The North Carolina Teacher Education Forum

The North Caroline Teacher Education Forum was without a doubt, one of the best opportunities I have had as a student thus far at UNC Asheville! I not only learned more about the ins and outs of teaching as a profession, but also came to fall in love again with my future career even more.

In the course of the two days of the conference, I met several principals (current and former), superintendents, teachers and administrators from a diverse set of schools and universities across the state. The coming together of these individuals and myself helped to reflect the importance of a co-curricular partnership with individuals of different educational background and experience.

For example, one of our sessions, Reflections through Creative Interpretations, was a little bit more interactive than the others in that it allowed us to write and discuss some of our memorable teaching experiences from that week. While discussing my experiences with people, I came to realize that reflection on classroom

experiences is a vital part of better managing my classroom and helping my students to make real world connections.When it came to presenting our Collaboration Project, our status as sophomore undergraduates surprised a lot of people but helped us gain respect amongst those who have been in education for years. Each person I discussed our project with gave me a better understanding of not only our own partnership, but also how various other institutions and schools were helping to form their future teachers.

Coming into the conference, I was unsure as to what to expect. However, while the conference was more greatly targeted towards administrators, teachers and professors of education, I still managed to come out of it with a greater understanding of what it takes to be a teacher.

-Kelsey Cain