Spotlight 4 Success
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Spotlight 4 Success
How Jennifer McCormick Found Her Calling
What happens when teaching finds you, rather than the other way around? Jennifer McCormick from Spring Hill Middle School in Scotland County shares her refreshing perspective on falling into education through tutoring, and how that unexpected path led to a fulfilling career spanning both middle and high school classrooms.
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Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company. I'm Devin Pintosi, your host. We are here at the NCMLE, that is, the North Carolina Mid-Level Educators Conference in Charlotte, north Carolina. We are here with our special guest, jennifer McCormick. With our special guest, jennifer McCormick. Jennifer McCormick comes to us from Spring Hill Middle School in wonderful Scotland County Department of Education. We are so happy to have you here, jennifer, and so nice to speak with you today.
Speaker 2:Thank you and good morning.
Speaker 1:Yes, Jennifer, so tell us a bit about what brings you to the conference today.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm here. I haven't been in a while, so I was a bit about what brings you to the conference today. Well, I'm here, I haven't been in a while, so I was like I wanted to come and check out some information and to learn some new things.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's wonderful, and so tell us a bit about your journey. I understand what brought you into teaching in the first place.
Speaker 2:For me. It kind of found me. I was in school and the tutoring coordinators. They approached me and asked if I would start helping out treating some classes in math, and that's pretty much how it started.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, and I understand you taught in both middle school and high school. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yes, middle school and high school Is that right? Yes, middle school and high school. My experience with high school, starting out with the credit recovery department in Algebra I so both, I love both. But there's differences. With my middle school kids, you have them all year long and with high school you have them every other year. Each semester is like a new year. So I would say there's pros and cons with both, but they're, I'll say, the kids.
Speaker 3:I love them that's wonderful at american book company in woodstock, georgia, we are committed to your students success. As you can see behind me, we have our workbooks and we have online testing and ebooks that go on fancy ipads over here, for instance. They're all designed to help your students succeed and have higher test scores on their high-stakes assessments. Give us a call 888-264-5877, or find us on the web, abck12.com, and you can receive a free trial or a free preview book of your choice. Hope to hear from you soon. Bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Have you used American Book Company books in the past?
Speaker 2:I have. It looks different but I have recognized the symbol on the book. At one of my schools we had a class set so I do remember how it was broken down and looking through that when I was like this is the book, I really. I like how it's set up and especially with some of the concepts. Everything has broken down in steps and gives examples for the kids to practice and then go ahead and do the problems in the book.
Speaker 1:So I really enjoy that. That is wonderful and did your school, your classroom, see score improvement using the materials.
Speaker 2:I saw improvement with how it's broken down. With some kids who struggle or say I don't understand it, they have a visual to actually look at it and practice those problems in the book broken down with some kids who struggle or say I don't understand it. They have something, a visual, to actually look at it and practice those problems in the book. And so for those that did help, I learned some different things.
Speaker 1:That is fantastic. Great to hear, Jennifer. Is there any takeaways from the conference you've experienced so far or anything you're looking to see from the conference while you're here?
Speaker 2:Well, I haven't gotten my first class yet. I'm getting a little going to the table seeing some of the resources. I haven't seen them around, but I think it's pretty neat to try to definitely see if I can use them or take them back to school.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that's a big part of a conference seeing what's available for the teachers, all those teacher tools that are here, right, yes, that's the fun part, it's an exciting part too. That's wonderful, jennifer, and is there anything else you'd like to share with the NCMLE community?
Speaker 2:I think it's really neat to see everybody get together from different areas. I think that's also exciting. We've got some people from different areas to come together to learn new tools, and it's all about the kids.
Speaker 1:Yes, all about the kids. That's a great takeaway from this. Always is that's wonderful. Again, this is Jennifer McCormick with Spring Hill Middle School. Thank you so much for participating with us today.
Speaker 2:Thank you.