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Diane Calhoun, PDS Director; Carolyn McKinney, Executive Director of the NC Professional Teaching Standards Commission; Karen Wetherill, Associate Dean for Outreach Alliances; and Beth Metcalf, WSE Teacher-in-Residence.

Teams of participants examining the standards made lists of their current teaching practices that meet the new NC Professional Teaching Standards and a list of possible strategies and activities that would further enhance their teaching.

Teachers work on their PowerPoint examining a standard from the new State Board document.  The PowerPoints were collected and burned to CDs for each participant to take back and use in the planning for 21 st Century learners.



"Ideas, Insights and Challenges" Partnership Teacher Conferences 

Elementary, Middle Grades, and Special Education Ideas, Insights, and Challenges Conferences: "NC Professional Teaching Standards: Developing a Star Teacher for Every Classroom"- March 4 and 12, 2008

Over 100 elementary, middle grades, and special education partnership teachers and university supervisors and faculty working with spring 2008 interns attended the "Ideas, Insights, and Challenges" working conferences held March 4 and 12 in the WSE Education Building. Participants spent this professional development day exploring the new North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards approved by the State Board of Education in June 2007 and their impact on the teaching profession.

The NC Professional Teaching Standards will become the basis for teacher preparation, teacher evaluation, and professional development over the next few years. These standards were adopted by the NC State Board of Education in June 2007 and will be in use for principals and central office administrators as early as this fall. Teachers, including pre-service teachers, will be evaluated in light of these new standards beginning in 2009.

Understanding these Standards and how they fit into the content requirements delineated by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study will be essential for all North Carolina educators. The WSE Professional Development System afforded partnership teachers and university supervisors and faculty the opportunity to become familiar with the standards and their origin and to begin preparing for their incorporation into the education arena during the day-long "Ideas, Insights, and Challenges" working conference. All participants received copies of the Standards and related materials in the conference packet.

Following Ms. Carolyn McKinney's keynote address on the standards, their origins, and their purpose, WSE Teacher-in-Residence Beth Metcalf focused the group with a Power Point and discussion on What the Standards Mean for Our Teaching and led participants in table talk capturing ways teachers currently implement the standards in their own work and ways they can move toward a more purposeful application of the standards in their classrooms. Teachers shared their findings with other conference participants in a gallery walk before and during lunch. Afterward, participants collected their best practices and applications for each standard into Power Points that were combined and put onto a Tools for Teaching 21 st Century Learners CD for each participant to take back to the classroom.

After-lunch presentations offered a variety of Visions for the Classroom for 21 st Century Learners by Beth Metcalf; Kelly Batts, New Hanover County District-Wide mentor; and Jakki Jethro and Daffinette Dudley, New Hanover County K-12 Observers/Evaluators.

PDS partners attending this conference received professional development credit that can be used toward certification renewal requirements.

Carolyn McKinney was the keynote speaker, and discussed the history of the NC Professional Teaching Standards.

(Pictures shown above and below) Conference attendees shared their Team Lists in a gallery walk through the Atrium of the Education Building before and during lunch