2009 National FCCLA Leadership Conference
The 2009 National FCCLA Leadership Conference was held in Nashville, Tennessee July 12-18. I attended the conference with 6 students at the Opryland Hotel (which is incredibly beautiful!)
At the opening and closing sessions, the talented national officer team built a skit around the theme “Beyond the Label” with stereotypical teens such as the “jock”, the “brain”, the “slacker”, the “princess”, the “prep”, etc. They emphasized seeing the real person and not just the image. They stressed that an organization like FCCLA can bring many different types of students together with a common goal. As always, I was thoroughly impressed with these officers. I am excited to see our own Leilani Mullins in action this year in Chicago. My state officer served on the interview panel and it was a tremendous opportunity for her to be part of the process.
I spent quit a bit of time at the Spotlight on Projects this year. I was intentional to take my camera and a note pad. The Spotlight on Projects is dozens and dozens of STAR event projects on display. The students who did the projects are present to tell about them. Many of them also have copies of their planning process. I have attended the Spotlight every year, but this year I wanted to bring back tangible examples for my chapter. I concentrated on some of the events we have never attempted and the new ones. I took pictures, notes and copies of the planning processes. I brought back these resources to my chapter and the students were amazed at the variety of good projects at Nationals. If you go to Nationals, be sure to go to the Spotlight on Projects.
Here is a brief synopsis of some of the sessions I attended:
Putting the Science Back Family and Consumer Sciences by Susan Turgeson, 2009 AAFCS Teacher of the Year, stressed that science was a key component of the development of our profession in the early 1900s. A century later, we need to reinforce the science standards in our courses and that will help build FACS programs and engage students.
How Your Students Can “Pay It Forward” with “Tagged by Kindness”
Tara Richardson and Heather Davis encouraged FCCLA chapters to come up with unique projects that raise funds for non-profit groups in your community and teach students to look beyond themselves.
Cathe Felz, National Consultant Team game some awesome ideas for including STAR Events in your classroom. She gave many examples of how a class assignment which may be used as a STAR Event or submitted as a national program award application.
Teaching Gen Y Catherine DiGioia-Laird, FCCLA Alumni and Leadership Trainer, gave information on Gen Y students who have increased use and familiarity with
communications, media, and digital technologies. Using these tools will help engage students.
I also judged the Chapter Showcase Display event and was impressed by the many activities that FCCLA members are doing all over the country. I liked judging this event because it gave me an overview of the Program of Work for about 8 different chapters. If you attend nationals, be sure to judge an event. It is a great way to learn more about STAR events.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
FACS Professional Development - Summer 2010
The 12-Month Pregnancy Workshop
The Colorado March of Dimes presented a workshop at the FACS summer professional development on June 17, 2010. The focus of the workshop was to familiarize teachers with a new curriculum, “The 12-Month Pregnancy”. Attendees were presented with a hard copy of the curriculum in a three ring notebook, but the entire curriculum is available on line at www.marchofdimes.com/colorado and includes additional links. The presenters outlined the curriculum, explained the 12-month concept and simulated some student activities. The curriculum includes the following units: prenatal development and care, the father’s role in pregnancy, pregnancy information, labor and delivery and preterm birth. Each unit has many pages of current articles and information and student activities for use in the classroom.
I plan to put some of these student activities to use in my classroom:
Birth Defects: Students are divided into small groups and at least one student in each group is given a “birth defect” such as glasses with gel, ear plugs, a blind fold, loss of speech, etc. The student is then given a task to complete while experiencing the “disability”. Students then discuss how they felt with the “birth defect” and how those around them reacted.
Pregnancy Weight Gain Activity: A student is chosen to put on an empty back pack and as the instructor discusses weight gain in pregnancy (3 pounds of blood, 2 pounds of amniotic fluid, 7.5 pounds of baby, etc), zip lock bags of each weight in sand are added to the back pack until it totals 29 pounds.
Preterm Births: As the lesson begins, have students count off and each eighth person stands showing that one out of every eight births is premature. Have all students put a coffee straw in their mouth and inhale and exhale only through the straw. Students are told this is what it is like for a preterm baby to breathe when the lungs are not fully developed.
The most impactful portion of the workshop was called “Voices of Illumination”. Three parents who have had preterm babies told their stories. Randy Reese and his wife told about the birth of their preterm daughter who tragically died 8 days after birth. He detailed the importance of the father in the situation. Kristen Baucum’s daughter was also born premature and spent time in the hospital before maturing into the healthy preschooler she is today. Kathryn Marshall told of her daughter’s preterm birth that resulted in special needs. She honestly shared her own fear and guilt, as well as the impact of raising a special needs child on the family dynamics and finances.
