Christine Meyer

Christine Meyer, who graduated in December 2013 with her M.S. in Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation degree, will be the focus of our Spring 2014 ‘Adventures in Education’ blog. Follow Christine this semester as she discusses her experiences in her new job with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools as a program evaluation specialist. 
 

As a child, I grew up wanting to be a veterinarian. I have always loved animals, and my desire to help anything that was struggling was strong. I was in high school biology lab when I learned that being a veterinarian wasn’t for me…I’d rather play with animals than perform surgery on them. So, what to do now? After much thought and consideration, and considering how much I loved children and learning, I decided that maybe education was where I was meant to be. Fast forward to college, I earned a degree in elementary education from Emory & Henry College (VA) and was excited to begin the next chapter of my life. I was hopeful that I would have a job lined up and ready to go when I graduated…life, of course, did not work out as planned. After sending out more job applications than I can count, I was hired at the end of beginning of August and would be teaching kindergarten in back home in North Carolina.

I was fortunate to be at a wonderful school with great support from parents, fellow teachers, and my administration. Yet after three years of teaching, I still felt like something was missing. I knew that I would enjoy teaching for a few more years, but also that 30+ years of teaching was not for me. At least teaching was a step in the right direction…I love school, I love learning, and the education field was definitely the right one. But what else can you do in education if you don’t want to be a classroom teacher? The answer is, LOTS!

I stumbled upon UNCG’s Educational Research Methodology (ERM) program after a little Google searching and decided to learn more. I met with some students from the department and even though I was a little unsure about what I getting myself into (psychometrics, statistics, what??). I applied to the program, was admitted, and began another new chapter in August of 2011. Best. Decision. Ever. I now get to stay in the field of education and do program evaluation. This means that I collect data from teachers, students, school administration, etc. about various school programs in order to help improve them. The teacher part of my heart is happy that not just test scores are being used to judge the value of a program; although test scores are used and they do matter, I also do interviews and focus groups with people involved with programs to find out how to improve the programs in schools and how to help teachers.

In fact, I was lucky enough to accept a job offer with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools before I even graduated with my Master’s; I am their newest program evaluation specialist! I feel beyond lucky and blessed to have ended up with a position that I absolutely love. I had never even heard of educational program evaluation three years ago when I decided that I wanted to go to graduate school, and now I’ve found my true calling.

Rachel’s Challenge

In October, my school participated in a Rachel’s Challenge assembly. If you don’t know who Rachel Scott is, she was the first student shot and killed at Columbine. The assembly exposed students to Rachel’s story and was very emotional for many. The main point of Rachel’s philosophy on life is outlined in her five step challenges. Our students embraced Rachel’s Challenge with amazingly open arms. After the assembly, leaving very few with dry eyes (including people who already knew Rachel’s amazing story), students were invited to show their acceptance of Rachel’s Challenge by signing a banner.

Behavior Management In The Classroom

This month there will be three rules while reading my blog entry:



1. NO yawning.

2. NO scratching your head.

3. NO licking your lips.



Now. Repeat each of the rules to yourself at least five times until you have them memorized. Come on, you guys, it’s just three simple rules. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to follow them. Just don’t yawn, even though seeing someone else yawn, or just the thought of yawning, is slightly contagious. Don’t scratch your head. No matter what. Even though it’s probably starting to itch as you read. Oh, and definitely don’t lick your lips, even if they suddenly feel super dry.

Hollie Mason: September blog entry

I always have a hard time describing myself, but, lately, I’ve decided that the best way to describe myself is to give others a list of the things that I DO and let them put together their own image of Hollie Mason. So here is my list:

My “Students” Have Names

I am quite a few weeks into my full-time student teaching now, and if asked what has been the the hardest lesson learned thus far I would without a doubt say the realization that I am no longer staring at a class full of “hypothetical” students, in “hypothetical” desks, learning “hypothetical” content. This lesson has been both the hardest and most fulfilling to learn.

The Great Awakening

Well, I must say I have visualized my student teaching since the day I entered the Middle Grades program at UNCG. Where would I be teaching? What grade would I be teaching? Which of my content areas would I be undertaking? What would my students be like? What would I wear? Let’s begin by saying – the only vision I had that remained intact would be the wardrobe. Everything, and I do mean everything, has been so much more than I expected.

My first shock came when I received a call from my cooperating teacher over the summer explaining that instead of completing my student teaching in Language Arts, as I had planned, we would now be teaching both language arts and social studies. After my initial kick of sheer excitement, I was immediately hit with – what felt like – a two ton brick in my stomach. Two content areas meant two preps, two sets of lessons, two sets of assessments, two sets of modifications, and most importantly two times the impact! I was instantly petrified that I would irrevocably scar my students and go down in history as the biggest student teaching failure of all time. (A little dramatic I know!) I am rather pleased to say I have yet to fulfill either of those initial predictions! In fact, the two content experience has taught me, what I believe is, the first life-long lesson of teaching…