I had the opportunity to build a prototype for Multiple Sclerosis and elderly patients using an accelerometer.  I will show students how to collect and analyze the data generated by the accelerometer to make further predictions about the potential falls for MS patients and the elderly in hopes of designing a specialized prototype that would accommodate these types of patients. The data collected from simulating a fall will be used to investigate piece-wise functions in my Advanced Functions and Modeling classes.

My Fellowship with ASSIST at North Carolina State University has strengthened my confidence in the ability to incorporate technology experiments in mathematics and across the high school curriculum.  The fellowship has also sparked my interest in doing more research in the One Health Initiative and Grand Challenges. I feel empowered and more interested in project based lesson designs to increase awareness, critical thinking, and innovation in the area of mathematics.  I am now seeing new possibilities; networking with Professors, taking students on field trips etc.  Ultimately, students will have the opportunity  to see real world careers and how these careers incorporate mathematics to build, and analyze new ideas.  Other possibilities are networking with the business community to sponsor different project ideas used in my classroom.  Because of this experience, I feel empowered and knowledgeable to led my school and schools in the surrounding area in getting involved in designing prototypes that would benefit the sustainability of human and animal society.  I am no longer satisfied with the status quo of traditional teaching.  I am interested in using students’ interest or concerns in society to develop mathematical lessons.  I am also interested in having students to create a solution to their interest or concern and then linking their interest to mathematical situations with the use of technology.  My fellowship with ASSIST at NCSU has affirmed and assisted me in making the idea of incorporating realistic situations into mathematics and across the high school curriculum a reality!

Challenges and Successes of Designing Educational Resources Around My Product

The product I am creating is a wearable device that contains an accelerometer  to detect the horizontal, vertical, and rise/fall speed of a patient which causes the buzzer, and rgb lights to come on to prevent a fall.  The challenges of designing a product to be used as an educational resource were meeting the deadlines for  building the prototype, getting it to work properly, testing the product in order to  make a more efficient prototype.  Our project idea did not allow us to meet specific deadlines which took away the time I could have used to brainstorm tasks for a lesson.  Most our time was spent programming the arduino lilypad to work with the accelerometer and buzzer.  Although my group had some experience with C plus programming, we needed work time to get this activity done. Soon after creating our prototype with a working accelerormeter;  I was able to see how the data was collected and immediately saw how I could incorporate this design into a Mathematics lesson.  I was able to easily create a lesson around product by using the data collected from the accelerometer. However, after designing the lesson, I realized I had have to create a handout for a teacher and students that provide detailed instructions that would allow them to experience the same successes I did.  Again the biggest challenge I had with this overall experience was TIME .  However, I am still working to ensure this product and educational resources are effective lesson design that teachers could easily use; although my internship has ended.  I have contact information of engineers in the ASSIST program at NCSU that could help if I needed further assistance!

Innovation in our Mentoring Organizations

This internship has given me networking tools I can use to impact my mentor’s organization.  Although I have been in the education system for 15 years, I still don’t know all of the answers.   Besides our society  (youth especially have changed over the years and will continue to change “their mindset”).  I did not have access to the vast amount of technology that is around today;  so the mentor organization can not look the same as it did 15 years ago; ( only if we  want an excellent and ever growing organization).   Don’t get me wrong I believe the organization must keep a basic framework, because some  practices should never be compromised; such as the professional decorum of a teacher or any career.  However, my internship experience has shown me that it is “normal” and expected  to become  innovative in sparking change in an organization to fit the needs of a society and/or community: whether it is a mentoring organization, family organization,  business organization, school organization, political organization and much more.  I learned that if  I  can see a challenge, the new norm is to  use my prior knowledge, and innovation… I must not forget Collaborative TEAMWORK; which is the heart of building any organization into an excellent one; to create a more efficient and highly effective plan!

