By Will Mercep (freshman)
So you want to be a teacher. Well, as you can see from this page, Teaching Fellows is a great way to reach that goal while getting a top notch education. Now, you’ve reached the stage where you know you want to teach, and you know that you want to be a Teaching Fellow. What’s your major? In the College of Education there are many different majors and concentrations. What to do, what to do?
Luckily, you don’t have to decide right this second. Your first year in college contains mostly general classes that everyone has to take. While you’re here you will have many chances to learn more about each department. Freshman Teaching Fellows at ECU have an event in which they get to meet the advisers. The advisers represent the different majors offered in education. They are more than egger to get extra people to join their field. However, you should make the decision on your major as soon as you can. Different majors have different classes you have to take in order to be admitted. By the end of your freshman year you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to do. If you don’t have a major declared in time, you risk not being able to have the classes needed to enter the major you choose, and you could possibly end up taking summer classes just to catch up. The biggest point is that coming into Teaching Fellows with an undecided major is okay. Find something that you have a passion to teach and have fun doing it.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The ECU Sixth Man Pep Band
By Anthony Hingley (sophomore)
At the beginning of November, auditions were held for the ECU Sixth Man Pep Band, a group that plays and really energizes the crowd at the basketball games. The audition itself was not hard, we just had to play a few things from our Marching Band music, but just seeing my name up on a list in an audition based group is always an encouraging experience. After the results were posted, we had one meeting as a group to discuss the guidelines for the ensemble, as well as the schedule, and to work through a few pieces for us to play during timeouts and such.
The first game was on November 10th, and the men's team started their season well. The band was pumped, and we were definitely keeping the arena loud and making life miserable for the opponents. Numerous times we disrupted the visiting team's flow with our noise and cheers. Personally, I was happy to see the men's team start the season with a win, given the way things turned out for the team last year. They seemed to be playing with high energy, and mostly strong fundamentals, which is always good to see.
The women's team also started their season well, with a resounding 97-52 win over Presbyterian on Veteran's day. That game was even more fun than the men's game, because the band was really able to get in the opponent's heads, and throw them off their games.
If you get a chance, check out one of the basketball games, and if you hear loud whooping and hollering, don't worry, that's just the ECU Pep Band!!!
At the beginning of November, auditions were held for the ECU Sixth Man Pep Band, a group that plays and really energizes the crowd at the basketball games. The audition itself was not hard, we just had to play a few things from our Marching Band music, but just seeing my name up on a list in an audition based group is always an encouraging experience. After the results were posted, we had one meeting as a group to discuss the guidelines for the ensemble, as well as the schedule, and to work through a few pieces for us to play during timeouts and such.
The first game was on November 10th, and the men's team started their season well. The band was pumped, and we were definitely keeping the arena loud and making life miserable for the opponents. Numerous times we disrupted the visiting team's flow with our noise and cheers. Personally, I was happy to see the men's team start the season with a win, given the way things turned out for the team last year. They seemed to be playing with high energy, and mostly strong fundamentals, which is always good to see.
The women's team also started their season well, with a resounding 97-52 win over Presbyterian on Veteran's day. That game was even more fun than the men's game, because the band was really able to get in the opponent's heads, and throw them off their games.
If you get a chance, check out one of the basketball games, and if you hear loud whooping and hollering, don't worry, that's just the ECU Pep Band!!!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Recruitment Activities
If you're a Regional Finalist, congratulations! We hope you'll be attending our Recruitment Day on Saturday. To get you excited about attending, here's a couple of stories from past recruitment activities: last year's Recruitment Day and this past fall's Interview Skills Day.
Recruitment Day
by Austin Kestler (freshman)
Recruitment Day is coming up this week for all the potential ECU Teaching Fellows of 2008. This is a very important day for those deciding whether or not ECU is the right school for them. (Which it should be, ARGH!). I know when I came to ECU a year ago for the first time, I was very nervous and anxious to explore what the campus had to offer. I was greeted warmly by Dr. Corbin and Mrs. Parrish. We learned interview skills that would help us in the finals of the selection process. We also began to meet with advisers in our particular field of study and got to talk to ECU Teaching Fellows that were already here to tell us how much they like ECU. This day for me was what made me decide to come to ECU. I attended other school's Recruiting Day events and didn't receive the same warm welcome. Now that another year has passed it is time for this day again. I've offered my time to attend this event to help nervous young recruits and make them feel more at ease about college.
