Voulnteer Experience Hour#1

I am completing my volunteer hours at a middle school that is involved with the STEM pipeline project that collaborates with UCF's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Every Saturday I participate in a three-hour workshop that incorporates sessions from second year medical students, currently practicing MDs, mentors and student support services (my role). In the sessions that I am responsible for, I highlight a skill/tool that I help currently enrolled university students with and attempt to foster new habits/skills within the students who attend my sessions. The goal is to foster habits that will encourage life long learning within the students and encourage them to strive for a science/math based career. Each session features a lesson, an example, a reading assignment and a journal entry assignment. I create a PowerPoint presentation for each session, but I do now know how to attach the file to the blog. Perhaps someone can give me a suggestion as to how to do that? In the meantime, I will attach the PowerPoint presentations in our group if anyone is interested.

My first session was 3/16 and was on Time Management. I chose this topic because many students struggle with time management when taking a test, accomplishing a tasks or even organizing a study schedule. I created a presentation entitled "Time Management Skills for Success"  that focused on developing these skills using a journal. Since this was my first session i made the presentation pretty short and straight forward so I could get a read on the kid's reactions. I'm not sure they were that interested, but they did participate when I asked questions and gave examples when I prompted them. At the end of the session I gave each student a journal and asked them to write a schedule for the upcoming week that included time to study and relax. We will go over the journals next session.

Latisha

Carl D Perkins Act reauthorization

Did anyone know that the Perkins Act, which is responsible for funding CTE in this country was reauthorized in 2012? The Perkins Act which was initially created ini 1984 is scheduled to provide for funding for CTE in America through 2016, with re-authorizations happening every 5-6 years. The new authorizations call for:

(1) Alignment. Effective alignment between high-quality CTE programs and labor market needs to equip students with 21st-century skills and prepare them for in-demand occupations in high-growth industry sectors;

(2) Collaboration. Strong collaborations among secondary and postsecondary institutions, employers, and industry partners to improve the quality of CTE programs;

(3) Accountability. Meaningful accountability for improving academic outcomes and building technical and employability skills in CTE programs for all students, based upon common definitions and clear metrics for performance; and

(4) Innovation. Increased emphasis on innovation supported by systemic reform of state policies and practices to support CTE implementation of effective practices at the local level.

President Obama is in support of the program and called for the states to use the funding (1.3 billion) to further improve the CTE programs. I wonder how much of the money allocations go to CTE programs that serve urban students?

Latisha