On Saturday, August 26, ATC fellows and staff met at Chicot Elementary in Little Rock for the first All Corps PD of the 2023-24 year. Fellows learned transformational teaching strategies, collaborated with each other to generate solutions to current problems they’re experiencing in their classrooms, and split into eight content-specific groups to develop knowledge and skills relevant to their content area, such as incorporating art into ELA, creating inquiry-based unit plans in science, understanding differences in the new math standards, and using differentiated reading strategies to improve literacy in the elementary classroom.
Archive for month: August 2023
ATC Joins National Network of Rural Educators
Arkansas Teacher Corps is partnering with the Rural Community Alliance to serve as the leads for the Rural School Collaborative's new Arkansas & Delta regional hub. The partnership will provide ATC an opportunity to engage in collaborative learning with other rural teacher corps programs through the U.S., while making RSC programs like the Grants In Place Fellows and National Signature Project Award available to teachers in Arkansas.
ATC Fellow Featured on the TODAY Show
Congratulations to 2020 Arkansas Teacher Corps fellow and 5th year Pine Bluff teacher TyKesha Cross for this inspiring feature on the TODAY Show! Not only does TyKesha share the emotional story of her journey to the classroom with TODAY correspondent Priscilla Thompson, but she's also surprised by an on-air visit from the mentor she credits with saving her life, former Dollarway HS counselor and principal Yolanda Prim.
ATC Alumna Discusses Power of Education
ATC fellow TyKesha Cross (ATC '20) was recently featured in the newest teacher profile of the I Am A Rural Teacher campaign, "Overcoming adversity through the power of education". She shares how she and her family were greatly affected by struggle and strife growing up, the mentor who helped her to graduate high school and later return to the classroom as a teacher, the atmosphere of care and compassion she creates for her students, and the importance of building bridges with parents.
ATC Alumna Featured in Book “Relate, Then Educate”
Arkansas Teacher Corps 2018 fellow Tonya Bobo is one of sixteen educators who have been featured in a recently published book, Relate, Then Educate: The Untold Stories of Teachers, by Teachers. Tonya is a long-time educator who has taught elementary education in several central Arkansas school districts and has also served as an elementary content leader for ATC, mentoring other fellows teaching elementary grade levels.
U of A Wellness Program to Support ATC Fellows
An interdisciplinary faculty team in the University of Arkansas' College of Education and Health Professions has developed a wellness program for Arkansas Teacher Corps fellows with funds from a college WE CARE grant after a survey of ATC fellows revealed a critical need for mental health programming to help prevent burnout and exit from the teaching profession. WE CARE+Wellness kicked off on July 10 with a workshop for the 38 fellows in ATC's 11th cohort, who will continue to receive support on implementing the program into their lives throughout the school year.