TEACHERS' MESSAGES 2008

APRIL 24, 2008 - Teachers' Biweekly Messages

Throughout my travels across North Carolina, I see teachers learning about and using new technologies to improve student achievement and make learning more efficient, more fun, and more relevant. I see teachers using Smart phones, interactive boards, computers, blogs and other technologies in ways that we never would have imagined 15 years ago. Adopting new technologies and trying new ways of working, teaching and learning is exciting, but it can be tough too! I salute you for your willingness to adapt and change so that you can engage and teach the millennial generation more effectively.

Regards,
June Atkinson

In this Biweekly Teachers' Message:

1. Learn and Earn Online Receives National Recognition
2. Balanced Curriculum in Action
3. 2008 Holocaust Observance and Commemoration
4. May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
5. Math, the Arts, and M.I.
6. ESL Online Course Opportunity
7. Adventures in Ideas: Summer 2008 Seminars
8. Teacher Assistant Scholarship Fund
9. Cumberland County School Receives Inaugural Innovator Award
10. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Student Wins National Culinary Competition
11. 2008 National High School Journalism Teacher Awards' Program
12. Photo Contest

Learn and Earn Receives National Recognition

North Carolina's Learn and Earn Initiative has been named among the top 50 programs in the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards competition sponsored by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School. The program was selected from a pool of nearly 1,000 applicants to represent the best in government innovation from local, county, city, tribal, state and federal levels. The top finalists will be announced in June and will compete for a $100,000 award.

Balanced Curriculum in Action

Show me don't tell me! Mooresville Graded Schools' middle grades educators Jessica Demeter, Teresa Fulton, RoseAnn Burklow and Susan Hudson are striving to implement a Balanced Curriculum for their students and share how they are doing this with other educators. These teachers presented their collaborative team model from the NCDPI Balanced Curriculum document (which can be accessed online at http://www.ncpublischools.org/curriculum), including anecdotes from teachers and administrators about the effect they have seen on student motivation and achievement, at the NC Middle School Association conference in March. Art educator, Stephanie Sossamon, has worked very closely with this team and presented a session at the 12th Annual Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps conference in Greensboro in April. For more information about the Balanced Curriculum, please contact clynch@dpi.state.nc.us. For more information about the Mooresville Team, please contact jessicademeter@mgsd.k12.nc.us.

May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month

Join the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) in celebrating physical activity and sports during National Physical Fitness and Sports Month! Educators can find May fitness calendars for elementary and secondary levels in English and Spanish, a parent letter, and much more to help celebrate this special month at the NASPE's Teacher Toolbox Web site (under Quick Links), http://iweb.aahperd.org/naspe/template.cfm?template=teacher_toolbox_may08.html. Educators also can access new activities for National Physical Education and Sport Week, May 1-7, by visiting the "Moving Is A Learning Experience!" Web site at http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/MayWeek/2008/template.cfm?template=main.htm. For more information, please contact Kymm Ballard, NCDPI Physical Education, Athletics, and Sports Medicine consultant, 919.807.3858, or by email, kballard@dpi.state.nc.us.

2008 Holocaust Observance and Commemoration

The North Carolina Council on the Holocaust will present the 2008 Holocaust Observance and Commemoration on Sunday, May 4, beginning at 3 p.m., at Jones Auditorium on the campus of Meredith College, Raleigh. The keynote speaker will be a woman who was rescued by the British when she was a child. There will be an art exhibit by area high schools and a dramatic dance presentation by East Garner Middle School. There is no charge for the event. For more information, please contact Mike Abramson at mabramson@nc.rr.com.

Math, the Arts and M.I.

Registration is now open for the A+ Schools Program's 2008 "Best Practices" Conference, "Math, the Arts and M.I..," to be held Aug. 7-8 in Greensboro. Sponsored by the A+ Schools Program and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, this year's conference includes sessions on the role of the arts and Multiple Intelligences strategies in moving K-8 students to deeper understanding of math skills and concepts, and on exploring the integration of math with other "non-arts" areas of the curriculum. The Conference is open to all K-8 educators, administrators and teaching artists. For registration and conference information, please visit the A+ Schools Program Web site at http://aplus-schools.uncg.edu.

