7/7/17
Disclaimer:::: Okay for the rest of these posts, I have to leave them someone vague. The readings that we do and discussions we have are very much so a "What Happens in New Haven stays in New Haven". This is mostly because some conversations we have may be very direct and about our current teaching and school we reside in. It is for protection of those who share. Also, because the readings we have are protected/copy written for single use only. Therefore I will kind of be sharing the "what we did" and some of my thinking behind the work we did...without putting anything else in.
This morning I woke up 45 minutes before my alarm. Are you kidding me? I went to bed at 2:30am and I know that isn't when I fell asleep. How am I going to function on no sleep for 10 days. I'm a bit worried about that. Sleeplessness = Sickness for me. So tomorrow will be much about pushing the water more than I did today. Breakfast was buffet style and quite delicious. I love breakfast and when I saw that bacon platter, "Yes please"! I met with a couple people from my group at the table I was at this morning. I had emailed them the night before (quite late) reaching out to hopefully find everyone. I have enjoyed sitting with strangers and meeting new people. I have no fear of new people in a small group and sometimes need to be reminded not all people like strangers.
We left breakfast, loaded a first student school bus and headed to Yale School of Business which seemed oddly long drive for a very short distance, but it was raining so I am grateful. We started late, which was very un-NAATE like, but there was a bussing issue. Logistical items were shared and stressed and then we went into our sessions.
Session 1: Case Study Group - I met with my team, introduced ourselves, we shared our thoughts on the case for today, then spent the rest of the time reading and made a plan to meet up again.
Session 2: Case Study - We had read an article about a professor and a student who hadn't turned in their final on time which presented a problem and we grappled the idea. There are MANY more details to this, but it presented a moral and ethical debate. I was torn the entire time and watched myself turn from each side of the story multiple times. We presented facts, asked questions, then decided on what we would do. I disagreed largely with most of the people in the room and was unable to morally agree with the same decision. The neat thing about these cases, is there really isn't a right or wrong answer.
Break - I managed to scarf down a sandwich
Session 3: Improv - We had read an article about Improv and how it relates to the classroom. We were taught different Improv skills including: random walking to warm up, "I have an idea", introducing, eye contact, start/end a word, story circle, "yes and"
Session 4: We walked back to the hotel, met as a group, read, talked about our cases, planned to meet back up in morning tomorrow to rediscuss.
Movie and Dinner: We watched a short 45 documentary about an article we read about a journey by boat to a dangerous place and had dinner.
We were dismissed for the evening, went a grabbed a drink to decompress for a moment, then came to my room, showered, looked over all three cases for tomorrow again. Found evidence in my pre-work to support them, completed my evaluations, and now finishing my journey through naate blog updates.
Friday, July 7, 2017
NAATE - Travel Day
7/6/17
Fast Forward and It is time to go to NAATE!
So all the Kansas City people left out of KCI airport to head to Chicago for our first leg of the trip then onto Hartford from there. I have flown a few times, but it is still a relative new experience for me. I get through security, I board the plane and realize there are not a lot of seats left. Since we flew southwest, there is no assigned seating, so most of the aisle and windows were taken. So I'm in the back row of the plan sandwiched between two strangers. A gentlemen on my left who said absolutely nothing to me, but fell asleep on me during the flight. On my right was a lady who happened to be a Principal from Bellevue, Nebraska. Her husband and two small girls were in the row in front of us. Naturally we had a lot to talk about, I told her about where we were going and we talked a lot about education of course. Landing time - man was that a rough landing.
So we say our farewell and leave the plane. My colleague and I have about an hour before we board the next plane. We walk about 50 paces and we are at our gate for the next plane. We grab a snack, stand and talk. We get in line to board our plane, we meet several others traveling to NAATE. I met someone else from KC and we talked the entire flight (probably my fault, at one point he wrapped up his headphones like - well she isn't going to shut up lol) It was interesting to discuss education with someone else not from KC originally and who has had very different experiences than me.
We arrive in Hartford and most of our group is together, we are looking for our ride to New Haven. One person is missing luggage and our plane landed early. We begin to get to know each other a little bit and a gentleman (not at all gentle) walks in and yells. And I mean bone chilling yell... "CHERYL, Where are you? Get the fuck off your phone and answer it!" After all of that which could be heard through the entire baggage claim area and beyond.... a worker says, "Sir, you can't be yelling in here"
Our ride arrives, Benz Buses at that, and I'm thinking dang this is very fancy. It is about a 45 minute ride to New Haven with traffic. It was quiet at first, but then we see a lobster sandwich advertisement from McDonalds on a billboard. This sparks our hunger and begin discussing different places. I learn about some different food "fads" from different regions. I begin to ask if people like Runza...It's a Nebraska thing and I also briefly speak on Chili and Cinnamon Rolls. Another person in the front row says, "Are you talking about Nebraska? I heard Chili and Cinnamon Rolls." And of course everyone is weirded out by it and I'm stuck thinking, what is wrong with this?
We arrive at the Omni and the street we are on reminds me of like the strip in Lincoln, near campus, but a bit more of an urban feel. The Hotel is quite tall, we get checked into our rooms, recieve our welcome packs and assigned homework (I was really hoping for none on the first day, but come on, it's only 10 days, you should have thought again!) I go to my room, check out my 12th floor view, head back down stairs and go eat with a colleague. I returned to my room and spent 2 hours reading. I tossed and turn for hours and finally fell into sleep around 2:30am.
