The Fun Begins!

A beautiful vase of tulips arrived to my hotel room today. Thank you, ING and CCSSO!

I arrived in Washington, D.C. yesterday (since it's close enough to North Carolina to drive in a few hours,) but I didn't feel quite like the festivities were underway until it was time for the other three finalists to arrive today. Well, tonight, Jon Quam, the Director of the National Teacher of the Year Program, met us in the lobby of our hotel so that we could walk to dinner, and it was then that Tony, Alex, and I found out that Susan was stranded in the airport in Chicago and wouldn't be joining us. We missed her cheerful presence, but luckily, her sign language interpreter, Cheri, was with us.

First Jon took us for a tour of the Council of Chief State School Officers building where our interviews and press conference will take place.

Tony and Alex test the chairs in the press conference room.

Next we entered the historic Union Station for dinner at BSmith's, a restaurant specializing in Southern cuisine and soul food...right up my alley! We all had a wonderful time and now are ready for our videotapings tomorrow and then dinner with the selection committee. Oh, and we're also waiting for Susan to get here! Can't wait to see her!

Here, Tony and Alex and I stand in the regal Union Station, a historic train station built in 1907.

Mrs. Rigsbee Goes to Washington

I had a busy week at the State Board of Education meetings while packing to travel to Washington, D.C. for the National Teacher of the Year Selection process. I was witness to history at the State Board meetings this week as we watched Dr. Bill Harrison being sworn in as CEO of the Public Schools of North Carolina, and minutes later, named Chairman of the Board. It was an emotional meeting as the Board said goodbye to Chairman Howard Lee, who has chaired the Board for five years, and who brought an air of dignity to that role that will never be forgotten. He will now head up Governor Purdue's Education Cabinet. I'm excited about working with Dr. Harrison in my role as Teacher Advisor to the State Board of Education.

I rushed out of Thursday's meeting to drive to Montgomery County and present on "Literacy for Life" to the NCASCD meeting. I shared my "reading history" with the participants and offered ideas for reading strategies that they could use in their classrooms. I was emotional twice, once while reading aloud a story about my parents and later while viewing the video of my reunion with my first grade teacher Mrs. Warnecke. But suffice it to say that I was having an emotional week anyway, realizing that I was about to embark on one of the biggest "moments" of my life.

And that moment is here...I am in our nation's capital preparing to represent North Carolina teachers. We arrived yesterday, and apparently my husband thinks the best way to prepare for an interview is to walk 15 miles! After checking into the Liaison Hotel, we set out to take in the sights of Washington, D.C. on a beautiful first-of-spring day (it's hard to believe that just five days ago I was home on a "snow day.")

The Capitol is literally steps from our hotel!

We were a little late in the day by the time we started our sightseeing walk, but that made for a pretty sunset picture of the Washington Monument.

Thanks to Trisha Muse's fifth graders at Page Street Elementary School in Troy! They made me beautiful "good luck" cards so I sent them this picture of their cards' arrival at the White House.

Stay tuned for updates on the events of the next few days, including dinner with the selection committee, a videotaped response to questions, a "mini-keynote" speech, an interview, and a press conference. Also, tomorrow I have scheduled meetings with North Carolina Senators Hagan and Burr along with a visit to the Senate floor!

And as for my performance in the selection process...maybe when it's all over, I'll be able to do the Smarty Pants Dance ...

A Gala Week!

Some weeks on this Teacher of the Year tour have been slammed with activity - one wonderful thing after another - until it's hard to absorb the wonderfulness before I'm off to another experience. Such it was this week...the Gala week! Back to that in a minute..

I started off the week on the beautiful campus of North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, N.C. I was the featured speaker for the Spring Symposium at NCWC which included nine current student teachers and 21 education majors. I shared my Expressions for Excellence in Education and some answers to their questions and concerns. These students were energetic and vibrant, and we'll be lucky to have them in our schools in NC.

Here I am with Dr. Patricia Brewer, Assistant Professor of Education at NCWC, and some of her education students.

I loved Dr. Brewer's door - her students illustrated their best teachers and the attributes they had. Oh yea, and there's a flyer about my presentation in the middle...not as cute as the illustrations!

I headed home from Rocky Mount and prepared for a couple of meetings in Raleigh on Tuesday. Then off again, this time to Salisbury to visit the West Teaching Scholars and participate in several activities with them. First we had breakfast, and I spoke with them on seeking leadership opportunities even as beginning teachers. That followed with a question and answer session; the Fellows asked compelling questions on everything from collaborating with colleagues to school safety. From there we walked over to the Ketner School of Business where I presented my keynote - Making Connections as a Teacher - a message about 21st Century teaching and the teacher/student relationship. Next we broke for lunch where I had the opportunity to sit with Catawba faculty and Hannah, a Fellow from my mother's hometown of Robbins, N.C. Hannah, along with the other Fellows at Catawba, remind me of the promise of the future of teaching.

