10 Things to Know about My Work with ERG

From the desk of Alice…

In my personal life, I try not talk about my work very much.  I usually tell people that I run a staff development company and that the heart of my work is, “teaching teachers.”

Because ERG is unique, it is difficult for people to picture exactly what our work looks like unless they have experienced it first hand.  I usually explain to people that ERG offers job embedded coaching that includes model lessons and observation and feedback sessions so teachers can actually apply the research and ideas they have been taught.  ERG is committed to supporting teachers- not evaluating.

At this point in the conversation, people either are interested or they are bored to tears.  The interested ones start to ask questions about the company and the work in even more detail.  The uninterested ones usually start to tell me a story about their child’s experience in schools. (Interesting topics for another blog!)

In the spirit of ERG’s 10th anniversary, here are 10 things to know about my work with ERG:

1.  ERG is a staff development company that Hope Reagan and I created.  We don’t provide staff, we educate staff who already work for schools and school systems in NC and beyond.  We sell “days” of staff development.  Last year we sold over 1000 days.

2.  I am not a tutor.  I actually run the company along with my business partner, Hope.

3. I don’t work for the North Carolina State Department of Instruction or any individual district.  The schools and school systems are our customers and I am technically a self-employed person.  Yes- it is a leap of faith to create your own paycheck.

4.  Hope and I focused on North Carolina when we started the business because we wanted to work close to home since we had small children.  ERG now works in schools and districts all over North Carolina and several other states.  We are strategically working to become a small giant in the business of education.

5.  ERG works with students when we provide model lessons, but the majority of our work in schools is with the adults in schools.  We are experts at giving feedback and work like crazy to be advocates for teachers while growing capacity.

6.   ERG can work with grades PreK-12th.  Hope and I create services that narrow the focus within reading, writing, math, exceptional students, and new teachers.  The principles of effective instruction are the bones of all our work, regardless of grade level or content area.

7.  I am now older than many teachers and principals I work with.  I started out in the classroom over 20 years ago.  I have experience as a teacher, curriculum facilitator and central office employee along with some crazy summer work I did in my early years of teaching.

8.  I do not have a business degree so I work everyday to self-educate on the principles of business.  I do have a master’s degree and often wonder about the benefits of an MBA v. a PhD in my current scenario.

9.  Hope and I are developers.  We personally create the services and resources with input from the ERG consultants.  Last year we contracted with over 60 schools and had almost 30 consultants in the field.  Our reach included over 4000 lessons across the school year.

10. I have an office on 4th street in Winston-Salem that I share with Hope and I also have a home office. When we are not in schools, we tend to work in our office a few hours each day.  That includes the entire summer.

So there you have it.  The short list of things to know about my work with ERG. If you run into me and you actually want to know more, I will be glad to tell you!