MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Shelby County Schools teacher is preparing to head to Washington, D.C., to help support teachers across the country. It is a top honor only nine teachers received this school year.
Josalyn Tresvant McGhee is an instructional facilitator at Kate Bond Elementary School. She sat down with WREG after Secretary of Education Arne Duncan selected her to be a Teaching Ambassador Fellow.
“Making sure that teachers are being heard and that they get a clear picture of what policies look like in classrooms,” McGhee described.
The program teaches teachers about national policy issues in education. It asks them for their input and to share what they learn with other teachers.
“I’m just kind of, like, floored that I’m even included with that group,” McGhee said. So, it’s extremely exciting.”
McGhee said she will go to D.C. at least quarterly and possibly have the opportunity to travel and visit with teachers in other areas. She said she will take part in weekly calls and emails for the program and continue working at Kate Bond.
McGhee has taught special education and fifth-grade reading, and now she is an instructional facilitator, which means she supports and gives feedback to teachers.
She said she learned about the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship a few years ago and applied last fall. She survived round after round of interviews.
SCS faces high levels of poverty, and it has TCAP scores that show struggles in literacy. McGhee said she thinks the work the district is doing to combat that is part of why she made the cut.
“We’re super focused on improving our students’ lives and literacy and improving their literacy rates, and so I think that was quite appealing,” she said.
She said she knows several teachers who have good ideas to fight the effects of poverty in the classroom. She said she hopes to pass that information along to education leaders.
The fellowship is paid. Some participants will take part full-time, but McGhee is part-time.