GREENSBORO, NC (WFMY) -- Guilford County Schools welcomed 127 new employees this week. The teachers would be assigned to about 115 schools throughout the district.
The orientation was 3 days long and included 66 new teachers who were starting out their first year in GCS. Of the new teachers who have just joined the district, 61 were teachers with experience who were new to GCS.
The participants engaged in learning about the community and the district's core beliefs and visions.
A statement from GCS said the orientation "delivered training in effective lesson design using GCS Instructional Framework and also gave them training in diversity and equity."
The new teachers learned how to set up and structure their classrooms for instruction and overall success. First-year teachers also participated in classroom management workshops.
Many of them got to see their new classrooms and have begun working on creating a structure for their teaching space.
"I am very excited being here. It's a different type of feeling being here when I am inside the classroom," said Sharonika Jones, who would be teaching her own first-grade class. She is a former substitute teacher and the experience with her new job has not been strange to her. However, having her own classroom has brought a different rush or emotions.
"When am I going to bring everything in and get everything set up? I am overwhelmed, but I am going to make it through," said an optimistic Jones.
Guilford County Schools New Teacher support team has been helping the new employees to do just that with the 3-day long orientation program.
"We give them a curriculum, we give them classroom management, we give them an overview of what their basic year would be like and we support them throughout the year," said Adam Johnson, an Induction Specialist with Guilford County Schools.
The training for the new teachers focused on not just teaching but planning and developing other skills which would promote high achievement in students and enable learning among students.
"Classroom management is about getting kids to move in a positive direction and the curriculum, how do I teach it and can I see somebody teach it," added Johnson.
Sharonika worked on her lesson plans and has started strategizing with her new principal on how to structure her classroom and what supplies she would need. She is also looking forward to her incoming students calling her Miss Jones.
"I am so excited once August 1st hits, it's time to count down."
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