The new elementary school teachers for Central, Columbia and Cunningham include (front row, l to r) Nicky Bryan, Nancy Cavanaugh, Erin Denby and Cheryl Edgerton; (back row) Kelli Henning, Robin McKay, Lonnie Sisler and Catherine Van Dyke. Photos by David Stemple.


Terea Ledford and Melissa Goins are the two new teachers at Fluvanna Middle School.


The new Fluvanna High School teachers are (front row, l to r) Heath Bralley, Kim Britt and Rodney Redd; (back row) David Small, Allen “A.J.” Smart and Tom Venker.

By Jacki Harris  

Prior to the start of the new school year, teachers new to Fluvanna County Public Schools attended Summer Institute at the high school. Each day of the orientation began at 8:30 a.m. with a continental breakfast in the cafeteria.

Dr. Thomas W.D. Smith, superintendent, gave a welcome and introduction speech to the teachers after breakfast on the first day.

"Teachers new to Fluvanna County Schools this year were the ones in attendance, both teachers new to the profession and veteran teachers new to the division. We had 15 attend the seminar, but the number of new staff this year is continuing to grow," stated Margaret Crawford, coordinator of K-12 Mentoring.

 Beginning teachers are each assigned an advisor.

"Our teachers new to the profession met their Beginning Teacher Advisors for lunch the second day to introduce themselves and begin getting to know them prior to working with them in the schools. The advisors are trained classroom teachers who take on the role of mentoring their novice teacher for the first two years that they are in the teaching profession.

“The beginning teachers and their advisors teach at the same school, and ideally are at the same grade level. It doesn't always work that way, and the mentoring model that we use works well regardless. Beginning teachers and their advisors meet regularly during the school year, do observations that are specific to the beginning teacher's needs, and provide support in a variety of other areas," said Crawford.

"We're particularly excited this year because our first group of Beginning Teacher Advisors were formally trained this past June. This is a new model we're using and hope that it will bring continuity to the services we provide for our novice teachers," continued Crawford.

The teachers also received training on "Thinking Maps," a division-wide program. According to Crawford: "Thinking Maps are visual patterns that are based on eight thinking processes and are used in all content areas across all grade levels K-12.  The Thinking Maps program was developed in 1988 and is based on research in the areas of cognitive science, effective instructional practice, and brain research.  On-going research continues to support the effectiveness of this program.  

“Each map supports a specific thinking process:  defining in context, describing qualities, comparing and contrasting, classifying, part-whole, sequencing, cause and effect, and seeing analogies.  Each map also has a specific visual design that helps students see a concrete image of their thoughts, therefore making thinking more visual and helping students become more independent critical thinkers," said Crawford.   

All constitutional officers, state and local are invited to the new teacher orientation and to the breakfast meeting for all FCPS staff held prior to the beginning of the school year. This includes members of the Fluvanna Board of Supervisors, Fluvanna School Board, sheriff, treasurer, commonwealth's attorney, commissioner of revenue and state legislative representatives.

"Depending on availability, we usually have a strong turnout from these invited guests," stated Patty Culotta, assistant superintendent for instruction. This year, Delegate Rob Bell was among the attendees to welcome the teachers to Fluvanna Public Schools.