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Professional Development Bill Hearing

 

Thank you for making Advocacy Day a Success

On February 3rd, Chalkboard supporters traveled to Salem to advocate for quality educators throughout Oregon.  Our focus was to build support for House Bill 2115 and Senate Bill 443 which establish an educator professional development clearinghouse; and to call on legislators to preserve Oregon's Beginning Teacher and Administrator Mentor Program.

Participants heard from House Speaker Dave Hunt, Senator Mark Hass, Representative Arnie Roblan, and the Governor's Chief of Staff Chip Terhune.  Chalkboard would like thank the speakers for taking time out of their busy schedules to deliver helpful and honest messages about the current state of affairs in Salem.

Participants also heard from Chalkboard Project Board Chair Orcilia Zúñiga Forbes and members of the Chalkboard staff who addressed advocacy tactics and Chalkboard's legislative agenda. The information prepared participants to meet with their Legislators in the afternoon.

Response in Salem has been encouraging after our visit.  SB 443 has a hearing before the Senate Education and General Government Committee on February 16 at 3 p.m.  By all accounts Chalkboard's Advocacy was a success.

Thank you to all who participated and thanks to everyone who works tirelessly to improve Oregon's education system.

For updates on the aforementioned bills and other legislative updates visit Chalkboard's Advocacy page.

Updated Open Books Project Website Launched

Tag, you're it...

This month "Tag" features Pam Perdue.  Ms. Perdue is a Mentor TOSA Teaching & Learning in the Beaverton School District.  As a mentor participating in Oregon's Beginning Teacher and Administrator Mentor Program, Ms. Perdue attended Chalkboard's Advocacy Day on February 3rd to advocate for quality educators.

Why do you think supporting quality educators is important for the future of Oregon's students and what has participating in Oregon's Beginning Teacher and Administrator Mentor Program meant for you?

I believe it is imperative to support our beginning educators! Teaching is much more than delivering content. Without support, many new teachers become disillusioned. They can become frustrated and concerned, and often keep everything inside believing if they share those concerns, or perceived failures, others will think less of them as a teacher. A mentor is someone who will listen, collaborate, model, and encourage. A mentor is someone they have trust in who is there just for them. A mentor can build a new educator's confidence exponentially. In turn, this carries over to the children and leads to greater student success.

Working as a mentor this year has been such a learning experience. By helping new teachers look deeper at their own instruction, it has helped me become more reflective.

What aspect of Advocacy Day did you think was most helpful for participating in the legislative process?

I truly cannot pinpoint one specific aspect of Advocacy Day that was more helpful than another. I was so thankful for all the well thought out planning and details that everyone at Chalkboard helped with.  For someone like myself who has never been part of anything to do with the legislative process, I felt confident and supported in my efforts to speak with legislators.

MentoringEducators.org Coming Soon

MentoringEducators.org is a website created by the Chalkboard Project, the Oregon
Department of Education, and supported by the Boeing Company designed to support Oregon's educator mentors while providing information about Oregon's Beginning Teacher and Administrator Mentor Program which was created in 2007. 

The website contains a calendar of events to locate mentoring classes, district profiles, educator resources and much more.

Beginning February 14th, you can visit: www.MentoringEducators.org