Project-Based Learning isn’t new. Some of education’s most prominent
voices — Rousseau, Piaget, Dewey — were advocates of various aspects
of it for decades and, in some cases, even centuries ago.

When thousands of British children were evacuated to the relative
safety of makeshift boarding schools during World War II, innovative
teachers made up for the lack of textbooks and other traditional
resources by using project-based learning to effectively teach
history, literature, science, and math.

In more recent days, study after study has found compelling evidence
that it is an effective way to engage students, cut absenteeism, boost
cooperative learning skills, and improve test scores.

Even though project-based learning has been advocated by brilliant
educators, tested by time, and validated under the scrutiny of
academic research, there has never been a better time to put it to use
in classrooms at every level and with students of all ages.

Why?

According to Sandy Mittelsteadt and Wally Holmes Bouchillon, authors
of a new book called Sticky Learning: A Make It Real Planning Guide
for Engaging Students in Project-Based Learning, project-based
learning becomes a springboard for launching incredibly effective 21st
century “sticky learning” experiences when it blends four key
ingredients:

1. Integrated curriculum

2. Action-based inquiry

4. Real world application

To order copies of Sticky Learning Toolkit, go online to http://www.brightfuturespress.com/Item186/Sticky_Learning.aspx.

Earlier this month, more than 150 enthusiastic APS students attended the 2009 Engineering, Architecture, and Construction Career Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center.  Sponsored by the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department of the Office of High Schools, the primary purpose of the conference was to motivate students to achieve at higher levels while still in high school. 

The conference also was designed to expand the students’ understanding of various careers and post-secondary options available to them through engineering, architecture and construction. Students listened intently as industry professionals shared their educational background and career experiences. Attendees also had the opportunity to put theory to practice by participating in hands-on building activities.

Participating schools included Frederick Douglass High School, Maynard H. Jackson Academy of Engineering/Early College, South Atlanta School of Computer Animation and Design (CAD),  Therrell School of Technology, Engineering, Math and Science (STEMS), Benjamin E. Mays High and Crim Open Campus.

The opening keynote address was made by successful business entrepreneur, Oscar Harris, president and CEO of Turner Associates Architects & Planners. Breakout sessions featured a wide range of dynamic professionals from Georgia Power, Holder Construction, Museum of Design Atlanta, Turner Construction, and Execute Your Passion, a human-resources training organization.  Representatives from Atlanta Metropolitan College and Atlanta Technical College were on hand to explain the various educational options available to students interested in these careers. Georgia Institute of Technology also was represented at the conference.

Breaking the mold of traditional career fairs and conferences, the students also participated in one of five competitions where they were challenged to build mousetrap cars, bridges, towers, or complete a skills relay race. Winning teams were recognized in the closing session.

Student feedback through a survey indicated that the event was a huge success! When asked how the presentation could have been better, several students responded, “It could not have been any better. It was very informative.” 

According to Dr. Patricia Ford, interim director for CTE: “Career and Technical Education supports the district’s goals for high schools by preparing all students for college and careers. Events like this help students see themselves as successful professionals.”

Terrolyn Perry-Ponder of the Department of Learning Excellence, who attended the conference, praised the effort: “I enjoyed the career conference very much! The level of presentation detail was great, and the content was most relevant to the participants. The students were engaged and participated appropriately. Overall, the conference was well organized and well paced. It showed tremendous leadership by the Office of High Schools, Career and Technical Education, to assemble a brilliant group of minds, to share expertise and lessons learned. Congratulations on a very successful and informative career conference!”

Are you struggling with a question or idea?  Post it here, maybe someone else has an answer— or maybe they will be willing to commiserate with you.

: )  Kelly

Are you having success with an adjunct model in your CBI ESL program?    Are you trying to start partnerships with your colleagues?  What works?  What doesn’t?

Imagine a utopian ESL or EFL class.  What would be different from your current situation?  Are you already in a perfect program?

In an on-going effort to improve the basic skills of career and technical education (CTE) students, we are investigating ways to address writing, reading and vocabulary development within these programs.  Currently we are focusing on certificate programs, such as: welding, automotive, and early childhood education.   If you are working on such a program, or are interested in trying, please send us your ideas.

On your campus, have you created a “career readiness” class?  Where is this class housed? (English, developmental studies, academic development, communications, CTE, etc.)

Have you tried to integrate reading and writing into career and technical classes, such as an English lab included in a CTE class? How has this worked?  How did you do it?  What advice would you give others?

What skills have you included in the career readiness or CTE English lab? (job hunting, summary writing, etiquette, order writing, filling out applications, etc.)

Thanks for your feedback!

