Educators as Community Builders

Hi - I'm Joanna Schimizzi (ska-meet-zee). I'm an NBCT and I've been teaching Biology for 12 years. I taught in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for 8 years, and I've been working for NC Virtual Public Schools while I'm also a Work From Home Mom with two little boys. I've done a lot of work with ISKME around curricular creation, and I'm really excited to see OER become a movement in NC.

One new place that I've been recently is to a new coffee shop where I discovered my love for brewed-tea lattes!

When I look for high quality materials, I look for supports that help ALL students achieve the standards, not just accomodations that might avoid the rigor of the standard.

I'm Martha Levey and I'm a librarian at Morehead City Primary School. Before that, I was a regular ed teacher. I've taught K-2. This is my 14th year in education.

One new place that I visited recently was Emory University in Atlanta. My daughter will be a freshman there this fall and we are so excited!

I look for materials that will benefit all students and are easily adapted/modified by teachers. I want students and teachers to be "stretched" when they are learning/teaching.

Hello!  My name is Gillian Moore.  This is my 13th in education.  I am a high school math teacher with Lincoln County Schools.

One new place I've been recently is my new office.  I took over my four year old's rarely used playroom and transformed it to fit my needs.  I love to sit there and just recollect my thoughts.

One characteristic I look for in high quality materials is it's ability to be tiered to meet the needs of all my students.

Gillian - I am so excited to work with you on this project! And I love your new office - what a brilliant idea. 

I love the idea of adding tiers to materials to help students reach mastery in a systematic approach. I'd love to see a Hub of materials that shows with great lessons how you do this! 

Hello! I am Hannah Bethea. I am a 2nd-grade NBCT who teaches in Franklin County. I have taught for 14 years and 12 of those years have been at Franklinton Elementary School. I have experience with fourth, third, and second grades. I have also worked a lot in my district with Rigorous Curriculum Design units and currently still work with the North Carolina Association of Educators with their various programs through their Instructional Advocacy Center. I love working with new teachers and the need for high-quality curricula. I also like working with National Board Candidates. 

Last summer, I was able to visit Minneapolis while attending the NEA convention. It was such a cool place with lots of things to do. We visited Paisley Park, the original Target, and even saw the Mary Tyler Moore Statue. It made me believe that I should go once a year to a new place in a different state I have never visited before. I also got to connect with educators from across the country. 

I feel that accessibility is the true issue when finding quality instructional materials and curricula. Teachers should be able to easily find materials that address the needs of all students within their classroom. 

Hello!  My name is Cindy Phthisic (tiz-ik). I’ve been in education for over 25 years. I’ve served as an elementary teacher and librarian, a district level instructional technologist, am I am currently a NBCT media coordinator in a middle school.  

As far as new places, I went to the Biltmore House for the first time around Christmas. I’m ready to go back when everything is in bloom. 

When looking for materials, I am usually looking for them because I am assisting a teacher in finding materials for their lessons and units. I look for resources that help teachers provide hands on, interactive lessons that the them really bring standards to life for students.

So wonderful to meet you Cindy! I am excited to have you be a part of this Community building team, especially with your experience and interest in materials that really bring real world relevance for students! I'd love for you to help us think about what a Hub around relevance looks like!

I'm Dawn Perez and currently I am a Middle School Literacy Coach working with teachers in 4 middle schools here in Buncombe County, Asheville.  In addition to teaching in Buncombe County, I've taught in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Wake County Schools as a classroom teacher, an academically gifted specialist, and as a Teacher Certification Instructor at Central Piedmont Community College.

My husband works a great deal in Savannah, GA, so I spend many weekends exploring historical sites (and new places to eat) in this fabulous city!

I look for materials that will provide opportunities for teachers to teach to the rigor of the standards while providing scaffolding for students who need support to access the content.  Materials that provide students with occasions to work collaboratively and to view ideas from various perspectives to develop critical thinking is an important aspect of all high-quality materials.  When reviewing materials it is imperative that worthy text be included in order for students to think deeply and critically about the content.

Hi Dawn - I'm so excited to work with you again. Our work around the Core Advocates has always meant so much to me. Your experience differentiating for different learners will really be valuable in this movement. It would be great to see a Hub around text-centered lessons. It'd be great to see you engage with that!

Hi everyone. I'm Tori Mazur (rhymes with lazer) even though I'm listed with my government name Victoria (thanks, ncedcloud). 

I taught English as a Second Language in K-12 settings for 6 years before becoming an Instructional Technology Facilitator in 2014 or so.  I've lost track.  I facilitate a digital learning environment in a K-5 school with 1:1 device ratio  in classrooms so I am always supporting my PLCs with digital resources that have easy user experiences for students to navigate, as well as being device-agnostic - meaning they can be used across operating systems. Nothing stinks more than finding a cool iPad app that won't work in our 2-5 Chromebook classrooms.  That can be an extreme pain point for teachers.  

One place I've been recently for the first time is San Diego!  I attended the Deeper Learning Conference and it was an amazing neighborhood to live in for a few days.  I tried sea kayaking for about 10 minutes before getting sea sick, but if you're going to try a bucket list item... may as well be at La Jolla Beach!  I'll stick to Jordan Lake and Falls Lake now.  ;)

Happy to be a part of building this movement and community for our educators! 

