PINEVILLE, N.C. — North Carolina is expected to see a major decline in the number of new teachers over the next five to 10 years, research shows, attributing the drop to fewer people entering the teaching profession.
As a result, the hiring pool for new teachers is getting smaller. One focus to combat this is to make it easier for existing staff members to earn their teaching degrees.
Courtney Henderson spent eight years of her career helping students with behavioral intervention at Sterling Elementary School. Henderson said her primary focus was helping students who struggled with self-control in the classroom. Her objective was to get them out of large classes so they could have a better learning experience.
"I would pull them out in small groups, on their grade level, pull them out into small groups, and we will play games or have group discussions," Henderson explained.
This school year, Henderson decided to do something different. She became a second-grade teacher.
"It's a big difference," Henderson said. "It's a huge difference because this is a lot more structured. And there's a lot more behind-the-scenes work. Teaching doesn't allow for very many breaks in and out of the building."
Henderson said her decision to become a teacher at Sterling was personal.
"My parents were working here and I went here, actually," she said. "I was here for fourth and fifth grades. My mother was here in the early '90s. And my dad volunteered here for a while."
Her parents aren't the only family members to walk the halls of Sterling Elementary. Henderson's son Noah is in third grade at the school.
"We spend the morning together and before the bell rings we're together," Henderson said. "Then we see each other at four o'clock."
Noah loves that his mom is more than a phone call away. His classroom is just a few doors down from hers.
"She's a nice mom, she does what she can to take care of me," Noah said. "She always makes a way for stuff to happen."
Henderson takes the motto of treating her classroom kids like she would her own seriously.
"I try to give them as much as I can while they're here," she said.
She knows just like Noah’s teacher down the hall, she has someone’s child’s education in her hands.
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.