I arrived in Perquimans Country not knowing what to expect for the next week. All I knew is that I would get the opportunity to see how the school system worked. My reason for choosing this small system was that it was close to my home. It was also much smaller than the school system I went to school in so I wanted to be able to have a comparison. After I arrived at the School Board Office which was located beside the high school, I waited for the arrival of my contact. When she arrived, she gave me a schedule for the week. It was packed with an array of things to do including visiting the schools, attending a baseball game, meetings with people working in the school board building including the superintendent, and the opportunity to observe Teaching Fellows teaching in the classroom.
The first day I was very nervous; mostly because I had no clue what I was going to be doing. From the moment I entered the School Board Building, everyone was extremely friendly. This made my nervous relax. The agenda for my first day had me visiting the high school. As soon as I saw this I thought, uh oh. I am a Birth-K Major so needless to say high school is way out of my range. The principal was extremely nice. He was actually in a meeting with the Senior Class President. He invited me to listen in. The seniors were planning a senior trip. I thought this was excellent; we didn't get the opportunity to have one my senior year. The class president told me that it had been a while since the school allowed a senior class to go. She also told me she had done a lot to prepare. After the meeting I was given a short tour and then I was put into a Teaching Fellow alum's class to observe. She was an Agriculture teacher and told me that Agriculture is very popular in the school. It was fun to “be back in high school."
Over the next few days, I visited the other schools in the county. When I visited Hertford Grammar School, I got the opportunity to go on a field trip. I thought that was a very valuable experience because you got to see the chaos first hand. My favorite part of the week was visiting the K-2 school. Every classroom in that school is equipped with a Smart Board. In fact, the county has applied for numerous grants to allow their county to be so technologically advanced. They hope in the next few years to have Smart Boards in every classroom in the county. The teachers loved teaching using the Smart Board and the students loved learning as a result of it. All of the teachers I observed at the K-2 school were hands on and energetic. My only regret was that I did not have a chance to meet with this principal. Another great thing I got to do during my week was a attending a meeting for first-year teachers. It was great to see how much support the entire county gave to teachers in their first three years.
I must honestly say that Senior Orientation was a week I was dreading. The last thing I wanted to do was spend a week of my summer in schools all day. The opportunity turned out to be a great one. If you did not attend a small school system, I would defintely recommend that you visit one for Senior Orientation. Although I am not planning on teaching in this county it was still great to see its inner workings and learn what they are doing to educate the children of their county.
