I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

I love this time of year! Yes, it’s extremely busy, but it’s the time of the year when our students have the opportunity to practice the skills they’ve learned over the year in their respective Career Tech Student Organization (CTSO) competitions. Our campus has had another successful year of winners with BPA and FCCLA and we are anticipating more winners as HOSA and SkillsUSA competitions conclude in April.

I can remember as an eighth grader at Bokoshe Junior High School, my Agriculture Education instructor, Winfred Ashley, encouraging me to participate in a district speech contest in FFA. I was unsure and lacked the confidence to step out on my own and attempt a speech contest. But, I did it and I won! Later that year I was chosen to represent our FFA Chapter at the State FFA convention as the voting delegate on the floor. I can remember being in total amazement as I witnessed the State FFA officer team, students just a few years older than me, carry out the opening ceremonies with confidence and pride. I remember watching the State FFA Degree recipients receive the degrees and making a commitment to myself to achieve that goal when I was a senior.

Fast forward four years later and I walked across that same stage and received my State FFA Degree with my parents and FFA advisor watching from the audience. During that four year time period I had fine-tuned my public speaking ability to win at several district and state competitions. As a senior I represented our local FFA Chapter as the chapter president.

I do not aim to brag on myself, but do strongly believe that if it had not been for my Career Tech Agriculture Education instructor, Winfred Ashley, pushing me to participate in that first speech competition I would not have gained the confidence and leadership skills that I have today. If it had not been for the FFA organization providing the leadership opportunities to me and thousands of other students, I would not have had the successes that I have experienced throughout my life.

CTSO opportunities such as FFA, are many times the only extra-curricular activities available to students in small communities across Oklahoma and the nation. My story is a “drop in the bucket” compared to the thousands of other success stories other students have had as a result of their involvement in a CTSO.

I love this time of year! Yes, it’s extremely busy, but maybe, just maybe a student will have an experience such as mine with their involvement in their CTSO, their life’s path transformed, and then, it will all be worth what we do!

ACTE National Policy Seminar

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the ACTE National Policy Seminar in Washington, D.C. Being involved in the the ACTE National Fellows Program this year, along with 6 other awesome CTE educators from across the U.S., we were able to take part in this event. One of the three initiatives of the Fellows program is to educate the participants on Policy, Professional Development and Leadership. The National Policy Seminar was a great experience as we gained a greater understanding of how our ACTE organization operates at the national level as we sat in on the ACTE Board of Directors' meeting. Throughout the seminar we were led in professional development that updated all on the updates to Perkins, ESEA, IDEA and a multitude of other policies that affect CTE. One of the highlights was visiting Capitol Hill and meeting with Senator Tom Coburn's office staffers and Representative Markwayne Mullin, whom we were able to have a face-to-face meeting with. If ever offered the opportunity to attend NPS, I would highly recommend it as it was a fantastic opportunity to learn about CTE Policy, lobbying for CTE and meeting numerous CTE educators from across the U.S.

KTC Partner School Principals Tour Programs

KTC Poteau/Spiro partner school principals had the oppotunity to tour some of the programs their students attend while on the Poteau Campus.  The principals were on campus for the monthly principals' meeting hosted by KTC Poteau.  

Hodgen Elementary Principal Courtney Allstat has her blood pressure taken from a Health Careers Certification Student.  

Principals participated in an Anatomy in Clay activity while visiting the Biomedical Sciences lab.  They were tasked with making a model heart out of clay, which they were able to take with them.  

Keith Griffith, Automotive Service Technology Instructor, teaches the group of principals how to work on their automotive transmissions.

Welding Technology student, Cody Piguet, demonstrates Tig Welding techniques to the group of principals.  

Anna McKinney, demonstrates a PhotoShop activity to the group of principals while they toured the Business Administration and Information Technology classroom.

Although, the principals were only able to tour about half of the KTC Poteau programs, it was a great opportunity for them to see their own high school students in a high tech environment engaged in their career tech programs.  

Professional Learning Community Meeting #1

Wow!

