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.

Dallas Day Four

Today was a special day for me at the National Teacher of the Year Conference because today my friends from the Center for Teaching Quality were here to present on "Building Communities for Learning." Of course, CTQ is headquartered in Hillsborough, N.C., about two miles from my school. And my involvement with CTQ's Teacher Leaders Network has literally changed my professional life. So to be so far away from home and see these familiar faces made me a happy conference participant today!

Here's my virtual, and now face-to-face, friend Nancy Flanagan presenting to the group. Behind her you can see National TOY Finalist Susan Elliott's sign language interpreter and behind her, my other CTQ buddy, Alice Williams.

We continued our Home Room discussions today, talking about the balance between being a Teacher of the Year presenter and committee member while continuing to be a teacher. Our "leader" - National Teacher of the Year Mike Geisen - gave us insight into the job that he's been doing for the past year.

Next Susan Elliott, Tony Mullen, and I attended a meeting that enabled us to understand the finalist process. And Alex Kajitani was there, too; he joined us from California via conference call. His baby was born last night! We were given all of the requirements for what will surely be an exciting time in Washington, D.C. as we participate in the National Teacher of the Year selection process for 2009!

Here I am with my fellow finalists, Tony from Connecticut and Susan from Denver!

Tomorrow is another fun-filled conference day here in Dallas. Stay tuned for news about a very special and elegant dinner - I've heard it's a wonderful experience!

Dallas Day Three

I began the day having breakfast with my friends from the Teacher Leaders Network! Here I am with Barnett Berry and Alice Williams of the Center for Teaching Quality and Nancy Flanagan, former Michigan Teacher of the Year.

It was another eventful day in Teacher of the Year land! We began the day with a slide show that included pictures of each State Teacher of the Year and each State Coordinator. When our pictures came up on the screen, we had to introduce ourselves and tell what we teach. Of course, teachers always go a little farther. For example, the Arizona and Pennsylvania Teachers of the Year, Sarah (we call her Sarizona) and Rebecca, inserted some comments regarding the little football game coming up on Sunday. So when I introduced myself, I just had to mention that I proudly represent North Carolina, the home of the Carolina Panthers who were spanked by Sarizona's team on January 10th. It was all in good fun, and each teacher tried to outdo the other by saying that his/her coordinator was the best. I introduced the North Carolina Coordinator, Danny Holloman, by saying, "My coordinator can beat up your coordinator." So it's on!


Today I sat with my buddies Cindy Couchman (Kansas) and Chantelle Herchenhahn (Mississippi)

After introductions, we were entertained with an overview of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) who runs the National Teacher of the Year program. We were given a history of the TOY program - the first National Teacher of the Year was named in 1952 - Geraldine Jones from Santa Barbara had only taught school for two years when she was given this national distinction. Next Lois Rodgers from CCSSO presented "Key Issues for Tomorrow's Schools" and we discussed "What We Would Tell Arne Duncan" - the newly named Secretary of Education.

We were in for a treat next when Betsy Rogers, National Teacher of the Year in 2003, spoke with her principal Margie Curry about their school - Brighton School in Alabama. Brighton, a low performing school for years, made a real turnaround after Dr. Rogers became a curriculum specialist there. It was inspiring to hear the stories of the kids at Brighton. One especially compelling story was about a kindergarten class that was overrun with snakes! We all squirmed at that story...


Ms. Curry is talking about her school as Betsy Rogers watches.

Another National Teacher of the Year (2007), Andrea Peterson, told her moving story. She was nine months pregnant when she was named National TOY! She told us, after reading a quote from The Phantom Tollbooth, that we've been "practicing for this all of our lives" - we have been practicing for this leadership role. Both of these former NTOYs were inspirational!

A discussion of education policy is always an eye opener, and Amy Starzynski from the Education Counsel in Washington, D.C. talked to us about the transition between Presidents and about the issues the folks in D.C. are dealing with related to education. After a brisk question and answer session, Jon Quam, our NTOY Director, explained what is coming up in the next year. Not only will we travel to Washington in April to be recognized by President Obama, we'll also travel to Alabama to go to Space Camp and we'll meet in New Jersey to work with the Education Testing Service. This will be our "Next Steps" Conference...we'll discuss what to do after our Teacher of the Year role is over as we continue to lead in our schools.

The question and answer session as we discuss education policy.

Next we broke into groups and went to "Home Rooms" - each National Teacher of the Year facilitated a group, and my group was led by none other than Mike Geisen, the current National Teacher of the Year. We introduced ourselves and talked about our passions in teaching. It was great to be able to share in smaller groups and to get to know each other better.

In the Home Room, Edney Freeman from the Virgin Islands talks while Deb Wickerman from Ohio listens.

Also, in the Home Room, we listen to National Teacher of the Year (2008) Michael Geisen speak about his passions in education.

Our dinner tonight was very special. It was held at the Texas Women's Museum, and when we walked in, we saw huge screens that displayed each of our names one at a time. After a few moments of networking with each other, we sat to listen to a special presentation from the sponsor of the dinner - the University of Phoenix. It wasn't long before we were given some amazing news - as our state's Teacher of the Year we will be able to choose one high school senior to receive a full scholarship to the University. I literally sat there and cried! I have so many former students who need this type of opportunity - now to choose one...

After a lovely dinner and a tour of the museum, we boarded the buses to return to the beautiful Hilton Lincoln Centre. Tomorrow will be another very packed day!

Dallas Day Two

It is entirely possible that my brain cannot hold any more information today. The State Teachers of the Year spent an intense day learning about the SMART technology that we all received for our schools. There are many instructional techniques to learn; we just barely scratched the surface. But still, we learned so much, and we're eager to get back to our schools and practice!

Our instructor, Kimberleigh, shows us how to use our SMARTboards.

Dissecting a frog on the SMARTboard - amazing!

Kim, the Washington, D.C Teacher of the Year, practices her skills.

This afternoon our Teacher of the Year Coordinators arrived in town, and we had a festive Texas style dinner (including beef ribs and peach cobbler) to welcome them to Dallas. National Teacher of the Year Chauncey Veatch (2002) spoke to us about leadership. I'll always remember him telling us to take our Teacher of the Year roles and go after the opportunity to lead - to "pursue it like a missile seeks out heat." We left moved and inspired and ready to embrace the task he set before us.

Chauncey Veatch motivates the audience.