Please consider joining more than 1,000 of your #NCAAHPERDSM18 Friends in Winston-Salem! Start your school year off with excitement, learning and fun! To learn more, please visit NCAAHPERD-SM or contact Artie Kamiya; artie@ncaahperd-sm.org or (919) 818-6486.
Background: The Catamount School (WCU Lab School) provides experiential learning opportunities for HPE teacher candidates in service learning, classroom/behavior management, standards-based assessment, and leadership. In 2016, the NC legislature mandated laboratory schools for 8 UNC System universities. The first year of the new legislation, two new lab schools opened. The Catamount School for grades 6, 7, and 8 provided opportunities for students in under-performing schools to enroll in a new, innovative environment for teaching and learning in cooperation with the Jackson County Schools and WCU. WCU's health and physical education program provided daily health and physical education to all students for the entire school year. The program was based on a professional development model centered on the major tenets of service, leadership, assessment and management. Teacher candidates learned through experience and reflection how to work with students in middle grades under the supervision of an embedded faculty member serving as clinical site coordinator and instructor.