I am hoping that my Kenan Fellowship will allow me to not only improve my content knowledge, particularly for my AP Biology course, but also allow me to develop curricular materials for a topic that not many biology teachers know (or teach!) about–histones. The field of epigenetics (of which histones are a major player) is relatively new, and certainly not covered extensively in our biology curriculum. I would love to develop both a standard and AP level set of materials for biology teachers on epigenetics and possibly present it at NCSTA.
Being a Kenan fellow will allow me to collaborate with other Kenan Fellows and teacher leaders in my school to develop stronger curriculum and promote more leadership activities within my department and school. As department chair, I would like to see other members of my department take a vested interest in our students and their own professional success. I hope that my fellowship will help me to provide my colleagues with the tools and confidence they need to make a larger investment in their professional future.