Snow Day!

Those two words mean more to teachers than any other group of people! After a reflective Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, many teachers in North Carolina woke up Tuesday to a blanket of snow on the very roads they would have to navigate to get to school. So you know what that means - NO SCHOOL! And how timely...we were able to stay home and watch the Inauguration festivities without interruption. It was a beautiful festive day, and I stood in my den and saluted the flag and sang the National Anthem alongside my dog. And as wonderful as that was, I know it was amazing to share that experience with schoolchildren, too, so for those of you who were in schools that day, I'm sure the experience was just as meaningful, if not more.

There are a few words that carry the same impact as "snow day" and here they are: "two hour delay." I love those words. My brain works on a two hour delay so, to me, this is the perfect school day. After our snow day on Tuesday, we had our two hour delay on Wednesday, so we all arrived to work well rested after a long weekend.

On Thursday, I participated in an online meeting with the State Superintendent's Teacher Advisory Committee, the teachers from the current and previous Teacher of the Year teams. Due to budget concerns, we didn't all travel to our state capital as usual. Instead we "met" over the phone while viewing documents online. We are compiling statements concerning what we "believe" about teaching - these are called "We Believe" statements. James Bell, NC Teacher of the Year (07-08) and I will be presenting these statements to the State Board of Education in the next couple of months so we spent a good deal of time discussing each statement until we were sure that they represented our beliefs.
We also discussed a book we each read entitled Made to Stick. Authors (and brothers) Chip and Dan Heath write about the six principles needed to make an idea stick:

1. Simplicity

2. Unexpectedness

3. Concreteness

4. Credibility

5. Emotions

6. Stories

As teachers, it's important that we understand how to make our lessons "stick" with our students. This book uses entertaining examples to explain how that works - it's an interesting read for all of us who work with kids.

I ended the week with the opportunity to meet the new Dean of the School of Education at my alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Bill McDiarmid. A UNC graduate himself, Dr. McDiarmid shared his vision for the School of Ed. He pledges to prepare more highly skilled educators by being in the business of making leaders. He also wants to address the dropout rate in our country and do a better job of working with kids from high poverty areas and those for whom English is their second language. I'm looking forward to working with the School of Education at UNC, as well as North Carolina's other state and private schools of higher ed as we prepare our colleagues of the future.

Next week is an exciting one for me. I'll be traveling to Dallas, Texas to spend a week with each of the country's State Teachers of the Year. It's my goal to post about our activities daily, although time will be limited. I hope to at least give you a little insight into what we're doing there. That way I'll take you with me!

Wish me luck as I go to represent you, the outstanding educators of North Carolina, on a national level...I'm off to pack my cowgirl boots!