Often people envy a teacher’s job solely for a chance at having summers “off” forever.  Of course anyone with a third or even sixth degree connection to a teacher knows that we are never off, but always thinking with our classrooms in mind. It is clear that the Kenan Fellows program is an outstanding example of what a teacher’s summer should look like. Relaxing, reflecting, redefining goals, and doing something professional were outlined as keys to a meaningful summer for teachers. Kenan Fellows provided me opportunities for all of the preceding components.

Breaks and downtime were strategically placed throughout our professional development sessions in order to provide time for us to relax in the company of other energized, passionate, and hard-working colleagues. The relaxation and reflection pieces were often intertwined. Some of my most meaningful conversations from this program took place during the less structured downtimes. Having the chance to listen and think about what science instruction looks like across both grade levels and communities in comparison to the varied summer internship experiences as Kenan Fellows allowed us all to have a different perspective on science instruction in our own classrooms. How could I connect my classroom with others in the school? This was a question that I had not considered before my experiences, but after listening to ways that fellows had already used or planned to use to connect their students with their school communities my brain was flowing with ideas for my students to work with others when I returned in August. One teacher spoke about starting a school garden as a PBL. Another teacher spoke about her upper grades students mentoring lower grades students as they grew plants by helping the lower grades students design scientific questions to ask throughout their trials in order to help upper grade students develop a stronger understanding of the scientific method. Together, these ideas inspired me to write a grant to receive materials to begin a school compost. My students are currently working on figuring out how the compost will operate and how to involve our entire school community in the project. And to think that all of this came from the “relaxing” part of my summer experience it is no wonder that my year has felt very different in a positive way in my classroom.

Being able to work in a professional setting allowed me to very naturally reflect on and redefine goals for my classroom setting. Keeping my classroom in mind, I was surprised at how hard I tried to find all of my students a potential job during my time at Bayer CropScience. Perhaps it was because I was moving from department to department at a rapid pace and was trying to make connections to better understand all of the new information I was taking in. Regardless of why, between the personalities that I encountered and specialized tasks for various jobs I found myself constantly thinking about which of my students would fit into certain positions where they could be successful. This wasn’t the case for solely my most recent students either, I was suddenly thinking of students from years past as well. As the experience remains fresh in my mind, I have continued this thinking in the new school year and have made post-internship assessments of what positions my new students could fit into. Reflecting in this way allowed me to see that there is truly a place for everyone in scientific settings. This has led me on a mission of finding ways to make a place for all students in my science lessons.

There are countless other curriculum-based connections and reflections I made throughout my internship at Bayer that have led to adjustments in my goals for student outcomes. However numerous these may be, I keep coming back to the importance of finding a comfortable “niche” for all students in the science classroom because as with anything in teaching, the relationship piece is so vital. With many of my previous students having a natural affinity for science lessons due to nuance and curiosity, I realized this summer that I had not given as much thought as I am capable of giving to ensure that students not only find roles, but find the best roles for their learning in science.

My reflections and realizations could not have happened as part of my day-to-day mentality that is driven by my classroom and role as a teacher. To someone outside of the world of education it may appear contradictory that I would need to step out of my classroom in order to better my teaching; but because I was able to step out of my classroom while keeping my classroom in mind, I was able to have paradigm shifts in my concepts of what teaching and learning could look like in my classroom.

What I’m trying to say here is that I’m not sure there is one particular advancement institute that was my favorite because the parts I have truly been able to take away from each are equally important. It is difficult to separate the institutes because I see them each as puzzle pieces that come together to form part of a puzzle that I am always putting together in my journey as a teacher.