What else can I say.  I was overwhelmed today as our first PLC meeting took off.  Laying the groundwork for where we want to take our campus with our PLC was exciting.  Lorraine Christmas did an awesome job facilitating our TCTW Year 1 goal of campus wide student portfolios.  

Collaboration and Trust is what we are striving for in our campus PLC, all in the effort to boost student achievement.  I think we accomplished both today.  I am eager to see how this group grows as instructors and how much our students benefit!  

Taking a Step of Faith in to a Professional Learning Community

“The very essence of a learning community is a focus on and a commitment to the learning of each student. When a school or district functions as a PLC, educators within the organization embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it.” – Rick DeFour, Bob Eaker, and Becky DuFour (2007)

One of my goals as an administrator is to initiate a Professional Learning Community on our campus. In fact we have our first PLC meeting set for February 18th. As I have researched the topic of successful PLCs, I have discovered there are many do’s and dont’s that contribute to a successful PLC.

Our first and most important goal for establishing our PLC will be for Collaboration. Too often, educators meet in the break room first thing in the morning for that important cup of coffee, and then retreat to their areas of isolation for the remainder of the day. In order for our campus to excel as a PLC we must move from isolation to collaboration.

One of our TCTW goals this year is creating student portfolios. Some instructors already do this well and some not at all. Hopefully, our PLC will provide collaboration of what a successful student portfolio might look like and what the best approach to achieving this campus wide project might be.

As mentioned earlier, a lot of educators are used to closing the door as the bell rings and attempting to solve the problems of running their programs on their own. Creating an atmosphere of Trust will be an integral part of the foundation of our PLC.

Every instructor has some type of Best Practice they utilize within their programs. We must be willing to trust one another, learn from each other and clear up the misunderstanding that our jobs are not to compete against each other as instructors but to collaborate for the over-all success of our students. We need to be willing and comfortable in sharing techniques that will help each other succeed with their students.

As we were planning our first PLC meeting we worked collaboratively in the office to allow Time, during the regular school day for our PLC group to meet. We in the office understand the hectic schedule of an instructor and want to ensure that our PLC does not add on any additional load. We will make every attempt to have your students covered when our PLC meets. Hopefully, we will become more creative in scheduling our PLC times as we look for additional times to collaborate.

The bottom line can best be summed up in a quote from James Cash Penney, who said “The best teamwork comes from people who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” As an instructor your goal is student success. We all have that goal. If we would take the time to tackle the problems we all share as a campus, support each other through the transitions ahead, trust each other and effectively collaborate for improved instruction, we can reach the goal of student success in UNISON!

Steps of Faith

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Welcome to the Kiamichi Technology Center Poteau-Spiro Campus blog. My name is Michael Culwell, and I am the Assistant Campus Director. When I decided to start writing a blog, I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to say, but as the quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. states, I’m taking a step of Faith and giving it a shot. I am happy you’ve chosen to visit my blog. I am excited to have this opportunity to share not only information about our campus, but also share with you my thoughts on career and technology education, instruction and learning.

Those of us in the field of education today seem to be experiencing a great sense of uncertainty and anticipation at the same time. Uncertainty, as we attempt to keep our head above water in an ever-changing climate of public education and a tidal wave of reform efforts. Anticipation, as we strive to meet the needs of a 21st century learner and prepare them for post-secondary education or the workforce. I am hopeful that this blog will provide support for both.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the National Leaders Forum for Tech Centers that Work held in Oklahoma City. It was a breath of fresh air to learn about the best practices going on around the country in Career and Technology Education. In fact, this conference was the determining push to get me off the fence about writing this blog. I was motivated and energized to return and begin sharing best practices in CTE instruction to our staff.

My goals for this blog are to share best practices of instruction, as well as the good things going on at our technology center that relate to student learning. I will attempt to blog at least on a weekly basis and hopefully more often. I hope to share with the readers something new that will make them better educators or as equally important, provide opportunities for instructors to begin dialogues that lead to collaboration efforts that boost student learning and ultimately a robust professional learning community.

I look forward to communicating with you through this blog. Please take the time and subscribe to this blog or share with your friends and colleagues. But most importantly, please leave comments and feedback that lead to meaningful discussions about Career and Technology Education and learning.

On to the next step!