\n
First-Grade Academy instructor Nancy Sullivan (left) explains a phonetics exercise to teachers Korrie Smith, Kim Sanders and Tiffany Gates<\/b>. UM photo by Tobie Baker.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nParticipants included three friends who graduated from Blue Mountain College: Korrie Smith, Kim Sanders and Tiffany Gates. The three teachers agree the academy was an eye-opening experience.<\/p>\n
“A lot of workshops are simply lectures and presentations,” said Smith, a teacher at Byhalia Elementary School. “The instructors were down to earth, which helps a lot. Plus, it was hands-on. If I can touch it, then I can use it.”<\/p>\n
Gates, a teacher at Blue Mountain School, agreed.<\/p>\n
“In college, they didn’t really prepare us for all of the things we do in the classroom,” Gates said. “There are high-level achievers, those in the middle and then the low-level students, and I didn’t know how to teach all of them at the same time. This gave me ideas that will help.”<\/p>\n
Sanders, a teacher at West Union Attendance Center, said, “At the academy, I met longtime teachers, less than 45 miles away from my school, who showed me things they did in their classroom. I learned a lot from them.”<\/p>\n
Any reservation by the participants about what to expect during the academy was relieved as they moved past registration to the instruction phase.<\/p>\n
“When we checked in, they gave us this huge binder, and we just went, ‘Oh, no,'” said Sanders referring to the 4-inch thick academy booklet. “But the time just flew by. We learned so much.”<\/p>\n
Instruction included various teaching techniques such as creating a word ladder on a classroom wall to help students learn word recognition, increase their vocabulary, and develop better skills in reading comprehension and fluency.<\/p>\n
“Our aim is to not only improve student achievement, but also to ensure that all children learn to read well by the end of the third grade,” said academy instructor Nancy Sullivan, retired teacher from the Amory School District.<\/p>\n
Overall, those attending the academy agreed their experience will make them better teachers.<\/p>\n
“I’ll give myself an ‘A’ for effort as a first-year teacher, but looking back, I know I could have done some things different,” Gates said. “Now I know I can improve, both for me and my students. That’s what I want to accomplish.”<\/p>\n
Participants received 2.4 continuing education units toward the 10 CEU’s required every five years to remain certified.<\/p>\n
For more information about the North Mississippi Education Consortium, including its ongoing schedule of workshops, visit http:\/\/www.nmec.net\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OXFORD, Miss. – Thanks to a recent workshop at the University of Mississippi, 26 school teachers and administrators from across north Mississippi are better prepared for the classroom beginning this fall. The First-Grade Academy, held June 8-11 and co-sponsored by UM’s North Mississippi Education Consortium and the Mississippi Department of Education, is designed to helpRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n26 Teachers, School Administrators Learn Teaching Techniques at Workshop - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/edu1stgrade070909\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"26 Teachers, School Administrators Learn Teaching Techniques at Workshop - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. – Thanks to a recent workshop at the University of Mississippi, 26 school teachers and administrators from across north Mississippi are better prepared for the classroom beginning this fall. 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