WOW, I cannot believe I have finished my final product.  I had so much fun planning and working on my product.

My project required a lot of time and planning to make it successful.  I brought in my mentor and a nurse from the hospital to check cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels of all my students in my Math 1 class (21 students).  Before we could perform these test, I had to get it approved from my Superintendent, Principal, parents, and my mentor also had to get it approved at the hospital level.  There were a lot of paper work to go along with just getting it approved.  However, after getting it approved, everything else seemed easy.  My students really enjoyed having the nurses come in to perform the test and being able to use their own data in math class.  With their data students created scatterplots, drew trend lines, and calculated the linear regression.

Even though it was a long process to make my product successful, I plan on doing this same activity every year with my Math 1 students.  I would also like to be able to do it with my regular 8th Grade Math Students in the future.  I would even like to get more schools involved.  Maybe starting out with adding 1 school every year and just doing Math 1 Students.  I really feel that this project would benefit every student in my County.

When teaching my students about volume, I gave them the formulas for a cone and cylinder.   We were reading over the formulas and I was trying to come up with ways to help my students be able to understand the formulas and why the are what they are.  So we started to discuss the formulas for cylinder and cone.  I began by questioning them on what they notice about the two formulas that are similar and different.  Students quickly noticed that they are exactly the same except for cone has 1/3 in its formula were as a cylinder does not.  Then I started to question the students, why do you think the formula for a cone has the 1/3 and a cylinder does not?  I gave them a few minutes to think about the questions and discuss with their neighbors.  Before telling them if they were right or what the correct answer was, I let them do a little hands on experience (they were given sand, a film can, and a piece of paper that was already measure out correctly to turn into a cone).  The took the cone and filled it with sand.  They poured the sand into a film can until it was full.  The students quickly found out that it would take 3 cones to fill the cylinder which is why the formula for a cone has the 1/3 and the formula for a cylinder does not.

If it would have not been for my Kenan Fellowship Experience, I would have just given the formulas to the students and told them to remember them.  My fellowship taught me that I needed to explain why to students and give them a visual to help them understand.  Having the students figure the problem out on their own also gives them a sense of ownswership which will help them remember the formula much longer than just memorizing it.

My fellowship has changed me not only as a teacher but a person.  I have learned how to collaborate with other teachers who share the same love.  Collaboration is a big part of teaching that helps to make you a better teacher.  You have to have an open mind and be willing to take the adventure.  Keeping the kids engaged and wanting to learn more is the key to successful teaching.  I have also learned how to incorporate more real world experiences into my daily lessons.  This is how I catch the students attention and get them to wanting more.  When they can relate to the content on a personal level they tend to grasp the concept better.

If it wouldn’t have been for my Kenan Fellowship, I would have never been willing to make learning an adventure!