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Michelle Williams, Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator for CCS, poses beside an Albert Einstein poster displayed in her office that parallels her own philosophy on teaching and learning.  (Johnson Publications photo)

CCS welcomes curriculum specialist to faculty

■ Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles on new certificated staff at Chase County Schools.

    Michelle Williams began her new position at Chase County Schools (CCS) this fall as Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator.
    In general, curriculum specialists oversee school curriculums and teaching standards.
    These specialists develop instructional material, coordinate its implementation with teachers and principals and assess its effectiveness.
    At CCS, Williams said she will help perfect practices already in place and adopt new programs to meet state standards, guide implementation of new programs and provide professional development of those programs.
    “I will be assisting the leadership team through analysis of pre and post-assessment data for programs like the newly developed ‘Portrait of a Graduate,’” said Williams.
    Throughout the school year, the leadership team and teachers will revisit the data often to ensure they are meeting the needs of students in preparing them for their futures, she added.
    “I strongly believe that we must do more than just teach students facts. We must teach them to think for themselves,” she said.
    To corroborate this belief, Williams has a poster displayed behind her desk of a quote by Albert Einstein that reads, “Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think.”
    Williams brings to CCS an arsenal of training and experience.
    She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Emporia State University, Emporia in Kansas and a master’s in school leadership from the University of Nebraska Kearney.
    Williams has several additional licensed areas including an endorsement in English Language Learner instruction (ELL).
    She has been working in her areas of expertise at several locations and educational levels since 2003.
    She was born and raised on a farm in Rolla, Kansas and enjoys small town life, she said.
    “My granddaughter, who’s a second grader at CCS, lives with me in Enders,” Williams said. “We live close to the lake, which we both love.”

 

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