LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WATE) - Students at Lenoir City Elementary School had a special visit from Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday.

Haslam was visiting members of his teachers' cabinet as part of his "Capitol to Classroom" tour. Lenoir City Elementary teacher Cathy Whitehead is a member of his cabinet.

Whitehead is the director of the Tennessee Early Literacy Network, which is tasked with strengthening literacy instruction for students in kindergarten through third grade.

"It's a long way from the classroom up to the capitol," Haslam said. "What you want is some real people with practical experience in front of kids every day, who can say, 'well all that sounds nice, but let me tell you how it is in the real world.' We try to get that real-world experience from teachers."

Haslam said he was at Lenoir City Elementary to reinforce some of the protocols already in place, including raising standards for teacher evaluations and year-end reviews.