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.