Archives for March 2020

DIRECT LINK TO ONLINE TEACHING RESOURCES PAGE

DIRECT LINK TO ALL TEACHING RESOURCES FOR ANY CLASS

We know that you are each experiencing a time in your career and life unlike any other. In order to better support your online classroom experience, we have compiled FREE online teaching resources and placed them on our website, ncagteachers.org. These resources will be updated frequently over the coming weeks. They will be available by accessing the home page of our website OR by going through the Member Center/Teacher Resources section (see the screenshots below for steps to access these resources.) In our Teacher Resources section, you can find lessons, notes, PowerPoints, etc. for any agriculture curriculum that has previously been shared with us. We hope this “one-stop shop” for resources can help you prepare more quickly for your students in this difficult time.
If you have any classroom resources to share, please send them to April Pittman at ncagteachers15@gmail.com. Also, if you have any digital learning resources, please add them to the “Digital Learning Resource Guide” found on our website. This document was created by Laura Parker and is a collaboration among all teachers in the state.
Thank you for your support. Please let us know how we can help you. 

The link to Online Resources will be posted on our Home Page, but will also be available by accessing the Member Center/ Teacher Resources. Here’s how to access that area for NCATA Members in three steps:

As we all know, our state government has been taking precautionary measures regarding COVID-19 by shutting down our schools for students and today, closing restaurants for inside dining. Without question, the school closure presents a myriad of questions regarding pay, school grades, testing, etc. Currently, districts are individually deciding policies about the day to day functioning of their school systems without students. This will likely continue unless further guidance from the state government is provided. We have not heard if the closure will extend beyond this two-week period, but analyzing the events nationwide, I would say it is possible it could be extended.

The short session is scheduled to convene at the end of April. However, I suspect they will have to meet prior to that to make some immediate decisions regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. I also assume that all matters will not be addressed in one day, and this could create situations for discussion well into the year. We will keep you posted with major information as we receive it. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy.

Legislative Update from Bryan Holloway  We are quickly approaching the short session that will begin in late April. The only education action that is occurring during this brief interim is in the Education Oversight Committee. The committee had its second meeting last week on March 6th. The committee continued to discuss child nutrition, and then transitioned to discuss Perkins Reauthorization and Career and Technical Education. NCATA has been working beyond just attending oversight meetings. This work includes visiting education committee chairs and committee members in their respective districts to discuss how the budget stalemate continues to negatively hurt our children, schools, and educators. Thus far we have spoken to: Representative Jeffrey Elmore, Education Appropriations and Policy Chair Representative Craig Horn, Education Appropriations and Policy Chair Senator Deanna Ballard, Education Appropriations and Policy Chair Representative Graig Meyer Representative Ashton Clemmons In addition to meeting with legislators, NCATA attended the Eggs and Issues breakfast hosted by Public School Forum. The issues and priorities presented were: Priority 1: Redesign our school finance system to dramatically improve adequacy, equity, and flexibility. Priority 2: Overhaul educator compensation, recruitment, and professional development strategies. Priority 3: Revamp our school accountability model and eliminate or revise the A-F school grading system. Priority 4: Support a major state investment to fully fund North Carolina’s $8 billion school infrastructure needs. Priority 5:  Establish a plan to monitor progress toward Leandro compliance. https://www.ncforum.org/ Again, NCATA knows that this school year has been challenging. The lack of a budget has meant a lack of funding for our schools, no pay raises for teachers, and a failure to make our legislative priorities law. We will continue to do our best and let lawmakers know how this is impacting you.

NCATA & NAAE Award Winners Thank you to our current President, Jennifer Broadwell, and our fellow members that aided in the judging of our award applications. We are thankful for their hard work evaluating and selecting our award winners. We appreciate their time and effort! Thank you to our applicants. You are all valuable to our association and to our students! We acknowledge the hard work you put into your job each and every day. Here are our award winners: Eric Godwin Scholarship: Heather Shea, NERSBAOutstanding Early Career Teacher Award: Caroline Tart Warmack, West Craven High School Outstanding Teacher Award: Jillian Ford, Richlands High School Outstanding Middle/Secondary Program: North East Carolina Prep School with Amber Nead Ideas Unlimited Award: Cathy Berrier, Ledford High School Teachers Turn the Key Scholarship Application: Sarah Lawrence, Bear Grass Charter School Teacher Mentor Award: Al Jones, Richlands High School  We will be communicating with our award winners about the next phase of the award process. Please wish them luck as they advance to regional and national judging!

Thank you to all of our presenters and members that made the 2020 NCATA Mid Winter Conference a success. The conference held on February 8th at Richlands High School was effective and a joy to all that attended. We hope that each member left for their home program with a rejuvenated spirit and resources to make their program stronger.

The resources shared in each workshop are below. You will also be able to find them under the Teacher Resources Page under the name “Winter Conference Resources.”

School Based SAE- Clark Adams

National Boards- Laura Gardner & Camber Starling

Project Based Learning- Cathy Berrier

Foundational SAE- Elizabeth Pack

SAE For All Ideas- Ryan Berglund & Stefanie Goblet 

Managing an Effective Officer Team- Adam Byrd

National Chapter- Tara King & Ashley McCullen

Ag Sales- Jennifer Broadwell

Poultry- Caroline Yount (No resources yet available)

Livestock- Kristina Brake

Parliamentary Procedure- Olivia Haigler

Agriscience Fair- Jennifer Broadwell