#tbt ...NCCAT!

I thought for sure that I had written a post about my experience at the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) back in 2008 (I think that was the date?)...but I couldn't find the post.  

But...it's defintely worth posting about!  One of the things that I miss about NC is NCCAT, or at least, what NCCAT meant back then.  I think that due to budget cuts they have really changed the types of offerings you can take at NCCAT, but when I went I signed up to spend a week learning about the history of ceramics in western North Carolina.  (not the actual seminar topic, but that's the gist of it) 

Now, for anyone reading this that has no idea what NCCAT is, here is a link to their site, http://www.nccat.org. 

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Keeping Our Best Teachers: Touching TomorrowNorth Carolina’s teachers are critical to the success of student learning. Yet every year, thousands of teachers leave the profession, drained by the demands of the public school classroom and lack of professional support. Teacher attrition costs the nation billions of dollars and is an incalculable loss to our society’s children.

NCCAT is a recognized national leader in professional development programming for teachers. Established by the state legislature in 1985, NCCAT provides a year-round curriculum of intensive cross-disciplinary seminars in the sciences, arts, humanities, technology, leadership, communication, and health and wellness. NCCAT is a place where teachers “advance teaching as an art and a profession” through a wide range of experiential study and learning opportunities. NCCAT keeps good teachers teaching.

Each year, nearly 5,000 teachers participate in residential seminars and professional development programs at the center’s campus locations in Cullowhee and on Ocracoke, returning to their schools with recharged interest and a more positive attitude toward teaching, which in turn improves the quality of public education in North Carolina.

(From NCCAT site; About NCCAT- http://www.nccat.org/s/1099/index.aspx?sid=1099&gid=1&pgid=286)


My sister-in-law, Maria, is finishing up a week at NCCAT this week.  I was so excited for her when she told me she was going, and that is what inspired me to go through my old pics, create this blog entry and the slide show below...enjoy!