District C

What if we stopped teaching content and started coaching curiosity? This week's pitch event with Content Rules, Inc. and UNCW Teamship got me thinking. My students presented solutions involving content ecosystems, RAG systems, user experience, and tech adoption workflows — sophisticated concepts I never explicitly taught them. Instead, I coached them through the District C Teamship process. I taught them: ▶︎ how to ask better questions ▶︎ how to navigate team dynamics ▶︎ how to dig deeper into problems. The content knowledge? They discovered that on their own because they needed it to solve a real problem. This isn't to say content doesn't matter. Of course it does. But here's what I keep hearing from colleagues: "I can't do experiential learning like Teamship. I have too much content to cover." Watching my students present to Content Rules this week, I realized that's exactly backward. 👉 When students are solving authentic problems for real organizations, they'll learn the content AND learn how to keep learning long after our course ends. Huge thanks to Leslie Farinella for trusting our students with a real challenge. And congratulations to my students for knocking a few socks off today!

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn." — Benjamin Franklin Today marks the beginning of an exciting journey for our students as they dive into their Teamship experience through District C! We are thrilled to partner with Patrick McNulty, owner and principal of Bourne Signs, who will guide our students through a hands-on, real-world project. At our school, where we champion students with learning differences, we know that opportunities like Teamship are game-changers. They help students practice collaboration, problem-solving, and communication in ways that connect directly to the world of work. This is what real-world learning looks like: authentic challenges, strong community partners, and opportunities that help students grow into confident problem-solvers. Stay tuned for updates on their progress. #teamship #districtc #FutureReady #realworldlearning #thebournegroup #TridentAcademy #Languagebasedlearningdifferences 

Awesome morning spent with Jayshree Sadhwani at Research Triangle High School talkng about the #MEITE from a business lens. I had the opportunity to present a problem of practice that the students will address! Also, shout-out to District C for pairing professionals with high school students to enact project-based learning within authentic contexts.

What makes teams actually team? In my experience, it’s listening. When you’re coworking, if you’re not doing a take 5 or some form of it, y’all better start. A take 5 is all about sharing the spotlight, but not as putting everybody all at once: it’s about one person having it for a period, COMPLETELY UNINTERRUPTED. To put this into context, imaging this situation: Your team reads an article, Everyone gets 5 minutes in the spotlight during discussion. I would personally take up to 3 minutes of talking for one coworker, and 2 minutes of questioning. Repeat this for every single member. Think of this as sort of a LEGO instruction manual, feel free to tweak it as much as you want. If you’re not doing this, start now. My team’s productivty skyrocketed once we started using a take 5 instead of just popcorning. make sure to have a facilitator and a written agenda; I’m a pretty disorganized person but a meeting outline works WONDERS! District C

What an inspiring morning at Gig East watching Wilson County Schools - NC students participating in the District C Teamship program present their innovative solutions to Wilson Forward for better connecting our community with vital resources and information. These young minds tackled real challenges facing Wilson County with creativity, collaboration, and genuine passion for making a difference. It's been an incredible week witnessing the talent and innovation of our young people, and today's presentation reminded us that the future of our community is in incredible hands! The energy, fresh perspectives, and problem-solving skills these students bring remind us why investing in young talent is so crucial. Whether they're touring cutting-edge facilities or pitching solutions to strengthen community connections, these emerging leaders are already making an impact. Wilson County truly is a place where young talent can live, work, and thrive - and Wilson Forward is proud to be part of fostering that growth! Thank you to Wilson County Schools - NC and District C for creating such meaningful opportunities for our community's future leaders!