The Future of Teaching in ECPS
"The Scholar Teachers Program is an innovative way for high school students to learn about the role of teachers first-hand," says Edgecombe Early College High School student and Scholar Teacher Elijah Williamson. This year, seven juniors and five seniors, selected through a rigorous application process, are taking college education courses and earning credit towards a 4-year degree in elementary or secondary education, with the goal of coming back to Edgecombe County to teach after graduation.
The new Scholar Teachers program is the first of its kind in eastern North Carolina. The program focuses on social justice and features curriculum written by the North Carolina State Teacher Cadet Cadre, rigorous college coursework, and hands-on experience in the classroom. This fall, Scholar Teachers began weekly internships that allow them to experience the realities of the classroom, while collaborating with a lead teacher to effectively engage students in learning. Interns at three ECPS schools -- Martin Millennium Academy, W.A. Pattillo Middle School, and Princeville Elementary School -- are learning how to develop strong relationships with students, providing one-on-one and small group tutoring sessions, and actually teaching lessons! "The internships provide our scholars with the opportunity to learn in a real-world environment, while also adding value to ECPS classrooms in unique and distinctive ways," says Tunisia Bulluck, director of the Scholar Teacher Cadet Program at the Early College.
The EECHS students are enthusiastic about the Scholar Teachers program and their internship experiences. Senior Ateonya Whitaker, pictured above, says, "For me, the Scholar Teachers program has carved a pathway to my future. I was unsure of what I wanted to be, and with this program I have found my passion. I enjoy working with children and seeing them grow. I am thankful for this program, and I am excited to continue on this journey as an educator." Edgecombe County stakeholders are excited to see the Scholar Teachers grow in their leadership and come back to serve their community in the years to come!
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Building Bonds Mariana Gonzalez, an EECHS junior and Scholar Teachers intern, eats lunch with Erica Sharpe's 2nd grade class at MMA. | Scholar Teachers The first Scholar Teachers cohort at Edgecombe Early College HS. | Hands-On Learning EECHS junior Haley Cottrell facilitates an experiment with students in Lindsay Palmer's 5th grade science class at MMA as part of her Scholar Teachers internship. |
Building Bonds
Scholar Teachers
Hands-On Learning
Preschool Hits the Road!
Exciting news for preschool families -- ECPS plans to have a mobile preschool bus on the road by January 2018! An existing school bus is being retrofitted with a generator, a wireless signal for an IPad lab, and age-appropriate furniture, and will travel to locations throughout Edgecombe County to offer playgroup sessions to 3 year-olds with special needs. The classes will be facilitated by a certified preschool teacher and assistant, and will be held on a daily basis to help students develop academic and social-emotional skills that will lead to their success in school. ECPS will also offer a 3 year-old class that that will run Mondays through Thursdays from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm at one of our school sites, for families preferring that option. The school system will actively encourage families to take advantage of this unique new program, which will give students with disabilities an extra year of exposure to high-quality instruction in preparation for Kindergarten. The ECPS Exceptional Children's Department is exploring grant opportunities with Vidant and Rural Forward to provide supplemental funding for the preschool bus.
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| Multi-Classroom Leader Casandra Cherry and math teacher Hazel Wilson co-teach at Phillips Middle School. | Multi-Classroom Leader Wanda O'Neal coaches her team at Coker-Wimberly Elementary School. | Multi-Classroom Leader Amy Pearce observes math teacher Susan Herrin's class at North Edgecombe High School. |
Reimagining Education in Edgecombe
The picture to the right was taken in the early 1900's ... but schools today don't look dramatically different. The world is changing rapidly, and yet schools are lagging behind, and our students and communities are suffering. Here in Edgecombe, we are working to change that. Here are a few of the ways we are "reimagining education:"
- In October, a design team from Edgecombe County joined district and school leaders from across the country at the first Collaborative convening. The Collaborative, a partnership between Transcend and the NewSchools Venture Fund, is supporting this select group of schools and districts to engage in a year-long human-centered design process. At the end of the year, ECPS and the other participants will emerge with a "canvas" for a completely new school model. The ECPS team plans to build on the foundation being laid in the Innovation Zone to redesign the learning experience for students in the North Edgecombe HS feeder pattern. Simultaneously, the entire District Leadership Team, comprised of all 14 ECPS principals and district administrators, and the ECPS Blue Ribbon Commission on Educational Equity, a group of students and community leaders, are engaging in a series of activities and discussions to inspire thinking about the possible future for all our students and schools across the district.
- Princeville Elementary School will join Coker-Wimberly Elementary School, Phillips Middle School, and North Edgecombe High School as an ECPS "Restart" school in the 2018-2019 school year. "Restart" schools have more flexibility than traditional schools when determining how to use resources and design programs, enabling district and school leaders to think outside the box about how to best serve students. The Princeville Elementary School building, which has been vacant since it was flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, will be renovated, and students will return in 2018. Students, families, and school leaders are currently collaborating to design the educational programs that the "new" Princeville Elementary School will offer starting next fall -- stay tuned!
- Instead of trying to make small improvements to the traditional approach to teaching and learning -- where teachers talk and students listen -- middle school math teachers in ECPS are learning to let students lead the way. Middle schools throughout the district have adopted Open Up Resources' Illustrative Mathematics curriculum, which is deeply rooted in discovery-based learning. During a geometry unit, “students learned about adding angles in a triangle through cutting up triangles as partners and noticing how when you line up the angles so that the vertices are on the same point, they make a flat line, which they know from prior knowledge equals 180 degrees," says Vena Holub, math teacher at W.A. Pattillo Middle School. With this new approach, "scholars at Pattillo have ownership over math and are gaining critical life skills such as collaboration and independent thinking," adds Holub.
- Freshmen and Sophomores at Edgecombe Early College HS are designing their ideal new school building! Scholars have been working in teams to develop a vision for their new school design, create realistic blueprints, and draft budgets for school construction. They are meeting with the ECPS Transportation and Maintenance departments in early November to present their initial plans. Should funding be made available for capital projects, these scholars will be ready with their plans!
About Innovation ECPS
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