Deconstructing College & Career Ready: Finding Wisdom through Career Development

1. Deconstructing College & Career Ready:Finding Wisdom through Career Development

2. The Common Core • College and career ready means: • Able to successfully pass freshman level college courses without remediation

3. But why do students actually drop out? Finances They are academically unprepared Child care responsibilities (they are parents) The course they chose doesn’t “fit” them and they feel lost (homesick, directionless, like they don’t belong at the school).

4. What can we do about it? We need to start talking about career and technical education in upper elementary school and we can’t stop talking about it until students have determined a beginning direction.

5. The Enrichment Triad Model Developed in 1976 by Dr. Joseph Renzulli (U. Conn) Originally designed as a model for the education of gifted and talented students Since its original implementation in schools around Connecticut, several researchers (including Renzulli) began to wonder if the model would be equally beneficial to the general student population.

6. The Enrichment Triad Model • Now implemented in schools all over the United States and around the world, the ETM has been proven to: • Increase creative-productivity • Improve self efficacy • Increased post-secondary education plans of students

8. ETM in one FACS classroom

9. Guiding Questions: • What do people with an interest in this area (for example, film making) do? • What kind of products do they create and/or what services do they provide? • What knowledge, materials, and other resources do they provide? • What methods do they use to carry out their work? • How, and with whom, do they communicate the results of their work? • In what ways can we use the product or service to affect the intended audience?

10. Language of the Discipline

12. Doctors and nurses learn suturing Forensic scientists extract human DNA Culinary artists create food art Fashion designers design and sketch Engineers learn circuit design

13. Type III Projects provide opportunities for applying interests, knowledge, creative ideas and task commitment to a self-selected problem or area of study, acquire advanced level understanding of the knowledge (content) and methodology (process) that are used within particular disciplines, artistic areas of expression and interdisciplinary studies, develop authentic products that are primarily directed toward bringing about a desired impact upon a specified audience, develop self-directed learning skills in the areas of planning, organization, resource utilization, time management, decision making, and self-evaluation, develop task commitment, self-confidence, and feelings of creative accomplishment.

15. Lunch & Learns… • For two years, 7th grade students have spent 5th and 6th period (a total of about 50 minutes) in special sessions with experts in their field. • Guests to date include: • Cornell’s Biofuels Department • Binghamton University’s Art Gallery • A professional Architect • A cardiac nurse • The Binghamton Zoo • SUNY at Cortland – Sports Management • Cornell University’s Fabrics & Textile Program • Binghamton University – Engineering Research • BAE – Engine Controls

16. After School Activities Lectures on relevant topics to students areas of interest. High School teachers visit and share special interests and areas of expertise with students (fencing, reptiles, starfish dissections, photography and publishing books!) Community Members – PTS President “hires” culinary arts students to manage sale of baked goods. Health & Wellness committee “hires” Sports & Exercise students to explore possibility of intramural sports in the middle school. Students have begun organizing “documentary night” in their area of expertise. Students have planned after school clubs for students with particular interest in their Academy (Creative Writing Club, Flag Football, Fitness/Running Club, Creative Joy Art Club).

17. You’re thinking, “Lovely… but what about…” State tests Common Core SLOs Budget Burn out

18. Constructivist Learning This model is student-centered. It allows the teacher to be the facilitator of learning (not the imparter of knowledge). Helps create contextual learning experiences. Allows the learner to apply knowledge. Is an interactive process motivated by creation of disequilibrium for the learner.

19. Cognitive Engagement Allows students to make authentic choices and regulate their own learning. Allows students to immerse themselves in a task. Encourages mindful discovery and observation.

20. 21st Century Skills This model promotes critical thinking, problem solving, global awareness and collaboration. It is problem and project based. It engaged students in authentic problem solving. It assists students in becoming college and career ready.