ESL Online Course Opportunity

Grasp pedagogy, policy and procedures for teaching and working with English language learners by taking "A Crash Course in ESL." This course, which begins May 13, will prepare you to work with ESL parents and create a welcoming environment for ESL students. This course also provides a concise overview of strategies and best practices for all teachers, administrators, and support staff working with English language learners. This online course from LEARN NC lasts four weeks and is worth two CEUs. To register, please visit http://www.learnnc.org/courses/current/CrashCourseESL_05_13_08.

Adventures in Ideas: Summer 2008 Seminars

UNC Chapel Hill's College of Arts and Sciences has posted its Adventures in Ideas: Summer 2008 Seminars online and is now accepting registrations. The seminar series includes Religious Tolerance and Intolerance from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Political Satire from Mark Twain to the Daily Show, Michelangelo's Genius: Renaissance Individuality and Creativity, and From Book to Screen: Literature and Film. Complete information, including registration, is available online at www.adventuresinideas.unc.edu or by calling 919.962.1544.

Teacher Assistant Scholarship Fund

Program information and applications for the Teacher Assistant Scholarship Fund (TASF) for the 2008-09 academic year are available online at CFNC.org/TASF. The scholarship is valued at $1,200 per term for those attending four-year institutions with a maximum award of $3,600 for the academic year for the three terms - fall, spring and the combined summer sessions. For those attending a community college, the scholarship is valued at $600 per term for fall, spring, and the combined summer sessions with the maximum award of $1,800 for the academic year. The application deadline is May 31. For more information, please contact Edna Williams at the State Education Assistance Authority at 919.549.8614 or by email at eew@ncseaa.edu.

Cumberland County School Receives Inaugural Innovator Award

Congratulations to Cross Creek Early College High who recently received the inaugural Innovator Award by Gov. Mike Easley. The school received the award in recognition of its success preparing all students for college, careers and life. The school, which is located on the campus of Fayetteville State University, was one of the first Learn and Earn high schools to open in North Carolina. Since it opened three years ago, Cross Creek has not had one student drop out of school. Its passing rate on state end-of-course exams was 77 percent last year, compared to a 60.8 percent rate in its school district. The school's students recorded an overall 2.6 GPA last year, topping the average for the freshman class at Fayetteville State University, its partner higher education institution. These results have come while nearly three-quarters of the school's students are disadvantaged, a proportion that exceeds the overall average in Cumberland County's schools. Most of the high school's 209 students are also the first in their families to attend college.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Student Wins National Culinary Competition

Congratulations to East Mecklenburg High School student Luis Rojas who won first place in the 19th Annual National Chef of the Year competition. Rojas was awarded over $80,000 in scholarship money to attend Johnson and Wales University. Rojas is a student of East Mecklenburg High's CTE/FACS Culinary Arts Teacher Dale Richardson. Twenty students out of more than 500 applicants nationwide were asked to come to Johnson & Wales University's North Miami Campus to compete on April 12. Ten students competed in the dinner category and 10 competed in the dessert category. Students had three hours to prepare their recipes for a panel of judges for the chance to win scholarship money to JWU and a meeting with JWU alumnus and Food Network star Tyler Florence. This year's competition asked high school juniors and seniors to create an original recipe that incorporates their family heritage or ethnicity. Rojas won first place in the Dessert Category and was the grand prize winner. His recipe was a White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse with Tuille Cookie and Strawberry Coulis.

2008 National High School Journalism Teacher Awards' Program

The Newspaper Fund, which was founded by editors of "The Wall Street Journal," is recognizing "dynamic newspaper, news magazine and news Web site teacher advisers whose students' work consistently shines with quality reporting and editing" with its 2008 National High School Journalism Teacher Awards. The winning teacher will receive a laptop computer and software and will be a featured speaker throughout the 2008-09 school year at newspaper industry and journalism education conferences. A student at the school of the national winner will receive a $1,000 college scholarship to study news-editorial journalism. Students of the four Distinguished Advisers also will receive $500 scholarships to study news-editorial journalism. Additional information, including the application, is available online at https://www.NewspaperFund.org by clicking on Teacher of the Year under the Programs link. Applications and supporting materials must be postmarked by July 1.

Photo Contest

North Carolina State University's Climate Office is sponsoring a "Young Weather Photographers" contest for students between the ages of 7-16. The deadline to submit a photo is June 30. Contest details are available online at http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/education/contest.php. Questions may be directed to Shannon Futrell at safutrel@ncsu.edu.

 

If you'd like to review past Teachers' Biweekly Messages sent to the listserv group, just go online to http://www.ncpublicschools.org/teachersarchive/.