Tag Archives: professional development

Week #5’ish- Kenan Fellows PD and back at the Co-op!

This week was the second of three professional development institute that was held by Kenan Fellows Program. I  spent Thursday in the field with Monica and Dale seeing all of the steps involved in staking new services.  There was a board meeting that afternoon and I had the opportunity to share my experiences and academic plan with the Board of Directors for EM-EMC.

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Telling the board a little bit about my summer…

Oh no– are we really going to talk POLITICS?!

In the first part of the week during our professional development, my fellow fellows and I spent some time learning about the importance of making connections with the folks that make the most important decisions– our lawmakers. Many teachers join organizations like NCAE and PENC for their lobbying power. While there isn’t anything wrong with joining those organizations (most of them have quite a few ‘perks’ like professional insurance-very valuable!), we learned that teachers and leaders are most effective in the political arena when we create and nurture relationships with our local representatives. This can be a daunting task, and time consuming, but is worth doing in order to be an advocate for our students and our profession. These relationships can be forged outside of any association with a professional organization by a little bit of planning and some homework before meeting any representatives. My takeaway from this: Sticking my head in the sand and ignoring politics does absolutely nothing for my profession. I must begin taking baby steps to become an activist for current and future teachers and students. This may be one of the most important responsibilities I have as a teacher leader. I plan on inviting my representatives to my classroom this year, stay tuned for details on that!

Whew, back in my comfort zone- SCIENCE!

We spent time Tuesday morning with staff from the NC Science Museum learning about and practicing citizen science. We also scored some AMAZING new field guides for birds (Sibley) bugs (Kaufman), and trees.

We also used some apps for our citizen science project that centered around Lake Raleigh. The fun and cool thing about citizen science is that can be done ANYWHERE, by ANYONE. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and the impact is huge as more people become interested in and engage with citizen science. Below are the apps we used:

eBird is used for sharing information about bird sightings

iNaturalist and Natures Notebook are both more general sites for sharing citizen science observations. Natures Notebook is great for sharing phenology information for flora and fauna right in your backyard– citizen science from home!

Plover approved.

Almost the end…

It was wonderful to be reunited with my Kenan family. We were able to share information and receive feedback on our curriculum products, reconnect and hear ALL ABOUT each others fellowships, and enjoy being in the company of like-minded professionals. SO REFRESHING. I have one more week– 5 days– left of internship. It is so hard to believe it is almost over. It has been a whirl-wind summer and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Again, thank you to KFP, NCEMC, EMEMC for supporting my work this summer. It has been transformative, informative, and simply amazing! Also thanks to my family– my husband and children, my parents, and my in-laws who have been so generous in their assistance with my children. I couldn’t have done any of this without them!

Keep both eyes open

One of the ‘big questions’ that seem to be resurfacing A LOT lately is : “what exactly are the goals of the project and how will this be used in the classroom?”

A little adjustment goes a long way… it also helps to keep both eyes open!

The picture above describes perfectly the result of some initiatives and professional development that I’ve participated in. My KFP experience has been the opposite– it is becoming more and more clear what educators need to do to send out students who are ready to positively contribute  to society.  The ultimate goal of any professional development is to equip the teacher to make a bigger impact on the student. The experiences I’ve had, the content I’ve learned, and the relationships I’ve made throughout my time with Kenan Fellows will mean that I return to my classroom renewed and ready to get to work with a fresh new set of ‘tools’ in my tool kit. I’ll also have new relationships with like-minded people– new friends that I can collaborate with and share ideas, strategies, and successes with. Here are just a few of my take-aways that will imeediately impact my lesson planning and teaching in my classroom:

1. Technology has a time and place. Digitizing an assignment or lesson for the sake of digitizing it isn’t always best. Yes, conservation of paper resources is important. Yes, students respond to use of technology in the classroom, but sometimes….

2. Let the students talk. I’ll be taking up phones a lot more in my class this semester. The Snap Chat, Instagram and Facebook are all valuable tools that students use to communicate, but the most valuable tool is their mouth and ears. It’s time to look at some basics of communication to ensure that our students can be effective communicators outside of the technology that they are so tied to. At the same time, I’m working to…

3. Meet them where they are. While I’ll be looking at getting back to basics in some aspects of my classroom, I’ll also be looking to gamify my classroom for the first time. This is huge for me, because I’m not much of a ‘gamer’.