21. Student Performance: • Academy models have been proven to increase student’s ability : • to plan a task and consider alternatives • to monitor one's understanding and the need for additional information • to notice patterns, relationships, and discrepancies • to generate reasonable arguments and explanations • to draw comparisons and analogies to other problems • to transform factual information in to usable knowledge • to fluently access relevant knowledge and selectively extract meaning from information • to predict outcomes • to apportion time, money, and resources • to communicate effectively in different genres and formats • to apply knowledge and problem solving strategies to real world problems

22. And then other teachers started to notice… • So, we designed Career Academies and clustered students with similar interests into groups: • Engineering & Technology • Human Performance & Nutritional Science • Applied Design • Social Science • Medicine

23. Future architect, Aaron: I did get frustrated a lot. I mean… A LOT because of all the hard work it was. The measurements we had to get it just right and it was very difficult but we finally got it done and laid it all down and I thought…I’m taking a lot of pride in what we’ve done because it looks very nice. And as this went on…it did change me as a person because if we just started it and I didn’t actually learn anything I would have just laid it down. I wouldn’t have paid attention to it. I would have just wanted to get it done. You know…it was really fun. I really do want to be an architect still, when I grow older and my plans are to graduate from Cornell University. I really want to go to Cornell and do architecture. I want to build and design buildings that go into nature…where you don’t bulldoze down trees. And I got that inspiration from an article that I read about someone who made these spheres. Three spheres…and it’s a hotel. I really like nature and I don’t want to destroy the trees that everyone is taking down. I want to save the environment. I don’t wanna tear more trees down because that’s what is giving us oxygen. And I don’t want to add on to more of everything. I want to contribute to nature.

24. Future engineer, Dillon: I first started off experimenting with engineering when I was little. Its always been an interest of mine. When I started off learning about engineering in Mrs. W class I started off doing a solar powered car. I think I put a lot more into it than she expected me to. Then, I started building a trail board. It’s… and I think this is an interest that other people should get into because there’s no limit to what you can do. All I say is, “Let your imagination go wild” because it could be a future and basically you can do anything you put your mind to. And the reason I’m just so high because I can take something apart and put it back together and still…you know, this has shown me there is more to engineering than I even thought there was. And its made me even more interested. Engineering has been a big priority in my life and I think I’m going to stick with that. I hope that one day I can go to college and become an engineer. Get a good degree and get a good job. And for everybody that wants to do engineering – I say, “More power to you. The sky’s the limit. There is no ceiling.”

25. Future physical therapist, Kelsey: Out of that I learned that you really have to do a lot of teamwork. You’ve got to trust other people’s opinions, be independent though too. This class taught me trust – as I went along I started to realize that I had a problem with people directing me. I usually need to be self-directed. You think it would be easy to be a doctor – its harder than you’d think. It’s not just research. People aren’t all the same. I got a lot out of this class. Most important was to balance being self-directed and trusting other classmates. I’ve learned everything. I think this class will help me in my career – and I think I’ll pursue physical therapy. I loved working with the people I worked with. I hope when I get older and am in a career that the people I work with can help guide me like the people in this classroom did. With my projects – it’s a lot of work – I didn’t know it would be a lot of work. I thought it would be easy. It was really, really difficult. I want to study more. I want to do more difficult challenges and study harder and harder things – like cancer, maybe. And I want to help find cures. I want to do difficult things that nobody has ever done with their lives before.

26. Future doctor, Chad: For the last part, I’m going to send a video journal to Mr. S – to explain my work – my research – and explain how my work could help the world, how it could influence generations to come. It involves everything I’ve done but I’ve still taken some time off to help other students but, like I said, this has helped me to progress in my own thinking…with my own projects…spring some ideas on others, they shed light on my project…to better understand the world around me. To see how the world develops. Because not everybody is the same…we all go through processes differently.

28. Yale and Tufts Research of Robert Sternberg and colleagues

29. What is college and career ready? • Wisdom • Perhaps the purpose of all education • Necessary for success in college and jobs

30. And if you’d like to speak with me further… • Send me an email : • jwillliams@nvcs.stier.org or • jrw553@gmail.com