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.