Spotlight

The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (Tennessee, USA) offers an innovative "Grow Your Own" pathway for helping residents obtain certification and become classroom teachers within the school district. Hear from Mr. Chris Dial, Teacher Residency Liaison, and Mr. Jermaine Purdie, an 8th Grade ELA Teacher Resident. Explore the keys to opening doors to the teaching profession and providing the support needed as new teachers enter the classroom.

The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (Tennessee, USA) offers an innovative "Grow Your Own" pathway for helping residents obtain certification and become classroom teachers within the school district. Hear from Ms. Lisa Baker, Director of Federal Programs in Clarksville-Montgomery, and Dr. Vanessa Garcia, Senior Director of Partnerships at Lipscomb University, about design of these innovations in the area of teacher certification and support.

Hank Staggs, Director of Accelerating Character Education Development at the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), joins us to discuss "Character Education": what it is, why it's important, and how you can start integrating character eduction into what is already happening in your school.  With the modern emphasis on increasing academic success, we should also remember the importance of building character, morals, social living, and civics. Those things enable us to reach our full potential as humans in society.

Emily Mofield, author of "Vertical Differentiation for Gifted Advanced and High-Potential Students" shares 3 instructional strategies that can be used to "bump up" the rigor and the challenge within educational activities. Dr. Mofield is an Assistant Professor of Education at Lipscomb University where she co-leads the graduate program in Gifted & Advanced Academics and teaches in the doctoral program. Previously in her career, Dr. Mofield has served as a middle-school teacher and a district leader in Gifted Education.