As part of my KF project, students had to teach three people about epigenetics–a topic that is not very accessible to the “average Joe”, much less easy to understand. It wasn’t until students had presented their educational products to their audiences that I began to hear back (from students and parents!) that they finally understood the epigenome, as well as… Read more »
The Kenan Fellow/Mentor partnership offered to me by the Kenan Fellows Program offered me an opportunity unlike any other–and was part of the reason that I applied for a fellowship. To have exposure to some of the greatest academic minds, industry experts, and entrepreneurial thinkers is and was an invaluable experience! During my laboratory internship, I was paired with Dr. Brian… Read more »
Our Professional Advancement Institutes were some of the most valuable experiences that I have had during my teaching career. Not only did I feel like the sessions were valuable, but I felt valued and important. Never did I feel like my time was being wasted, and I always walked away feeling empowered and invigorated to go back to the classroom. Plus, I now… Read more »
Wow–it’s hard to believe that we’re already 6 weeks into the 2015-2016 school year! I came into this school year so excited to use all of the tips, tricks, and tools that I was exposed to during my Kenan Fellows experience. The biggest change I’ve implemented this year is my mindset; I am much more willing to challenge my students… Read more »
Having been in school only 5 days, it’s amazing how my summer experience with Kenan Fellows is already impacting my classroom culture and the activities that I’m doing with my students! In AP Biology, I have already used one of the activities in my KFP curriculum product, which required students to create an instructional foldable to teach younger biology students… Read more »
My hope for this year is that my curriculum and students’ experiences are transformed as a result of my KF internship experience (and those of other fellows). I am excited to bring forth examples of real scientific experiments and experiences so that my students can explore and be a part of more than just passive learning. I want my students to… Read more »
My KFP experience has totally reinvigorated me and caused me to seriously reflect on my teaching practices. As an educator, it is easy to brush the dust off of the same curriculum that you’ve been using. However, I am encouraged and inspired by my PD sessions this summer to try new things (BYOD, classroom discussion/debate, POGIL, etc.), while also moving… Read more »
This summer has been a series of new experiences: meeting new people, learning new lab techniques, and gaining a sense of (unexpected) autonomy in the lab. Beyond the lab work, itself, the most interesting part of my internship so far has been talking with post doctoral fellows in the lab who intend to go on to teach in a university… Read more »
Coming in to my Kenan Fellows internship, I knew that my product would need to be curriculum-based. There is very little common knowledge about epigenetics, much less coverage in the NCSCOS. The challenge with my lab experience, however, was making the graduate-level biochemistry accessible to the average teenager. Using a series of models, simulations, and analogies, my hope is that students… Read more »
My project mentor is Dr. Brian Strahl, who is a Principal Investigator in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the UNC School of Medicine. His main project right now is to catalogue the interactions of a library of peptides with the proteins already present on the tails of histones. This is no small feat, to be sure. While I’m… Read more »