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Doing the Math to Find the Good Jobs: Mathematicians Land Top Spot in New Ranking of Best and Worst Occupations in the U.S., contains the results of a study to find the best and worst occupations in the country.

They didn’t actually ask anyone if they liked their job, which I immediately assumed that this article would be about. This list is based on data that may have nothing to do with job satisfaction, but then that’s apparently not what this study was measuring.

Of all the best/worst job lists that I have seen, I believe that this one shows the most researcher bias.

What is the purpose for this list? If you want a “safe” job, then this list might be for you. Mathematicians may not crawl under cars, but what about the rewards that come from doing something you love?

According to this list, the “best” jobs are the ones that require you to sit at a desk all day, be indoors rather then outdoors, have no contact with people, white-collar rather then blue-collar, have fewest deadlines, and have the least amount of physical labor.

In the article that describes the study, they interviewed several workers in jobs at the bottom of the list and found that they really liked their job. One was even noted as being “passionate about his profession.” These two interviews seem to contradict the findings of the study.

Whether people liked their job was not included in this research of “best and worst” jobs. Why is that quality so quickly dismissed?

Did a white-collar person design this study? What would have been the outcome if a blue-color person designed the study? We’d probably see jobs that demand physical labor, contact with people, deadlines, etc. at the top of the list rather than at the bottom.

Frankly, it’s hard to come up with a list about anything and not show some kind of bias. That’s why it’s good to look at lots of lists when looking for a career. If you compare across multiple lists, you should get a more realistic view of careers.

Unfortunately, the best careers in the near future have not even been created yet, and are not on anyone’s list.

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.

I just returned from the ACTE National Convention and Career Tech Expo in Charlotte. ACTE, the Association for Career and Technical Education, is my professional association. Who is yours?

At the convention I got to share professional experiences with colleagues from around the country. I attended sessions where experts discussed their best practices. I presented a few best practices of my own at two sessions. And I found that some of the best sharing came from outside of the formal structure of the convention. The informal talk among colleagues between or after sessions is where a lot of great information exchanges took place.

One thing that stood out to me, and possibly others, is the fact that some people had lots of colorful ribbons hanging from their name tag and some did not. The ACTE members had a special ribbon, as did members of certain committees. The session presenters had a special ribbon as well as the exhibitors in the exhibit hall. One that I wore was for the Forum Champions, a small handful of members who are championing the online exchange of ideas within our association membership.

The thing that really impressed me with the array of colorful ribbons is that these ribbons represent people who chose to make a difference in their professional association. These are the members who took the time to be on a committee, share their expertise, or otherwise go above and beyond what’s required for basic membership.

What are you doing for your professional organization? If you are not a member, then go find that professional organization/association that represents people in careers like yours and get involved. Networking is a great way to increase the quality of work in any profession.

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.

For over 30 years I have been watching the mighty oak tree in my front yard drop acorns and watching as the squirrels scurry around collecting them. I am most fascinated from year to year in the number of acorns that drop. Some years it’s a light crop of acorns, and some years there are so many acorns falling down, that I have to wear a hard hat just to walk the dog. (Yes, the dog gets a hard hat too!)

It has always been my opinion that God is looking out for the squirrels and provides just the right amount of nuts for them to store up for the winter. I have noticed that this particular oak tree produces the most acorns just before a cold winter and produces less just before the milder winters. My meteorologist father concurred on this weather-predicting aspect of this special oak tree.

What puzzles me most this year is that, though we had one of the largest acorn crops that I can ever remember, the squirrels were few and far between. This seems to suggest that we are in for a long, cold winter, but the squirrels don’t seem to notice.

Could it be that the squirrels are not gathering this year thinking that the acorns will be there when they need them. Possibly the squirrels have moved on to greener pastures somewhere else. Or maybe they’ve moved on to a new synthetic nutritional substance that is tastier and sports a longer shelf life than the lowly acorn.

Possibly some enterprising entrepreneur has changed the business climate in my neighborhood by offering to gather and deliver acorns. My yard is a gather-and-tote-your-own operation, and I have no plans on providing the squirrels a delivery service.

As in any business, having a large inventory and the potential of a large public demand does not always work the way it should. The public can change their minds in an instant leaving suppliers holding the bag.

As we help students prepare for a career, we must make sure they know that industries change or even disappear. Skills must be viewed as transferable from one job to another.

Preparing kids for the 21st century is nothing like preparing kids for the 20th century, or is it?

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.

“Eliminating racism, empowering women — it’s what we are about and what we intend to do” is the informal mission statement of the YWCA.

This mission dovetails nicely with our School-to-Work/Career program. Though we tell the kids that they can grow up to be whatever they wish, we know that many unfortunate man-made barriers can stand in the way.

