Integration and Transition
Integration and transition seem to be the themes of the day. This morning–the last morning of the ACTE/NCLA Best Practices conference–started off with a flurry of concurrent sessions. I promise I tok some pictures, but can’t upload due to the software maintenance. I will try to post them later.
In the meantime, here is what I learned:
* I sat in on the TUSD Biotechnology Leadership Innovation Project session to hear about how they started the biotech program. It basically consists of four components: Classroom Integration; Lab Integration; Work-based Learning; and CTSO. I am always impressed by how CTE programs really think about what they are doing and how it will benefit students, the community and the economy. In this program, it includes field trips, which according to presenter David Fuller, “gave the students the real-world view so they could see what they were learning in the classroom had value.” It also has a job shadowing component and the one piece of advice Fuller had for job shadows in biotech is to allow the students to do it in pairs. Finally, it has summer internships. The biggest addition, however, was the use of HOSA and the HOSA competitions. Fuller said it really gave focus to his students who participated. In fact, he had a student that won the state competition and went on to nationals. Here’s a short video on what the Opening General Session at HOSA looked like this year.
* I also popped over to hear about an eighth to ninth grade transition program from Peoria High School. This program began because the school was seeing 31% discipline referrals for freshman and 57% of freshmen had 10 or more absences. The first step was to get the key people from the feeder schools together to have a frank discussion about the issues they are having with the incoming freshman and to get the schools’ and students’ perceptions of high school. Based on that information, the high school developed a new program by which the head guidance counselor visits each school and they bring the students to the high school for them to get a “sample” day, called “Panther Previews.” The school also set up a mentoring program. The results? Discipline referrals dropped to 19% and only 23% of freshmen had 10 or more absences. If you want more info, call the school at 623-486-6300. The principal is Kayla Carter, the assistant principals are Monique Molina and Philip Camacho.
* Lastly I sat in on a session about connecting with your counselors. This was a program from Walton County Schools in Georgia. They wanted a way to connect the counselors to the CTE programs. What they did was institute:
Counselors in the Classroom–Counselors come in and visit CTE classrooms to see what goes on.
Curriculum Workshop for Counselors–Gives updates on what is happening in CTE classrooms and how these programs can benefit students.
K-12 Career Development Notebook–This is a notebook for counselors that is full of information on the CTE programs and a calendar of events.
The result was that counselors were excited to learn about the various CTE programs, to see students work, and they gained confidence when telling students and parents about CTE programs. If you want to learn more about this exciting program, e-mail presenters Marci Campbell (mcampbell@walton.k12.ga.us) or Karen Rutter (krutter@walton.k12.ga.us).
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