Yep, there's the sign...I found Catawba College!

I always try to wear the school colors when I visit college campuses. Sometimes I don't get them exactly right (there are MANY colors of blue.) I was so excited to see that I perfectly matched the Fellows at Catawba!

On Friday, I had the pleasure to present to the entire student body of Wentworth Elementary School in Rockingham County. My lesson involved Character Education, and I read from the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? (while I threw "stars" at the students from my "bucket.") The best way to end a rainy Friday - and a busy week - was looking out over the sea of little faces in the Wentworth Elementary gymnasium!

But, wait! The week wasn't over...I was honored to attend the Gala and Silent Auction for the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) on Saturday night. The Teacher of the Year team pulled our gowns and tuxedos out of the closet and headed to the Cardinal Club in Raleigh to participate in the auction that raises money for a place (actually two places - one in the mountains and one at the beach) that celebrates teachers by offering amazing professional development opportunities while nurturing souls and feeding weary minds and bodies. If you're a North Carolina teacher, and you haven't had an NCCAT experience, go to the website and apply today!

The NCCAT Golden Apple Gala was a festive event as evidenced by the ice sculpture and the dessert tray.

Here we are...members of the North Carolina Teacher of the Year Team 2008-2009. From left - Trisha Muse, Sandhills/South Central Region; Ruth Ann Parker, Southeast Region; Sonya Rinehart, Northeast Region; Renee Peoples, West Region, Cindi Rigsbee, Piedmont/Triad Central Region; and Bernard Waugh, Southwest Region (We missed Freida Baker, Paige Elliott, and Janice Raper!)

I was amazed at the items donated for auction - beautiful artwork, rugs, sports memorabilia (I would've loved the basketball signed by former UNC Coach Dean Smith) and trips galore! Trips to every beach in the state, along with trips to New York City and Paris, were available. I left with one happy husband who bid for, and won, a Richard Petty Driving Experience. Now David gets to go to Lowe's Motor Speedway and drive a race car at 185 mph. He acted like a kid when he found out he had won the bid!

Here I am with Trisha and Alton Ballance, NCCAT Fellow from Ocracoke Island.


Here I am with Southeast Regional Teacher of the Year Ruth Ann Parker.

I was so happy to see most of my TOY team members (others had health issues - we missed you guys!) But for those of us who were there...it was a happy reunion...and a reminder that we only have two more months together before a new team is selected. Where did the year go?

Congressman Bob Etheridge addresses the Gala group.

Here I am with Dr. Bill Harrison, newly named CEO of the NC Public Schools. I'm looking forward to working with him in my role as Teacher Advisor to the State Board of Education.

Well, another week is gone, and this upcoming week is packed with activities. On Friday I leave for Washington, D.C. for the National Teacher of the Year process! I'm excited about seeing my fellow finalists again, and I'll be able to go onto the Senate floor, thanks to my NC Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr. I'll be representing NC teachers as I visit our policymakers in our nation's capitol. It will be a great experience!

NBC Panic Mode and Other Exciting Engagements!

Some of my week has involved helping National Board Certification candidates as they begin wrapping up their videotaping and writing for a March 31st submission date. So...what began back in the fall as leisurely discussions of reflective practice have now become fever-pitched cries for help. This is the time of the process when our confidence wanes and our emotions begin to take over. I've written about it previously, and although it's been five years since I submitted my NBC portfolio, I still remember that stress all too well.

This week I worked with National Board candidates in Orange and Granville counties: reading entries, offering videotaping advice, and providing encouragement. All of these teachers have been real troopers, as accomplished teachers are...continuing to plug away at their writing and reflecting while maintaining high standards in their classrooms at the same time. I'm looking forward to watching as they all send the packed "box" away, and we can participate in some quality celebrations before they begin preparing for the final assessments to follow.

I also enjoyed another trip to Ragsdale High School this week, returning to follow up on three earlier workshops on Marzano's Classroom Instruction that Works. This time we focused on "nonlinguistic representations," "reinforcing effort and providing recognition" and "cues, questions, and advance organizers." I had the opportunity to bring along seventh grade language arts teacher Kelly Kaplan to provide some credibilty to the workshop. Kelly is a former high school teacher who knows how these strategies work with older students and who brought numerous examples of student work to share. Kelly's nonlinguistic "masks" were beautiful products made by her students who read Bronx Masquerade, and she also brought along examples of the Frayer model that we use, in each of my school's classes, for vocabulary study. And Kelly's Word Wall nonlinguistics sparked an exciting discussion on the research behind successful Word Wall instruction.

Ragsdale faculty members partipate by sharing, and Kelly (the candy fairy) delivers prizes to participants.

