Educators regularly participate in professional development (PD) sessions to hone their professional skills and to keep up with changes in their field, so they can offer students the best possible education.
The Teaching and Learning Department’s PD sessions on Jan. 2 included a prime example of how PD can help teachers enhance content. It was a Makerspace PD for K-5 educators. Makerspaces provide a venue for foundational lessons in career and technical education (CTE), giving students creative spaces where they can try out tools and tech. CTE focuses on hands-on learning in areas including welding, woodworking, graphic design, 3-D printing and design, and more. This type of vocational training can lead to academic and career success after high school.
What’s the Latest in CTE in Newberg-Dundee?
The School District has sought to add more CTE opportunities for years because they afford students the chance to apply concepts from their other subjects, open career paths, and even increase graduation rates. Now, the district can, at last, make more CTE available.
A 2020 school bond measure has helped richly expand CTE courses for older students with massive renovations at Newberg and Catalyst high schools. It has also built a framework for a Makerspace program at K-5 schools, with more makerspace classrooms and new tech. However, teachers still needed to ramp up their training to best use the new makerspace software and equipment, and that's what the Jan. 2 Makerspace PD covered.
“We all need to know how to use this equipment if the kids are going to excel,” explained Carolyn Lyons, a local parent and an Educational Assistant at Edwards Elementary School.
How Do You Train Educators to Teach CTE?
CTE has clear benefits and the bond has provided an opportunity to tap into them. Now, teachers just need to better understand their new tech.
Newberg High School Teachers Bryan Long and Patrick Verdun as well as Catalyst Alternative High School Teacher John Niebergall, knew just where to start to assist their fellow teachers because the three are all experienced in the CTE field.
“John was the CTE guru from Sherwood, Patrick was the Makerspace expert from Dayton, and I was the Newberg 3-D and CTE specialist,” Long noted. “The SD was wise and able to snag all three of us and put us together under one banner.”
The trio spearheaded a Makerspace PD for K-5 teachers on how to design and print with a 3-D printer. A PD this fall introduced some of these concepts, but this session delivered hands-on training to local teachers.
Verdun said that it is a beginning, but K-5 teachers don’t need to hold an advanced understanding of the technology to run a Makerspace class, just the basics.
“You just need to be expert enough to show it to the students, and they’ll take off,” he said.
With the bond funds, the tech, and just a little training, students will have an opportunity to start CTE much earlier, and that’s a good thing.
Why Should K-5 Kids Seek CTE Opportunities?
CTE enrichment builds career skills, so why do we need CTE opportunities for younger students, such as these makerspaces? An earlier start in CTE gives students a foundation to grow their skills in middle and high school. Lyons said her two sons are thriving in CTE at high school, and she wishes she could have gotten them involved in CTE sooner, so they’d have even more time to tap into local schools’ CTE resources.
Lyons said makerspace time supports students in other subject areas, and a National Education Association article supports that assertion: These hands-on activities apply concepts students see in their academic courses.
“Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important, and they can be taught using these CTE skills,” Lyons said.
For example, a student could apply their math skills to know which shapes to use in graphic design or how to properly measure their 3-D project before hitting print. Taking on these projects in a less formal setting, a makerspace, can also set students at ease.
“It allows students to make mistakes in a safe environment and just create,” Verdun said.
So CTE can help students learn, but do CTE opportunities really help students graduate? The answer seems to be yes. The reason why: All that hands-on building and crafting is fun.
“Career and Technical Education programs can boost graduation rates by keeping students engaged in learning and focused on their future,” according to the National Education Association’s article.
So just with a Makerspace PD or two, K-5 educators can improve their CTE offerings, giving them enough knowledge to help their students soar. CTE enrichment will also, according to the National Education Association and local educators, keep students in school while opening up a host of possible career paths. It can’t hurt that CTE gives them a chance to apply other concepts or that it’s a lot of fun.
Photos:
Photo 1: Newberg High School Teachers Bryan Long, left, and Patrick Verdun, with support from Catalyst Alternative High School Teacher John Niebergall (not shown), led a Makerspace professional development (PD) session on Jan. 2. The session was designed to help K-5 teachers learn how to introduce Makerspaces to their students. Learn more about what PD is and why it matters to students and families.
Photo 2: Teachers discussed concepts during a Jan. 2 professional development session for K-5 teachers that offered tips for running a successful Makerspace classroom.