Interview Skills Day
by Kaitlin Bunch (freshman)
My cousin recently attended the Interview Skills workshop on November 3. She is currently a high school senior and has applied for Teaching Fellows. She came to me Sunday at church and was telling me all about the things she had done at the workshop. I think two of the things she was most excited about was actually being on campus for the day and getting to know some people around here that are interested in the same things as she is. She told me that she really liked how everything was informal and the speakers. Her least favorite aspect of the workshop was that it was after her local interview. She said that the things she learned at the workshop would have really helped her with the first interview. There were things that she did well on at the first interview but she would have done so much better had the workshop been earlier.
I remember the Interview Skills workshop that I attended last year and I know how much it helped me. I think my most favorite part was the session with Catrina Davis. She was very interesting and very memorable. Those kinds of events can be kind of overwhelming at times because you realize that this is it . . . that you are one step closer to that final interview. Ms. Davis helped to put me at ease and get comfortable. I thought of those things before and during my interview and that made all the difference in the world. I hope that everyone had as good a time as my cousin did and they got as much as they could out of it so that they, too, can have successful interviews!
Recruitment Day
by Austin Kestler (freshman)
Recruitment Day is coming up this week for all the potential ECU Teaching Fellows of 2008. This is a very important day for those deciding whether or not ECU is the right school for them. (Which it should be, ARGH!). I know when I came to ECU a year ago for the first time, I was very nervous and anxious to explore what the campus had to offer. I was greeted warmly by Dr. Corbin and Mrs. Parrish. We learned interview skills that would help us in the finals of the selection process. We also began to meet with advisers in our particular field of study and got to talk to ECU Teaching Fellows that were already here to tell us how much they like ECU. This day for me was what made me decide to come to ECU. I attended other school's Recruiting Day events and didn't receive the same warm welcome. Now that another year has passed it is time for this day again. I've offered my time to attend this event to help nervous young recruits and make them feel more at ease about college.
Interview Skills Day
by Kaitlin Bunch (freshman)
My cousin recently attended the Interview Skills workshop on November 3. She is currently a high school senior and has applied for Teaching Fellows. She came to me Sunday at church and was telling me all about the things she had done at the workshop. I think two of the things she was most excited about was actually being on campus for the day and getting to know some people around here that are interested in the same things as she is. She told me that she really liked how everything was informal and the speakers. Her least favorite aspect of the workshop was that it was after her local interview. She said that the things she learned at the workshop would have really helped her with the first interview. There were things that she did well on at the first interview but she would have done so much better had the workshop been earlier.
I remember the Interview Skills workshop that I attended last year and I know how much it helped me. I think my most favorite part was the session with Catrina Davis. She was very interesting and very memorable. Those kinds of events can be kind of overwhelming at times because you realize that this is it . . . that you are one step closer to that final interview. Ms. Davis helped to put me at ease and get comfortable. I thought of those things before and during my interview and that made all the difference in the world. I hope that everyone had as good a time as my cousin did and they got as much as they could out of it so that they, too, can have successful interviews!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Senior II Experience, Part 2
By Daniel Barnes (December '07 Graduate)
Warning – read the following two paragraphs, but do not worry: the rest of the article will not be written in that way.
Become very familiar with the word “reflection.” You will reflect in your methods classes, reflect in your classroom, reflect numerous times in your portfolio, reflect when working toward National Board Certification, and you will hopefully be a “reflective practitioner” in your classroom.
What is a reflective practitioner? A reflective practitioner is a teacher who uses the self-reflection process to explore what he or she has done previously and where he or she wishes to go in the future. When teachers reflect, they analyze what they have done in their classroom – including classroom management, procedures, pedagogy, types of lessons utilized, and daily decisions. Reflective practitioners constantly revise and reassess their teaching methods, and adjust each class in a way that will demonstrate their ability to teach each class according to their needs and personality.
