By Michael Fleming
michael@cerra.org
​Article and Photos by Franquia Byers, Junior Teaching Fellow

       On Saturday, February 4, the University of South Carolina Upstate hosted its second annual Teaching Fellow Mock Interview Day.  This day was created in 2016 (by Jake Gilbert and Sara Camp, two junior teaching fellows at USC Upstate) for high school seniors who applied for the teaching fellowship and made it to the interview process.  The goal of the mock interviews is to prepare potential fellows for the actual interview day, that will determine who will and will not be a South Carolina Teaching Fellow.
For a semester, Jake Gilbert and Sara Camp, along with the recruitment committee of Teaching Fellows at USC Upstate, visited local high schools to inform high school seniors about the Mock Interview Day and all that it had to offer.  About 30 potential Teaching Fellows signed up and attended the mock interview on Saturday. 
About 25 USC Upstate Teaching Fellows volunteered to be a part of the Mock Interview Day.  These fellows were separated into different teams, such as the Welcoming team, the Questions and Answers team, the Writing team, the Interview team, and the Shift team.  Each team played a vital role in making sure that the day ran efficiently and smoothly.
        The process began at 9 am, just as it would on the real interview day.  The USC Upstate Teaching Fellows, along with the director of Teaching Fellows at USC Upstate, Dr. Hurren, welcomed the potential fellows with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Coffee, juice, and Smiles.  Dr. Hurren began the day by introducing himself and both Gilbert and Camp explained to the interviewees how the day would proceed.       
Next, all of the interviewees were directed to go into the writing room, where they all had a prompt to respond to for 30 minutes.   And when they finished, each interviewee was brought to an interview room, where s/he was interviewed by a team of three interviewers, just like they will be interviewed on the actual interview day. 
After being interviewed, the interviewee waited on feedback from the interview team.  When the interview team had finished deliberating, the interviewee received a document with feedback of their strengths and improvement areas listed and each was given the opportunity to ask questions.  By that time, the writing team had graded the essays and provided feedback, as well.
       Almost every interviewee came to the Mock Interview Day feeling both anxious and nervous, but left feeling confident and prepared.  The USC Upstate teaching fellows were all dedicated to making sure the potential fellows felt prepared for the actual interview day by not only giving feedback on interviews and essays, but also personal tips about professionalism, professional attire, etc.  USC Upstate looks forward to hosting a Mock Interview Day annually, making each year a bigger and better success.

By Michael Fleming
michael@cerra.org

          This year Coastal Carolina University’s Teaching Fellows hosted their third annual Mock Interview Day and it was a great experience for all who participated. The Teaching Fellows put on this event in order to help the candidates chosen by CERRA to do well in their interview, presentation, and writing skills when they go to their official interviews on February 11th. The new potential Teaching Fellows were able to spend time with students on both Coastal Carolina University’s 2015 and 2016 cohorts. Professionals within the community were also able to provide advice and support to those who came to Mock Interview Day.
 
            All of the current Teaching Fellows at Coastal Carolina University had a specific job to do that day as well as participate in a mock interview with a potential fellow. Once the candidates arrived they attended sessions with both Mrs. Amanda Darden and Dr. Ed Jadallah to inform them more about the opportunities available to them as Teaching Fellows and as students in the College of Education here at Coastal Carolina University. After this the candidates rotated in groups to sessions including a writing practice, interview and presentation.
 
            The day concluded with tours of Coastal Carolina University’s beautiful campus and the new residence halls that house all of the first year Teaching Fellows. All in all Mock Interview day was very beneficial to all who attended.

By Michael Fleming
michael@cerra.org

The new semester has started and the College of Charleston Teaching Fellows are already as busy as ever! Two sophomores, Tamara Berry and Hannah Pullias, started a semester-long study abroad program in Argentina! We are going to miss them but are excited to hear all the insights they bring back to us next semester!
 
One of our Freshmen Fellows, Tanner Crunelle, hosted a screening of the Netflix documentary 13th in conjunction with the African American Studies department during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It was such a great event we decided to screen the film during one of our Professional Development meetings!

The Teaching Fellows recently hosted 20 aspiring Teaching Fellows candidates from all across the area at our North Campus for a mock interview. It went great and we were able to hopefully meet some of our future Fellows! Good job to our Recruitment committee chairperson, Rodrick Bellamy.

