Student U. began its summer program last Monday when 31 college students from all over the Triangle-area joined together at Durham Academy. The morning started with Minnie Forte-Brown, Chair of the Durham Public School Board, providing teachers with their charge for the summer: release your own brilliance and then allow your students to do the same. Her inspirational talk was the ideal way to begin what proved to be a powerful week of orientation.
Throughout the week teachers participated in workshops led by experts in the field of education who taught our college students how to lesson plan, how to manage a classroom, and how to engage students though thought provoking questions and meaningful activities. Teachers had lunch with members of the school board and school system who understand the strengths and weaknesses of the schools our students are coming from. Presentations were given by professionals who have spent their lives studying adolescents and were able to explain how middle schoolers think and act. And teachers also quickly recognized how much they could learn from one another. Through diversity workshops, reflection sessions, and presentations given by returning teachers, the faculty has embraced the fact that at Student U., we are all students and we are all teachers.
In 8 days our teachers will welcome 100 students from the Durham Public Schools into their classrooms. I have no doubt that our teachers will be ready to let their own brilliance shine in their rooms and empower our students to allow their brilliance to do the same.
