Kennita Ballard’s Local and National Partnerships
Kennita Ballard is in full command of her class of 6th grade boys at Olmsted Academy North, an all-boys middle school in Jefferson County. During her first two years teaching through Teach Kentucky, Kennita has been active in her school community and is being honored as the University of Louisville’s Alternative Certification MAT Student of the Year.
As if that wasn’t enough, Kennita has been pushing the envelope, helping to develop cross-curricular programming to implement writing across all content areas at her school. In order to do this, she’s signed up for some innovative and prestigious professional development.
Over the next year, Kennita will be part of a program at the University of Louisville called the Louisville Writing Project (LWP). Olmsted North is a seed school for the program, so Kennita has been working informally with the group, but has been selected for this fellowship, which runs professional development sessions throughout the summer and into the next school year.
According to their website, “Since LWP began, approximately 775 teachers have come to the University of Louisville to hone their skills as writing instructors in the LWP Summer Institute and to learn to be literacy leaders through their continued affiliation with the LWP Network.” We are so delighted that Kennita has been selected to join these elite ranks!
To continue her work helping to develop cross-curricular literacy and aide students in finding their voices in writing, Kennita is also participating in the National Endowment for the Humanities Gullah Voices workshop. She is the youngest participant who has been selected for this summer’s workshop.
This innovative workshop includes “sessions [that] will examine the artistic expressions of the Gullah, direct descendants of slaves who worked the rice plantations on the coastal islands off the shores of South Carolina and Georgia. Their history, stories, beliefs, and creative expressions are critical antecedents to African-American culture and the broader American mosaic, as we know it today. The workshop format will follow the African tradition, where the arts are studied as interrelated living experiences rather than as separate entities. Participants will be guided through the process of thinking about and using the arts to teach the humanities.”
Kennita is excited to bring back the experiences she has in this workshop to her school and hopes to use them to help her implement cross-curricular standards into her teaching next year. Her classroom culture places an enormous emphasis on community, and she hopes the Gullah Voices workshop will help her to teach her students about the concepts of togetherness and community in Gullah culture.
Leave a Reply
Celebrating Isabel Lake’s Journey: From Teacher to Assistant Principal
Celebrating Isabel Lake’s Journey: From Teacher to Assistant Principal At Teach Kentucky, we take immense pride in the growth and success of our educators. Today, we’re thrilled to share another inspiring milestone in the career of one of our own – Isabel Lake. Over a Decade of Dedication Isabel Lake has been an integral part […]
Meet Hannah Lipman: A Success Story with Teach Kentucky
Discovering a Passion for Education Hannah Lipman’s journey to becoming a dedicated educator is nothing short of inspiring. Initially considering a career in healthcare, Hannah’s passion for education, especially in English, blossomed during her undergraduate years, leading her to switch her major to English and Gender & Women’s Studies. Her dedication and commitment to the […]
Celebrating the Teach Kentucky 2022 Cohort Graduation
On Sunday, May 19th, Teach Kentucky staff and board members hosted a heartwarming celebration to honor the graduation of the 2022 Cohort. These dedicated individuals commenced their teaching careers with Teach Kentucky in the summer of 2022, embarking on a transformative journey as they entered into a Master of Arts in Teaching program at one […]
March Recruitment Weekend Recap
The March Recruitment weekend for Teach Kentucky came to a close with a successful and inspiring event. This event welcomed 10 candidates from local and national backgrounds, representing various colleges such as Sarah Lawrence, Bellarmine University, Colorado College, Valparaiso College, Ohio State University, Louisiana Tech, University of Louisville, and University of Mississippi. The new teacher […]
January Recruitment Weekend Roundup
Teach Kentucky recently concluded its January recruiting weekend, hosting a diverse group of 13 candidates with aspirations to become educators in various fields. The event was a great success, bringing together candidates from both local universities and those from out of state. Candidate Overview Geographic Diversity: The 13 candidates included 9 local participants and 4 […]
Introducing Teach Kentucky’s Mid-Year Start Teachers: A New Wave of Educators
When we think about Back to School time, August and September usually come to mind. However, Teach Kentucky is proud to announce a remarkable group of new teachers who will be embarking on their education careers in the middle of the academic year. We extend a warm welcome to Branden McMichael, Kristen Miller, Danielle Moreau, […]
Teach Kentucky’s First Recruiting Weekend for 2024: A Gateway to a Rewarding Teaching Career in Louisville
Teach Kentucky (TKY) recently concluded its first recruiting weekend for 2024, held from December 2-4, 2023. This event served as a platform for TKY to welcome a small yet exceptional group of eight candidates. These candidates, hailing from Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Michigan, had the opportunity to interact with TKY staff, current teachers, and […]
Teach Kentucky Offered A Perfect Chance for a Career
Teaching is becoming a profession more and more individuals seek as a second (or third) act in their lives, and this has many benefits for students. Teachers who are beyond their early twenties have more life and professional experiences under their belts; they’ve worked in one or more fields of industry and bring their professional […]
How This California Business Student Became a Teacher in Kentucky
Louis Redd, an eighth-grade math teacher at Stuart Academy, is committed to being a source of positive change among his students at the school, so committed that he traveled over 2,000 miles to do so. His undergraduate degree is business administration, and he had originally thought he wanted to be an entrepreneur or possibly go […]
Watch Teach Kentucky’s Annual Video Event
On January 25, 2023, we presented an online event to share more about why and how Teach Kentucky does what it does. We feature the leaders of Teach Kentucky – Rowan Claypool, president and founder of Teach Kentucky as well as Carl L. Williams, Sr.,board chair of Teach Kentucky. You also hear directly from Teach […]