Stop for a second.
Perhaps the previous two paragraphs seemed a bit…daunting? Formidable? Pedantic?
Most readers of this blog will become teachers in the near future. Reading those first two paragraphs could simulate the wall of difficulty that many students face when encountering school. If you knew and understood every word in those paragraphs, great! If not…then I did not do a good job at transferring my (acquired) knowledge to a medium that you could understand very well. That is not your fault.
I’ll get straight to the point. The past few months in the Senior II process have taught me that teaching is much more than writing lesson plans and disseminating the information. A teacher performs more than a mere regurgitation of knowledge. Teachers must take the knowledge, scaffold the skills in a way that prepares students to perform those NCSCOS objectives, and must determine how to be creative enough to tap into all students bank of knowledge.
One of the ideas I used was a variation of Socratic Seminar, in which students engage in an orderly “cross-table” debate of ideas. It worked in one class and not in another. Does that mean it was a bad plan? No. I discussed the process with my teacher, and we determined that one class already had the oral presentation skills necessary for positive results. The other class needed more oral speaking skills (though we had done some in the past week) and frankly required more in-class time to digest the external reading because they tend not to do homework. This self-assessment and collaborative assessment is a process that A) you can really take advantage of during the Senior II process and B) is necessary throughout your teaching career.
Some days, all the classes go well – good teachers (reflective practitioners) do not leave it at that. Reflective practitioners examine why the process went well: think about class members, class size, class demographics, thoroughness of focus, review, and scaffolding, time of day of the activity, maturity of the class, personality of the class, management methods, etc. Think of how you can improve the process for future classes. Think of how you can adapt the process for students with exceptionalities, or students in the future who may not fit under the categories that your current classes represent. Figure out why it worked – or, in some cases, why it did not work. Teaching is like the writing process – there is not a perfect method. Advice: always jot ideas first and edit later. The writer cannot help but coming out.
Now, assuming you have read the last couple paragraphs, reread the first three paragraphs. Couldn’t (or shouldn’t) I have teased the information out piece by piece, thereby providing you with the tools necessary to comprehend my verbose opening? The constant self-analysis is absolutely necessary for success and growth in the teaching profession.
I will leave you with a list of five phrases/words/names that you will come across frequently in the internship process. If you are a soon-to-be intern, then I would suggest looking up these phrases on http://www.ncpublicschools.org or on google because they should be discussed at least briefly in the near future, if not already. Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings!
-- Daniel Barnes
1. “The kids will not care what you know until they know that you care.”
2. Reflective Practitioner
3. Professional Learning Communities
4. Measurable Objectives
5. Impact on Student Learning
Warning – read the following two paragraphs, but do not worry: the rest of the article will not be written in that way.
Become very familiar with the word “reflection.” You will reflect in your methods classes, reflect in your classroom, reflect numerous times in your portfolio, reflect when working toward National Board Certification, and you will hopefully be a “reflective practitioner” in your classroom.
What is a reflective practitioner? A reflective practitioner is a teacher who uses the self-reflection process to explore what he or she has done previously and where he or she wishes to go in the future. When teachers reflect, they analyze what they have done in their classroom – including classroom management, procedures, pedagogy, types of lessons utilized, and daily decisions. Reflective practitioners constantly revise and reassess their teaching methods, and adjust each class in a way that will demonstrate their ability to teach each class according to their needs and personality.
Stop for a second.
Perhaps the previous two paragraphs seemed a bit…daunting? Formidable? Pedantic?
Most readers of this blog will become teachers in the near future. Reading those first two paragraphs could simulate the wall of difficulty that many students face when encountering school. If you knew and understood every word in those paragraphs, great! If not…then I did not do a good job at transferring my (acquired) knowledge to a medium that you could understand very well. That is not your fault.
I’ll get straight to the point. The past few months in the Senior II process have taught me that teaching is much more than writing lesson plans and disseminating the information. A teacher performs more than a mere regurgitation of knowledge. Teachers must take the knowledge, scaffold the skills in a way that prepares students to perform those NCSCOS objectives, and must determine how to be creative enough to tap into all students bank of knowledge.
