EducationNC

Welcome back to Season 2 of The Hummingbird Stories! This week, Donnell and Jenny are learning about the Leandro case in North Carolina and dreaming about what it means to go Beyond Leandro. They talk to EdNC.org's Rupen Fofaria and hear from education leaders Aylon Samouha of Transcend Education, Sonn Sam of Big Picture Learning, and Carol Bower of GALS Denver. Learn more about Aylon Samouha’s work at transcendeducation.org, Sonn Sam’s work at bigpicture.org, and Carol Bower's work at galsdenver.org. We want to hear from you! Our weekly question is: Everyone in our state is talking about a sound, basic education. But what would an extraordinary education look like? Visit SayHi.chat backslash hummingbird to chime in. Artwork by 11th grade student Jocelyn H. Check out her work at @celyns_arts on Instagram.

Sherry Thomas talks pandemic, IEPs, and funding for students with disabilities.

In April, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt laid out Operation Polaris -- her vision for operation of the public education system. At the center is the Office of Learning Recovery & Acceleration, where Michael Maher is executive director.

At their August second meeting, Craven County Commissioners voted in support of an anti-critical race theory resolution. At the meeting, members of the community gave their opinions on the resolution and discussed what the board’s decision will mean for Craven County Schools.

This is episode three of EdNC.org's Future Forward podcast series. In this episode you’ll hear from Steven Gupton, a teacher in Durham County. On top of all of the changes educators had to make during the pandemic, Gupton also had to manage switching schools — from his home county to where he teaches now in Durham. He’s learned a lot about connecting with students this year by using innovative methods like home visits to reach those that were less engaged. Thank you for listening! Visit EdNC.org for more information about the Future Forward series.

Today you'll hear from Sara Lilley who is an elementary school teacher in Vance County, where she's worked for 11 years. Lilley shares why building strong relationships with students is one of her core values as an educator and how that was magnified this past year teaching during the pandemic. She also talks about the benefits personalized learning has had on her students. Lilley is a pancreatic cancer survivor, which inspired her to start doing ironman races. Thank you for listening! Visit EdNC.org for more information about the Future Forward series.

This is the first episode of EdNC.org's Future Forward podcast series featuring Caesar Campana, a teacher at Hayesville High School. Campana has been teaching for 20 years and this has been, in his words, "the strangest year" yet. In this episode, Campana shares his experiences with student engagement this past year, how he's balancing a new hybrid learning model, and his thoughts on the pressure to have his students reading on grade level. Thank you for listening! Visit EdNC.org for more information about the Future Forward series.