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.

One of my favorite literature stops was traveling to the Lake District to see the home of Beatrix Potter, author of The Tales of Peter Rabbit. Her cottage home, Hill Top, was full of her possessions and so many things that were pictured in her books. The inspiration of the beautiful area to her writing was so obvious as we traveled through. The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction involved seeing her characters and scenes from her stories. It felt like I was walking through the pages of her books.

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

One of the things that I learned about myself through this fellowship was how much I love learning about the experiences of others. Sitting in Beatrix Potter’s home among her things, strolling through her gardens, and thinking about her creating her characters there really helped me connect with her stories. The experience of learning about her made her books so much more meaningful to me. I can’t wait to share all of this with my students and help them have similar connections.

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?

One unplanned experience was actually meeting Michelle Davies, Cornwall author of Children’s books about ocean animals. I traveled to Cornwall to see the countryside that inspires her writing, but talking with her and getting signed copies of her books for my class was a total surprise! She even offered to connect with my students via email when I share her books with them this year. My students will be so excited to email questions to the author of stories the read.

Impacting Your Classroom, School and Community

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

When preparing for my Fellowship, I read Matilda, the children’s book written by Ronald Dahl. During my fellowship, I attended the musical performance in London of his book. Matilda is about an incredibly gifted and misunderstood little girl that is blessed with a precious teacher named Miss Honey. I am planning to use Matilda's creative and funny problem solving skills to motivate my students to partake in creative writing.

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)

As I read the Michael Bond’s first book about Paddington Bear and traveled through London, I could not help fall in love with the silly bear. I am planning to use the stories of Paddington to inspire my students to write. After reading the book, my class is going to write an adventure that Paddington has when visiting our school for the day. In addition, I have purchased a stuffed Paddington that students may check out. When they take him home, they will write about his visit to their home.

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

I will be presenting about my fellowship and sharing my learning experiences with other teachers at our state gifted conference. I will also be leading a professional development at my school that will involve things that I have learned through my experiences on the fellowship.