….and we are off….after a quick stop in Raleigh to pick up Maria, we are Cullowhee bound. Kenan Fellows and NCCAT LOOK OUT! Or, so we thought….as they say, life happens. Inch by inch….minute by minute…AAANNND a road closed we finally make it to NCCAT. Only an hour late! So, much for my motto to my students, always be 10 minutes early, because if you are on time you are late and if you are late, don’t show up. Well, we still showed up! And what an awesome time I had at NCCAT with my other Kenan Fellows. These are 40 of the greatest educators and people I have had the pleasure to work with and in this short time we have all become a close knit family.
This has been a remarkable week of professional development. The Kenan Fellowship and NCCAT delivers professional development that is relatable, engaging and interactive. Forget sitting at a table and being bored. This PD has you engaged, involved and collaborating during the entire week. NCCAT and Kenan Fellow PD follows the model of innovation and engaging lessons. The team building activity is definitely innovative. In no other setting would we get the in-depth experience of team building skills as putting 6 educators in a raft and sending them down the Nantahala River. Whitewater rafting allows the Kenan Fellows to work on communicating, working in sync, trust, collaboration, efficiency and active listening skills.
There are several things I plan to The first thing I plan to implement is the idea of a Position Statement school wide and a Departmental Position Statement. I also plan on using music mashups as a part of my beginning class routine and transition times. Finally, my next implementation will be a long term process of introducing PBL. I suggest long term because I would eventually like to have the majority of my colleagues introducing PBL in their classrooms. I envision this process of collaboration of projects to be cross curricular.
I found the PBL, Getting the Whole School Involved, and Data Series sessions the most valuable PD sessions. These sessions have led to my continuing on with their teachings into my classes and introducing the ideas to my colleagues. I plan to follow through with the Data Literacy training offered. After the 15 week course, I further plan on offering the training to teachers at my school and in my county.
Culture Matters was an informative session. However, I feel the session would have better suited my needs for culture information if it had offered more resources for my classroom on culture diversity. I feel as though the presentation was designed more for a business presentation and not geared toward education or classroom needs.
However, I thought all of the sessions were useful and I plan on taking a lot of resources back to my class and school. I thank NCCAT and Kenan Fellowship, past Kenan Fellows, and other presenters for all of their hard work and dedication to education. It is because of them that I am beginning a fantastic Kenan Fellow experience.