One of the ideas I used was a variation of Socratic Seminar, in which students engage in an orderly “cross-table” debate of ideas. It worked in one class and not in another. Does that mean it was a bad plan? No. I discussed the process with my teacher, and we determined that one class already had the oral presentation skills necessary for positive results. The other class needed more oral speaking skills (though we had done some in the past week) and frankly required more in-class time to digest the external reading because they tend not to do homework. This self-assessment and collaborative assessment is a process that A) you can really take advantage of during the Senior II process and B) is necessary throughout your teaching career.
Some days, all the classes go well – good teachers (reflective practitioners) do not leave it at that. Reflective practitioners examine why the process went well: think about class members, class size, class demographics, thoroughness of focus, review, and scaffolding, time of day of the activity, maturity of the class, personality of the class, management methods, etc. Think of how you can improve the process for future classes. Think of how you can adapt the process for students with exceptionalities, or students in the future who may not fit under the categories that your current classes represent. Figure out why it worked – or, in some cases, why it did not work. Teaching is like the writing process – there is not a perfect method. Advice: always jot ideas first and edit later. The writer cannot help but coming out.
Now, assuming you have read the last couple paragraphs, reread the first three paragraphs. Couldn’t (or shouldn’t) I have teased the information out piece by piece, thereby providing you with the tools necessary to comprehend my verbose opening? The constant self-analysis is absolutely necessary for success and growth in the teaching profession.
I will leave you with a list of five phrases/words/names that you will come across frequently in the internship process. If you are a soon-to-be intern, then I would suggest looking up these phrases on http://www.ncpublicschools.org or on google because they should be discussed at least briefly in the near future, if not already. Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings!
-- Daniel Barnes
1. “The kids will not care what you know until they know that you care.”
2. Reflective Practitioner
3. Professional Learning Communities
4. Measurable Objectives
5. Impact on Student Learning
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Springing into Spring 2008
Photos by Elizabeth Helms (sophomore)Well, it's that time of year again - the start of a new semester! We're looking forward to a lot of fun and exciting adventures in every aspect of our program. The spring semester is full of opportunities for our Fellows and Scholars. Our seniors are student teaching; our juniors are preparing for the state Senior Orientation program; our sophomores are submitting to Upper Division within the College of Education; and our freshmen are beginning seminars and tutoring. And that's not even mentioning the traveling, the recruitment activities for next year's class, or the countless activities we're involved in outside of Teaching Fellows. All in all, we'll be very, very busy this semester!
To begin the year off right, we've uploaded a couple beautiful photos of our campus from last semester. We're looking forward to another fantastic semester, and we'll be sharing as much of it as we can with you. If you're applying for the Teaching Fellows or Maynard Scholars programs (or if your child is applying!), best of luck to you!
Feel free to contact our office staff using the information on our program website, listed to the right, if you have any questions about our program. We're always willing to help!
Thanks,
Sarah Wittmer, junior
Communications Committee Co-Chair
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
ECU Teaching Fellows Play Sports!
Distance Running: Classroom Implications
by Hayley Flynn (senior)
This year’s ECU Varsity Women’s Cross Country team has been said to be the best the university has seen in the last ten years. As I begin my final year of eligibility on the team I have begun to evaluate my role as a distance runner and team captain and what my experiences imply for my role as a future educator- as a motivator and goal setter.
Many people cringe at the thought of running several miles at a time without stopping. It is a test of endurance and will power. Just as distance running requires a relentless spirit, students in the classroom necessitate the same unyielding spirit from their teachers. Students need to know that their teachers have the desire and drive to see them succeed. By seeing this determination through encouragement and in our daily teaching, our students will mimic this desire to achieve which results in self-motivation and self-improvement.
Throughout my career as a collegiate athlete, I have realized that crossing the finish line does not mark a stopping point. Although one race may be completed, there is always another competition a week away. Just as distance runners must always focus on the next competition, we as teachers must always focus on our next goals for our students. By continually setting new goals and always keeping ourselves and our students ‘training for the next competition’, our students will be able to continuously experience success and will be motivated to keep ‘running to the next finish line’.
