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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.