I teach at Moore Square Middle School in downtown Raleigh.  I love working at a magnet school.  Each student has three elective classes a day (in addition to four core classes).  Every teacher teaches some kind of elective class.  The one that I am offering now is called field biology.  We will spend the majority of the time in the elective class on contributing to Deanna’s ant research.  She has even offered to come in and conduct a classroom trial to collect hemolymph from ants.  She would bring in the equipment that we would need to use and she would conduct the lesson.

With field biology, the ant experiments will tie in perfectly!  We have already been looking at food webs and food chains.  We have also already done some research into bats.  I had our magnet coordinator order some supplies for us but we are waiting for them to come in.  When we have our supplies, we will be ready to begin our ant lessons!  I can’t wait!  I hope that they get as excited as I was when I was working in the lab!

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I came into this experience with the aspiration of being a better teacher.  Many people want to be better teachers, but where can we learn to do that?!  The Kenan Fellowship is an excellent place to start!  In a career field that is constantly negative and controversial, participating in the Fellowship has been a breath of fresh air.  I feel supported and understood.  I feel refreshed!  I am ready to begin implementing more rigorous and scientific lesson plans in my classroom.

I held many conversations with museum staff to arrange field trips with my classes.  My school is very close to the museum and we can walk there in 15 minutes.  I talked with one of the discovery labs about creating activities that relate to insects and ants.

I am always on the look-out for big opportunities for my students.  I never know what will inspire them to be something great.  I want to show them the world and have them run with it!  Who knows; maybe they will one day help Deanna with her research in the lab.  One of my students could potentially find the connection between ant pathogens and the human community!

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These four weeks have flown by!  I can not believe that the majority of my Kenan Fellowship is over!  Everyday at the museum has been packed with exploration, laughter, and fellowship (I know, totally cliche!)

The most interesting moment that I had was talking on the stage of the Daily Planet.  I have never presented something to that capacity before.  I have been asked to present to our staff members in faculty meetings but nothing like this!  I was so nervous!  Kelly and Cooper got me through it 🙂

The biggest challenge would be networking.  I want some lasting relationships (personal and professional).  I struggled at the beginning with being heard during group chats.  As time went on, this became easier.  I am just not someone who will shout to be heard over others!  I enjoyed the one on one time that I was able to participate in so I could talk too 🙂

We had the pleasure of touring all of the labs in the museum.  It was so cool to see where every other team was working and what they were dealing with.  We had a single mentor but we were able to gain insight from every professional we came across.

My biggest takeaway is the anxiety of ‘real’ research.  In school, teachers teach their students that the scientific method is a set of clear, concise steps that you use while conducting an experiment.  However, Deanna showed us that’s not the case!  Experimentation and research are messy!  We would spend half of the day working on something and have it not be what we intended to happen.  I’m making it a priority that my students realize that too during this school year in 7th grade science.

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Successes:  We have an excellent mentor who helps us when we’re stuck.  When Team Ants was trying to find classroom supplies that were budget friendly, Deanna and her group of undergrad students helped us research.  We wouldn’t be able to purchase an incubator for our classrooms, so we used a cardboard box instead.  It serves the same purpose.  Team Ants also worked very well together.  We shared information, inspired one another, talked about personal matters, and participated in tasks that we never have had the opportunity to before (like drawing hemolymph from ants).  The museum staff were helpful and welcoming.  It was so good to get to know them!

Challenges: Sometimes I felt that our team was out of the loop.  We were a brand new cohort and Deanna didn’t know many things that other mentors knew.  I don’t believe that it was her fault though.  I just think it was overlooked!  We also had to make adjustments to the equipment that we would need (but that turned out alright!)  We haven’t heard anything else yet on how we can get materials purchased that we need.  It’s also been a challenge in our team as to when we will be implementing these plans.  I am fortunate enough to teach an elective class that I can easily incorporate my plans into our everyday activities.  However, my two other team members don’t have that luxury.

All in all, we had more successes by far!  Whew, feels good to say that!

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When I started the internship, I thought that I would be able to contribute all kinds of info to Deanna!  When we started our first experiment, I realized that would not be the case.  In order for any kind of data to be reliable, there are many precautions that we need to take.  Everything must be sterilized and measurements taken precisely.  Team Ants understood the complications that we would face by trying to do this in our classrooms.  How would we be able to conduct these same procedures at our schools?  We don’t have the proper equipment and we can’t control the conditions in our classroom like we can in the lab.

