Wow!  I can’t even begin to put into words how amazing the past week has been.  For the past three school years I have taught next door to a Kenan Fellow who has done nothing but rave about the program and NCCAT.  Now I can truly see why!

I was worried at the beginning of the week.  A lot of the people carpooled and/or were part of a group already for their project.  I drove by myself because I was at an AP training the week prior and I’m working on an individual project.  Luckily for me, the spirit dog activity led me to Team Dirt.

The ladies working on this project adopted me as their plus one and basically everyone else was just so open to meeting new people that my worries pretty much evaporated after day one.  I would definitely say that meeting and bonding with my cohort was the highlight of my week at NCCAT.  It was invigorating to meet 41 other teachers who were just as excited to better themselves and learn!  I think the moment that we all bonded the most was when we were pushed into rafts together on the Nantahala River.  Our boat was lucky because we got to ride with Mark the Birdman!  We joked and laughed and learned about the birds and plants as we rode down a seemingly tame river.  By the time we got to the end and hit the Class III rapid, we went into survival mode.  Three of the six of us fell out of the boat and the rest of us had to kick it into overdrive to pull them back in.

It was crazy and exciting and we were all basically inseparable after the experience.  It was just one of those “you had to be there” kind of things.

One of the things that I learned at NCCAT that I will be implementing in my classroom will be the team bonding activities.  I typically start off the year with some amount of “getting to know you” activities, but I think I need to try some that are a little bit more hands on and team oriented.  It was obvious how quickly we all were able to step outside of our comfort zone and ask for opinions, work together, and just get to know each other after we had the opportunity to learn first hand about how we all learn and lead in a situation.

I see that as a valuable tool, especially in such a difficult content area like physics.  Students need to be comfortable reaching out to their peers.  I may do something like “Team Building Tuesday” and reserve 10-15 minutes for an activity to start off the day with each of my classes the chance to work with classmates on something that doesn’t relate directly to the content can be beneficial when it comes to group work and forging relationships.

I thought all of the sessions were beneficial in some way.  The session that I thought was the most useful was Classroom Debate Toolkit led by Michelle Hicks.  She provided us with great examples of different debate styles and the pros and cons of each type.  We were also given some time to work in groups to decide how we could use those types of debates within our own content.  It was a good mix of direct instruction and group collaboration.  The session that was my least favorite, was any session that didn’t exactly follow their title or description from their abstract.  We had to choose between sessions and when one didn’t discuss exactly what it was listed as, it was harder to gain as much from it.  The positive side of that, was that we had to analyze the information presented and try and apply it in a way we could use.  It forced me into being creative about how I could use that information, so those sessions were still productive.

This week at NCCAT didn’t feel like professional development.  At least not like the type of PD I am used to.  I think what made this experience so different was that we were allowed to choose sessions that benefited us and our needs instead of being required to attend certain sessions.  In addition, there was a lot more time for collaboration and fellowship.  When I attend other PD, it is assumed that we are already close or friendly with the people we are working with which is not always the case.  I make this assumption in my classroom a lot as well.  At NCCAT the fellowship aspect was heavily focused on and I think that made the rest of the information that much less overwhelming.  It also was very focused on us and making sure that we were appreciated and treated like professionals.  There was a lot of fun mixed in with all of the learning so it didn’t fell like traditional PD.  I am so thankful for the opportunity and I can’t wait to attend the next Professional Advancement Institute in July!