LEARN NC’s new blog, Special Education: Telling Facts from Fiction, examines common misconceptions about students with learning and behavioral problems. The latest post extends an ongoing discussion about student-teacher ratios: What benefits do students experience with an increased student-teacher ratio? What strategies can a teacher use to achieve these same benefits given the realities of most classrooms? How can teachers encourage the success of students with special needs in inclusion classrooms?

Check out the new post, “Student-teacher ratio: Part II,” and join the conversation!

Part seven of our digital textbook for North Carolina history is now published! North Carolina in the New South covers the period from about 1870 to 1900, with topics including industrialization, changes in agriculture, Gilded Age culture, expanding opportunities, Populism, and the Wilmington Race Riot. This section also includes some early motion picture footage, along with video of junior reenactors from Duke Homestead State Historic Site. (More video on growing, harvesting, and selling tobacco is coming soon.) There are also excerpts from oral history interviews with men and women who grew up at the end of the nineteenth century. And for the quantitatively inclined, there are a couple of activities that integrate mathematics by asking students to analyze census and economic data.

The remaining four parts of the textbook, covering the twentieth century, will be published in the coming months. And remember that you can search or browse the entire textbook and all its primary sources and media from the cover page.

LEARN NC is seeking educators to teach science professional development courses in the spring of 2010. We need one elementary teacher and one middle-school science instructor to teach Elementary Science Learning and Middle Grades Science Learning, respectively.

About the courses

Both Elementary Science Learning and Middle Grades Science Learning focus on the scientific process and how it applies to teaching in the classroom. These courses will provide a framework for understanding the nature of science and scientific inquiry, as well as help teachers engage students in authentic scientific inquiry.

Benefits

Selected teachers will receive free tuition for LEARN NC’s  Carolina Online Teacher Program, a certification track for online teachers. Training will begin October 19 to have instructors ready to teach beginning in March. Teachers will also receive a stipend of $200.

How to apply

Please send a resume and a writing sample to Ross White. Applications must be received by October 7.

About LEARN NC professional development

To date, more than 5,000 teachers have earned renewal credits and improved their practice through LEARN NC online professional development courses. In addition, we’ve trained nearly 700 teachers as online instructors, one of the fastest growing areas in schools today.

Teach kids how great the great outdoors can be. Celebrate “Take A Child Outside Week” Thursday, September 24 through Wednesday, September 30. Take a Child Outside Week is a national initiative spearheaded by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences designed to help break down obstacles that keep children from exploring the natural world. The week encourages children and adults to spend time together outdoors.

On the “Take A Child Outside” website, adults are encouraged to pledge to take a child outside during the week and chart their location on a digital map. LEARN NC is featured as one of the partners on the map. The web site also offers a link to interesting outdoor activities, as well as a list of other participating organizations.

“By arming parents, teachers and caregivers with resources on outdoor activities, children will become reconnected with nature and spend more time outdoors,” says Liz Baird, Director of School Programs at the Museum.

Currently, all 50 U.S. states and four foreign countries actively participate in “Take A Child Outside Week.” This initiative attracted 109 partners its first year and now more than 300 organizations participate nationwide including parks, museums, science centers, and many other organizations interested in reconnecting children and nature.

Supplement your district’s existing mentoring efforts online by offering LEARN NC’s virtual mentoring courses in English I and US History. By offering LEARN NC virtual mentoring experiences locally, schools can increase their mentor teachers’ capacity to help fledgling educators adapt to their new career.

Why virtual mentoring?

Mentoring is a proven way to increase teacher retention. By starting a virtual mentoring program in your LEA, teachers across your district can form a professional learning community of instructors teaching the same subject, each sharing his or her successes, challenges, and unique perspective on how to confront instructional issues. In addition, virtual mentoring participants receive access to a fully developed course curriculum aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study to use as a year-long course template or a reference for individual lessons.

Get started

LEARN NC virtual mentoring courses are available to North Carolina educators who have completed LEARN NC’s Moodle Training. If you have completed Moodle Training, please request a copy online by going to our course copy request page. The registrar will then provide you with information on how to access your virtual mentoring course.

