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Chunhong Lin

Benjamin Tasker Middle School, Bowie MD

Attend the National Association for Gifted Children in Seattle, WA, to learn from the best and brightest in the gifted education to garner specific strategies and skills to assist the underrepresented young men in our gifted program to propel them to excel in their areas of giftedness.

Where I've Been

Seattle, Washington

Igniting Your Personal and Professional Growth

Describe one or two, specific learning experiences from your fellowship. In words, show us this experience and explain why it was powerful.

From the NAGC conference, I learned two transformative learning experiences: Interest-Driven Learning and Project-Based Learning. These two sessions emphasized empowering students to take ownership of their learning by integrating their interests into the curriculum and real world applications. I found powerful because they highlighted strategies to foster intrinsic motivation and deeper engagement.

What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn professionally?

Through these experiences, I learned that I am energized by strategies that empower students to take ownership of their learning. Personally, I discovered how much I value creativity and collaboration in education. Professionally, I gained tools to implement interest-driven and problem-based learning, which helped me design engaging, student-centered lessons.

What were some unplanned or unexpected experiences or outcomes of your fellowship? Or, how did the fellowship you crafted differ from the actual learning experience?

An unexpected outcome of my fellowship was the inspiration gained from unplanned discussions with peers during workshops. For instance, the "Interest-Driven Learning" session sparked creative ideas on applying student-centered strategies across disciplines. The depth of insights from the problem-based learning workshop exceeded my expectations, reinforcing the value of real-world applications in teaching.

Impacting Your Classroom, School and Community

Outline specific plans you have to implement your fellowship and reach your student goals.

To implement my fellowship and reach student goals, I plan to incorporate interest-driven learning by allowing students to choose topics for research and projects based on their passions. This approach encourages student ownership and engagement. I will also introduce problem-based learning by presenting real-world challenges in science lessons, where students can collaboratively investigate and develop solutions.

What is one way you can leverage your fellowship to create one authentic learning experience for students? (e.g. hands-on learning, projects, community engagement)

One way to leverage my fellowship is by designing a problem-based learning project where students tackle a real-world environmental issue, such as reducing waste in their community. Students would collaborate to research the problem, analyze data, and propose actionable solutions, incorporating science concepts like data analysis and engineering design.

How, specifically, will your fellowship extend beyond your classroom? (e.g. families, school-at-large, afterschool groups, surrounding community, colleagues, etc.)

My fellowship will extend beyond my classroom by sharing strategies like interest-driven and problem-based learning with colleagues during professional development sessions. I also plan to create afterschool STEM activities, such as community-focused projects addressing real-world challenges.