Teachers gather ahead of upcoming semester
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on July 28, 2017 6:45 AM
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News-Argus/PHYLLIS MOORE
More than 150 new and beginning teachers attended the Chamber of Commerce's annual Welcome Teacher Breakfast at Lane Tree Conference Center on Thursday.
John Best, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce board, offered up an inspiring greeting at Thursday's new teacher welcome breakfast -- "Welcome to your opportunity to change the world one kid at a time!"
Calling the profession a ministry of sorts, he challenged the more than 150 new educators to be a support system for their fellow teachers, as well as students they will serve.
"The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the super teacher demonstrates, and the great teacher inspires," he said.
This marked the eighth year for the event, held at Lane Tree Conference Center.
Beverly Carroll, a retired educator representing the Chamber's WEN, or Wayne Education Network, program, recalled one of her own early experiences as a fledgling teacher. A principal took those new to the profession to a country club in Greenville, she said.
"That has stuck with me all these years," she said. "So when we were talking about what we could do for these teachers to make them feel special, (decided) we need to take them out of the cafeteria, give them a nice breakfast and lots of attention."
Melissa Littleton and Debra Elder are both assigned to Brogden Primary School, but are not entirely new to the ranks. Both started at the school mid-year last year.
"I'm not nearly as nervous as I have been there a few months," said Ms. Littleton, who started with second grade and will teach fourth grade in the fall.
Ms. Elder has the opposite situation, starting last year with fourth grade and now taking over a second-grade class. Her initial experience was working with children from several classes, which exposed her to different teaching styles.
"This year I'm excited to actually come in from the very beginning," she said.
Brittany Ingram was a teacher's assistant in Princeton before becoming a teacher. She feels a bit more prepared, she said, having been at Rosewood Elementary since mid-year last year, working in third grade.
"I just did summer school with the kids so my classroom is almost set up," she said.
Regina Brehon is continuing at Carver Elementary School, where she previously spent four years as an instructional assistant. Starting in the fall she will work with the pre-K program.
She said she plans to use the skills she has been taught to help her students be better prepared for kindergarten and to have a successful school year.
Two educators who joined the Charles B. Aycock High School science department last school year are also products of the Wayne County public school system.
Ginny Simpson graduated from Rosewood High and is teaching biology and physical science, working primarily with sophomores and juniors.
"I'm ready for school to start because I miss my kids," she said. "I worked a lot this summer on reworking my curriculum and working on getting the information to my kids."
Elizabeth Breedlove started at Aycock in February, also teaching biology and physical science.
The graduate of Wayne Early/Middle College High School previously worked at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, but found she really wanted to be a teacher, she said.
Rosewood High School Spanish teacher Ali Batalla is a transplant from Duplin County, where she had been an ESL, or English as a Second Language, assistant.
She said this week's orientation sessions for the new hires have been most helpful.
"I have been getting a lot of tips about classroom management, because I have been working in elementary school the last four years, so it's going to be a really big change for me," she said.
Ms. Simpson agreed that the orientation sessions, offered Tuesday and Wednesday at Spring Creek Middle School, provided a great opportunity to share ideas and experiences.
"I have been able to talk, especially with other high school science teachers, on how they do things," she said. "Maybe I can take a little bit of what they're doing and apply to what I need to do in my classroom."
The new pool of educators was also given information about other WEN programs, such as the middle grades career and STEM fairs, teacher mini grants -- to date, the effort has awarded $123,000 for classroom projects -- and incentives from area businesses. The Golden Rule program offers discounts from local businesses to new and beginning teachers.
Following the breakfast, WCPS buses transported the group on a tour of Goldsboro/Wayne County points of interest.