I am beginning my 3rd week “externing” at Siemens Energy Hub in Charlotte as part of the 2018-2019 Kenan Fellowship. Whatever I expected this experience at Siemens to be, I can’t even recall, but what it has been is eye-opening. While here, I have learned the science behind energy production, the corporate and local structure of Siemens, the overwhelming need to reinstate trade/vocational education, and the exhausting weight of steel-toed boots.

Within the first 48 hours, I had multiple ideas floating around about what product would best reflect my time spent here, but it became clear pretty quickly that our students would most benefit from a blended learning unit that would help foster 21st century learning skills, such as collaboration, accountability, and flexibility. Thus, my project, How to Work Like an Engineer, was born!

The biggest contributing factor to my success with this product is how utterly supportive and encouraging my team is at Siemens. My colleague-in-crime, Lisa, has been all in since Day 1. We work together seamlessly and naturally motivate each other. Likewise, every single person at Siemens has been happy to answer endless questions and offer up resources at every turn. I am confident I will finish my product by the end of this month.

As with anything, the challenge is time. There isn’t enough time during the workday to do the actual work on my project, so I find myself working at home during the evening and weekend, just as I do during the school year. The key to making that a positive is that I have made my product relevant to multiple areas of my classroom and my professional development requirements.