Where Do I Teach?
I am a proud teacher at Neal STEM Academy of Engineering and Design in Durham, NC.
What Do I Teach?
I have the pleasure of teaching Automation & Robotics to students in 6th-8th grade. I have incorporated a Shark Tank PBL into my classroom. The students really are engaged and challenged in this project, it incorporates key concepts and skills learned in the course as well as 21st century skills. Check out our Shark Tank competition from last semester! I hope to integrate many of the concepts, tools and instructional strategies learned at my Kenan fellowship into my robotics curriculum.
Why I Became a Kenan Fellow!
The experience of working as a Kenan fellow will allow me to provide my students with explicit and detailed knowledge of what they can expect, when choosing a STEM career focus. I want my students to understand that in order to create product using robotics concepts and programming; they first have to understand the problem and the solutions to the problem. I believe that my students will receive the greatest benefit of my participation in the Kenan Fellowship program. I will be able to provide them with knowledge of how the engineering design process is used and applied in real life. Real life application is what my students need. This also allows students to make connections which improve the teaching and learning process.
Wearable Device: Nanotechnology Kenan Fellowship with Dr. Jesse Jur at North Carolina State University!
The goal of the wearable devices fellowship is to (1) use the engineering design process to develop a wearable device for humans/animals, (2) investigate sensors and how they can be used to monitor health conditions in wearable devices, (3) investigate ways to harvest energy (the goal of the program is to create wearable devices that are self-powered) (4) develop lesson plans based on the professional development and various tools that have be introduced into my robotics classroom (5) understand the science behind nanotechnology including the equipment used to observe nano particles (6) make suggestions and improvements for the OneHealth competition as well as create teams on the school level and (7) create partnership with local engineering businesses.
I am excited to learn, grow and use these tools and real life experiences in my classroom!
