I am one of eight elementary curriculum resource teachers in Franklin County. One of my job responsibilities is to be part of the elementary district science team. Being part of that team, means that I am always on the lookout for professional development for myself and the other elementary teachers in the county. Science is not a subject that most elementary teachers feel comfortable teaching. Time to teach science continues to be cut down to just a few minutes a day. I have two major goals for my job. One is to help teachers see the relevance in teaching science. The other is to help teachers make the connection that science uses reading, writing, and math skills so integration with these subjects is essential to the success of our students.
In order to help me achieve those two goals, I need to observe how scientists work in their labs. I need to watch how they go through a set of procedures to accomplish the end goal of their experiments. In other words, I need to see what science looks like outside of the classroom and classroom lab. By observing and talking with these scientists, I will have a better idea of how to frame science lessons for students and workshops for teachers because I will have real world experiences as part of my background knowledge. That is one of benefits the Kenan Fellows Program experience will provide me for me.
Another benefit I expect from this experience is the opportunity to work along side teachers from other counties. Sometimes we forget that we are part of a larger community of teachers. It is nice to be reminded that we have a huge network of teachers to work with.