Happy 2019. I know I am late in this greeting, but even so I hope that the year has started off smoothly for you. At the beginning of the year like many I set a list of goals for the year. So that when I reflect back on the 2019 I can think through what I have accomplished and how I have grown in measurable ways.
This 2018-2019 school year I set out to do something awesome which was to explain the brand that Exploris has. In addition to that, I set out to understand my own brand. What drives me to wake up in the morning and go to work? Beyond answering those questions, my goals this year have been to inspire vision in my students and to expose them to engineering tasks to create a classroom of problem solvers and risk takers. I also wanted to connect my students to different members in the community to bring learning to life in a new way.
I believe that I am doing that. I believe I am doing a great job of it, in fact. I have not however, helped explain this mentality about teaching to many other people (teachers) at this point. My goal in the coming weeks is to do my best to articulate how being a Kenan Fellow has influenced my career by further developing an essay on my philosophy, as well as continue to develop a portion of my curriculum.
So how has being a Kenan Fellow impacted my career?
For starters, having the Kenan Fellow brand attached to my name has helped me to be more assertive. Within my own classroom, amongst my staff, and the teaching community at large.
“Assertive” not in a mean or aggressive way, but in a way that makes my messaging clear and helps me present it with a vision. Being part of the Kenan Fellow brand that has helped me believe in my own message. It has empowered me by seeing myself as a teacher who has a voice that is worthy of being heard.
The way I see it, I do not do things for recognition, or awards, or prizes. In fact, I shocked myself by even applying to become a Kenan Fellow. It’s important that others do not see this as an opportunity for me to gloat or seek praise that I am not worthy of. Rather, I hope to continue to build relationships with teachers in my school and my community and encourage them to try new things alongside of me.
I also want to empower teachers who maybe don’t share in the Kenan Fellow name to know that they too have a voice worthy of being heard. Because we spend our souls on loving and supporting our students we truly are the experts in our classrooms. However, this does not mean we are the experts in every field. Which is why I have worked hard this year to create partnerships with community members who can add a new perspective to my teaching approach and expose my students to new ideas. I believe other teachers can do this too!
I want teachers to understand they already have the toolkit they will need to plan and design curriculum that propels our students into the unknown future. So that in turn they will equip their students with the knowledge they will need and also the skills they must have to be successful. I believe more than instilling intelligence we must help our students develop resilience, grit, patience, discipline, respect, reflection, and a collaborative mentality.
Being a Kenan Fellow has made me more assertive, passionate, empowered, and has helped me understand the need for community connection. While I consider myself to be a master teacher, I am not a geologist, a chef, an architect, an engineer, a doctor, an astronaut and as much as I can set out to learn what they all do, there is nothing more authentic than creating space in the classroom for teachers and community to come together to empower the next generation.
I believe in myself in a whole new way and I hope by sharing some of what I’ve been doing with my students this year I will inspire another teacher to try something new. While I know there will continue to be learning outcomes over time as I continue through this process I am excited to start sharing more about what this experience has meant to me.
Sometimes, when you’re living in the present it’s hard to process and see all the ways that you are growing. But, at this point in the school year. I’m finally ready to start sharing what this has meant to me.
I can’t wait to see what happens next.
-Ms. A