The Teacher Education Department (TED) at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) hosted its Educators Night for the fall 2020 semester in early September, with over 100 teachers from the territory’s public and private schools taking the opportunity to network and collaborate with one another and share ideas on teaching strategies, classroom management, lesson plans and more. Educators Night also gave the ASCC-TED a chance to share new pedagogies with local teachers by providing workshops in different content areas.

For the early evening event in the College’s Multipurpose Center Auditorium, ASCC-TED Program Director Ms. Shirley De La Rosa and her staff were joined by College President Dr. Rosevonne Pato, Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Mrs. Letupu Moananu, Vice President of Administrative Services Mr. Sonny Leomiti, Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Siamaua Ropeti and Dean of Student Services Dr. Emilia Le’i. Also attending was Ms. Jubilee Apulu, Director of ASDOE Teacher Quality.

Following Opening Remarks by Dean Ropeti, the teachers present were organized into groups that rotated at 15-minute intervals between nine presentation booths located throughout the auditorium. At each booth, an ASCC-TED faculty member or teacher from the community offered an interactive presentation on one aspect of learning.  Cameo Lavatai’s topic was “Lesson Plan: A structure for essential learning”; Paul Manuma presented on “Educational Websites”; Lance Glodowski led participants through a session at the “Brain Gym”; Tasia Talamoni highlighted “Aganu’u Samoa”; Leiloa Seafa spoke on “Classroom Management”; Dr. Larry Purcell explored “Creative Drama in the Classroom”; Lene Chanel explained how “Children with Special Needs Paint the World with Beautiful Colors”; Brandy Shimasaki-Barber shared strategies for “Cracking the Code”; and Moresa Langkilde demonstrated “Developmentally Appropriate Practices”.

  With the high volume of teachers present, group rotations between the nine booths lasted throughout the evening, broken up only by intervals where the ASCC-TED held drawings for prizes donated by their community sponsors.  Supporting quality education in American Samoa were ACE Home Center, who provided t-shirts, hats and water bottles; SOPAC, who kept the educators hydrated with water and soft drinks;  KS Mart and Cheat Day, who donated gift certificates used for raffle prizes; and Good In American Samoa, who donated a king size luxury bed for the evening’s grand raffle prize.

This month’s Educators Night marked the third occasion the ASCC-TED has presented the event. Attendees included a mix of in-service teachers working with the TED towards their AA and B.Ed degrees, ASCC students currently taking courses with the department, and TED who have gone on to teach professionally. The free event was all open to all local teachers as well as students preparing to enter the field through programs with other institutions. “We greatly appreciate that so many teachers take an interest in the strategies we offer,” said ASCC-TED Program Director De La Rosa, “and they also seem to enjoy the opportunity to connect with their peers. We hope to continue offering this event, which is really a combination of our efforts and the support of the teachers themselves and the business community.”

For more information on the Teacher Education Department at ASCC, visit the College’s web page at www.amsamoa.edu, where details can be found in the ASCC Catalog.