I know what some of you are thinking, what made you decide to up and start a blog? Was it boredom? My workaholic tendencies? Or just just my desire to show off my rad skills? And the answer to all of the above is, no, honestly it wasn’t by my choice at all, in fact, it was an assignment I fought pretty hard on. The thought of my words being out there for everyone to see, well, that terrified me. Not only do I absolutely SUCK with grammar, but I my confidence on what I had to offer was pretty low. My experience is still being measured in small doses, and I’m far from a teacher prodigy, so why was I picked for this task?
But…
Life is funny like that that, sometimes it’s the things that make you step out of your comfort zone are the things that you need the most. You see, as a teacher, sometimes we compare ourselves to all the greats, you know, the Mr. Feeny’s of the world. But what we fail to realize is, every teacher starts out exactly where we are now. Every teacher has moments where they feel unqualified and like they can barely keep their head above water. But guess what, we make it through. We are the Mr. Feeny’s in the making, we are the ones who have the ability to change the world through these tiny humans (or big humans if you’re in high school like me). However, we can’t do it alone, we need to lean on each other. Teaching isn’t a one man sport, it takes a village.
So, how did I get to this profound moment? It all started the spring semester of ’18. As teachers we are life long learners, so when we get to the moment where we feel stuck, it’s extremely unsettling, and that semester I had reached that moment. So, I decided to do something about it, I sent in my application for the Kenan Fellowship and somehow they decided this millennial would be a good fit. It hasn’t been easy, in fact, its been pretty difficult, but this experience has been nothing but a positive one and an experience that not only has taught me how to be a better teacher, but one that has given me the resources to overcome any obstacles that come my way.
For this fellowship, I will be focusing on bringing the knowledge of apprenticeship programs into the high schools throughout CMS. It is my plan to not only provide resources to the high schools but also hold info sessions for students that are unaware of the options other that college and a job, because lets face it, we all know not every student is meant for college, but what we fail to confess is, that decision is absolutely okay. I believe we should be encouraging students to be great at what they want to do, instead of mediocre at what everyone tells them they should do. I will be spending my summer days working at Groninger, studying their process, and then collaborating with Apprenticeship Charlotte on the best ways to provide awareness to the high schools within CMS. If this is something you are interested in learning more about please reach out to me! I would love to talk with you more!