CHARLOTTE, NC - More than 60 of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s new and emerging teachers are getting a ‘booster shot’ aimed at helping them to build a stronger teaching base heading out of their first year in the classroom. It's the beginning of a North Carolina initiative designed to help new teachers experience success faster, and keep them in the classroom longer.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg NETI participants conduct a human classification activity related to Earth sciences. The program includes modeled activities that show the power of engaging students in active learning.

Led by QTL instructor Steve Puls, teachers from kindergarten through high school were chosen to attend the first of two series of workshops in Charlotte. These teachers have between two months and three years teaching experience with some being lateral entry, trying to gain certification. Puls says it was rewarding to watch them grow.

"All new teachers bring an infectiously high level of enthusiasm into the classroom," he says. "It was fantastic to witness how these vibrant teachers shared, commiserated, and celebrated their successes while challenging themselves to reflect upon and develop the effective teaching strategies that were modeled for them. 

"They quickly learned that well-structured lessons that address learners' needs and include specific levels of thinking and doing will result in improved student learning. There was a lot of thoughtful discussion, laughter, and movement in our time together, which created a wonderful atmosphere of collaboration."  

Through the QTL New and Emerging Teachers Institute, teachers learn everything from the basics of classroom management and teaching strategies to educational essentials such as understanding the difference between curriculum and instruction.

Participants say they came because they needed help in the classroom.

“It’s one thing to have a mentor who tries to help, but many times that person is in another building or is very busy with her own classroom," commented one participant. “This program is right on the mark with what we need to know now. This has been terrific!”

During district training for new teachers last summer, these teachers were shown the structure for creating a lesson plan. The NETI series takes that concept further. Participants see the process of planning effective lessons modeled for them. NETI goes deeper than giving teachers a diagram of the essential elements of a lesson; it gives them the whole picture of how to use NC Standard Course of Study guidelines to create a plan for learning and assessment.

Within the NETI program, teachers learn about formative assessment, a key ingredient in classroom instruction. It allows a teacher to know immediately where students need the most focus so they an adapt their instructional methods to accommodate learning.

Many times, new teachers don’t know what changes to make to help students learn more, and that is where the NETI program is helpful. Teachers see instructional strategies used effectively in a learning situation so they can take the strategy back to their own classroom and begin using it.

“I wish you could come back to our school with us, so that we know we are doing this the right way,” commented a participant. “Many times our principals are not up on classroom instructional strategies and don’t understand that when kids are talking, they are actually learning. The principal sees this as bad classroom management, but it is really kids learning.”

The NETI program is being piloted in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and a handful of other North Carolina districts this spring (read what participants are saying about the program). The current group of participants will spend three more days in NETI sessions this fall. During those sessions, they'll learn cross-curricular strategies to increase content area reading skills, methods for creating lessons that are congruent with a clear learning goal and ways to reflect on their teaching to improve lesson plans and presentation.