Talking to Teachers

I love that school is finally up and running because many of my presentations now include teachers. Yesterday, in fact, I stood before 420 of them and talked about their opportunity to be the "one" who makes a difference in the life of a child. The North Carolina Model Teacher Education Consortium held an Instructional Institute for Lateral Entry and Inexperienced Teachers in Chapel Hill which included break-out sessions and a presentation by none other than Dr. Harry Wong (of The First Days of School fame.) I spoke before him so I jokingly referred to myself as "the warmup pitcher."

My long time friend, Dr. Catherine Allen, always gives me treats when I present to the Consortium. Here she presents me with a book written and illustrated by her mother-in-law, Katherine Allen.

Here I am with Lynn Meyers, Warren County Schools Teacher of the Year and Dr. Shirley Arrington, Executive Director of the North Carolina Model Teacher Education Consortium.

Today I had the pleasure again to see policy-making in action at the September State Board of Education meeting. These meetings can be listened to live on the internet so if you're not in a classroom full of kids, you should check it out. It's inspirational! My leadership role model Barnett Berry, of the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), along with Bill Shore from Glaxo Smith Kline, shared information about an exciting program in North Carolina. CTQ will be utilizing the expertise of National Board Certified Teachers to mentor new teachers virtually - online mentoring! This is an example of teacher leadership gone 21st century. The State Board was very excited about this possibility!

Tomorrow I'll be talking about National Board Certification and Teacher Leadership with the school district NBC Coordinators. I had the opportunity to attend this meeting last year, and this is a great group of people! Our own Teacher of the Year leader, Dan Holloman, will also be presenting. I'm always excited to learn from him!

As we continue on through the first full month of school, the Teacher of the Year team continues to represent the best and the brightest - North Carolina teachers!