TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2006
TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2006SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
What makes one school effective and another school low performing? Why do some schools struggle so much and others seem to perform well year-in and year-out? Last week's announcement regarding the high school financial performance audits to be conducted by the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education in conjunction with the NC Department of Public Instruction, the Governor's Office and the Office of State Budget and Management provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to see how spending decisions affect performance with an eye toward improving resource use in high schools that are struggling. Our goal is to see how high-performing high schools use their resources in hopes that lessons we learn from them can be used to help low-performing high schools improve. All of us benefit when we can gather and share information on what is effective and what is not.
Regards,
June Atkinson
In this Biweekly Teachers' Message:
- Greetings from 2006-07 North Carolina Teacher of the Year
- SBE Ad Hoc Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Committee Meeting Summary
- SAS in School Field Test Opportunity for High School Core Teachers
- Public Hearing Set to Receive Comment on Dispute Resolution Process for Homeless Students
- Textbook Regional Meetings Scheduled
- Middle Grades Professional Development Opportunity
- Free Online Professional Development from DPI and LEARN NC
- Holocaust Workshops for Teachers
- Donate Classroom Items for Materials Marketplace
- Medicines in My Home
Greetings from 2006-07 North Carolina Teacher of the Year
It is an unbelievable honor to be recognized along with my fellow regional candidates for something that is our passion-teaching children. I am humbled to have been chosen as your 2006-07 North Carolina Teacher of the Year from such an outstanding group of educators. A hearty thanks goes out to the staff at DPI for their coordination of this program and to the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association for sponsorship of such an awesome tribute to educators throughout our state. They treat us like kings and queens. The most special rewards we gain, however, are from the young lives we are blessed to touch each day. I hope programs like these will attract new talent to the teaching profession to follow in our footsteps.
I am enjoying traveling around our beautiful state, visiting school systems, learning about leadership and public policy, meeting many dedicated and creative teachers and administrators, working with teacher candidates at the university level, serving on state appeals boards and as an advisor to the State Board of Education. There are great things going on in public education in North Carolina, and it is my honor and pleasure to represent teachers with a strong voice. Emphasizing the 3 R's of Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships in our everyday contact with children along with a focus on student learning rather than mere teaching, our children have the best chance of lifelong success. When they take ownership of their own learning, their options are limitless. The world is theirs. Have a great year! Diana Beasley, 2006-07 North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
SBE Ad Hoc Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Committee Meeting Summary
The State Board of Education's Ad Hoc Committee on Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships met in New Bern on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Agenda items included a follow-up discussion on changing the birth date cut off for starting school and an update on topics related to the graduation project - professional development, the rubric, implementation guides, materials and related matters. Committee members also received a presentation from representatives from Agriculture Education at NC State University. They requested support for an evaluation system that will evaluate program standards in agriculture education statewide. DPI social studies consultants reported to the committee that their review of the social studies Standard Course of Study resulted in no recommendation for revisions. They will, however, produce some supplementary documents to assist teachers in areas identified by the work group. The next committee meeting will be held in Raleigh on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 2 p.m., in the Education Building, Raleigh.
SAS in School Field Test Opportunity for High School Core Teachers
In January 2007, SAS inSchool will offer online professional development courses to enable teachers to learn more about Curriculum Pathways' resources and receive feedback and support as they implement these resources in their classrooms. In preparation, SAS inSchool is conducting a field test of its eight-week course and would like to invite teachers to participate, beginning Oct. 16.
Curriculum Pathways(r) OPD (Online Professional Development) is designed for high school teachers in the core disciplines (English, social studies, science, mathematics, and Spanish). Course activities and assignments demonstrate how Curriculum Pathways resources can enhance instruction and student learning. Weekly assignments highlighting a specific resource allow teachers to become familiar with the structure and features of Curriculum Pathways.
If you (or teachers with whom you work) are interested in participating, please contact Deborah Gray, Professional Development Coordinator, SAS inSchool, at Deborah.Gray@sas.com NO LATER THAN SEPT. 29. They want to complete the registration process by Oct. 6. Participants who complete all course assignments will be provided with documentation that can be presented to their schools/districts to facilitate the receipt of renewal credits (2.0 CEUs). Remember, this is a field test, so there may be a hiccup or two - the input and feedback of the participating teachers is invaluable as it will help ensure the highest-quality offering in January. There is no fee to participate in the field test. When the course is offered in January, the fee to participate in the eight-week course will be $325.
