Week of November 22

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

For many of us, this has been a "short" work week! I hope each of you had a wonderful and relaxing time with your family and friends over Thanksgiving.

On Monday evening, I enjoyed speaking with the NC State Teaching Fellows! This was one of the largest Teaching Fellows groups I had the opportunity to meet with so far! Mr. Michael Clinkscales does an excellent job with this group of future teachers. After a great seminar and some wonderful questions by the group, we had a very yummy dinner. Mr. Clinkscales and I sat with some freshman Fellows and they were very impressive!

There are so many negative stories that exist about education. I sincerely think that we are not looking at the big picture however. Yes, we have some issues, but what profession does not? For those who only focus on the negative in education, I invite you to travel with me anytime this year. I have encountered some amazing teachers and some very promising future teachers. It is a great time in education! If you don't believe me, come see for yourself!

Everyone knows how much I have missed the classroom this year and on Tuesday, I spent the morning at Midway HIgh School observing some teachers. It was great to be back in a classroom setting and to see some great teachers in action!

We all know that Thanksgiving marks the beginning of Holiday madness. Remember to slow down and enjoy the beauty around you! Be sure to leave the chaos at the mall and enjoy a relaxing time at home with friends and family!

Week of November 15

On The Road Again could be my theme song over the past few weeks. I put over 1000 miles on the car in three days! Whew!

On Monday, I visited Appalachian State University in Boone. The Teaching Fellows group here was great! I loved the energy, excitement, and knowledge they had....even for a chilly, rainy Monday night. They asked great questions and were very engaged during our seminar. Thanks for having me attend guys! You will be such an impressive group when you graduate! Keep up the good work! A few ladies stayed after and talked about the difficult week they just had. Hang in there ladies. It does get better and all of your hard work will pay off when you are in your own classroom!

On Tuesday, I drove back home to Sampson County to speak to our Chamber of Commerce Adult Leadership group. This is a group of local business folks and educators who spend the year learning about our schools and local businesses and how we can work together for our future!

On Tuesday evening I traveled to Raleigh for our weekly NC EPFP meeting. This week our speaker was John Dornan, Executive Director of the NC Public Schools Forum. As I have stated before, I could listen to him speak all day! He is so knowledgeable and his passion for education is truly inspiring.

On Wednesday I traveled to Murfreesboro to spend the morning at Chowan University. It was a day to celebrate teaching and four local high schools had Teacher Cadet classes attend. The college students working on the program were truly dedicated, professional, and very energetic. I enjoyed spending the morning with these students! The Northeast and Southeast parts of NC often struggle with the recruitment of teachers. Having days like this day at Chowan will hopefully help as areas like this continue to grown their own future teachers. I had a great time with this group!

I spent Thursday and Friday in the office filing papers and working on future presentations! What a great week!

And the results are.....

Today is the day that all National Boards candidates have been anxiously awaiting. The scores have been tallied and the results are in. Tears of joy and tears of disappointment fill the eyes of teachers around school. Good Luck to all of the candidates throughout NC! But remember, your most important evaluators are the students in your room everyday! Don't give up if you were not successful this year. Cry, reflect, and move forward! You do have what it takes and you can become a NBCT!

If I can help any of you in any way, please email me! Look for NBPTS workshops in your area! Embrace this opportunity for further reflection and move forward!

To those who are now NBCT, congratulations! Continue to be the amazing teachers you already are! Now, go celebrate!

Week of November 8

On Monday, I had the opportunity to travel back to Wilmington to visit the Teaching Fellows at UNCW. I arrived early to have dinner with the director, Amy Rottmann, and two outstanding students, Taylor Lee and Jeren Hernand. We had a wonderful dinner and great converstation! I was very impressed by the leadership shown by these future teachers!

Our weekly NC EPFP meeting was held on Tuesday. Although I am always excited to attend our EPFP meetings, I was especially excited to hear Judge Howard Manning, Jr. this week. You can say his name....and the controversy begins. He has many strong supporters and many who question his presentation. Personally, I have to say that I agree with his overall point. Though his presentations are often colorful, he has a great point...our students deserve great teachers who are knowledgeable and caring. Often people get the idea that he is all about the negative, but I have to disagree. For every school where he talked about the need for improvement, he shared about schools that had overcome obstacles and had shown tremendous growth. Regardless of how we may feel about his word choices, at the of the day, I don't feel that any of us will disagree with his overall message.