Hi Tori - it was so wonderful to get to meet you during the District Leaders workshops, and I'm very excited to work with you this time around! Your experience is so valuable for our group! I can see a Hub in your future -- the Digital resources Hub that helps teachers know how to find those resources that are device-agnostic! What a great term.

I spoke with a Doctoral student yesterday who teaches STEM to future educators and she was VERY interested in the possibilities for a hub or group for her university teacher collaborative as a way to support early career teachers.  I'll need help understanding the difference between groups and hubs going forward.  

Exciting future ahead...

Hello everyone,

I'm so excited to be a part of this group.

I am Don Lourcey. I am the Cavnas Admin and Digital Teaching and Learning Coach for Iredell-Statesville Schools. This is my 27 year in education. I am an NBCT in Adolescent Young Adult English Language Arts. I taught English for 14 years and then moved out of the classroom as an Instructional Facilitator. For the last 12 years, I worked for North Carolina Virtual.

I have to be honets, I have not visited a new place--although as I near retirement, I am making my list:)

One characteristic I look for in high quality materials is ease of us: Is it accessible to all users?

Hi Don -- I am so very excited to spend more time with you on this work! And I've sure you've been to a new restaurant? Book store? 

I'm so excited to see your interest in the accessiblity piece. This is something that should be really interesting to explore... is your viewpoint from an EC viewpoint? EL? Are you looking for scaffolding or for readbility on the screen? Reading levels? So many questions in that! What a great topic for a discussion board. :)

Hello!  My name is Leslie Carriker and I've been in education for 13 years.  I served for 7 years teaching high school Biology (Go Joanna!) , two years as a Curriculum Facilitator in a high school and the past 4 years I've served as the K-12 Science and Social Studies Curriculum Specialist for Alamance-Burlington Schools.  

One new place I've been to lately was San Francisco! I'm ready to go back and explore more of that beautiful city!

One thing I look for in quality materials is adaptaility. Is it something all teachers/students could make their own?

Hi Leslie - we must be kindred spirits! <3

I absolutely love the concept of adaptability and especially your clarifying question about all teachers and students making it their own. That is another rich topic for discussion. I can see another discussion board rising up around that topic and how to help teachers understand what it really means to make something your own!

Hi! I'm Kenny Mckee. I'm a high school literacy coach for Buncombe County Schools in Asheville. I have 18 years of experience in North Carolina -- 9 as a classroom teacher (I taught middle and high school ELA) and 9 as an instructional coach. I also have sometime works with educational organizations, and teach online for ECU.

I recently went to Ocracoke for the first time as a facilitator for NCCAT. It was so cool to spend five days in such a small community. One of my favorite characteristics for high-quality resources is explicit instructional rotuines for how students will engage in content, discussion, etc.

Hi, all! Sorry for my tardiness in replying to this thread...I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get access to the platform - but now I'm in! I spent 11 years as physics and math teacher at Tri-County Early College after ~20 years as an engineer with DuPont. I now do freelance work with schools everywhere on how to use the open source movement to build a culure of innovation. 

My wife & I use Couchsurfing to have people stay in our home for free - typically international travelers, cyclists, or people taking a course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC (our home). We rely on user input of other hosts to decide if we accept a stay request and have only had great experiences! Crowdsourced quality!

Hello everyone! I'm Melissa Edgerton. I'm a NBCT and recently completed my MSA. I have taught for 20 years and the last 17 of them with Wayne County Public Schools and Northwest Elementary. I have taught K, 2, 3, 4, 5, and I have worked the last 9 years as our Title I Curriculum Facilitator/Instructional coach/Parent Engagment Coordinator. 

Recently I tried a new restaurant that had the BEST shrimp and grits I've ever tasted. 

When I look for high quality materials, I look for materials that are rigorously aligned to standard. I want materials that meet the demands of the standard. 

Hello! My name is Martha Levey. I have been a media coordinator for seven years. Before that I was a regular ed teacher. I'm at Morhead City Primary School in Carteret County. Recently, I've had the opportunity to explore Atlanta! My daughter is a freshman at Emory so I've visited twice and am going back in October. I look for high quality materials that have been tested/vetted.

Hello!  My name is Rebecca Welch and I am a Secondary Math and PD Specialist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.  This is my 14th year in the district, having taught middle school math and science for 6 years, high school math for 6 years, and in my current role for almost 2 years.  I am always looking for ways to teach math - because what we are doing isn't working.

One new place that I've been to recently is the Charlotte-Motor Speedway in a STEM capacity (meaning other than on a race day).  It was neat to see all of the behind the scenes learning opportunities and ways we can connect learning to life.

When I look for high quality materials I am looking for their alignment to the standard, how well the materials are connected to other standards, and how rigorous the materials are.  It's important to note that I also look for scaffolds that help students make connections without doing the thinking for them.

Hi! I am Danielle Flores. I taught High School Math for nine years and then moved to Middle School math. I taught middle school for 3 years before taking some time off from the classroom to stay at home with my five kids. :) I have worked for North Carolina Virtual Public Schools for 6 years as a math teacher and instructional leader for math.  I went back to the classroom last year and I am working as a Math Instructional Coach for NL Dillard Middle School. I love my job and I love teaching. 

I have not been to a new place lately, I tend to stick with what I am used to. :) I recently visited Connecticut and I have not been there in two years, does that count? :) 

One thing I like to see in high quality materials is an activity that is engaging for students and has an assessment piece.