LEARN NC Fall 2009 Interactive Conference

Discover. Teach. Share.

Thursday, October 1st
1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

In less than twenty-four hours, North Carolina educators filled all the face-to-face seats at the LEARN NC 2009 Interactive Conference. But just because you can’t attend in-person doesn’t mean you have to miss this day of collaboration and new ideas. Register today to attend the conference virtually.

What to expect

Virtual attendees get the same great afternoon sessions as face-to-face participants, including sharing free resources, technology integration, professional development strategies, and more. Interact with fellow educators from around North Carolina via web conference software, Twitter, and the online back channel. Virtual participants may join for the entire afternoon or for whatever portion of the conference is convenient.

Who should attend?

Teachers, media specialists, technology coordinators, professional development coordinators, administrators, and other leaders in curriculum and instruction will all benefit from this conference. Whether you are teaching students in the classroom, or working at the school or system level developing curriculum and delivering professional development, the LEARN NC conference will provide new ideas and identify opportunities for collaboration to help you make the best use of your scarcest resource… time!

Cost

Free.

Technical Requirements

Minimal.  If you’ve never participated in a virtual conference before, there’s nothing to fear.  The only hardware you’ll need is a computer with speakers, and the only software you’ll need is a current version of Flash Media Player.  We’ll provide you with all you need to test your set-up in advance of the conference so that connecting is a cinch.

Register

Register for the LEARN NC 2009 Interactive Conference and discover, teach and share with LEARN NC.

Wildlife educators encourage North Carolina students to take a walk on the wild side. On March 5, 2010,  sixth- through twelfth-grade students may attend free, hands-on wildlife workshops at the North Carolina State Fair’s Kerr Scott Building. Qualified instructors, including area biologists, environmental educators, wildlife professionals, and wildlife enforcement and conservation staff, will be on hand to lead the workshops, which are aligned to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Students will be introduced to a variety of wildlife and outdoor skills topics using interactive activities that focus on using the scientific method. The workshops will offer topics such as biological diversity, adaptation, and sustainable conservation practice. Each topic will be presented in the context of real-world issues that affect the everyday lives of North Carolina students and their communities (rural, suburban, & urban). Click here to read a complete list of workshops. Updates related to this special event will be posted as they become available at the Wildlife Youth Day website.

Register

Interested applicants may pre-register online by simply providing contact information, an estimated count of students, and workshop preferences.

Please confirm your interest by Nov 15, 2009 as workshop schedules will be set based on interest returned at that time. Seats will be filled first by those who pre-register. Remaining seats will then offered on a first-come, first-served basis after that date. For more information, please contact Judy Gardner at (919) 552-9449 (evenings).

About this event

Take A Walk on the Wild Side is proudly sponsored as a collaborative effort, led by the Wake County Wildlife Club, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, North Carolina State University, North Carolina State Chapter of the Quality Deer Management Association, North Carolina National Wild Turkey Federation, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and other community-minded wildlife partners.

LEARN NC has published Mandarin Chinese II — the second in a series of digital textbooks for Mandarin Chinese courses. Like the textbook for Mandarin Chinese I, which was published in December 2008, it incorporates audio and video with instruction in grammar, language, and culture.

Mandarin Chinese II helps learners build on the skills they learned in Mandarin I. In addition to learning more complex grammar rules and sentence patterns — including how to use past and future tenses — the textbook focuses on differences in formal and informal language. It also includes lessons about Chinese New Year and visiting China in order to further students’ knowledge of Chinese culture.

The Mandarin textbooks are designed to accompany online language courses in Mandarin sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, developed by LEARN NC, and hosted by the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS). The courses are funded by a Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant, an A.P. incentive grant, and a grant from the North Carolina General Assembly, and are offered alongside other online courses in critical languages like Arabic and Japanese. The availability of the digital textbooks on LEARN NC makes it easy for students to review what they have learned, or perhaps engage in self-study. Classroom teachers also benefit from the published materials, using them as supplements to existing curriculum and differentiating instruction with downloadable audio and video.