#ThankATeacher

Happy National Teacher Day

to all of the teachers who have inspired us and helped us get to where we are today. Because of all of you, we ourselves have chosen to be teachers, and we're so excited for what's in store!

SVEA at Habitat for Humanity!

Check out our co-VPs for next year, Robert and Laila, posing in the warehouse of our local Habitat for Humanity store where SVEA was volunteering for the day.

In the News

Check us out in the latest Curry news update here!

February Social

Card Making Social

SVEA Valentines Day Card Making Social is tonight in Clemons 200A from 6-7:30 PM. Come stop by for some snacks in exchange for making cards for patients at the Children’s Hospital! Feel feel to bring your own goodies to share! 

Support NEA's Degrees Not Debt!

Part of SVEA's agenda is to support students like ourselves who are graduating college with an unreasonable amount of student loans. NEA's Degrees Not Debt initiative is tackling this issue, with their latest effort being support of the Reducing Educational Debt Act.

Senators Baldwin (D-WI), Hirono (D-HI), and Warren (D-MA) recently introduced the Reducing Educational Debt (RED) Act, which will:

• Allow students to refinance federal and private student loans at a lower rate
• Increase federal funding to states who commit to free community college for all
• Increase Pell Grant awards to students most in need

Write your legislators to support the RED Act: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/support-the-red-act-help-student-borrowers

Learn more about Degrees Not Debt: http://www.nea.org/degreesnotdebt

SVEA at RMH

Some of our SVEA members, along with friends from Curry's Ed Council, volunteered at Charlottesville's Ronald McDonald House to cook a delicious dinner for all of the wonderful families living there!

 What a menu! Chicken cacciatore, rice, fruits and vegetables, rolls, and pie!

Volunteers hard at work preparing food in RMH's kitchen. We filled up all four of their dishwashers!

SVEA Workshop

"How Cultural Identity Shapes the Way We Learn"

We are starting out Fall with this wonderful workshop. It will be held on Saturday, November 7th from 10 AM - Noon in New Cabell Hall 183. Information is located a few post down. RSVP Here

Film Screening: Tested

SVEA is co-sponsoring a film screening of the documentary "Tested," which explores themes of diversity and equity as well as high-stakes testing in New York City public schools. Also, there will be a panel discussion following the screening that features the filmmaker, Curtis Chin. You don't want to miss out on this event!

The Sunset Social was a success! A great way to unwind during a hectic semester :)

We had a blast at the Boys and Girls' Club Cycling Challenge in Crozet!

A big shout out to Megan and Robert for helping out with the Fall Activities Fair! We had over 40 members sign up to come to our Ice Cream Interest Meeting.

Come to our Cultural Identity Workshop!

Do you like learning how to be a better teacher?

Have you always wanted to explore aspects of race, culture, gender, and class identity that influence how you teach and how your students learn?

Are you eager for multicultural education resources, tools, and activities that you can use to create a diverse and bias-free classroom?

Do you like free coffee and Bodo's?!

 

If you answered YES! to any one or all of these questions, come to our workshop on February 28th, 10 am - 12 pm. Admittance is free for official SVEA members, and $3 at the door for anyone else.

 

You don't want to miss this professional development opportunity!
RSVP through this awesome survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7ZBJZGD

Advice from a First Year Teacher

Ever wanted to know the tips a first year teacher would have for you? Our guest speaker for SVEA's February general meeting gave us some insight:

Job fairs

• Have plenty of copies of your resume
• Get interviews with as many people as you can (even if you aren't interested, it's good practice)
• Highlight things on your resume that match that county's specific needs/interests
• Try to connect with the representatives at the table, even if it is through non-educational commonalities
• Don't forget to show what extracurricular activities you were interested in that you might want to coach/help out with if you teach at that school
• Research the schools/counties online beforehand if you know you want to talk to specific ones
• Look at how different counties expect their teachers' lesson plans to be formatted
• Define your specific area of teaching (don't just say you will take whatever they have open)
• Only bring a portfolio if it is easy to look at and very helpful for you
• There is no point in arriving super early, but be ready to go when they start
• Ask whoever you're talking to what their job is in that school system
• Ask what the relationship is between teachers and administrators (what is the support system like?)
• Some districts do not like it when you contact teachers directly, so make sure you go through the county if you have questions
• Don't be discouraged if you aren't offered the first few jobs you apply for; one will come!