We’ve certainly come a long way in this country to eliminate racism and empower women, but we still have a long way to go.

We tell kids to forget about money and social standing, and anything else that might stand in their career pathway. The reality is that kids with a passion can truly achieve anything they wish. And it’s those passionate kids who are going to break through those final barriers.

It’s ironic that despite the YWCA’s roots in the Christian faith, that is still one area where many doors are still closed to women. Many Christian churches as well as other houses of worship, have strict gender-specific roles in their leadership. So despite our program to tell kids not to let race, gender or anything else stand in their way, we don’t really have equality in all areas. At least not just yet!

What are you doing to eliminate racism and empower women in your community? Our future workforce depends on our present-day actions. Visit the YWCA and see what you can do to help.

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.

I went to my high school reunion this weekend and had lots of opportunities to describe my job as School-to-Career Coordinator.

The immediate response from most of my school-mates was “I wish they had that when I was in school!”

Too many of us were shuffled off to college, since the high schools were convinced that getting us into college would ensure financial success.

But most of us majored in something we were truly not suited for, and many don’t want to talk about their job, because it’s just something to do to pay the bills. Think of how much better the world (not to mention the economy) would be if more people found the career path that fired up their passion. Our School-to-Career programs can do that!

We need to help our secondary students figure out what they want to be so we can help get them into the appropriate postsecondary education program. Everyone needs some kind of postsecondary education. It might be a university, community college, trade school, or on-the-job training, but whatever it is, it should be preparing each student for the career that is best suited to their interests and needs.

I spent a lot of money studying Electrical Engineering in college before transferring into Technology Education. Up until that time, I’m not sure if I had ever met an electrical engineer or really knew what one did on a regular basis. I was in engineering because I was good at math and built kits from Radio Shack, not because I had any real interests in that field.

When I was in high school, we did not have career fairs, job shadowing, internships, or any other way to meet business professionals to talk about careers. If they did, I was not aware of it, probably because I was earmarked for college.

If I had the opportunity to talk to an electrical engineer while in high school, I might have switched majors in high school rather then in college. (Oh, the dollars I spent on college!)

It is important for our kids to talk to business professionals, not only to gain the social graces of conversing with an adult, but also to gain professional insight into the careers that they have chosen to explore.

I want the next generation to go to their high school reunion talking proudly about their work since we gave them the opportunity in high school to explore their personal interests, explore all careers, have conversations with business professionals, and get on the right track to postsecondary education and a rewarding career.

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.

Careers in the Arts are often overlooked in our School-to-Career programs. Most feel that you have to be really lucky or know the right influential people to make it in the Arts. But rather then requiring luck to succeed in the Arts, it’s passion that keeps you going and gets you noticed.

My school system has embarked on a unique relationship with the local company that brings traveling Broadway productions to the area. This is the fourth time that they have created an all-local-student production of a major Broadway production.

“A Chorus Line” gives the audience a glimpse backstage at a Broadway audition and rehearsal where dancers are competing for a few select places in an upcoming production. They’ve all spent untold years working hard to get to the audition, and now we see the building anxiety over who gets to be one of the eight dancers that will be chosen.

Besides the actual auditioning and rehearsals, we get to meet the characters as they discuss dancing, family, relationships, ambitions, and most importantly for this conversation, they talk about their career and their plans for when they are too old to dance. Some of the characters are living for the moment and have not even considered a life without dancing. That passion is what makes the great dancers truly great.

The actors, orchestra, and many on the technical crew are all middle and high school students from across our large school system. A few teachers and former students are busy working behind the scenes making this a memorable event for all.

We are fortunate to have a talented group of professionals working with our students. Terrence Mann, a Broadway professional, is directing the production. Charlotte d’Amboise, who is in the current Broadway production of A Chorus Line, is helping out with the choreography. Tammy Holder, Broadway musical director, is conducting the orchestra and inspiring the voices. And Craig Stelzenmuller, Broadway lighting designer and former student from this area, is lighting up the stage.

Many of our students have turned this experience in to an official internship. Working with professionals in a professional setting has giving them the unique experience of working on a real Broadway musical. It is hoped that the internship will integrate what they learn “on the job” with what they are learning in the classroom. At the conclusion of the internship, each student will report to their class about their experiences and what they learned from them. These experiences can truly prepare them for the Broadway life or any related career.

Careers in the arts are not for the faint at heart. There are not enough jobs for the people vying for them, but if you have the passion for what you like to do, you can turn anything into a career.

We can learn a lot from the Arts about passion-driven careers. It’s not about the money, it’s about the talent within you that wants to come out and express itself. Are you passionate about what you do in your work? Can you help the next generation find their passion and help them fashion it into a rewarding career?