Public Hearing Set to Receive Comment on Dispute Resolution Process for
Homeless Students
A public hearing on the proposed rule, Dispute Resolution Process for Homeless Students, will be held Friday, Oct. 6, at 1 p.m., in Room 224 South, Education Building, Raleigh. Anyone who wishes to speak on the rule, which is available online at http://www.ncoah.com/rules/register/Volume21Issue06.pdf, may come at that time. In addition, interested persons may send comments to Harry Wilson, Staff Attorney, State Board of Education, by email, hwilson@dpi.state.nc.us, by fax, 919.807.3198, or by mail, 6302 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, 27699-6302. Comments will be accepted through Nov. 14.
Textbook Regional Meetings Scheduled
Textbook Regional Meetings are being held across the state in November for
school selection committees. Publishers will be present at these meetings
to discuss their materials. Dates and locations are as follows:
- Nov. 6, Crowne Plaza Resort, Asheville
- Nov. 7, Broyhill Inn & Conference Center, Boone
- Nov. 8, Koury Convention Center, Greensboro
- Nov. 14, Crystal Coast Civic Center, Morehead City
- Nov. 15, Greenville Convention Center, Greenville
- Nov. 16, Holiday Inn Bordeaux, Fayetteville
Middle Grades Professional Development Opportunity
The NCDPI's Middle Grades Education Division staff will conduct five regional workshops that will focus on the 2006 Middle Grades Balanced Curriculum document, which addresses all facets of scheduling and implementation of the NC Standard Course of Study at the middle grades level. This professional development is appropriate for local directors of Middle Grades Education, middle grades teachers of all subject areas, school counselors and administrators. Workshops will be held as follows:
- Oct. 13, Forsyth County
- Oct. 17, Pasquotank County
- Oct. 25, Robeson County
- Nov. 8, Jackson Country
- Nov. 17, Wilkes County
Free Online Professional Development from DPI and LEARN NC
Free Online Professional Development from DPI and LEARN NC - The NCDPI is offering free through LEARN NC a variety of research-based, online professional development courses to educators teaching in North Carolina during the 2006–07 school year. All courses follow a researched model for quality professional development and online learning. LEARN NC has developed over a dozen new courses that focus on two critical areas of need in the state: improving the teaching in core areas and closing the achievement gap for minority students. Topics include United States history, social justice, and global issues as well as subjects where student achievement has been a particular challenge, such as inquiry-based science and mathematics. For more information, please go online to http://www.learnnc.org/announcements/42.
Holocaust Workshops for Teacher
The 2006-07 Holocaust Workshops for Teachers' schedule has been announced. These one-day, multi-county workshops feature Dr. Karl Schleunes, a historian and Holocaust scholar, and Gizella Abramson, a Holocaust survivor of the Majdanek death camp. Participants will receive a copy of “The Holocaust: a North Carolina Teacher's Resource,” a guide for teaching about the Holocaust at the middle and high school levels. This workshop is open to middle and high school language arts and social studies teachers, and is particularly useful for teaching World History or American History as well as Eastern European history. It is also recommended for middle school language arts teachers teaching “Anne Frank's Diary” or high school English teachers studying Elie Wiesel's “Night” and other Holocaust literature. Substitute pay is provided for teachers attending, but space is limited and teachers are encouraged to make early contact with Linda Scher, Workshop Coordinator. Workshops are scheduled as follows:
- Sept. 26, Winton, Hertford County
- Oct. 10, Asheboro, Randolph County
- Oct. 19, Shelby, Cleveland County
- Oct. 26, Marion, McDowell County
- Nov. 9, Wilkesboro, Yadkin County
- Jan. 31, 2007, Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
- Feb. 14, 2007, Raleigh, Wake County
- March 2007, Greenville, Pitt County
Donate Classroom Items for Materials Marketplace
Tired of storing things you never use? The North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCCTM) would LOVE to help you with that problem. If you have new or gently used items such as books, technology, cds, posters, manipulatives, games, sample kits, etc., please consider donating them to the Materials Marketplace. The donated items will be sold to pre-service teachers and ILT's for yard sale prices at the NCCTM conference in October to help these teachers build a resource base. Proceeds from the sale go directly back to the Materials Marketplace for next year's conference. Cross-curricular materials such as science or literature that are easily integrated also are welcome. Please contact Kim Aiello and Shana Runge at ncctmmarketplace@hotmail.com if you have items to donate. You do not have to attend the conference to donate.
Medicines in My Home
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently launched an education program for middle school health teachers and their students called "Medicines In My Home" on the safe use of over-the-counter medicine. The program is intended to teach students about how to use over-the-counter medicine safely and effectively. Students will learn the importance of reading and following the Drug Facts' label, making medicine decisions with a parent or guardian and much more. The program has a teachers' kit with education tools for classroom learning and a students' page for online learning. The program is available online at www.fda.gov/medsinmyhome or by calling Mandy Eisemann, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, 301.827.1670, or by email, mandy.eisemann@fda.hhs.gov.