National Forum to Advance Rural Education
Julie Wollerman, Regional Superintendent for ROE #3 shared her experience: "Myself, Assistant Regional Superintendent Annette Harblieb, and Instructional Coach Annette McClintock attended the conference. We presented on Attracting and Retaining High Quality Teachers in Rural Schools. Our session went great with lots of audience participation. We really enjoyed the overall conference and hope to attend again."
Two EIU students share their experience as attendees at the conference held November 11-12 in Indianapolis, IN:
"I met educators from all over the country that were eager to make an impact on rural schools and their excitement was contagious! I especially enjoyed hearing from the Monmouth College TARTANS to learn ways to improve the Rural Teacher Corps at EIU. I am looking forward to taking the information and ideas that were shared with me at this conference and implementing them throughout the rest of my time at EIU and in my future classroom!"
-Holly Higgins
"I was able to network with great teachers, administrators, and even local HS students. I got an inside look at how I may strengthen my future classroom and school. Attending the NREA conference was an amazing opportunity." -Liberty Watson
All About STEAM Night
On November 9th, Chris Young from Mattoon Middle School came to EIU and spoke to the Rural Teacher Corps about S.T.E.A.M. Chris is the S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) teacher at MMS. He spoke to the RTC about how he has built and shaped their program and what his day-to-day classroom looks like. We got to see the T-Shirt launchers, smart homes, aqueducts, and Lego Robots his students have built as well as the Sphero Robots and Micro:bits that his classroom uses. Chris was so enthusiastic and a great example of an outstanding teacher. Thank you, Chris Young, for supporting the EIU Rural Teacher Corps.
Rural Teacher Corps Panel on Classroom Management
On November 16, Rural Teacher Corps members listened to a panel of current teachers and student teachers share about classroom management strategies. Thank you to our panel for sharing their wisdom and experience with future teachers! Pictured left to right: Brianna Gaston (student teacher), Holly Pitts (Lovington School), Devanne Lawson (Sandburg Elementary), Alicia Buerster (student teacher), and Sarah Thomas (student teacher) for speaking at the Rural Teacher Corps meeting.
Mentoring and Support Planning Group
Before the pandemic, the Grow Your Own Program had started a Mentoring and Support Planning Group to create a network of support options for both preservice and new teachers. We looked at various models and talked to the director of the University of South Carolina TIPS Program. We also arranged focus groups with current students and new teachers to talk about support needs. The pandemic stopped the planning group last March. We managed to put some activities into action for new teachers from the Grow Your Own Program and the Rural Teacher Corps. However, we need to build a stronger support network to recruit and retain good teachers.
This spring we will restart our planning efforts and hope to launch, at least, a pilot in the fall of next year. To do this we want to gather as much information and input as possible this coming spring. Please complete the survey below to share resources (links, articles, etc.), volunteer with our group, or just receive updates on our work.
We will report back to everyone who completes the survey in January with next steps.
FALL 2021 TECHNOLOGY SESSIONS
These sessions are for Rural Teacher Corps Members and New Teachers (others are welcome is space allows). These technology sessions are designed to provide a brief overview helping introduce how to use an instructional service or tool. These are designed as 50 minute Zoom sessions, led by RSI staff and practicing educators who have experience using the tool.
GYO Technology Sessions:
- Dec. 8, 2021 - 04:00 PM (Extended Reality and Simulations in Learning)
Pre-registration is preferred!
Upcoming Events:
Dec. 8 @ 4:00 PM: Tech PD via Zoom
Dec. 15 @ 6:30 PM: New Teacher RTC Meeting via Zoom
Jan. 19 @ 6:00 PM: Rural Teacher Corps Meeting (Buzzard 1302)
Whether you have any questions to ask or stories to share, we'd love to hear from you!