First year teaching

• Don’t go to/do EVERYTHING, because people will pick up on that and start giving you more responsibilities than you can handle
• Also, it is important to take time for yourself and to hang out with your own friends rather than devote all your energy to your job
• Talk to as many people as you can- teachers in all grades and subject areas, administrators, cleaning staff, office people, etc.
• Make your classroom a comfortable space for yourself
• Get out of your classroom on your planning period (if you have time) and go sit in on other teachers' classrooms or go to the gym and play basketball with the gym teacher
• Always make sure the standards you are teaching that day are visible somewhere in the classroom

Interacting with students

• Let them know you are a real person
• NEVER friend them on Facebook!
• Let them know you are young and relatable to them (to an extent..)

Other

• Be aware of current events such as educational policy laws that might affect you
• If you substitute, figure out if there might be an opening soon that you could get
• Don’t go on Facebook in school since administrators can see what you do when you're connected to the school's server
• Work at camps over the summer or try to teach at a summer school if you can

February Newsletter

Spotted!

Check out this picture of Megan's and Hannah's backs (pointed out by the giant spirited arrow) at the VEA conference this past November! As you can see, there was a lot of creative group-work going on in this workshop. UVA's SVEA members had a wonderful time learning with and from teachers all across Virginia. Can't wait to be back again next year!

Register for the VEA Conference

 UPCOMING EVENT: Virginia Education Association Instruction and Professional Development Conference

 

Only $25 for SVEA members!

(covers overnight hotel stay, breakfast, lunch, and conference materials)

 

Registration Deadline: October 24th

Registration link: https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1556505

 

Carpool link (leave around 5pm on Friday and be back around 5pm Saturday): https://docs.google.com/a/virginia.edu/spreadsheets/d/1nLssaXq1QoJBC1f2KC9zn3H1Fp4lvOBoM5___KrSH6Y/edit

 

The conference offers so many workshops that you can choose from, including:

• Rising to the Challenge of Technology Integration
• Motivating Students Using Classroom Management Strategies
• History For All
• Achieving National Board Certification
• Support and Ideas for Education Support Personnel (ESP)
• Dealing with Difficult Situations and People
• Start School with Breakfast!
• A Look at Mental Illness in the Public School Classroom
• Why Don't Decision Makers Listen to Teachers?
• Mastering Student Academic Progress in Teacher Evaluations
• Promoting Early Literacy
• Assessing and Tracking Student Growth with the NEA Academy
• Stress Relief to the Rescue!
• The Effects of Concept of Word on Sight Word Acquisition
• True Colors
• "Why do we need to know this?"
• Using Comprehensive Teacher Evaluation Systems to Support the Teaching and Learning Process
• Teaching Writing: 21st Century Tools for Effective Learning
• Hatching New Scientists Every Day!
• Engaging the Internet: Tools to Support Literacy Instruction and Parent Involvement
• Using RAFTS to Write Across the Curriculum and Increase Student Motivation Towards Writing
• Integrating Art into the Classroom
• The Power of Family-School-Community Partnerships (FSCP) 

 

General Meeting 10/22

We have another general meeting coming up this

Wednesday, October 22nd at 7:00 PM in Ruffner 137.

 

Hope to see you all there!

 

 

Tailgate Social

A big thank you to our vice president Grace for hosting this year's first social :)

UVA vs. Kent State football tailgate

Volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club Cycling Challenge

Thank you to everyone who volunteered today!

SVEA and Ed Council cheering on the cyclists as they finish :)

First General Meeting!

 Thank you to everyone who came out to tonight's SVEA interest meeting. We look forward to seeing all of our new members along with returning members at our first general meeting on

Wednesday, September 17th at 7 pm in Ruffner 302!