Advice for Beginning Senior I

by Betsy Edwards (senior)

Hello all! My name is Betsy Edwards. I am a senior Teaching Fellow, currently in my Senior I semester. I am an elementary education major and intern in a second grade classroom. Senior I is the first semester of the Senior Year Experience here at ECU. Senior I interns report to their clinical school one full day per week. Interns observe teacher hours, not student hours. The purpose of the senior I semester is to get acclimated to the classroom and the duties of the classroom teacher. I am required to teach three whole group lessons. I am also completing a case study and other requirements for the READ 3210 course in my classroom. The Senior I semester is known for being the most difficult of all. The work load is definitely challenging, but manageable if you keep your goals in mind. Good luck to all of you.

I leave you now with a bit of pre-Senior I advice:

When you receive your clinical placement on OneStop, call your teacher! Offer to help him/her organize the classroom for the coming year. It looks really good!

Attend open house or any other opening of school events. I did not attend my school's open house and did not have the opportunity to meet any parents.

Don't be late! Teachers are required to be at school ridiculously early, but press on! You will get used to it eventually.

Generate a list of questions to bring with you on the first day. Think about any questions you may have about the schedule, curriculum, school, students, other teachers, etc

Senior Conference '08

by Krystle Wiggins (senior)

I attended Senior Conference over the summer, and it was FANTASTIC! This was a weekend trip to Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, NC. It was a great way to begin my senior year, and it really motivated me to begin my teaching career. We heard four different speakers, and they were all great in their own way. Brad Cohen spoke about his childhood and how he became a teacher with Tourette Syndrome, and how he “got to be the teacher that he never had.” Richard Schwartz is an attorney from Raleigh, who specializes in Education Law. This was helpful because he gave us insight into the challenges that we may face as classroom teachers. Then, we heard from Ron Clark!!! I was so excited, because he was a NC Teaching Fellow from ECU! He was named Disney’s American Teacher of the Year, and he was full of motivation. He told us all about his school, how he gets the students motivated to learn, and how important it is that we stay excited about learning no matter what. Lastly, we heard from Michael Geison, who is the 2008 National Teacher of the Year. He expressed the importance of teaching and learning through creativity, collegiality, community interests, and the individual. All of these speakers were inspirational and a great way to kick off the beginning of my senior experience.

Don’t worry, we didn’t sit and listen to speakers all weekend. We also socialized for the last time with all of the other Teaching Fellows in our class from across NC. This is what made this last conference bittersweet. Also, we participated in workshops of our choice. I went to one about dealing with difficult kids, what to do on the first day of school, and a massage therapy session. All of these were great and informative, but the massage session was very relaxing. I learned how to give head, hand, and foot massages, and we even practiced on each other. Very relaxing! Teaching Fellows has given me many great experiences, but I feel that this one really got me pumped up about graduating and getting into my own classroom.

Overview of Senior I

by Rachel Long (senior)

The first day of school can be characterized by butterflies, nervous stutters, and nausea stomachs, and that was just the new Education interns. As the rest of East Carolina began another semester of classes in August, the senior education majors began their own adventure, student teaching. During the first semester of Senior I, all education majors spend approximately one full day every week in a classroom located in the Latham Clinical Network. The network includes the following school systems: Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Carteret, Clinton City, Craven, Cumberland, Dare, Duplin, Edenton-Chowan, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Halifax, Harnett, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash/Rocky Mount, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pitt, Roanoke Rapids, Sampson, Tyrrell, Washington, Weldon City, Wayne and Wilson. Besides their one day observation, they are also required to teach at least three lessons in their classroom over the course of the semester, as well as a variety of other observatory assignments including a classroom management plan, and thematic unit.

In January the interns will start spending every day in their classroom, as they prepare for their fifteen full days of instruction. Despite their hard work and long hours, these interns will walk across the stage on May 8, proud of their accomplishments at ECU, and prepared for their next adventure, teaching.

Junior Enrichment: Outward Bound

by Anthony Hingley (junior)

Each year, rising Teaching Fellows juniors choose an activity to do the summer preceding their junior year. They include options such as trips to Europe, working at the Special Olympics, or the one I chose, Outward Bound. The prices span a wide spectrum, and that had something to do with my decision to do an Outward Bound course. The course was described as a hiking/backpacking adventure, and it sounded like something that would challenge me. I was kind of dreading the trip to Asheville, but afterwards, looking back, I really enjoyed it and if I was given the chance, I would do it all over again.

The trip started with us arriving at the airport in Asheville, at which point we rode in a van to the place we would begin. We were provided with backpacks, sleeping bags, water bottles, and a bowl and spoon. We then took our clothes and other necessities out of our personal bags and placed them in our backpacks. We also had to divide up our meals for the week and our rock climbing gear, so by the time we put everything in there, the bags were not exactly the lightest things to carry. We started out, and the combination of following trails and bushwhacking using a map and compass led us to each of our sites for camping, where we set up tarps and layed our sleeping bags on the ground.

It was a very fun and informative trip, learning much about the wildlife in the mountains, finding out how to rock climb, and "roughing it." I would recommend it to anyone who is given the opportunity to try it, and as with many things, you get out of it what you put in, so keep an open mind no matter the situation.

Senior Orientation in Perquimans County

by Tabitha Ballance (senior)

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.

ECU Marching Pirates: High School Band Day

by Jaron Cox (sophomore)

The ECU Marching Pirates is the most visible ensemble that is associated with the School of Music. ECU Band Day has been a tradition since the year 1997. Band Day gives high school students a chance to see and understand what it is like to play in a college band. This is one of the best recruiting tools that the School of Music has to try to get high school students interested in coming to ECU.

This year’s ECU Band Day took place on September 27, at the ECU vs. Houston football game. There were 24 bands in attendance at ECU Band Day 2008. Some bands had as few as 20 members and other bands had over 100 members. It was calculated that over 2,000 people involved with Band Day were in attendance at the game. This year’s musical selections were “Play That Funky Music,” “YMCA,” and ECU’s Fight Song.

Many of the high school students were on a college field for their very first time. This event helps give the students confidence and the drive to want to continue to play when they leave high school and go to college. The main purpose is to keep students interested in music and to continue to use their gifts in college, whether it be majoring or minoring in music or just playing in ensembles for the fun of it.

Welcome to 2008-2009!

Photos by Mallory Mitchell (senior) and Marina Bonner (senior)

After a brief break to begin the fall semester, the East Carolina University Teaching Fellows & Maynard Scholars blog is back up and running! Expect updates every Wednesday morning covering a wide range of our activities as Teaching Fellows, Maynard Scholars, education students, and ECU Pirates!

Regular updates will begin next Wednesday, but here's a few snapshots of what you can expect to see written about over the next few weeks.

ECU Teaching Fellows & Maynard Scholars eagerly await the presentation of Paul Cuadros, author of A Home on the Field and speaker at this year's Dean Leadership Seminar.

The ECU Marching Pirates, boasting several Teaching Fellows and Maynard Scholars, performs at a home football game.