Better Leaders Better Schools guest Ben Owens is a physics and mathematics teacher at Tri-County Early College High School in Murphy, North Carolina and a 2014 Hope Street Group National Teaching Fellow.  He earned degrees in physics and mechanical engineering, respectively, from North Georgia University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. After a 20-year career with a multinational corporation at manufacturing and R&D locations across the U.S., he got his Masters of Arts in Teaching from Marshall University and then left the private sector in 2007 to teach in rural Appalachia. He is passionate about changing the status quo in education by better connecting the classroom to what happens in today’s global, knowledge-based economy. Ben is TCEC’s lead teacher and coordinator of their Project Based Learning program. He is a Center for Teaching Quality Virtual Community Organizer, as well as a member of the National Science Teachers’ Association, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
 
In this episode you will learn:

The power of collaboration to improve teacher PD
How to build a professional network
How to fight isolation and work on your own
How Ben 3x participation in a collaborative model of PD
How to make every teacher an example of a pocket of greatness
The importance of establishing the right culture

 
Resources
 
NC New Schools Initiative
 
Critical Friends Protocol
 
Learning Forward Standards
 
Hope Street Group National Teacher Fellow
 
Classroom Rounds Protocol
 
NC New Schools Instructional Coaching
 
NC Center for the Advancement of Teaching
 
Kick-up
 
Overview of Ben’s Project
 
Ben's Writing
 
Contact Ben 
 
Instructional Rounds by City, Elmore, Fiarman, Teitel
 
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey
 

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