DOBSON — As a science teacher, Jeff Edwards struggled with teaching his students how to read a textbook.

Thanks to a Kenan Fellowship, the Surry Early College High School of Design science teacher has been able to study different literacy strategies for science in conjunction with Dr. Sara Zimmerman, a reading specialist at Appalachian State University.

“Reading a novel is a very different type of reading than reading a textbook. It’s fact after fact after fact,” he said of science reading. “You don’t read with anticipation and you don’t retain the information the same way.”

The Kenan Fellowship is a two-year program that allows a teacher to be paired with a college professor to study a topic in-depth and then use it in the classroom. Some of the projects are pre-determined by the program while other fellowship recipients, like Edwards, are allowed to create their own topics.

Edwards is the first recipient to come from this part of the state as most come from Wake County and the surrounding areas. They are also usually paired with someone from North Carolina State University, but because of the driving distance, Edwards became the first to work with a professor at ASU.

Throughout the process, Edwards has attended staff development sessions in the summers dealing with leadership styles and abilities and the way the fellowship affects that.

“It looks at your personality and how you interact with others to evaluate what kind of leader you are,” he said. “We took a class by a lady who used to work with WRAL. She is a consultant for people who do a lot of interviews so she gave us tips and pointers.

“We had fireside chats several times a year where we got to meet and interact with leaders in education. You get to know what’s going on in education.”

Last week, Edwards participated in a showcase at the Friday Institute at NCSU with the rest of the Kenan Fellows. The showcase was also attended by principals, superintendents, members of the business community, authors, publishers and many others. The National Science Foundation, which funded Edwards’ project and also provided the Kenan Fellowship program with a large grant, had representatives in attendance as well.

Edwards believes this experience, which wraps up for him in April, has made him a better teacher and has also helped his students to be more successful in the classroom.

“It’s definitely made me a better teacher,” he said. “In secondary education, we are very content driven, there’s not a lot of methods instruction. Because of this process, I made the decision to go back to grad school. I started back this fall at High Point University.”

Edwards has taken what he has learned through conversations with Zimmerman and applied it in his classrooms. One of the big things he is doing is bringing outside material into his classes to emphasize the topics he covers.

According to Edwards, most students will get their science information from sources other than textbooks so he brings some of those sources into class, including the New York Times and Popular Science.

“Surry County has placed emphasis on differentiated instruction,” said Edwards of the school system’s push for teachers to find materials and activities that relate to students who are on different levels. “I found a Web site that tells me the reading level for different pieces of material. I can choose so the students are reading about the same topic but it’s structured to their ability level. They can all have something different to bring to the discussion table. I think that did have a positive impact on my students.

“The staff development has brought great ideas into my classroom. Having Dr. Zimmerman to run things by, she’s a great person to work with.”

The fellowship also works to ensure that the projects undertaken by the recipients do have an effect on the classrooms. According to Edwards, they monitor students the year before, the year during and for two years after the program to see if there is a difference.

Upon completion of his project, Edwards and the rest of the fellows will have to present their projects at the Science Teachers Conference. He and the rest of the participants will also have a Web site with their research and lesson plans from the project which will be accessible to anyone interested.

“The networking and connections I’ve been able to make is incredible. It’s really expanded my toolbox,” he said of the experience.

Edwards said he would recommend that others apply for the fellowship.

“It does take quite a bit of time at certain times, but the experience is very much worth it. It has helped me grow as a teacher,” he said. “They’re very understanding.”

He encourages all of the teachers in the area to look into applying for the fellowship by visiting www.kenanfellows.org.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.