See above my favorite quote from Martin Luther King in his acceptance speech of Nobel Peace Prize~ Norway 1964
Wow! I was chosen as a Lead Fellow for Michigan
What an amazing year I had raising my voice while being supported by the Michigan Educator Voice Fellowship! As our year long fellowship came to a close, we were given the opportunity to continue being involved during the 2nd year. We had many options to stay connected with the Fellowship-
1. Receive the Fellowship newsletter- In the MI Ed Voice e-newsletter there are opportunities for educator voice activities, resources to help improve teachers practice and increase knowledge of education issues, and highlights about what other Fellows across the state are doing.
2. Mentor a Resident Fellow
3. Attend the Spring 2016 convening- Post Resident Fellows who stay active in the educator voice movement will be invited all expenses paid) to the spring 2016 convening in Lansing. To qualify for this fun reunion and professional learning opportunity, fellows need to complete two educator voice activities by February 15, 2016, and report them to the fellowship.
4. Apply to be a national America Achieves Fellow- Recruitment for the fourth national cohort is tentatively set to begin in early spring 2016. MI Fellows are encouraged to apply for this two-year program.
Another option at the beginning of the summer was the apply for a Lead Fellowship Position. This entailed writing up a proposal for an Impact Project- Issue Leadership Project or Coaching and Support Project. I made sure to share my project idea with my State Fellowship Manager Donna Rummel and received feedback via google document to work out the kinks before submitting my proposal. I was excited when my project was not sent back to me for corrections after the America Achieves staff viewed it. I then waited with my fingers crossed to hear if I would be chosen as one of the Lead Fellows for the State of Michigan. On July 8th I received the email confirming that I was indeed picked as one of the Lead Fellows! Now the work was to begin~
1. Receive the Fellowship newsletter- In the MI Ed Voice e-newsletter there are opportunities for educator voice activities, resources to help improve teachers practice and increase knowledge of education issues, and highlights about what other Fellows across the state are doing.
2. Mentor a Resident Fellow
3. Attend the Spring 2016 convening- Post Resident Fellows who stay active in the educator voice movement will be invited all expenses paid) to the spring 2016 convening in Lansing. To qualify for this fun reunion and professional learning opportunity, fellows need to complete two educator voice activities by February 15, 2016, and report them to the fellowship.
4. Apply to be a national America Achieves Fellow- Recruitment for the fourth national cohort is tentatively set to begin in early spring 2016. MI Fellows are encouraged to apply for this two-year program.
Another option at the beginning of the summer was the apply for a Lead Fellowship Position. This entailed writing up a proposal for an Impact Project- Issue Leadership Project or Coaching and Support Project. I made sure to share my project idea with my State Fellowship Manager Donna Rummel and received feedback via google document to work out the kinks before submitting my proposal. I was excited when my project was not sent back to me for corrections after the America Achieves staff viewed it. I then waited with my fingers crossed to hear if I would be chosen as one of the Lead Fellows for the State of Michigan. On July 8th I received the email confirming that I was indeed picked as one of the Lead Fellows! Now the work was to begin~
Overview of the Lead Fellowship Program
To continue building a dynamic network of educator leaders within the America Achieves Fellowships and expand the impact of educator voice, we have redesigned the Lead Fellows and Impact Projects for the State Fellowships. This initiative will be shaped by Fellows’ experiences and ideas. We endeavor to model what we want to see across the profession---teachers and principals leading their peers and engaging the public to make an impact on education issues that are important to them. Accordingly, Lead Fellows will guide and support a group of Resident Fellows to complete a project designed by the Lead Fellow that makes a measurable impact on policy and public conversations in their state or generally support the State Manager in ensuring that new Resident Fellows fulfill their Ed Voice Activities.
Lead Fellow Mini Retreat-
In order to meet other Lead Fellows from the other State Fellowships and work on our projects we flew to Washington D.C. for a Mini-Retreat including a dinner and full day of planning. What a great opportunity and great work session on August 3rd & 4th.
After an early flight into D.C. I caught a Taxi to the hotel that had a room available even though it was 9am in the morning!
I made sure to take an early flight to allow me a full day of sight seeing since I had never been to Washington D.C. before. It was in the high 90's making a very hot day to take in the sights but I had to fit in as much as I could. The hotel was right near the Capital so this is where I started on foot. I continued past the Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Korea Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and the White House.
After walking many miles I had to head back to the hotel to freshen up and then meet the incredible Sarahdateechur (Sarah Thomas). I connected with Sarah on Voxer, Twitter and witnessed her first thoughts regarding her creation http://www.edumatch.education/ . Sarah is a High school Tech Ed teacher. Lover of collaboration, liver of life. Passionate about using social media to connect w/ edus. It was so awesome to meet her face to face for lunch. I then still had some time to explore so I chose to visit the National Archives. I wonder what people thought of me as I walked around with a perma-grin on my face as I viewed John Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence. Amazing History right in front of my eyes! I also went to the Smithsonian and the National Portrait Museum maintaining a grin from ear to ear. What a wonderful day walking a total of 15 miles!
Dinner with the Staff and Fellows
6:45pm was meeting time to head to dinner with America Achieves and other state Lead Fellows. We were treated to an incredible dinner at Central Michel Richard 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. We started talking about our ideas in Colorado, Michigan and New York and got to know one another better.
Night-time Tour of Monuments
After we were finished eating the delicious food , we decided to walk it off and headed back to the hotel. I was happy that Candice Green- Colorado Fellow had the same thoughts as I, and did not want the night to end without a night-time tour of the lit up monuments. With some advice and tips from Brittany Haver- Colorado Fellow, I downloaded the Uber App on my phone and set up my first Uber ride. Candice and I were fortunate to get a driver who was willing to wait at each monument as we stepped out to take pictures. We went to the front of the White House and were amazed at how close we could in fact get. We also drove past the World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King Monument. Seeing the Martin Luther King monument for the first time and lit up at night, was a very emotional experience. I connect with all that he stood for, especially working in the setting I have for the past 21 years. What an awesome experience to end my first day in Washington D.C.~
Getting to Work~
The next morning we met at a deli close by for breakfast and then returned to start our Lead Fellows Meeting. We first went around the table sharing all of the projects we will be spear heading this year in our different states. We listened as Rehva McKinnon shared The Big Picture of how our projects fit into the programs goals. We then worked on our evaluation plans by defining success and data collection. After lunch we worked on planning communication needs, Smartsheets and project related expenses. We left feeling equipped to head back to our individual States and recruit 2nd cohort fellows to join our teams.
Farewell Washington D.C. until Next Time~
I ended up needing to leave the retreat a tad early to Grand Rapids and after dodging some storms touched down at 7:30pm. I arrived right in time to make it to the Aerosmith concert I had tickets for! Quite the whirl wind 2 days~