Deanna helped us come up with an alternate plan so that we can contribute data to her studies.  Our students will conduct ant behavior studies that Deanna can use.  We will bring ant colonies into our classrooms, set them up in Petri dishes, and observe their behavior to document into a data table.  The next lesson plan is about isolating pathogens in soil.  I do not think that this data set will be contributed to Deanna.  We talked about setting up a Google Doc to record our classes discoveries and compare with one another.

I really hope that we will be useful!  It’s a concern of mine!

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Being an educator is challenging!  It’s overwhelming, stressful, and AMAZING!  I feel incredibly grateful that Deanna has experience in a classroom.  She is able to relate to common struggles that teachers deal with.  When we were trying to figure out how to implement lesson plans related to our research, she was so very helpful when Team Ants experienced road blocks.

When I started my internship, I had many goals for myself both personally and professionally.  As I started my internship and worked my way through it, some of these goals stayed the same and some of them changed.  The common thread that was always consistent (my number one goal) was to become a teacher that doesn’t skip over awesome opportunities for professional advancement.  I truly believe in the power of STEM education.  The issue I have run into has been support and resources.  Throughout this whole process, I have kept my goal in the forefront of my mind.  I have received tons of support from the Fellowship and my school alike.  Now I just have to get comfortable with setting these plans in motion!

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To pick the highlight of my week at NCCAT is going to be difficult.  I am a very decisive person (which means that I make choices quickly and easily).  My dilemma is that I have too many instances from NCCAT to choose from.  Let me give it a shot though . . .

In the teaching world, it’s very uncommon to be a part of a team of adults who are positive about their work.  Since there is always something bothering somebody, teachers get burned out pretty quickly.  At NCCAT, I was surrounded by other adults who share the same vision for the public education system and they were POSITIVE!  At first I thought that everyone was pretending to be on their best behavior, but as time passed I realized that these people were genuine and enthusiastic.

I appreciated the fact that the presenters were familiar with the classroom and understand our daily struggles in the classroom.  Because of this, they were able to give us resources and ideas that we could actually use!

And oh-em-gee, how could I forget to mention white-water rafting?!  I have never done that before!  It was a blast!  The amount of teamwork to make that event successful is astounding. On the ride to the river, I thought I was going to be sick!  I was so nervous (rightfully so because I am the most clumsy person I know).  I chose to raft with a group that would keep my mind occupied, and oh did they 🙂 

I don’t know how to properly put into words how much I appreciated that week!  I plan on implementing some #augmentedreality tools that were introduced to me from Dayson Paison.  I don’t know who created those tools but, man they are cool!  I was really looking forward to the gamification session with Cindy Bullard, but the majority of the session was spent on the ideology of gamification, not how to implement it in your classroom.

In a work week at NCCAT, I accomplished so much!  I ate amazing food, expressed my opinion, sat by a campfire, jumped into the coldest water I think I’ve ever felt, watched wild elk, and made lifetime friendships.  I wish that every teacher could experience NCCAT.

I truly believe that it is crucial for teachers to have ongoing opportunities to learn from one another.  I trust that, through the Kenan Fellowship, I will be introduced to material to re-vamp my classroom.  By becoming a Kenan Fellow, I am granted a chance to work with professionals who can teach me how to implement  research that is discovered about student learning patterns.

This opens a world of possibilities for my 7th grade students!  They will be able to apply real world knowledge and modern technology to the content they’re learning if I have the proper foundation to teach them with. I will have the chance to use new technological tools for my classroom lessons and be exposed to new curriculum resources to engage students in my science lessons. The Kenan Fellowship can provide guidance in creating these types of lessons.

I am also looking forward to developing a relationship to promote collaboration amongst myself and my peers.  By connecting with colleagues through the Kenan fellowship, I will be able to plan project-learning instruction that can relate to real-world issues.

I know, I know.  You’re probably thinking “Only the biggest nerd in the world would be this excited about adding more work to their life”.  True, I may be slightly crazy to be so excited about more work. But think of how many students will be influenced by this group of teachers who committed themselves to further education!  Which teacher has the student who will cure cancer?  Who has the next Einstein?  A future president?  No one knows; just means I must teach my heart out every single day and never settle for being a mediocre teacher.