Goals as an Educator using Internship experience

One of the goals of the internship with ASSIST at NCSU  is to apply understanding of sensing technologies and system design toward the fabrication of a One Health inspired wearable sensor system. This goal exposed me to different types of emerging issues in our society that students should be made aware of.  Understanding and developing wearables made me a aware of the challenges our society faces and challenges that needs to be researched and analyzed in order to sustain human life.  As an educator, I realize that I should increase the students’ awareness of the One Health Challenges.  In the same way develop and design mathematically lessons that would show students how to use the data collected from these devices to make further predictions, analysis.  The ability to collect and analyze the data would motivate students to design and/or build devices that could solve world challenges involving One Health.

Another goal in the ASSIST program internship is to develop educational lessons focusing on One Health, energy harvesting, sensing, system design, nanotechnology, and prototyping this goal will  allow me to not only educate student about the One Health but also to inform teachers about one health and energy harvesting in order to sustain human life.  This experience allowed me to work with other educators to plan and design a lesson plan that I can use to train other teacher in mathematics and  also team up with other teachers across the curriculum how to incorporate One Health engineering design into a class lesson for the entire school.

I

I am a teacher at Knightdale High School.  I have been teaching for 14 ½ years.  In August of 2008 I begin teaching at Wake Early College.  Wake Early College mathematics program became a piloted school for the Core Plus Integrated Mathematics course that would soon become known as the Common Core Mathematics.  I begin to attend the Integrated Mathematics workshops held at the Durham School of Math and Science for two weeks.  This was in-depth training with teachers, doctorate students,  etc.. from all over the United States.  I also begin to attend with my principal the New Schools Project initiative in order to learn how to incorporate collaborative group experiences, and other types of instructional tool to effectively facilitate learning in the classroom.  I left Wake Early College to teach at Knightdale High School.  I experienced a culture shock, when I noticed the traditional style of teaching in the majority of the classrooms.  So, I started back teaching the traditional way too.  The students were disengaged, they seem to not care and/or seem interested in what I was teaching.  As a matter of fact, the discipline problems and cell phone usage became a teacher’s nightmare.  So, I restructured the classroom, I put the students in groups of 4’s and gave them real-world investigative problem based situations to solve.  They had to use the materials given to them along with instructions to work in groups and learn through discovery.  The students suddenly became very interested in the hands- on activity rather than sitting in their seat while I do direct teaching.  However, it did take time to train the students that we are not looking for right or wrong answers, but their ability to simulate a situation a come up with a logical explaination and/or reasoning based on their observation with little teacher input.  I was excited and what to share some of my ideas with the mathematics department at my school.  They begin to complain about me not staying up with the pacing guide and covering all of the material as mandated by the county which they said could result in my students not passing the state exam.  I became an outcast.  I was looked at not being competent in my ability to teach the students.  The suggestions I made to better the program were not valued and needed immediate attention from administration.  Common Core Mathematics was finally initiated which gave me a little freedom to continue with my investigative style teaching.  I was very excited about the new math launch for the county I attended every math training and development I could possibly attend.  Hoping to become a Professional Learning Team Leader, so that way I could share the things I learned with the staff, I was not asked to serve this position even after showing interest in the position.  So I begin to attend NCSU to obtain a Master’s degree hoping be seen as a leader at my school and in the county.  Due to the time and offering of the courses at NCSU.  I had to step away from graduate school at NCSU.  I decided instead to pursue my National Boards Certification with much success.  During all of this, I have noticed that students were becoming more interested in their devices rather that working through even hands on activity.  Our school became a BYOD school and had just got approval to change our school dynamics to Collaborative school with several institutes that would interest the students.  I knew I needed to be part of a workshop, internship, and/or group that would give me new and fresh ideas I could implement at my school and in the community to change the perception of our mathematics program, to renew the interest of our students in the areas of mathematics, to spark change in our school and community.  After reading much information about the Kenans Fellows Program, I knew that this would  lead me in the right direction and give me a system of network and resources I could use to support these ideas.  The goal of my internship is to incorporate nanotechnology and sensor tag devices to collect data and show student how to generate formulas and algorithms to develop a deeper understanding of mathematics.  My internship  will and has allowed me to practice creating lesson plans that have multiple task and solutions to the  a situation that involves One Health.  These goals will also show my students how to be aware of the the challenges and topics in our society.

