NCCAT was unique in that it made me reflect on the potential for professional development: the potential for future PD in my district and the potential that was wasted in PD’s past. I love the sessions with Paul and Justin on technology and strategies in the classroom. I have many ideas from project management strategies to small, inexpensive activities that will be easily implemented next year. I liked these sessions because they were broad enough to work in all grade levels, whereas some sessions were very specific to a particular area.

I have heard many folks mention that at NCCAT they felt they were treated as professionals, and I absolutely agree with that. I wanted to reflect on what this meant and how the details of NCCAT compared to other PD I have participated in. At what point do we stop feeling like we are valued as professionals?

The overarching theme that made NCCAT special was that we all desperately wanted to be there to better ourselves as professionals and to figure out how to improve the education of the students we teach. I do not remember a moment throughout the week when any individual complained about their situation AND was unwilling to listen to advice from another Fellow. To see colleagues go from excited to enthralled is one of the most motivating aspects of PD. How do you capture that, bottle it, and take it all the way back to, in my case, east of I-95 where resources are significantly limited and complaints are at their highest? How do you combat statements like, “I can’t do that with MY kids.”,  “I don’t have time. I still have so much curriculum to teach.”, “I can’t handle the noise.”? How do these trivial roadblocks prevent educators from wanting to rise to a new and innovative level? I hear all the time,  that a particular teacher has phenomenal test scores so he/she must be doing something right. When I hear this I automatically think that the reason why the kids are succeeding is because they’ve been trained to regurgitate information and they are exceptionally good at it. Our job as Kenan Fellows is to take one for the team in regards to test scores and help our future leaders get to the point where their lives are not about A, B, C, and D, but rather about solving a problem and communicating knowledge with others. Academic language is the key to the assessment of knowledge! This is a monumental task, but after NCCAT I realize, very clearly, why it is not only important, but imperative, that we do all we can to reach as many people as possible to aid in the transformation of education in North Carolina.

This week we officially begin our Kenan Fellows experience and it is so exciting to be around educators who are all excited and motivated by the same things. Within hours I have heard multiple Fellows mention that this is the one experience they have been most excited about in years! I am starting my third year of teaching this school year and as a beginning teacher I don’t have a way of “doing things” yet. I have experimented with many teaching strategies, technologies, and resources and am always excited to learn new things. I primarily want to learn how to implement technology in a meaningful way. Often times, we are given technology with no guidelines, or even suggestions and it is through a sometimes grueling process of trial and error that teachers figure things out on their own. When I hear teachers, experienced and new alike, talk about all the steps they go through to figure something out, and finally (maybe?) get something right regarding technology it is so easy to relate because regardless of the county, it seems we are all in the same boat. No one really knows the best way to do things, but we are all just working hard and devoting hours upon hours to figuring out how to make our lives easier as teachers, and most importantly, how to help our kids succeed and be as prepared as possible when they enter the “real world.”

Within the few hours we spent together on Day One at NCCAT we have already exchanged emails, resources, ideas, struggles, celebrations, stories, frustrations and excitement for all that is to come. While apprehensive at times, it is crystal clear that I am sitting in a room with 42+ educators who are willing to do and try anything if it means enhancing their careers as educators and and helping students be successful. From technology, to notebooking, to literacy skills, to STEM/STEAM integration, and so much more, I can’t wait to learn and experience as much as I can to not only improve my classroom, but the classrooms of my colleagues.