On Wednesday, I spent the afternoon at Midway High School for our half-day staff development. I really enjoyed the opporunity to spend time with my school friends. I truly miss them so much! The CTE department provided lunch for all of us and it was delicious! Thanks for letting me spend the afternoon with you all!

My family and I spent Veteran's Day at home enjoying time with family and close friends. We took the time to reflect on Veteran's Day.

On Friday I traveled to Asheville to visit with the Teaching Fellows of UNC-A. We had a great time! Dinner was fabulous and the conversations were great! What dedication of these Teaching Fellows to attend professional development on a Friday night! There were some really amazing future teachers there! Every time I meet with a group of future teachers, I get so excited about the energy and passion this group will bring to the profession!

I drove as long as I could and crashed in Burlington for a few hours. Up early, I drove to Wilmington on Saturday morning to meet with teachers in the Teaching American History grant. (Yes, my scheduling abilities leave something to be desired!) This is a group of teachers from New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick Counties who spend a great amount of time studying American History in order to increase their own personal knowledge and implement new strategies for teaching parts of the NCSCOS. This was a great group of energetic, dedicated teachers. We spent the afternoon looking at ways to teach Reconstruction and its impact in the US. I can hardly wait until March when I get the opportunity to work with this group again!

Week of November 1

I spent Monday in "recovery" from the travels over the past week and spent some quality time with my family. Tuesday was Election Day! Regardless of your political preferences, Election Day is always exciting! Yes, I voted and I hope you did the same!

Wednesday and Thursday I attended the November SBE meeting. The agenda was full and both days provided great insight. One of the most interesting points for me personally was the opportunity to learn more about the new Social Studies course changes. I absolutely love the new curriculum. Thanks so much to Dr. Garland and Angela Quick for their leadership in bringing these changes to Social Studies in North Carolina. When the first draft of the new standards were released, the general public was not so excited and much talk of what was "left out" occurred! The NC Department of Public Instruction really worked with teachers and the general public to create the new proposals and I think most of us are really excited about the changes! Thank you to the many teachers and community members who worked with Dr. Garland and her team to create these new standards!
As a reminder, all highlights from the SBE meetings can be found on the NC SBE website. I link to the highlights page is located on the right of this page.

On Friday I was excited to attend my first Governor's Education Transformation Commission meeting. This was my first appointment by the Governor and I am very excited to have the opportunity to meet and work with so many knowledgeable and well-respected folks in education. We listened to presentations about breakdown of Race to the Top and the College and Career: Ready, Set, Go! initiative. It was a very informative meeting. This group will meet the first Thursday of each month. The meetings will alternate between whole group meetings on one month and subcommittee meetings the other month. For more information, please visit www.ncpublicschools.org/rttt

The brain can only absorb ....

what the behind can endure! I cannot believe that I have taught for twelve years and have never heard this before. Okay, to be honest I heard it with a different set of words....so I took the opportunity to make it more family friendly:) Either way you say it, how true! I can't tell you how many times I am at a meeting, workshop,etc with a group of adults who are constantly texting, emailing, writing grocery lists or to-do lists during a presentation or meeting. We all justify it saying " I don't really need this part." " I have too much to do." " I am bored!" Essentially, we become our students and begin to disengage after a certain point of sitting and listening. Regardless of our ages or job descriptions, we all begin to "tune out" after about 15 or 20 minutes. We are approaching a difficult time of year in the classroom. When you add the time of year to the other challenges such as class size that classroom teachers are facing, it is enough to make us all pull our hair out! So hang in there and remember that all of us need movement and to be engaged! Keep your classroom full of activities that reach all your learners and remember ... the brain can only absorb what the behind can endure! Please share your strategies for stations, centers, so forth! Teachers are always looking for new, creative ways to engage students. Enjoy the week and hang in there! Thanksgiving Break is just around the corner!

I get to have breakfast where?

This morning the State Board of Education and its advisors had the opportunity to have breakfast with Governor Bev Purdue and her husband Mr. Bob Eaves at the Executive Mansion. What a treat! I have not been to the Executive Mansion in years and I have certainly never eaten breakfast with the Governor. The food was delicious, the china was exquisite and the conversation was informative. Thank you to Governor Purdue and Mr. Eaves for hosting us this morning. It was truly a memorable morning!


photo: Jan King (2010-2011 Principal of the Year), Governor Purdue, and myself at the Executive Mansion.