Ultimately the Kenans Fellow internship will help me facilitate and promote critical thinking and problems solving  skills in the area of mathematics, across the curriculum, and in the community.

HIGHLIGHTS OF NCCAT (KENAN FELLOW 20015-16)

The highlights for the week for me were the sessions I attended such as blogging,  BYOD instructional tools, and  gamification.  Edcamp was also a highlight for me as well. I enjoyed being around a team of educators who what I describe as fearless.  I no longer felt like a rebel in education, but instead like part of a  team who of teachers who are excited about taking the initiative to change the  the rules of traditional education that would meet some of the challenges of our today’s youth.

I plan to implement some of the BYOD strategies, ChronoZoom, and Todaysmeet.com into my class. I will also work with the Kenan Fellows at my school to plan a community event at our school.  This professional development involved consisted of teachers with the same passion and mindset and as a result was rich and restored my passion about researching and not being afraid to incorporate new things into the class to meet the challenges in today’s education.

Sherri  P.

 The Kenan Fellow is a prestigious accomplish in the teaching profession.  I know that being known as a Kenan’s Fellow, I will be expected to lead, create a catalyst for change in the challenging areas of education.  The results will impact all departments and institutes at my school. The professional development and training I learn will allow me to lead by example and present those examples to the staff at my school.  I will impact teachers by informing them of the new web tools, gaming ideas, and collaborative group strategies (edcamp) etc. they can use in their classes to impact students interest in area of education. I will use the internship I am doing at NCSU to learn how to design lesson plans that are designed to be taught across the curriculum.  For an example, the first lesson I planned during my internship was with a Chemistry teacher.  At first we struggled with trying to come up with various ideas.  However, after much research and feedback from some of the professors at State, we were able to design an engineering lesson that involved determining which coffee cup provided the best insulation. We used the sensor devices to collect, and graph data. We were able to link some of the formulas from Calculus and Chemistry together to make more sense of the situation.

I learned so many innovative ways to plan, and motivate my school to feature a community event  across the curriculum at our school.  I will be using the resources and experiences I have gained to do more research, and write up a strategic plan to present to the Administrators and staff. I will  seek out other teacher leaders and/or potentials to delegate task managers to oversee different components of this  community event immediately upon arrival at the school(1st teacher workday or sooner).  I will make sure I include our local News for advertisement.  I will begin to work on grants and and seek out local businesses, parents, who would be willing to assist in the community wide event and to make sure we have funding to carry out this project.  I would like to this event to take place in September and/or during the first semester of this year.  I would like for the students to be involved by serving as representatives for each institute/ Career Pathway at our school.

Again an Awesome experience in the Kenan Fellows Professional Development.  We went white water rafting which something I have never done before. This idea caused me to be nervous about the uncertainty.  However I teamed up with a group of fellows I didn’t  know very well to experience the adventure. Listening carefully to our tour guide and working together as a team made my experience rafting safe, fun, and adventurous. As a reflection: I learned that teaming up with other professionals and trying new things we know that will impact our youth has uncertanties, can be accomplished with great communication, building relationships, and listening skills.

Sherri Pinkney

Words can not explain the depth and wealth of knowledge I gain yesterday at  during the professional development trainings I experience yesterday.  Wow where do I begin……

It started with a scrumptous breakfast followed by  and answer garden a technology tool I will definitely implement into my classroom.  I was given the opportunity to openly discuss some current challenges experienced by myself and other educators in the classroom.  We all seem to have shared the same concerns…..

I was able to get together with a team of Kenans Fellow who were working on the same product I am working on to brainstorm a product and lesson we can implement inside our classroom and along with address the challenges we discussed in our collaborative.

To make a long story short… I think I would crash the site if I sat a provided all of the goodies and knowledge imparted to me yesterday.  Overall I gained alot of tools and insight that would help me to solve some of the challenges we discussed in our group along with  how to share these ideas and it relevance to the administrators and staff at our school!