No really, this is the extent of my ‘gaming’…

So I’ll start small in the fall and work on making my classroom more gamified. I am excited about this because I think it will really engage some students who are otherwise not all about school work. I’ll also work on using more tools that my students use in order to connect with them– I plan on having a class Instagram account and using resources like Goose Chase more often with my students. And even though it’s all fun and games, I want students to learn even more about…

4. Real Life.  You know, that when they graduate high school they will go to college or get a job or join the military. Internship specific stuff like–

a. Careers. There is more to do out there than being a doctor, lawyer, teacher, nurse, or cosmetologist. All of those are important and noble choices, but lets face it– there is SO MUCH MORE out there.

b. Electric Utilities. It’s important for students to understand the way these services work– how you sign up, why your bill is higher during some months (and how to make it lower), why the power goes out in a storm (and what to do when it does go out),

There’s more to it than that…

And finally, last but not least…

c. The science behind electricity and electrical services. Beyond the flow of electrons, there is so much to consider. From how lines are run (the amount the ‘sag’ in the middle is a big deal and has a complicated formula for determining how much the linemen sag the lines based on air temp when installing the lines to determine how much additional sag they will develop as they settle) to line size and composition, to transmission and transformers to distribution and consumption– there is SO MUCH to consider when thinking about how electricity is supplied.

 

 

Week #2, NCCAT, Cullowhee, NC

As a coastal plains gal it is always fun to enjoy some topography when I head to the mountains. Since my project is all about electricity I was also super attentive to the fact that they have to get lines up and down all those mountains. #thinkaboutit

Anywho, Say hello to Dixie on her blog debut– she really missed me while I was at NCCAT. The humans did too, but I think she missed me most:

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“I’m just gonna nap till mama comes home”~Dixie

NCCAT. Wow. Where to start? I learned so much, had so much fun, and met so many awesome people. It was like summer camp for grown ups. You know that feeling you have on the last day of vacation when you have to return to reality, and you aren’t all that happy about it? The drive home Friday was a lot of that mixed with excitement and anticipation of seeing my family again.  During my time at NCCAT it was so refreshing to be presented with PD that was cutting edge– not something I’d already heard before– and be around people who are ‘in the trenches’ and dedicated to making their school, county, state, and world a better place to live, work, and learn.

To help focus my ramblings, this post will be divided into a few parts:

1. What did I learn?

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#truth “Paddle…. people!!”

a. PBL— I’ll be doing much more research and asking fellows about it, and I *think* I do some of this already, I just want to formalize it and streamline procedure and products.

b. Gamification/augmented reality– I learned enough to see that these activities lead to students who are more engaged and active in their learning. Isn’t that what we’re all about?

c. EdCamp-– I REALLY want to bring EdCamp to eastern NC. So, if you happen to read this and want to work together to make this happen, let me know! I see so much potential for EdCamp ‘rules’ to transform PD and even staff meetings in our schools.

I learned SO MUCH MORE, and I’ll be sharing those resources/ideas individually on later posts as I work more with them and figure out where and how they fit with my curriculum and school.

2. What did I do? Other than the Professional development we did, we had a day out on Wednesday. It was actually a LONG DAY that started with a 6:30 am hike with my new friends before heading on a river excursion. I was terrified and thrilled all at the same time.  I almost lost my hat in the rafting experience– the picture below was taken immediatly after we went over the Class III fall on the Nantahala River. I can’t recommend Nantahala Outdoor Center enough— excellent services, and our guide, Katy Dennis, was TOP NOTCH. I mean, look at all of us in the picture, scared to death, and she’s in the back smiling, looking cool, calm and collected. GO KATY! I ended the day by taking a group of my new friends to one of my FAVORITE PLACES ON THIS PLANET– Cataloochie Valley to see the elk! I was pleased that the elk were there and I had so much fun playing ‘tour guide’.

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“I will not drown, I will not drown, I will not drown”~Me

11216723_10204742720233200_506243618873866623_nThe Cataloochie Crew!

3. Who did i meet? I met some of the best educators in NC. Seriously- there was so much brain power, heart, and dedication in the room during our PD sessions it was unreal and super humbling to even be there.  New teachers, experienced teachers, high school teachers, elementary teachers, science teachers, art teachers and everyone in between. It was a unique experience– 90% of the PD I have done has been MS/HS science. WOW– I’ve been missing out on so much! I am so excited for our next time we get together– and I’m thankful for the ways we will keep in touch between now and then!

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Kenan Fellows for 2015-2016

That’s a good looking group of educators, if I do say so myself!

4. Whats next?

Tomorrow I start my second week at the co-op and I am super excited. Monica and I will meet at the office at 7:00am to head out with the line crew. This week will hold many adventures and I am ready for each day. I also will be working on my project and updating my blog through out the week– look for reflections on my time with the line crew as well as a deeper look into the co-op’s history and solar power.

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