Oct. 9, 2025
Seeds Before the Harvest
A spark in a science lab. A brave ask for help in a lunchroom. A reminder from a keynote to keep planting seeds even when the harvest feels far away. This conversation from NCMLE in Charlotte brings the heartbeat of school to the surface as we sit down with eighth-grade science teacher and AVID educator Erin Burton and assistant principal Michelle Posley Lee from Southeastern Randolph Middle School.
Website: spotlight4success.com
00:06 - Welcome and Guest Intros
00:55 - Why Attend NCMLE
01:45 - Roles: Teaching and Leading
02:54 - Classroom Lightbulb Moments
06:10 - Takeaways and Closing
WEBVTT
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Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company.
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I am Devin Pentosi, your host, and we are here at the NCMLE, the North Carolina Mid-Level Educators Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, this year.
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And we are so excited to have uh spe uh two special guests with us.
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We have Aaron Burton, who is a teacher with Southeastern Randolph Middle School.
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Congratulations for being a teacher at that wonderful school these years.
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Thank you for being on the show.
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And we also have with us Michelle Posley Lee.
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Michelle comes to us as the assistant principal of the same Southeastern Randolph Middle School.
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Thank you for joining us, Michelle.
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Glad I could be here today.
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Okay, fantastic.
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So I'm gonna ask a series of questions and then uh feel free to chime in as we go.
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Um so Aaron, uh starting with you, what brings you here to NCMLE?
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NCMLE was uh it's a the conference was invited, we excuse me, I was invited by my principal.
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Um she was looking for a few educators to go to see where we can go for leadership and so on and so forth.
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And so we got invited this past week, and I'm super excited to be here.
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Oh, that's awesome.
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And for you, Rochelle.
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It's a lot of what Ms.
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Burton just said, you know, um we were invited by our principal, um, and then also learned that our principal nominated someone who was recognized and received the central office staff member to watch.
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So we're excited to be here to support her as she received that reward and also be able to have some takeaways for ourselves to hopefully take back to our school.
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Oh, that's wonderful.
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Um, Aaron, can you tell us a little bit about the work you do in the school?
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Uh so for I'm an eighth-grade middle school science teacher, and I'm also an avid educator, so I'm helping prepare the students for the future, finding uh what they want to do, so what they what their pathway is to get through high school to get the career that they want to, but also I'm in the classroom doing labs and finding curiosity and wonder in science.
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Oh, wonderful.
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And uh Michelle, how about you?
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Well, I would just say my first and foremost job is supposed to be able to support my principal and support the teachers.
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And so um working at the school, I will say it's my first year being there, and so I think it's as important about supporting the staff and learning about them.
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So this is that time of sitting back, um spending time as much as I can in the classrooms or cafeteria or the hallways, um, but being able to learn as much as I can about what it is that they enjoy, as well as what are the needs in the school to best be able to figure out how we meet those needs.
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Oh, fantastic.
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Um, so wonderful.
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Uh Aaron, can you share with us uh some magic moment you had with your students where you felt like the light bulbs really turned on for them?
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Thank you for watching Spotlight for success.
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I am David, the Chief Operating Officer of American Company.
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We are located here in our headquarters in Georgia.
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Yes.
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Last year when we were going through our chemistry unit, uh, we like to do our conservation of mass, so learning that you can't create or destroy it matter at all.
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And so we were doing a lab where we had to capture the gas and it clicked with them when the balloon filled up.
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And then they took the balloon off and they're like, Well, where did it go?
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Why did the weight change?
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Why did the mass change?
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And it just went click, click, click, and all their light bulbs went on.
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They're like, nothing can be created or destroyed, and it was really cool to be able to see them do that in a lab by themselves with direction, of course, um to see that.
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It was really cool.
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That's amazing.
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And how about for you, Michelle?
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It's probably actually been in the last couple of weeks where um, so oftentimes, as administrators, we're encouraged to be instructional leaders.
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Okay.
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And oftentimes, if I'm being completely honest, as assistant principal and principals, we don't always feel like we get to do that just because of the managerial pieces or those the safety measures, those kind of things.
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And um, in visiting classrooms, I will ask students from time to time questions, having background as a former high school math teacher, math is my thing.
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Um, but the the light bulb moment for me was when a student who I had previously said, you let me know when you need help, I'm more than willing to help you.
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And I was willing to help them during lunchtime because I didn't want to take away from any of the class time.
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And that student sought me out during lunch to say, Hey, Miss Posley, I need your help learning how to calculate word problems as they pertain to percentages.
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Can you help me with that?
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Oh.
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And then not only did it take the time to show that student, but they were very intent on now can I have that paper so that I can take this with me and go take it back to my classroom?
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And so it's moments like that of accountability that just remind all of us the importance of learning and that everyone in the building is there to help.
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It's not just a teacher, it's not just a student, that we all are supposed to be invested in each other and learning.
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That's wonderful.
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It's really a community of learning.
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Yes.
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That is so important.
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Wonderful.
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Um, Aaron, can you tell me a bit uh if there's anything you'd like to share with NCMLE?
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I'm so happy to be here, and I'm excited to learn and make connections and further my career and helping and support the students so that they can be them their best selves.
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That's awesome.
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And you, Michelle.
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I would just say something that was pointed out this morning in the opening session and speaking by Dr.
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Peppard.
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Um, basically, it is that sometimes we can get bogged down by the hard work.
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And we plant seeds sometimes that we don't get to see the fruits of that labor in the moment, but keep planting anyway.
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That we have to believe that what we're instilling in our students, or what we're instilling in or working with and working with teachers, what they instill in us, that in time we will see the benefits of that.
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We will see what it is that has been taught to us.
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So I appreciate being here for just that takeaway alone and knowing that this is good work and we're gonna keep doing it.
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That's awesome.
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That is fantastic.
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Um well, this is wonderful.
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Uh, we're speaking again with Aaron Burton and Michelle Posley Lee uh with Randolph City Schools.
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Thank you so much for participating with us today.
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Thank you so much.
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Thank you.
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