Another treat this week was speaking to the beginning teachers and mentors of Onslow County Schools at Jacksonville High School. Besides those groups of teachers, I also had Central Office staff, school administrators, and students - future teachers - in the audience. Again, I spoke about the importance of building relationships with our students, and I think I had as much fun as the audience!

Another busy week has come and gone...way too quickly...and I realize that in two short months a new North Carolina Teacher of the Year will be named. I'm determined to work as hard as I can in what time I have left in this position to promote education in our state and to represent the amazing teachers I meet everywhere I go!

Speaking of that, I had the opportunity to congratulate many new Teachers of the Year this past week as schools are selecting their representatives. Congratulations to all of you, and good luck as you continue throughout the process!

Here I am with my buddy NaShonda Cooke, recently named Teacher of the Year at Glenn Elementary School. NaShonda is an amazing EC teacher, and we used to teach together years ago in a nearby middle school.

My school is in its third year of existence, and here are our three Teachers of the Year. Here I am with the current (and newly named) TOY, Melissa Barnhouse and the outgoing TOY Heather Walton.

Week Two of the Principal Road Tour!

I just did a calculation - which is a stretch for a reading teacher - and figured out that I have been in a car for a total of 45 hours in the past two weeks. I've been west to the mountains, northeast to the outer banks, and southeast to the barrier islands. I've also traveled all around the middle of the state - to six different counties (one of them twice, thanks to snow.)

I started the week at my school working with our Hispanic families at our Community Literacy Center. This particular Sunday was really fun because the weather was beautiful so we took our lesson outside. I would point to various things and ask, "How do you say this?" or "Como se dice?" We discovered how to say words like "grass," "tree," and "road" in both languages and had stimulating conversations on how to say "mud" and "grate" in Spanish. Inside the building we got really lucky. Gravelly Hill Middle School's amazing art teacher, Victoria Buckner, had displayed papier mache animals all around the school's media center, and we were able to practice our Spanish-to-English versions of animal names. I learned so much! Now I know why there is a band named Los Lobos (the wolves) and why there's an Amarillo, Texas (amarillo means yellow.) Again, we had interesting conversations on what an otter is in Spanish...and a ground hog...and a weasel. We all looked pretty silly sticking out our teeth and acting like we were burrowing in the ground.

That afternoon, I met with the other members of the Principal of the Year Selection Committee, and off we went to Elizabeth City, N.C. "E-City" is on the northeast tip of our state and is a beautiful paradise surrounded by water. We met committee member Alisa McLean's parents at Captain Bob's - I ate shrimp and oysters from the North Carolina coast as we prepared for our day at Northeastern High School on Monday.

Northeastern High School - Elizabeth City, N.C.

Monday afternoon we set out on our longest trip yet. We were headed to Brunswick County so we were leaving one of the northeastern counties and driving to the southeastern-most point in the state. Keep in mind that this particular geographical area includes various rivers, swamps, inlets, and sounds so we were over water quite a bit. Water is really pretty, but bridges aren't my best friends. Somehow I kept my little Prius on the road, and five hours later we arrived on Oak Island.

South Brunswick High School - Southport, N.C.

After our visit to South Brunswick High School, we returned to the Piedmont area of the state, Alamance County, for another elementary school visit - we were at Eastlawn for the day. There I had two reunions. Shaneeka Moore, the Assistant Principal at the school, is a former student of mine (am I really that old?) To think that one of my seventh graders could potentially be my boss was a little too much to handle! I also was able to reconnect with Cathy Foust, Alamance County's Teacher of the Year for 2008. As the neighboring county's Teacher of the Year, Cathy and I were together at several events in 2008.

Eastlawn Elementary -Burlington, N.C. - the Eaglets!

Finally, we headed back to the same Charlotte hotel where we were snowbound last week. And we visited Sharon Elementary School which was not under snow at all. In fact, it was a beautiful day, and we soon drove back home after two weeks of being on the road. We all were happy to return to our families and our jobs, but we will miss the fun and fellowship that was the Principal of the Year Tour 2009!

More eagles! Sharon Elementary School - Charlotte, N.C.

Some highlights of our statewide tour:

-elementary children saying ANYTHING (i.e. "He's a good principal because he's healthy.")

-food! (school pizza, doughnuts, brownies, cake...)

-checking in and out of hotels over and over and over and over...

-watching major sporting events in hotels (the Super Bowl and the Duke/UNC basketball game)

-meeting Alisa's parents

-seeing entire school staffs dressed in school spirit attire to greet us

-seeing high school boys in three piece suits

-having ROTC greeters

-dealing with several mishaps - like getting trapped by luggage on a stairway and getting caught in a torrential rainstorm

-and most importantly...the thousands of school children, teachers, and amazing principals we met!

Thank you, North Carolina. It was an experience of a lifetime!

