Raise Your Hand for Public Education
Empowering Educators to Lead
Join us for a day of innovation, inspiration and invitation! Are you on Facebook? You can RSVP to this event there.
Agenda
Pre-opening Music Presentation – DJ Spinderella
Moderator: Pat Dolan, TURN (Teacher Union Reform Network)
Opening Remarks – NEA President Dennis Van Roekel
Collaboration to Lead the Profession
Speaker: Dr. Jerry D. Weast, Former Superintendent of Schools, Montgomery County, MD
Affiliate Engagement: ISTA ESP’s Leading the Profession with School Safety – Donna Nielsen,La Porte Community School Bus Driver, Driver Trainer Team Leader, Safety Team Lead and NEA Board of Director ESP at Large
Audience Participation
Affiliate Engagement: ISTA ESP’s Leading the Profession with School Safety – Donna Nielsen,La Porte Community School Bus Driver, Driver Trainer Team Leader, Safety Team Lead and NEA Board of Director ESP at Large
Audience Participation
Assessment, Common Core and the Future of Education
Speaker: Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor of Education at the Stanford University School of Education
Affiliate Engagement: Empowering Educators to Lead - Jonathan Knapp, President Seattle Education Association
Audience Participation
Affiliate Engagement: Empowering Educators to Lead - Jonathan Knapp, President Seattle Education Association
Audience Participation
Leading by Reaching Out to the Community
Speaker: Dr. Valerie Kinloch, Professor of Literacy Studies, Ohio State University
Affiliate Engagement: Bringing Learning to Life - Rhonda Johnson, President Columbus Education Association and Tori Washington, Service-Learning Teacher, Beechcroft High School, Columbus, OH and Beechcroft H.S. studentsRendell Buckhalter, Taryn Lewis-Smith, Chelsey Rodgers, & Christian Scase
Audience Participation
Affiliate Engagement: Bringing Learning to Life - Rhonda Johnson, President Columbus Education Association and Tori Washington, Service-Learning Teacher, Beechcroft High School, Columbus, OH and Beechcroft H.S. studentsRendell Buckhalter, Taryn Lewis-Smith, Chelsey Rodgers, & Christian Scase
Audience Participation
Closing Remarks – NEA Secretary-Treasurer Rebecca Pringle
Click to download the agenda.
2013 Teacher of the Year: Let’s Talk More About How Public Schools Succeed
2013 Teacher of the Year: Let’s Talk More About How Public Schools Succeed
By Edward Graham
In April, Jeff Charbonneau, a chemistry, physics, and engineering teacher at Zillah High School in Zillah, Washington, was formally recognized by President Obama as the 2013 Teacher of the Year in a special ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House.
A 12-year teaching veteran, Charbonneau is a National Board certified teacher, co-president of the Zillah Education Association, and the recipient of numerous awards for his commitment to education. Charbonneau also founded and directs the Zillah High School Robotics Challenge, which he established after collecting over $25,000 in grants and donations from local businesses. Charbonneau has opened up the program to schools throughout Washington State, involving almost 2,000 students across 75 school districts in the last school year.
On June 19, Charbonneau sat down with National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel to answer questions about his own teaching experiences, practices, and the future of public education.
Van Roekel: How have you evolved into the teacher that you are today?
Charbonneau: I’ve shifted from more of a focus on grades to learning, because that’s what it should really be about. I want to know that my students understand the material before they leave my classroom, not that they have ‘x’ number of points in my grade book. Where I teach and where I work is a paradise to me. It’s a place that I want to be, and that’s what I want my classroom to be. I want it to be a place where students know when they enter it that I care about them, and that everyone else in that room cares too.
You say everyday to your students, “Welcome back to another day in paradise.” How do you translate that greeting into practice in the classroom?
When I say that, it’s a recognition to the students that we’re in an air conditioned facility, that you’re sitting in a chair, that you’ve got food in your belly, that you’ve got people around you that support you. Shouldn’t you be excited about that? Shouldn’t you be ready to invest your time to continue making that paradise better? I try to convince my students of their own abilities, of their own expectations, and then use that to the fullest.
