EdNC. Essential education news. Important stories. Your voice.

Search ednc.org

Caldwell County Schools beginning teacher program makes an impact

Share this story

Our republishing policy

EdNC is a nonprofit, online, daily, independent newspaper. All of EdNC’s content is open source and free to republish. Please use the following guidelines when republishing our content.
  • Our content must be republished in full. If your organization uses a paywall, the content must be provided in full for free.
  • Credit our team by including both the author name and EdNC.org in the byline. Example: Alex Granados, EdNC.org.
  • If republishing the story online, please provide a link to EdNC.org or a link to the original article in either the byline or credit line.
  • The original headline of the article must be used. Allowable edits to the content of the piece include changes to meet your publication’s style guide and references to dates (i.e. this week changed to last week). Other edits must be approved by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
  • Photos and other multimedia elements (audio, video, etc.) may not be republished without prior permission. Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you are interested in sharing a multimedia element.
  • If you republish a story, please let us know by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you have any questions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Canonical tag

Please include the following canonical tag in the <head> of the republished story.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.ednc.org/caldwell-county-schools-beginning-teacher-program-makes-an-impact/">

HTML content

This includes the title, byline, content, and tracking pixel required for republishing this story.

Copy & paste HTML
This story is tagged:
Dr. Donald Phipps, BOE member Dottie Darcie, and beginning teachers at Davenport Elementary. George Nate Barilich/EducationNC

Earlier this August, a group of eager beginning teachers met at Davenport Elementary in Lenoir to get acquainted with their central office mentors, staff, school board, and ultimately become part of the team at Caldwell County Schools.

Led by EdAmbassador Heather Puhl, this beginning teacher program is different from most models. Caldwell County has approximately 100 to 115 beginning teachers (BTs) between years one and three of service. At least twice a year, all BTs meet at two neutral locations that are not restricted by grade level or content area. These locations happen to be local churches that open their doors at no cost to the school system and redefine the purpose of a communal meeting space. In these meetings, the BTs develop connections across schools and content areas while also learning strategies and techniques to solicit student response at the beginning of the year and build leadership at the close of the year. 

Puhl streamlined components of the beginning teacher program with the National Board Architecture of Accomplished Teaching. Upon completion of their third year of service, BTs are eligible to apply for National Board certification. All BTs in the county are provided access to National Board training and support at no cost to themselves. In addition to the two yearly meetings, all BTs are provided formalized support on a bi-weekly basis.

Third grade teacher Melissa Gilchrist. George Nate Barilich/EducationNC

On their first day on the job, the BTs were not only welcomed but also had the opportunity to shop for free school supplies for disadvantaged students at a local nonprofit called Teacher Treasures. They were then given a history lesson at the Caldwell County History Museum, which prides itself on its deep Appalachian heritage and pays homage to its musical roots including Joe Robinson, a former principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic. 

Lenior High School band uniforms in the Caldwell County History Museum. George Nate Barilich/EducationNC

Melissa Gilchrist, a third grade teacher at Collettsville School, shared, “I became a teacher assistant and really loved being with other people’s children too. I love third grade because they’re so excitable. They still want to hug you, still want to love you, and they love to learn. That’s just so exciting to come into work every day and see their little faces light up.”