It's the "Principal" of the Thing...

Right now I'm the most exhausted I've been as NC Teacher of the Year, but I'm having so much fun and learning more than I ever thought I would! I'm currently serving on the Principal of the Year Selection Committee, and we are traveling the state looking for the next North Carolina POY.

Our first stop was Saluda Elementary School...so after getting up at 4AM to get to the airport in Dallas (where we were ended the State Teacher of the Year Conference), Dan Holloman and I boarded a plane, returned to NC, and hopped in a car to drive to the NC mountains. We watched the Super Bowl in the Hampton Inn's lobby in Hendersonville before driving over the county line to Saluda the next morning.

On the way down the mountain, current North Carolina Principal of the Year Dr. Debra Morris and I drove through falling SNOW in Asheville! It was beautiful but short-lived. Soon we were in Conover, NC and preparing to visit Tuttle Elementary School in nearby Maiden. Speaking of snow, we were hearing rumblings of more of the white stuff, but everything looked clear as we left Catawba County and headed out of the foothills to Charlotte. That car ride was fun as Dan and I were entertained by Alisa McLean's discussion of fashion. Alisa works with the Principal's Executive Program in NC and is a former principal in my school system - Orange County.

I was so excited to see my daughter Tuesday night because she lives in Charlotte and I haven't seen her since Christmas (except on a field - on January 10th she was down there cheering for the embarrassed Panthers during the NFL Playoff game.) Kelli and I did a little shopping and had dinner before I returned to my hotel ready to visit Sharon Elementary School the next day. But when I woke up I saw huge scrolling letters on my television - CHARLOTTE MECKLENBURG SCHOOLS CLOSED. Oops. Can't do a school visit when the school isn't open! I looked outside and saw, you guessed it, SNOW! After letting it melt on the roads a little we got back in the state car and headed to Fayetteville.

One constant on our Principal of the Year tour has been...no, not snow...FOOD! When we got to Cape Fear High School, there was a platter of Krispy Kreme doughnuts waiting for us. I called it the "Trouble Tray." As I stood there deciding which one I would select, a nice lady walked in with a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies from the cafeteria. Another trouble tray. And at Tuttle Elementary, every time we left the room we returned to more food - muffins, fruit (with a tasty dip that I dipped my muffin in), a chili cheese dip for Fritos, veggie tray, and a creation made by the cafeteria manager that looked like a wedding cake! When this is over, we'll have a new Principal of the Year, and I'll have to buy all new clothes!

After leaving Fayetteville, I returned home to sleep in my own bed for the first time in nine days. Luckily, the next school visit was in my neighboring county of Wake. And speaking of food, Apex High School has a culinary arts class...which equals numerous Trouble Trays...bagels, muffins, brownies...and thanks to Counselor Week, there was even a tray of subs for lunch. Needless to say, we have been fed well!

On Saturday, I drove up the mountain to speak to the Teaching Fellows Finalists at UNC Asheville. I talked to them about the importance of being a teacher, and darn if they didn't try to feed me lasagna - I told them I just wasn't hungry!

Today I'm working at the Community Literacy Center at my school and then jumping back in the state car for a long trip to the northeast coast - Elizabeth City - for the next school visit and a new week of the Principal of the Year selection process. Stay tuned...

Week Two of the Three Week Tour!

I was unable to blog about the last day in Dallas at the National Teacher of the Year Conference because after all of the sessions - and a beautiful closing dinner - we had to pack and quickly get to the airport! Then I hopped in a car and began my travels all over the state of North Carolina for the Principal of the Year selection process. As a way of wrapping up, here are a few last pictures from the life-changing experience in Dallas:

Former National Teacher of the Year Mary Beth Blegen led a passionate discussion about teaching.

She started with a little "activity" - we were feeling kind of goofy.

We had some important media training (and practice) - here's Rebecca, the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, working on her interview skills with presenter Joe Lowenthal.

Here's Margaret Williams, Missouri Teacher of the Year.

Edney Freeman, the Teacher of the Year from the U.S. Virgin Islands, makes some comments.

My friend, fellow Carolina girl Jenna Hallman (South Carolina Teacher of the Year), is a very eloquent speaker.

Here we are at the Saturday night reception: Teachers of the Year from Colorado, Washington, D.C., Florida, and North Carolina.

Here I am with Dan Holloman, Coordinator for the Teacher of the Year Program in North Carolina, and a great source of support for me.

And finally, during one of the most emotional moments in my life: Mike Geisen, the current National Teacher of the Year, talked about me by reading from my portfolio and then introduced me as a finalist for the 2009 National Teacher of the Year. There are no words to express the way that I felt when I looked at that screen and saw "North Carolina" and "Gravelly Hill Middle School, Efland, NC." I just hope to make everyone proud by representing the teachers in my state and in my school in a way that honors them.