Archives: March, 2008

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is conducting a statewide survey to collect stakeholder input on less commonly taught foreign languages. The results of this survey will be used to determine the order of future online foreign language courses that will be made available to middle and high school students through the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS).

We are interested in hearing from a wide variety of stakeholders: students, educators, parents, the business community, policymakers, etc. We would appreciate your taking a few minutes to complete the online survey and then forward the link to:

• other educators
• parents
• members of the business community
• middle and high school students in North Carolina

Thank you! We appreciate your input.

To forward a link to the Less Commonly Taught Languages Survey, please use this URL: http://snap.learn.unc.edu/snaponline/surveylogin.asp?k=120655615481

High school science teachers can now earn CEU credit for free. Adolescent Literacy: Science Comprehension Strategies will provide teachers with language literacy strategies to strengthen students’ achievement in science as well as reading. Teachers will learn to infuse literacy strategies into their instruction to energize and accelerate the learning in their science classrooms, enabling students to better understand the material and perform better on tests.

Thanks to a generous grant of public funds, Adolescent Literacy: Science Comprehension Strategies is free of charge to high school science teachers in North Carolina public schools. However, due to a limited number of seats available, please be advised of LEARN NC’s drop/add policy for online professional development courses.

This course takes place online, so teachers can participate at a time most convenient for them, whether that’s during their planning period, or at 11 p.m. in their pajamas.

Class begins April 9. Space is limited to the first fifteen applicants, so sign up today.

For a full course description or to register, please visit http://www.learnnc.org/courses/current/adolitscience_04_01_08

About the Instructor
As well as teaching chemistry, biology and AVID classes over the years, course instructor Judy Jones has been very involved in curriculum development for the state of North Carolina. Judy greatly enjoys her role as an active mentor to new teachers, student teachers and teachers online through eMSS. She has served as chair of the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission and chaired the subcommittee that developed the state teacher’s working condition standards (the basis for the working conditions survey distributed to school personnel every 18 months). She has written many articles and lesson ideas for The Teachers Network in New York City.

The UNC School of Education has tapped Melissa Thibault as Executive Director of LEARN NC.

Melissa Thibault served as Acting Executive Director since January 1, 2007, during which time she oversaw the creation of an online Mandarin Chinese/Critical Languages program and a Virtual Mentoring Program to support beginning teachers. Thibault joined LEARN NC in 2000 as Director of Media Services. In 2005, she was named Associate Director. Thibault has worked in public education for ten years, and her experience as a school media specialist gives her insight into the needs of a broad spectrum of educators.

“Melissa has done an outstanding job in her Acting Executive Director role,” said Jill Fitzgerald, Interim Dean of the UNC School of Education. “She has demonstrated very strong interpersonal and communication abilities. LEARN NC is a vital outreach arm of the School of Education, and I know that the organization will thrive under Melissa’s leadership.”

LEARN NC serves more than 25,000 teachers and students each day through its website, delivering lesson plans, best practices, and classroom content directly to schools in all 115 North Carolina school systems, 50 states, and 145 countries.

As Executive Director, Thibault will oversee several new initiatives to connect North Carolina teachers with the expertise and resources of universities, libraries, museums, and their fellow educators. Projects now underway, such as a digital textbook for eighth-grade North Carolina history and a Carolina Online Teacher Program that helps educators adapt to online teaching, will continue to make LEARN NC an indispensible resource for North Carolina’s schools.

LEARN NC is looking for 12 North Carolina high school civics and economics teachers to share ideas in an online professional learning community. You’ll learn teaching tips and materials specific to the civics curriculum, and engage in spirited discussions on your successes, failures, questions and answers with peers across the state.

An experienced instructor coach will provide guidance through the curriculum, as well as tricky areas like classroom management. You’ll also have access to a fully-developed, yearlong online civics & economics course aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. You can use it as your curriculum for the rest of the year, or just to grab a lesson for class tomorrow.

In order for this professional collaboration to be truly successful, participation is a must. Teachers must be willing to log in several times per week, engage in group discussions, and be willing to share strategies with fellow teachers.

If you want to join this exciting community of educators, please contact Nick Yingling at nyingling@learnnc.org.

Few professionals use their voices as much as teachers do. The Duke Voice Care Center invites you to celebrate World Voice Day by learning how to make your voice last a lifetime.

Sunday, April 6, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Join host Grant Llewellyn, music director of the North Carolina symphony, and the world-class specialists of the Duke Voice Care Center for a celebration of World Voice Day. This voice health fair will include:

• Information on how to care for your voice, with special tips for singers and other performers, teachers, and clergy
• Interactive acoustic voice analysis
• Demonstration of video laryngeal imaging
• Vocal health screening
• Drawing for free North Carolina Symphony tickets

Registration: 919-681-4984

Thursday, April 17, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

The Duke Voice Care Center’s team of otolaryngologists, speech pathologists, and singing-voice specialists will give an educational presentation on how the voice works, preventive vocal care, and effective treatment options for voice disorders. Topics include:

• Special tips for singers, actors, and other performers
• Voice care for teachers
• The voice and aging
• Allergy and airway problems and the voice

Registration: 1-888-ASK-DUKE

Admission is free for both events, and refreshments will be provided. Space is limited. For registration and more details, see the Duke Raleigh Hospital website.

Bobby Hobgood, LEARN NC’s Director of Research and Development in Online Curriculum and Instruction, and Regina Higgins, Assistant Director for Curriculum at World View, will lead a workshop series called “Technology Tools for Global Education.”

Recognizing the need to support teachers as they prepare students with 21st Century Learning Skills, these two day-long workshops focus on the integration of global education into any classroom. The workshops are designed in a linear fashion to take the participant from the “tourist classroom” to creating a global classroom using technology. Participants who already possess rudimentary knowledge of global education may elect to attend only the second day.

The workshops will take place Saturday, April 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and Saturday, May 3 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence. For more information or to register, go to the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence website.

The twelfth Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps Conference takes place in Greensboro, March 31–April 1. LEARN NC staff will give several presentations that promise to be both enjoyable and relevant. We hope you’ll join us!

• “Prepare the Citizens of Tomorrow with Relevant, Real-World Instruction: Free Lessons and Tools from LEARN NC” with Melissa Thibault
• “Globalizing the Classroom: Simple Strategies for Making Real-World/My-World Connections” with Bobby Hobgood
• “How to Boost Students’ Information Literacy” with Bill Ferris
• “Virtual Mentoring” with Ross White and Bill Ferris
• “A Many-Storied Past: LEARN NC’s Digital Textbook for North Carolina History” with David Walbert
• “Data Use in the Classroom: High-Tech to Low-Tech Tools for Assessing Student Learning” with Keri Church