Our week at NCCAT was jam packed with awesome!

I think the high light for me was the Big Picture project where we were all able to see what everyone else learned. I loved that even though I wasn’t able to go to all of the sessions the final presentations showed us the main ideas of each of the tools. Now I don’t feel like I missed out on anything and I know which tools I want to do some further research on and try in my classroom.

I am so excited about the coming school year with all of the great tools and tricks we learned this week. I know now how to make my classroom the fun, collaborative, awesome place I have been striving for it to be.

It was a wonderful experience meeting so many other passionate teachers from all parts of the state.  I loved  hearing about how they teach and their tips and great ideas. I was also really interested in several of the projects that people in more rural areas of the state are involved with.  I can’t wait to get started at the museum next week, so I can start putting all of the pieces together for these lessons.  🙂

I have heard several Kenan Fellows speak at NSTA. It has always amazed me how excited they are about teaching science and about sharing that excitement with other teachers. When I applied for Kenan Fellows that was the outcome I wanted. I want to be as a friend of mine says “TURNT UP for science!”

Then, as this semester and my grad school courses and final projects have unfolded I have tweaked my vision for what I want to gain here. I am pursuing a masters in New Literacies and Global Learning and NCSU with a concentration in Reading. I truly believe that in my science classes students need to be learning skills other than just the science skills. I believe that good learners are good readers and good thinkers, so I really want to marry the two better in my instruction. I want my students to be inquisitive and science minded thinkers that can use reading skills to fuel their passion for science. Another part of my grad program is to make instruction have a global connection, which is something that I know I struggle with teaching science. I am so excited to be a part of this Students Discover project though because the main goal of this project is to create a global citizen science project that can be contributed to from all over the world. This is the AHA! moment I had today. I am going to be able to achieve these goals and because all projects need a catchy title, I am going to call my final product for my graduate degree STREAM: Science Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art and Math in the Middle School Science Classroom.

I am very excited that not only am I learning skills that will help me be that crazy energetic TURNT UP science teacher, but my project is going to marry perfectly with my goals for grad school and help me accomplish another set of goals entirely.

As the school year is winding down I am getting more and more excited about what this summer has in store for me.  This is the first summer since my freshman year of high school that I have not worked at a children’s day camp.  I am glad for the opportunity to spend my time bettering myself as an educator.  I am also very excited to spend some time in the mountains, meeting with great educators from across the state.