transformed the field of biotechnology. I have shared my lesson with other teachers at my school and they are enthusiastic about using the lesson with their students. I will also be participating in a STEM workshop to share my lesson with other teachers within the state. I am excited about sharing the Kenan experience and how it has changed my students’ class experience.

The Lenovo computers have been a wonderful addition to my classroom. It is my handy companion for quickly looking up materials as well as snapping pictures and videos of my student during labs activities. Many of the MakerSpace Club pictures posted on Donors Choose were taken with the Lenovo tablet.   I have also enjoyed the Apps and programs. These Apps, like Trello, have been an invaluable tool for keeping me organized.   Recently, I have used the tablet to access technology books from the Humble Bundle for my students to use in the MakerSpace. The Lenovo tablet helps provide these books on computer programing and technology for my students at a much lower cost than a hard copy.

I have also used the Lenovo while collaborating with other teachers. In fact, it has become clear to me that having a Lenovo tablet has been an ideal tool.  Thank you Lenovo for giving me this tablet to use in my classroom. It really has made my life easier.

The mentoring partnership that I have with Dr. Kuzma and Dr. Gould fueled my interest in biotechnology. Having an opportunity to work in a lab made me more aware of the work of researchers in biotechnology. As a consumer, I see the results of their research such as increased crop yield and development of government regulations on GMO. Now, I have a greater appreciation of the work done by scientists like Dr. Gould and Dr. Kuzma, who have a deep appreciation of farmers and the health of our society.

The Kenan Fellow experience made me aware of the role of exploration in developing vital research projects. For example, when GM crops were first used on the US market for feed production, Dr. Gould developed a method of implementing these crops to ensure the best productivity for farmers. At the same time he started collecting moths around these areas where Bt crops were being used. When I asked him why he just said, “I thought I would be able to use them to study in the future.” He expected the technology to be available for him to develop the evolutionary selection component to his research. Dr. Gould’s success as a researcher was in his ability to foresee future possibilities in his area of research.

In my work with Dr. Kuzma, I got to see the work of social scientists. Dr. Kuzma’s team worked to better understand how society feels biotechnology should be used. Her research will certainly play a key role in the way our government and regulatory commissions control the use of new biotechnology being introduced to the public. While working with Dr. Kuzma, I gained an appreciation of her work and how important it is to understanding the impact new biosynthetic technologies will have on our society.

Although, I found the externship intimidating at times, this partnership has broadened my understanding of bioengineering by giving me a greater appreciation of the diversity of work done by researchers. The partnership has inspired me to continue my study in the field of biotechnology. Having the freedom to explore an area with direct contact with research scientists has also changed the way I teach. I now strive to provide more time for students to explore and investigate new areas of study. In fact, it is having the freedom to explore that inspires us to grow in ways we had not expected.

The Kenan Fellows profession development institutes rejuvenated my instructional practice. It changed the way I use technology in the classroom. I have always enjoyed using technology. However, it was having time to use it and talk to other teachers about how they use it in their classroom that helped me see new options. I especially liked the inaturalist site that integrates citizen science with technology. For this project in particular students can use their phones to upload data. Giving teachers time to explore and upload picture to inaturalist project also gave me the experience I needed to introduce a similar opportunity to my students.

The Kenan Institutes gave me time to explore. I have been reflecting on the importance of exploration in my lessons because I realize it was the exploration part of my externship that inspired me to learn more about biotechnology. After thinking about the units I teach, I realized this can happen often and in simple ways. During our study of geology, I wanted students to review the rock cycle. I put a tray of rocks at the entrance of my room. I had the students pick one rock to be their pet rock. Each student wrote down the name of the rock and identified what made his/her rock unique from the other pet rocks in the room. I had each student place his/her rock on the lab tables around the outside of the room. I collected the sheets on which the students had wrote the pet rock’s name and the list of qualitative observations. Then I redistributed the sheets so each student had to look for another student’s pet rock. Each student had to use the qualitative observation to correctly identify the pet rock. As a result of this activity, the students wanted to learn more about rock types and how rocks are made. By adding a little exploratory time to the lesson, students had a purpose for learning and were eager to learn more about the rock cycle.

I have enjoyed each of the Kenan Fellows institutes. They have been informative and have provided me with many tools that I could use in the classroom this year. However, after I reviewed the agenda for the third Kenan Fellows Institute, I was disappointed that it didn’t have an instructional focus. In fact, I felt that the political focus of the institute was lacking practical application. I was wrong. I left the institute with a new goal of getting involved as a teacher advocate at a district level and a state level. Although, I do not have a clear five step procedure for how I will become a more engaged advocate, I have continued to reflect on our institute. I have also talked with teachers and administrators in my district about the institute to help gain a broader perspective. I realized that I need to help policy makers see why we need to invest in NC teachers and NC public schools. This sounds like it is too simple of message but it is at the heart of what is needed. When the Spin speakers were shocked by teachers having kids on Medicaid, I realized they had no idea how little teachers are paid. Teachers don’t participate in fifty dollar a plate lunch fundraisers but instead invest their pay into weekly classroom supplies to make lessons that are engaging and fun for their students.

The Kenan institutes provided a much needed community. I have learn so much from other Kenan Fellows. I am truly inspired by the way they work with students and I feel fortunate to be with such a wonderful group of professionals. The time I had collaborating with other Kenan Fellows has developed a supportive community that I can use to help me continue to grow.

During the Kenan Fellowship, I enjoyed the time to explore. I learned a great deal through my externships because I actively engaged in the lab work.

Now, I want to explore with my students. I recently received a grant from DonorsChoose for six Makey Makey kits. I am very excited. I have the media specialist, technology specialist, and two parents who have told me that they would love to help students design projects. At lunch, I will open my class to students who want to explore some cool electronic projects. I also want to collect my lost souls, the students who don’t appear to have friends at school or struggle with academics. After the students have developed their Makey Makey projects, I will showcase their projects in my science class.

My Makey Makey sets are coming in next week and I want to start the club as soon as possible. The club will get my students enthusiastic about science and keep me dreaming about future exploratory projects.

I recently got together with another 8th grade teacher.   We plan all our lessons and labs together as a PLC. As I started sharing with her several of the tools that I gained at the Kenan Institute and ideas about new biotechnology labs, she became really excited. We decided that we will incorporate biotechnology through each of this year’s units. I am enthusiastic about these prospects because the applications of biotechnology are incredibly diverse. We will be able to exposed our students to more aspects of biotechnology than in other years. It was nice to see that the excitement I feel from learning about biotechnology in my externship so quickly inspired my PLC partner to try something new.

http://www.glofish.com/meet-glofish/glofish-gallery/

We both decided to get Glofish for our classroom.   I am particularly partial to the fluorescent yellow ones: )