Distance running is a sport of endurance and will, a sport where there is never a true finish line. There is always a way to improve. In the classroom, we must continuously have the mindset of a runner in which our students know that we want them to succeed and keep succeeding.
Teaching Fellows and Club Sports
by Stephen Battise (junior)
My name is Stephen Battise and I am a junior in the Teaching Fellows program at ECU. I also play for the ECU Club Ultimate Frisbee team, the Irates. Being involved in the Teaching Fellows is a commitment that requires some of my time at ECU, but I still have plenty of time that I do not spend studying or in class. Ultimate Frisbee is time consuming, taking 9-12 hours a week, but I enjoy playing. We also have tournaments every once in a while which can take up a whole weekend.
It is easy to balance my time between school work, teaching fellows, and Ultimate. You don’t realize how much time you truly have until you don’t have practice for a week, which I realize every semester before exams. The Teaching Fellows program enables us to participate in other school activities, not just Teaching Fellows, which is truly a blessing.
by Hayley Flynn (senior)
This year’s ECU Varsity Women’s Cross Country team has been said to be the best the university has seen in the last ten years. As I begin my final year of eligibility on the team I have begun to evaluate my role as a distance runner and team captain and what my experiences imply for my role as a future educator- as a motivator and goal setter.
Many people cringe at the thought of running several miles at a time without stopping. It is a test of endurance and will power. Just as distance running requires a relentless spirit, students in the classroom necessitate the same unyielding spirit from their teachers. Students need to know that their teachers have the desire and drive to see them succeed. By seeing this determination through encouragement and in our daily teaching, our students will mimic this desire to achieve which results in self-motivation and self-improvement.
Throughout my career as a collegiate athlete, I have realized that crossing the finish line does not mark a stopping point. Although one race may be completed, there is always another competition a week away. Just as distance runners must always focus on the next competition, we as teachers must always focus on our next goals for our students. By continually setting new goals and always keeping ourselves and our students ‘training for the next competition’, our students will be able to continuously experience success and will be motivated to keep ‘running to the next finish line’.
Distance running is a sport of endurance and will, a sport where there is never a true finish line. There is always a way to improve. In the classroom, we must continuously have the mindset of a runner in which our students know that we want them to succeed and keep succeeding.
Teaching Fellows and Club Sports
by Stephen Battise (junior)
My name is Stephen Battise and I am a junior in the Teaching Fellows program at ECU. I also play for the ECU Club Ultimate Frisbee team, the Irates. Being involved in the Teaching Fellows is a commitment that requires some of my time at ECU, but I still have plenty of time that I do not spend studying or in class. Ultimate Frisbee is time consuming, taking 9-12 hours a week, but I enjoy playing. We also have tournaments every once in a while which can take up a whole weekend.
It is easy to balance my time between school work, teaching fellows, and Ultimate. You don’t realize how much time you truly have until you don’t have practice for a week, which I realize every semester before exams. The Teaching Fellows program enables us to participate in other school activities, not just Teaching Fellows, which is truly a blessing.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
A Glimpse at the ECU School of Music
One of the strongest programs at ECU is our music program, so it's only fitting that several of our Teaching Fellows and Maynard Scholars are music education majors. They are among the busiest group of people within the TF program, representing us in many exciting activities. Here's a look at two of the activities Fellows participated in through the School of Music this semester.
Octubafest
by Anthony Hingley (sophomore)
October 10th-12th was an interesting couple of days for the members of the Tuba and Euphonium studio in the School of Music. This year our professor, Tom McCaslin, started up an annual series of recitals which is called Octubafest. Each member of the studio had to either prepare a solo piece to perform, or perform as part of a tuba-euphonium quartet. Out of the 16 members of the studio, 5 of us are Teaching Fellows. We had to put in extra practice time to work our pieces up to par, and before we knew it, that week was upon us.
The recital on the 10th was a full hour of music all played by our professor, Mr. McCaslin, who is new to ECU this year and is one of the best tuba players I have ever heard, in recordings or otherwise. After his recital was done, I was so psyched about my performance which would be on the 12th, and also to hear what everyone else had prepared.
