John Hall, ATC’s director of partnerships, has been a long-time believer in and utilizer of mindfulness meditation, but over the past two years this practice has turned into an everyday commitment that fuels his well-being as both a person and professional. He earned his certification as a Koru mindfulness facilitator in 2020 and since then has offered a series of free classes for ATC teachers and other educators from ATC’s partner schools. As he prepares to begin a new course for ATC fellows on March 9, John took a moment to reflect on his journey with mindfulness and the impact that mindfulness meditation can have on students and educators alike.
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Fellows Grapple With Vulnerability at 3rd All Corps PD
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The Arkansas Teacher Corps came together on Saturday, February 12 for the third All Corps event of the 2021-22 school year, a day of professional development focused on our core value of brave vulnerability. This year has been really difficult in schools with constant changes due to COVID and we wanted to give fellows time to process that the year was not what they expected.
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ATC/Teach Plus Collaborate For Lasting Change
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ATC executive director Brandon Lucius joined the February 2022 meeting of Teach Plus Arkansas to hear fellows' policy proposals and serve as a thought partner. Teach Plus fellows advocate for policy solutions in areas like teacher preparation, teacher recruitment and retention, social-emotional learning, and early childhood education.
Shout-out to Deon Harris (ATC '20), Cade Vallee (ATC '19), and Dominique Bonilla (ATC '16) on being fellows in the inaugural Teach Plus Arkansas cohort!
Applications for the 2022-23 Policy Cohort open April 15th. For more info, contact AR director Stacey McAdoo at smcadoo@teachplus.org. You can also join the Arkansas Teacher Network to receive training on policy/advocacy and collaborate with other education champions. Their work in the Delta (including Helena-West Helena) was recently featured by the Walton Family Foundation.
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ATC Featured in New Book about COVID-19
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 Arkansas Teacher Corps has been featured in a recently published book, COVID-19 and the Classroom: How Schools Navigated the Great Disruption, for our work with novice teachers at the beginning of the pandemic! Chapter 12 "How an Alternative Licensure Program Pivoted during the Pandemic" details how our team shifted to a virtual institute model in summer 2020 and the impact it had on our fellows and staff. |
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Opportunities from our partners...
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GetSmART! Learning Series: Using Art as a Teaching Tool
FREE - Mon, April 18, 2022 @ 4:30-5:30 PM CDT. Join 2019 Arkansas Teacher of the Year and arts leader Stacey McAdoo to learn the best strategies and methods for incorporating the arts as a teaching tool. Discover how the arts can boost learning and become a vital component of teaching. This workshop is specifically catered to teachers who want to bring the arts into their curriculums. McAdoo is a member of the Teach Plus Arkansas Teacher Advisory Board and a Teacher Cadet instructor. She is the Lead Novice Teacher Mentor for the Little Rock School District. Register.
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Arkansas Tutoring Corps
In accordance with Act 910 of 2021, the Arkansas Department of Education has launched a new program called the Arkansas Tutoring Corps to help alleviate any learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Interested tutors complete mandatory background checks, AR IDEAS coursework, and training in ELA and math-specific curriculums. The ADE will help connect qualified tutors with schools and other approved sites across the state to work with elementary students. Qualified tutors are eligible to receive stipends totaling up to $3,000 in their first year for at least 205 hours of tutoring. Learn more and apply here. |
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Classroom WISE
Classroom WISE is a FREE 3-part training package that assists K-12 educators in supporting the mental health of students in the classroom. Developed by the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) Network in partnership with the National Center for School Mental Health, this package offers evidence-based strategies and skills to engage and support students with mental health concerns in the classroom. In addition to a free online course on mental health literacy for educators and school personnel, a video library and resource collection are also available! Learn more and access here. |
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Upcoming Events & Important Dates
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April 2 - Fellow All-Corps #4
April 25-29 - Fellow Workshops
May 1 - Final Deadline for CSFs to Participate in Summer Institute
May 21 - End-of-Year Celebration
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Alumna Tonya Bobo (ATC '18) recently spoke with Relate Then Educate founder Rick Holmes about her journey to education for inclusion in RTE's forthcoming book! RTE is a group of former teachers with a passion for uplifting teacher voices and sharing teacher stories so that new teachers have a better understanding of what the classroom is and what it could be. Click below to hear Ms. Bobo describe what she wish she could tell her first-year self about teaching.
