Office of International Education and Development

In Fall 2018, the Teaching Excellence and Achievement program, a program of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and implemented by IREX, provided unique opportunities to further expertise in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language or Science for 19 Fellows, enhanced their abilities in student-centered inquiry and project-based teaching and instructional design and assessment, and helped them to develop important skills in teacher-leadership to support their work across their teaching careers.

Fellows spent four of their six weeks on campus at Appalachian, engaged in a common core of teaching- related classes, information and communication technology classes, and discipline-specific workshops in science or English teaching.

The program also included approximately two weeks of field experience within one of four public high schools in our region. In field sites, Fellows lived, worked, and taught, full-time, in an American classroom setting, paired with an experienced US partner teacher. All schools were located in neighboring counties to Appalachian's ‘home’ county (Watauga). During this time (9 school days plus one weekend) Fellows were fully involved, via their American partner teachers, in all aspects of daily life at an American High School.