Brian Harrison's Blog

My scholars experienced an Aha moment this school year when we went over the different learning styles and careers that match to those learning styles. My scholars took a self-assessment and learned the ways they learn best. They discovered why some students can pay attention longer during a lecture and how some students prefer to watch videos to learn. It was a Aha moment for all my classes that participated in the assignment. I did talk about my fellowship experience and how the company I worked for is tailor made for several different learning styles because they offer so many different Career Paths. Siemens Energy accommodates so many different personalities and career paths.

My week at the Summer Institute was life changing. It opened my eyes to different grants, programs, and organizations that offer incentives or motivated educators. It was refreshing to see that there are organizations that recognize and reward highly qualified and motivated teachers.
I plan to implement task I’ve learned this summer by incorporating more stem activities in my classroom. I will also invite community leaders into my classroom to discuss their career paths with my scholars.

• The most interesting moment of my internship was going into the factory and witnessing how electricity is made. I was fortunate enough to have an internship at Siemens and see firsthand how they generate electricity to millions around the world.
• The biggest challenge was understanding the jargon and comprehending what the engineers was explaining to me. However, Siemens put me with several different people and each one explained what the company did differently. However, it was one person they allowed me to shadow that explained their work just like a teacher would. He drew it on the white board and answered several of my questions.
• My biggest takeaway is the many different career opportunities at a company like Siemens. Even though one may think they are an energy company and only hire engineers. They hire different types of people to help them run their business. From sales, trainers, publicist, engineers, and mechanics. They also have an apprenticeship through CPCC that allows young people from different backgrounds and education status to gain experience working at Siemens and potentially land employment afterwards.
• It has changed by me seeing and talking with people that didn’t go to a traditional four year university that is making well over $100,000 per year and providing for their families. These men and woman are some of the most ambitious individuals you could ever meet. They just took a different path to their career, and it is paying off because they are working for a great company like Siemens.

I’m not experiencing challenges yet. The Mecklenburg County cluster is in constant communication, and we are still brainstorming how we will present to the rest of the district. The only conflict we have been running into is how we work at different schools, and we have been working on different schedules. However, with Zoom we have been able to meet and discuss possible final projects virtually.

One of the ways I will implement something I learned at the institute is by using my fellows as a resource. Some of the fellows gave me amazing ideas and classroom secrets I can use in the classroom. I know I cannot remember all the ideas my fellows gave me, but I can reach out to them and continue to learn from them. I can use them as a resource and that will allow me to continue to improve upon my craft as an educator.
This PD does not compare to other PD’s I attend in several ways. Most PD’s you go for a few hours and then you go back to your “normal” life and try to implement some best practices you learned at the event. You don’t have a chance to interact with as many people because you are only at the PD for a few hours, so the number of resources you can obtain is limited. However, with Kenan’s weeklong PD it is the exact opposite. You get to learn, eat, exercise, experiment, and hang out with different individuals in the fellowship. This is the most amazing part to me because you really get to know people and learn from them. You get to build lifelong relationships, that you would not otherwise build. Several members of my cohort traveled together, and we spent hours getting to know each other and giving each other advice about life and teaching. Those kind of conversations and time we spent will be something we remember for a lifetime. And Kenan Fellows gave us the opportunity to do that, otherwise we would have never met.

I hope to gain positive energy and a refreshed sense of belonging to the teaching industry. I hope to gain projects I can use in the classroom and a new set of friends I can brainstorm with. I believe it is imperative to surround yourself with likeminded and positive people. So, me being in the room with ambitious individuals will allow me to continue to set audacious goals.

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