NAATE Application and Pre-Work
Well the journey began many months ago when my superintendent walked into my room and said, "I need to talk to you" during the middle of a read aloud. He tells me (and the teacher with an adjoining door next to me) that he just received an email about this amazing opportunity and he wanted us to apply for it. He said to look out for the email and don't pass up the opportunity, it could be a huge turning point for us.
Two days later I receive a few emails he had forward onto us. I see the deadline is 2 weeks away and let it sit in my inbox for another week before giving it another thought. The next weekend I open up the email and think, "What's NAATE?" I begin to look at the website and read about the philosophy and what the entire program entails. I close my laptop, call my dad and tell him about the program. His response was, "Have you done the application yet?"
Two days later there was an informational meeting, but I was stuck at work with prior obligations. One of the five teachers who were asked to apply by our superintendent attended and sent us all the information she received. She talked up the program and now I was starting to look forward to it even more.
The follow day was terrible in the classroom, so I went home and didn't want to think about my class, so I opened up my computer and began looking into this application. I realized I couldn't save my work and return so I opened up a document and began answering the essay questions. The questions seemed very natural to answer, and despite my feelings towards my students that day, can you guess what I spent a lot of time talking about?
The application was due on a Friday, the night before I was sitting and staring at my application. I had read it aloud, I had read it aloud to my dad (and he is a wonderful listener but had no clue what I was speaking about and just kept saying "Sounds good" and "My daughter is smarter than me" and "What was that word you used? What does it mean?" And all of a sudden I said to myself, "This is the best I can do and if I change anything else, it won't be 'me'". So I pushed submit and laid staring at the ceiling for hours thinking of all the things I could have wrote or should have wrote.
The email said we would find out about acceptance in about 3 weeks. So I promised I would try to get NAATE out of my mind and focus on my students and my own teaching. About a week and half later I'm sitting in a meeting anticipating a phone call from my dad about his minor operation and recieved a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. I panicked, thinking something had gone wrong. I jumped up, stepped in the hallway, and I hear, "Is this Katie Bruns?". My mind was racing, [gulps] "yes" and very enthusiastically I hear "Hi this is Shana at the Kaufmann Foundation". Not registering what she was saying, I say "Yes?" and she said "Well I'm calling with what I hope is some good News" again all I can say is "Yes?" And she says, "You have been accepted to be a teacher fellow for Cohort XI NAATE program." and I manage to sputter out "That's awesome! Thank you". She goes on to ask me some questions and congratulate me some more. As I was allowing it to sink in, I was mostly glad it was not any bad news about my dad.
There are a few other events that happened before the trip..
NAATE CELEBRATION for all the Kauffman Foundation sponsored teacher fellows from the Kansas City area. A colleague of mine also got into the program and we attended together with our Superintendent and Vice Principals (Soon to be Principals for the 2017-2018 school year). They show up with flowers in hand and make us feel really good about this opportunity. It's official - I WAS EXCITED!
Then we received our hefty pre-work reading book. A 398 page document full of case studies. This took up a lot of time in the summer, but was a good read.
Two days later I receive a few emails he had forward onto us. I see the deadline is 2 weeks away and let it sit in my inbox for another week before giving it another thought. The next weekend I open up the email and think, "What's NAATE?" I begin to look at the website and read about the philosophy and what the entire program entails. I close my laptop, call my dad and tell him about the program. His response was, "Have you done the application yet?"
Two days later there was an informational meeting, but I was stuck at work with prior obligations. One of the five teachers who were asked to apply by our superintendent attended and sent us all the information she received. She talked up the program and now I was starting to look forward to it even more.
The follow day was terrible in the classroom, so I went home and didn't want to think about my class, so I opened up my computer and began looking into this application. I realized I couldn't save my work and return so I opened up a document and began answering the essay questions. The questions seemed very natural to answer, and despite my feelings towards my students that day, can you guess what I spent a lot of time talking about?
The application was due on a Friday, the night before I was sitting and staring at my application. I had read it aloud, I had read it aloud to my dad (and he is a wonderful listener but had no clue what I was speaking about and just kept saying "Sounds good" and "My daughter is smarter than me" and "What was that word you used? What does it mean?" And all of a sudden I said to myself, "This is the best I can do and if I change anything else, it won't be 'me'". So I pushed submit and laid staring at the ceiling for hours thinking of all the things I could have wrote or should have wrote.
The email said we would find out about acceptance in about 3 weeks. So I promised I would try to get NAATE out of my mind and focus on my students and my own teaching. About a week and half later I'm sitting in a meeting anticipating a phone call from my dad about his minor operation and recieved a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. I panicked, thinking something had gone wrong. I jumped up, stepped in the hallway, and I hear, "Is this Katie Bruns?". My mind was racing, [gulps] "yes" and very enthusiastically I hear "Hi this is Shana at the Kaufmann Foundation". Not registering what she was saying, I say "Yes?" and she said "Well I'm calling with what I hope is some good News" again all I can say is "Yes?" And she says, "You have been accepted to be a teacher fellow for Cohort XI NAATE program." and I manage to sputter out "That's awesome! Thank you". She goes on to ask me some questions and congratulate me some more. As I was allowing it to sink in, I was mostly glad it was not any bad news about my dad.
There are a few other events that happened before the trip..
NAATE CELEBRATION for all the Kauffman Foundation sponsored teacher fellows from the Kansas City area. A colleague of mine also got into the program and we attended together with our Superintendent and Vice Principals (Soon to be Principals for the 2017-2018 school year). They show up with flowers in hand and make us feel really good about this opportunity. It's official - I WAS EXCITED!
Then we received our hefty pre-work reading book. A 398 page document full of case studies. This took up a lot of time in the summer, but was a good read.
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