Thursday, 1:20 p.m.
Introduction to Education Teacher Performance Assessment Nancy Ruppert, UNC Asheville’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award Nancy Ruppert’s career has led her to many classrooms—the classrooms where she sat at a desk as a student, the middle school classrooms where she took to the front of the room as a teacher, and the UNC Asheville classrooms where she helps usher in the next generation of teachers as a professor of education. In her Thursday afternoon class, Ruppert, chair and professor of education, helps her students understand lesson plans, rubrics, portfolio assessments, standard courses of study, and more—the very beginnings of what they’ll need when they take on the role of teacher one day. Today they’re in the computer lab, where Ruppert helps students figure out where to find the answers to their own questions. “This is setting the stage for when they go to the next level,” Ruppert said.
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UNC ASHEVILLE MAGAZINE
But teaching is about more than paperwork and evaluations, and Ruppert works hard to make sure students know what’s really important in becoming a successful teacher. “Building relationships, taking care of yourself, and giving 110 percent for 180 days—that’s what we need from our teachers,” Ruppert said. “Don’t go into teaching thinking that it’s going to be easy. Some days are better than others. You’re going to make mistakes.” But Ruppert’s career is all about preparing for whatever lies ahead for these soon-to-be educators, and this class is all about helping students take those first steps into their lives as teachers. “This is a really fun journey,” says Ruppert.