Week of August 30

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, I was able to work with real STUDENTS! How exciting! This was the kick off to a busy week!

On Monday, I spent the morning at Lakewood High School. Anther teacher and I worked on a Socratic Seminar for her English class and then I went to speak to a Career Management class. We had fun talking about why people choose certain careers and did an activity with skittles as a way to think about the important points of consideration when thinking about a career. What a great group of young adults! Thanks for allowing me to visit your class!

On Tuesday we had our second study group meeting with the NC Public Schools Forum. We continued to listen to presentation regarding quality teacher retention. Our presenters were truly amazing! I was so impressed with the work that NCDPI, NCPAPA, and NC State are doing in this area. We spent a great deal of time talking about the important role of strong administrators and leaders in the recruitment and retention of quality teachers. NC State has started a great program in the Northeastern part of NC. They are recruiting the best teachers for administrative roles and placing quality student teachers with this specific teachers. This is such a great example of capacity building and an amazing way to improve the overall quality of education in regions that find it difficult to recruit and retain teachers. I left the meeting wanting more information! I continued to be inspired and amazed at the great work that goes on in education!

I spent Wednesday and Thursday attending the State Board of Education meeting. I always learn so much at these meetings. Dr. Garland, Ms. Quick and Dr. Ashley always have such great information and research to present to us. When I leave these meetings, I go home and research until my head hurts! I truly wish everyone could have the opportunity to attend a SBE meeting and listen to the information. For minutes from the meeting, please click the State Board of Education link on the right.

On Friday, I returned to Lakewood High School to attend an advisory board meeting for their new TAPPS program. This program is so on target. It focuses on counties/schools in eastern NC that face staffing challenges. This program works to incorporate Teacher Cadet and supportive, educational opportunities to expose students to the profession of teaching. Students get to work with a variety of schools and have such amazing opportunities through ECU. This helps hard to staff places in eastern NC to "grow their own" teachers! So exciting!! I learned so much from Dr. Grady and look forward to seeing her present in the future!