Submitted by Teaching Fellow Ridge Welch, CofC Communications Chair

By Michael Fleming
michael@cerra.org

​Columbia College had the honor of hosting Dr. Michael Fleming of CERRA earlier this semester. No stranger to the classroom, Dr. Fleming shared teaching strategies to the sophomore and junior cohorts. He spoke very greatly of “Highly Effective Teaching,” a program he used in his own classrooms. He told the Fellows strategies from this program and encouraged movement and activity in the learning process. Laila Tesenair, junior Teaching Fellow and Teaching Fellow’s president, was present at the session; she believes Dr. Fleming’s visit to campus was very beneficial in that it “taught [her] new techniques and learning styles that [she] hopes to incorporate into [her] own classroom one day.”
Submitted by Teaching Fellow Amber Chavis

Windsor Elementary School Professional Development
At the beginning of January, the first year Columbia College Cohort had a wonderful opportunity to go out into the field for the first day of their seminar class at Windsor Elementary School.  Fellows talked in depth with the principal of Windsor, Mrs. Beth Elliot, as well as a few of their excellent teachers and reading coach, Mrs. Krapfel.  Early Childhood majors observed with a first and second grade teacher as they instructed their students in reading and math. Elementary, Middle, and Dance Education majors observed fifth and third grade.   Everyone observed in Windsor’s Collaboratory, where students are allowed to create things in a structured environment, where they can choose to for example, read, build, do puzzles, work with play-dough or engage in drama.
During this experience, our first years where able to observe several different teaching styles, and see how different teachers manage their classrooms effectively through several different methods, ranging from technology such as Class Dojo to regularly monitoring the students’ progress. Throughout all of these teachers, there was a common thread: all of them created a positive learning space where students could share the answers they had found in a risk-free envronment.  The first year cohort enjoyed being able to observe diversity of teaching methods within a school that values the students and their education above all else.
Written by Harley White, First Year Columbia College Teaching Fellow
 
Koalas Phone Bank Utilized to Congratulate Teaching Fellows Candidates
Representatives from the Columbia College Teaching Fellows Cohorts hosted a phone bank event January 25th in order to contact the Teaching Fellows Candidates who have been invited to interview days across the state. Personally reaching out to congratulate the candidates on their progress so far, the Koala Fellows also offered advice for interview day and informed the candidates of the unique opportunities that the Columbia College Teaching Fellows Program could offer them. In just three hours, the Koala Fellows successfully contacted students from 49 high schools across the state.
Written by Caitlin O’Dell, Sophomore Columbia College Teaching Fellow
​

​CC Teaching Fellows Panel at River Bluff High School
               On January 19, 2017, several of the Columbia College Teaching Fellows, had the opportunity to talk to the Teacher Cadet class of River Bluff High School. While we were there we gave key points to help students be successful in their upcoming field placements. We made sure that they knew to take advantage of the time they had with their students, to focus their attention, to always have a backup plan.  We shared many other key points for the ultimate field placement experience. The students had a lot of questions and seemed to be very nervous about how to interact with the children and what to do in certain situations. But, at the end of the session, they seemed to feel confident because they knew what to expect in the classroom. As Teaching Fellows, we learned from this experience as well. We enjoyed connecting with high school students which made us realize that everyone gets nervous about new experiences. IT is asking questions and pushing yourself to try new things that leads you to have the best experiences possible.
Written by Brynna Sims, First Year Columbia College Teaching Fellow
 
Mock Interviews Prepare Teaching Fellows Candidates
The Teaching Fellows Cohort at Columbia College held mock interviews for SC Teaching Fellows candidates on Monday, January 30, During these interviews, each candidate was paired with a Columbia College faculty or staff memeber as well as a current Teaching Fellow. Each candidate was asked a few questions, was allowed time to give their prepared presentation and even went through writing to prepare for their interview day. As Fellows who went through the process ourselves, we understand how nerve-racking this process can be. Our goal was to ease each candidate and give general feedback to them to better help them prepare. We are so excited as a cohort to see new faces added to the SC Teaching Fellows Program at Columbia College as well as at every institution, providing educators for the future.
Written by Allison Cox, First Year Columbia College Teaching Fellow
 

By MIchael Fleming
michael@cerra.org
Submitted by Mr. Derrick Hines, Campus Director

​USC Columbia is excited about our Spring Semester!  We have expanded the total number of service partnerships to 10 and look forward to the opportunities that each provides.
 
As we continue working with the Anne Frank House's Traveling Museum this year we are excited to make our third campus visit to Northwest Middle School in Greenville County on Friday February 10th.  This exhibit is an ongoing joint venture between USC's Center for Educational Partnerships, Teaching Fellows Program, and College of Arts and Sciences that aims to promote access to high quality educational material to rural schools around South Carolina.  We plan to make at least 2 more trips this semester to conclude this year's program, but are excited to continue to be able to offer the exhibit to schools over the next 4 years.
 
On February 27th, 2017 the University of South Carolina will host a Presidential Leadership Series event where Eva Schloss, Anne Frank's only living relative, will be interviewed by Dr. Harris Pastides at the Koger Center.  This event is being co-sponsored by the Teaching Fellows Program and will be in conjunction with the afternoon Teacher Cadet Conference being facilitated the Teaching Fellows and Center for Educational Partnerships.  We are excited to welcome over 300 South Carolina Teacher Cadets and their instructors to campus for these events, which are sure to be impactful.