All in all, everyone did very well, and I thoroughly enjoyed my first Octubafest. Next year it should be just as fun, if not more, now that I know what to expect.
Drum Corps International: A Glimpse At A Life Changing Experience
by Nieves Villasenor (freshman)
As a music education major, we learn to appreciate all kinds of musical concepts. We learn to sing, play band and string instruments, and to appreciate the vast realm of music. Whether it be on a field or a concert hall, the appreciation of music is everywhere.
What many people are not aware of, besides people who are familiar with music, is that it can be comparable with the American sport of football and baseball. Being at East Carolina, we are all familiar with college football, and how many of them began as high school stars and how some aspire to become professional players. In music, marching music in particular, it can be said the same way. Where there is high school band, you go to college band, then to what is known as marching music's major league, Drum Corps International (DCI).
DCI is a youth activity that goes on during the summer for students from ages 14-21. In the activity, students learn about the positive results of preparation, commitment, and success as they work hundreds of hours preparing a show for thousands. They travel across the country performing for groups and improving their abilities all while entertaining a crowd.
The reason I blog about this?
DCI has long been a hobby of mine. It is part of the many reasons of why I want to be a music educator. I am doing my applied studies on Saxophone but I play trumpet in the Marching Pirates so that I can hone my skills to be a part of this group. I have seen first hand how the experience of being with a corps has positively influenced the creation of great music educators. In the Marching Pirates, Brandon Hults, a graduate assistant with the band, showed me first hand through his practices with the band just how much the experienced has seemed to make him a better leader.
I hope to audition for a spot on the Carolina Crown or Crossmen hornline this fall. With a good attitude and lots of practice, maybe it'll become a reality.
Octubafest
by Anthony Hingley (sophomore)
October 10th-12th was an interesting couple of days for the members of the Tuba and Euphonium studio in the School of Music. This year our professor, Tom McCaslin, started up an annual series of recitals which is called Octubafest. Each member of the studio had to either prepare a solo piece to perform, or perform as part of a tuba-euphonium quartet. Out of the 16 members of the studio, 5 of us are Teaching Fellows. We had to put in extra practice time to work our pieces up to par, and before we knew it, that week was upon us.
The recital on the 10th was a full hour of music all played by our professor, Mr. McCaslin, who is new to ECU this year and is one of the best tuba players I have ever heard, in recordings or otherwise. After his recital was done, I was so psyched about my performance which would be on the 12th, and also to hear what everyone else had prepared.
All in all, everyone did very well, and I thoroughly enjoyed my first Octubafest. Next year it should be just as fun, if not more, now that I know what to expect.
Drum Corps International: A Glimpse At A Life Changing Experience
by Nieves Villasenor (freshman)
As a music education major, we learn to appreciate all kinds of musical concepts. We learn to sing, play band and string instruments, and to appreciate the vast realm of music. Whether it be on a field or a concert hall, the appreciation of music is everywhere.
What many people are not aware of, besides people who are familiar with music, is that it can be comparable with the American sport of football and baseball. Being at East Carolina, we are all familiar with college football, and how many of them began as high school stars and how some aspire to become professional players. In music, marching music in particular, it can be said the same way. Where there is high school band, you go to college band, then to what is known as marching music's major league, Drum Corps International (DCI).
DCI is a youth activity that goes on during the summer for students from ages 14-21. In the activity, students learn about the positive results of preparation, commitment, and success as they work hundreds of hours preparing a show for thousands. They travel across the country performing for groups and improving their abilities all while entertaining a crowd.
The reason I blog about this?
DCI has long been a hobby of mine. It is part of the many reasons of why I want to be a music educator. I am doing my applied studies on Saxophone but I play trumpet in the Marching Pirates so that I can hone my skills to be a part of this group. I have seen first hand how the experience of being with a corps has positively influenced the creation of great music educators. In the Marching Pirates, Brandon Hults, a graduate assistant with the band, showed me first hand through his practices with the band just how much the experienced has seemed to make him a better leader.
I hope to audition for a spot on the Carolina Crown or Crossmen hornline this fall. With a good attitude and lots of practice, maybe it'll become a reality.
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