South Carolina Teacher Leadership

12/18/2018

BY SUZANNE KOTY

We are delighted to bring you the first issue of the South Carolina Teacher Leadership newsletter. Our goal is to provide a collaborative resource that highlights state and district level teacher leadership activities, outlines issues related to South Carolina education, and sparks ideas among Teacher Forums.

“The courage to be vulnerable is not about winning or losing, it's about the courage to show up when you can't predict or control the outcome.”
--BrenéBrown

2018-19 South Carolina Teacher Forum

The 2018-19 District Teachers of the Year convened for the South Carolina Teacher Forum in Myrtle Beach in November. The theme for this year was Connecting. After an inspirational performance by Carolina Forest’s Show Choir, Jeff Maxey, the 2019 South Carolina Teacher of the year, shared his experience about how making connections has led to vast improvements both here and in his work in Africa. Thursday was a busy day. Jane Turner and Craig King shared their insight about professionalism and teacher voice, and Dr. Jenna Hallman urged the teachers to begin thinking about their own growth as teacher leaders. The teachers then attended breakout sessions where they learned more about leadership building and teamwork through Breakout EDU, grace and working with others, and speaking with reporters. The afternoon afforded teachers the opportunity to attend roundtable discussions on a variety of topics and to participate in an unconference. The final day included a keynote by Mandy Manning, the 2018 National Teacher of the Year. The participants also heard from Katie Crews and State Superintendent Molly Spearman. Each District Teacher of the Year was pinned as a Teacher Leader and a member of the South Carolina Teacher Forum.

A Look Inside the South Carolina Teacher Forum

District Teacher Forums in Action

Several District Teacher Forums held Meet the Candidate events prior to the election. They gave their members and the community opportunities to ask questions of candidates for local office and find out more about their choices in the election.

CERRA can provide support for your District Forum.
Contact Suzanne Koty at Suzanne@cerra.org
for more information.
Options: Organizational support, presentations, strategic planning

Book Club Schedule
Jan. 14th Goodreads
       Introduction, Part 1

Feb. 4th: Goodreads
       Part 1, Sections 2&3

Feb. 25th  Twitter chat
       Part 1, Sections 4&5

Mar. 14th Goodreads
       Part 2

Apr. 2nd Twitter chat
      Part 3

Apr. 29th Goodreads
      Part 4

Reading Corner

This year we are not only inviting you to check out what we are reading, but we want you to read with us.

Join us for a virtual book study of Brené Brown’s

Dare to Lead.
Brave Work.
Tough Conversations.
Whole Hearts.
Sign up to participate in the CERRA Book Club
here to receive the link for the book club discussions.

Join us for discussion threads and twitter chats.
Get your book over the winter break, and begin reading.

The first discussion thread will be open on January 14th.

Important Messages from Your CERRA team…

Students who are accepted into the Teaching Fellows Program attend one of twelve college/universities across the state. Additionally, Teaching Fellows participate in advanced enrichment programs and receive professional development beyond the education program.
This is where you can help!
The Campus Directors at the Teaching Fellows Institutions are always looking for outstanding educators who are willing to share their expertise and passion with these future teacher leaders. The Teaching Fellows meetings/professional development sessions are set up to include formal presentations in front of a larger group as well as informal discussions with small groups. If you are willing to present or have a conversation with the Teaching Fellows, please visit
https://cerra.wufoo.com/forms/sdcyxw70lt7mi3/.

There may be an opportunity for teacher leaders who are alternatively certified to participate in a panel discussion. If you went through alternative certification, please click below and submit your name.
https://cerra.wufoo.com/forms/sn9h1m10l8p3kc/

CERRA will be holding a virtual book club for teacher leaders. If you or teacher leaders you work with are interested in participating, use the link below to sign up. Forums are welcome to participate, and each member can use the link to register.
https://cerra.wufoo.com/forms/sk1nrxk0zkl873/

If you have a District Teacher Forum with a website, Facebook page, Twitter feed, or other link, please provide information at the link below.
https://cerra.wufoo.com/forms/svl76be0uo2a7o/

CERRA recently updated our District Teacher Forum page on our website with information to help those of you needing to start a Forum. Visit
https://www.cerra.org/district-teacher-forums.html

Teacher stress is on the rise.
This stress can cause a wide range or mental and physical issues. Over the past six years, Todd Scholl, CERRA's Coordinator of Communications & Program Development, has been sharing information on mindfulness as a means of addressing stress with schools across the state. If you are interested in learning more, you can visit his website at
www.mindfulsouthcarolina.com
or e-mail him at
todd@cerra.org.

Education News

The South Carolina Department of Education and the Education Oversight Committee have released the 2018 school and district report cards as part of the state’s merged state and federal accountability system. You can view the report cards here.

The South Carolina Department of Education has a list of available grants on their websites. You can see open grants here.

The Fort Mill School District (York 4), Lexington School District Two, and the South Carolina Public Charter School District have been recognized by the College Board as AP Honor Roll Districts!

View Superintendent Molly Spearman’s monthly updates.

September

October

November