The NCCAT experience has been amazing. My brain is just buzzing with information and ideas this morning. I feel like I need to go home, sleep for a week, and then spend another week processing it all. I now have a strong network of teachers who are going through the same experiences I am, and I am so grateful to all the Kenan alums who came back to share with us and support us.
I was surprised to find that the most valuable session for me was our day on the river. I knew that it would be the most fun, but before coming, I wondered whether it would really relate to teaching, or just be a break and a bonding experience. The skill with which the guides taught us about the environment, history, and culture of the area, without ever feeling like a lecture really inspired me to figure out ways to get my students into environmental settings they haven’t seen before, give them some adventure to wake up their minds, and teach them something relevant along the way.
I’m not sure yet how I’ll do that in my classroom, but there are a few things that I know will show up in my classroom this fall. I will definitely be playing more music in my classroom (thanks, Eric Rowles!), and giving my students the chance to try writing lab reports as infographics (thanks, Vance Kite!).
The only session of the entire week that I really didn’t enjoy was the culture session. I thought the information was really valuable, but the way it was presented, mostly as lecture with very little interaction, just didn’t work for me. This is a good reminder to avoid this strategy in my own classroom, and to have four days of PD with only one not-so-great session is pretty impressive, and certainly better than any other professional development experience I have ever had.