AR Training

Just as school started, Duran came to Smith County to host an AR training for his western counties. Macon, Dekalb, Jackson, and Smith County Education Associations were invited to Cornerstone Cafe in Gordonsville for dinner and training. Smith and Dekalb attended the meeting.

We discussed the changes in application forms, new member drives, and membership grants. We did several exercises on ways excite our members. One of the exercises included putting questions in a balloon and letting us pick a balloon to pop. We then had to answer the questions inside the balloon. It was a great way to do a review. All of us thought it would be a good method to repeat in our classrooms, but a little noisy. Elementary and middle school kids would love it!

Hope everyone has had a great school year start.

COAT Training

It seems like we met a lot of times for training this summer. Carol and Tracy went to a COAT training at Cookeville High School. The training involved five uniserv districts - a rarity. Duran and the uniserv coordinators around the Upper Cumberland area have been working overtime to keep us up to date.

This training gave us information about competing organizations. We picked up a lot of great information and were able to talk to surrounding county associations. The networking alone makes it worthwhile to attend a meeting.

Ronnie Clemmons from TEA Headquarters was in attendance at the meeting. He always adds a little sparkle to the meeting.Tracy participated in a skit with Jeff Garrett (PLT Uniserv Coordinator). I was the member of the association being approached by the competition. It was nice to be able to put into practice all of the information they had given us. I think if Jeff had given me a little more time, I would have signed him up. :)

If anyone would like to attend a TEA training, please contact your AR. It is a great experience, a lot of information will be given, door prizes will be handed out (Duran is always good for a gallon of gas $5), and a great meal is always on hand.

The next training is on the Framework for Evaluation, August 21 at Cookeville High School, 4:30 pm. If you would like to attend, RSVP Duran ( dwilliams@tea.nea.org ) Tracy is attending the training. Contact her if you'd like a ride. Email address is on the right of the blog.  

Three District Membership Meeting

Denise and Tracy represented SCEA and joined 25 other association reps at the July Tri-District Membership meeting. Uniserv Districts Seven, Nine and Twelve met at Fairfield Glade's new convention center to discuss new membership opportunities and benefits. 

The members heard from the NEAMB cadre representative from Oak Ridge. Alex gave out NEAMag cards which enables members to receive a free magazine from NEA if you register by mail and two free magazines if you register online. (Contact Tracy for the online website) Representatives from A+ Insurance discussed discounts members receive on home and auto insurance, Horace Mann representatives discussed growing your money, and Wells Fargo described ways to save money on home purchases. It was very informative.

Each uniserv coordinator discussed ways to help members through professional development opportunities and ways to reach new teachers in our counties. Donna Jerden discussed the generational issues that exist and the ways each generation communicates. This blog is a direct result of her discussion.  Duran discussed the new COAT training that was happening in just a few days. Carol and Tracy attended that training and I'll post about that soon. 

The morning was very informative and was capped off with a nice lunch and door prizes. I won a lovely little lunch bag and Denise won a big basket of office supplies. (Can you tell I'm jealous?) It was a great meeting and we'd love to share information with anyone interested.

If you'd like to attend one of these meetings with us, just let us know. We will be having another meeting later in the fall.