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.

Who do you turn to for advice and guidance? How do you know if you are on the right track professionally? We all need to look at what we do from different perspectives. Finding and nurturing a team of professional advisors with differing views can ensure professional success.

In the business world it’s common to find a group of business professionals to help you stay on top of your game. But in the world of education it’s not always done.

Sure the curriculum gets updated every few years, but how do you know what’s really going on in the world outside of academia? We are preparing the next generation of employees and the future leaders of the world, but if we focus only on the curriculum, how can we be sure the end result is the correct one?

Before assembling a team of advisors, decide what you are doing. Create a mission statement for your job, a vision, and a set of goals. Your advisors are going to offer advice and help keep you on track to professional success.

It’s an informal group. You never have to bring the whole advisory team together, and they don’t even have to know that they are part of a team. As far as they know it’s just the two of you talking about what you do.

Businesses often include a long-time customer as an advisor. You could talk to former students, or parents. Talk to employers about their recent hires and see if you as an educator can help them as they help you.

Employers in your field of education can help you refine the curriculum and ensure that you are truly preparing students for future careers.

It takes a diverse group of individuals each looking at the situation from multiple perspectives.

Each of these advisors should want you and your program to succeed. Hopefully the team of advisors will benefit from the relationship as much as you do.

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.

By Diane Lindsey Reeves, Bright Futures Press

A couple years ago my daughter and I visited the Old Salem village in Winston-Salem. Old Salem is a historical museum portraying the day-to-day life of early Moravian settlers in North Carolina. One of the first things we learned about the inhabitants of this village is that they had an average life span that was several years longer than the national average at that time.

Hmmm…I couldn’t help but wonder why. Surely, the quality of their lifestyle had something to do with it. But what were they doing that was so different from other communities?

My conclusions are far from scientific–perhaps based more on the musings of a mother and educator who would like more for her children and grandchildren. But I suspect these people made it easier for their offspring to succeed by doing three things:

1. Surrounding them with a caring community that was completely committed to helping them find their way toward responsible adulthood
2. Equipping them with a solid education that emphasized both academic and practical life skills
3. Providing real world training opportunities that empowered them to survive and thrive on their own with marketable skills

In other words, they provided the ultimate “leave no child behind” experience—without the end-of-grade tests!

One of the most powerful examples of this premise was evident in the Single Brother’s House. By the age of 14, the village’s young boys were brought here to begin a seven year apprenticeship. Essentially, this is where they learned to be men, where they learned how to be productive, contributing members of their society, and where they learned to how to make a good living. In addition to providing relatively comfortable room and board for many of the boys, the House also included a school, a chapel, and a variety of occupational training opportunities in fields considered high-demand in that era. On-site was a fully functioning bakery, slaughterhouse, tannery, and brewery. In addition, master craftsmen shared their expertise to help prepare a new (and highly skilled) generation of tailors, joiners, clockmakers, shoemakers, tinsmiths, and other viable trades.

And, get this…

There were equal educational opportunities for girls! Quite a radical concept for the late 1700s. Girls received the same offering of well-rounded academics, arts, and music. Their training differed in that, instead of official apprenticeships, they were trained in crafts more associated with home-making such as weaving, fine needlework, and laundry. But prior to marriage, they too were offered opportunities to put these skills to work as teachers and workers in the Single Sister’s weaving shop, laundry, and other enterprises.

The common denominator for both girls and boys was this–nobody was pushed out of the nest before they were ready to fly!

While there are many aspects of those bygone days that are best left in the past—like their match-making tendencies! —, these people were obviously doing something right. What can we learn from them? How can we give today’s young people the same strong foundation for succeeding in life and work? And, for that matter, are there programs out there that are already doing this sort of thing in imaginative and effective ways?

I suspect that there are and that’s what this blog will explore in the coming weeks and months.

So share your discoveries! Toot your favorite program’s horn! Let us know what you think! Most of all, come back often for inspiration and ideas about how we can get it right and give this up-and-coming generation their best shot at bright futures!

The results are in and the verdict is clear–career academies work. So says a report issued by the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation after a rigorous 15 year study of this growing educational phenomenon.

See for yourself in this article written by Erik Eckholm and featured in the New York Times on June 28, 2008 at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/education/26careers.html?ex=1372478400&en=

By ERIK ECKHOLM

Forget the old-fashioned “vocational ed” classes that sent students on a decidedly noncollege track. Over the last quarter-century, a new kind of high school program known as a career academy has proliferated, especially in low-income districts, that combines job placement, college preparation and classes beyond the vocational trades, from accounting to health care.

To see a copy of the actual report, go to the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation website at http://www.mdrc.org/publications/482/full.pdf.