Welcome back to a new school year! I want to thank and commend each of you for your commitment and support to the teaching of science whether you are just joining the ranks or returning to North Carolina’s school system. I’ve just finished my first week in the classroom since last spring and I am exhausted. But this feeling does not come without the excitement of once again delivering a curriculum that I love and have devoted my life to with a passion. I’m sure you feel the same way or you’d be doing something else.

As your NCSTA President I attended two National Science Teachers Association meetings this summer where I learned about the direction science education is proceeding. Initiatives in the forefront that impact you, the educator, include the STEM Education Initiative, and the 21st Century Skills Initiative. We can be proud to say that North Carolina leads our nation in both of these initiatives. We are embarking on new territory where teachers, like you and me, who are digital immigrants are asked to teach students who are digital natives. The pedagogy is being development by master teachers that will train us to meet the needs of the 21st century learner.

Now that we know where we are going, I encourage you to get the tools to meet the task. As you craft your syllabi and plan your agenda’s be sure to mark your calendar for the 2007 NCSTA Professional Development Institute (PDI) to be held in Greensboro, November15-16. This year’s theme is “Earth: A Good Planet is Hard to Find”. Among our keynote speakers will be astronaut Bill McArthur, Jr. and NASA’s missions’ specialist Steve Cooke. This professional development event will provide you with a variety of resources that will enhance your classroom. I invite you to come by the NCSTA booth in the exhibit hall to vote on changes to our constitution and pick up PDI information that will make your experience more meaningful and worthwhile as you receive CEU’s towards recertification.

Excitement is in the air! North Carolina will be hosting an Area NSTA conference in Charlotte in 2008 (in lieu of the NCSTA PDI), Oct. 30-Nov 1. We feel honored to be asked to do this and the conference committee is already hard at work. Educators from coast to coast will be attending to take part in what will be an impressive, cutting edge, assembly of expertise developed and provided by educators and agencies from North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Linda Froschauer Past-President of NSTA will kickoff the 2008 NSTA Area Conference at this year’s PDI’s closing session.

If you feel like a little fish in a big pond at the NSTA area conference, the NCSTA Board of Directors has decided to offer during the course of the 2008 year MiniDrive-in Workshops to be held within your districts. Keep an eye open for the opportunity to meet teachers of your district in a small group setting where information, inspiration, and improvement can be shared in a back porch atmosphere.

Until November, I wish you a successful fall with whatever hat you are wearing as you nurture young lives with the wonder of scientific discovery. I look forward to seeing you as you join your comrades at this year’s NCSTA Professional Development Institute!

Beverly Lyons
NCSTA President

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