I encourage anyone who has a unit or course on pregnancy to visit www.marchofdimes.com/colorado.
"Wonderful World of Web 2.0" FACS Workshop
Wonderful World of Web 2.0 professional development class was held on June 15, 2010 at Rock Canyon High School. The course covered a variety of online tools. We saw digital poster makers that can use video and sound, online presentation makers that are easy and visually stunning, and online discussion forums that can be accessed from a computer or even a cell phone. These tools allow students and teachers to interact and collaborate during the creation and evaluation process. We went over the new state technology evaluation requirements for students and teachers.
The instructors were great: Ed Watterson a science and technology teacher, was in the classroom for years and is now an IT support person for the classroom teachers in his building. I wish we had the resources to have a person like that in our school. He was very knowledgeable. The other instructor was Ashley Tussing, a social studies and language arts teacher who uses all types of technology in her classroom and was able to give hands on information for the tools we looked at.
Some of the new web tools we were exposed were:
Multimedia tools: GoAnimate for creating your own animations (see the lesson plan that tells how you might use this for a teen pregnancy ad) and Masher for mixing pictures and video clips (from their library)
Prezi is a presentation tool which makes Power Point look like a dinosaur. It is a digital canvas that allows you to put many words in different sizes and then you can attach more information that the viewer can read when they click on the word. It would take some practice to be able to use this.
Social Discussion sites such as Wall wisher, which is a web page that allows many students to post on a common topic and Food Network Recipe Box that is a digital storehouse for favorite recipes and it allows you to categorize by types (folksonomy).
Here are a few new vocabulary words that I learned:
The term "Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website's content, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.
A social network service is a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet,
Wikis are website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages.
A blog is a type of website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
Mashups are digital media files containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video, and animation, which recombines and modifies existing digital works.
A folksonomy is a system of classification and tagging, which is one of the defining characteristics of Web 2.0 services, allows users to collectively classify and find information.
The Colorado March of Dimes presented a workshop at the FACS summer professional development on June 17, 2010. The focus of the workshop was to familiarize teachers with a new curriculum, “The 12-Month Pregnancy”. Attendees were presented with a hard copy of the curriculum in a three ring notebook, but the entire curriculum is available on line at www.marchofdimes.com/colorado and includes additional links. The presenters outlined the curriculum, explained the 12-month concept and simulated some student activities. The curriculum includes the following units: prenatal development and care, the father’s role in pregnancy, pregnancy information, labor and delivery and preterm birth. Each unit has many pages of current articles and information and student activities for use in the classroom.
I plan to put some of these student activities to use in my classroom:
Birth Defects: Students are divided into small groups and at least one student in each group is given a “birth defect” such as glasses with gel, ear plugs, a blind fold, loss of speech, etc. The student is then given a task to complete while experiencing the “disability”. Students then discuss how they felt with the “birth defect” and how those around them reacted.
Pregnancy Weight Gain Activity: A student is chosen to put on an empty back pack and as the instructor discusses weight gain in pregnancy (3 pounds of blood, 2 pounds of amniotic fluid, 7.5 pounds of baby, etc), zip lock bags of each weight in sand are added to the back pack until it totals 29 pounds.
Preterm Births: As the lesson begins, have students count off and each eighth person stands showing that one out of every eight births is premature. Have all students put a coffee straw in their mouth and inhale and exhale only through the straw. Students are told this is what it is like for a preterm baby to breathe when the lungs are not fully developed.
The most impactful portion of the workshop was called “Voices of Illumination”. Three parents who have had preterm babies told their stories. Randy Reese and his wife told about the birth of their preterm daughter who tragically died 8 days after birth. He detailed the importance of the father in the situation. Kristen Baucum’s daughter was also born premature and spent time in the hospital before maturing into the healthy preschooler she is today. Kathryn Marshall told of her daughter’s preterm birth that resulted in special needs. She honestly shared her own fear and guilt, as well as the impact of raising a special needs child on the family dynamics and finances.
I encourage anyone who has a unit or course on pregnancy to visit www.marchofdimes.com/colorado.
"Wonderful World of Web 2.0" FACS Workshop
Wonderful World of Web 2.0 professional development class was held on June 15, 2010 at Rock Canyon High School. The course covered a variety of online tools. We saw digital poster makers that can use video and sound, online presentation makers that are easy and visually stunning, and online discussion forums that can be accessed from a computer or even a cell phone. These tools allow students and teachers to interact and collaborate during the creation and evaluation process. We went over the new state technology evaluation requirements for students and teachers.
The instructors were great: Ed Watterson a science and technology teacher, was in the classroom for years and is now an IT support person for the classroom teachers in his building. I wish we had the resources to have a person like that in our school. He was very knowledgeable. The other instructor was Ashley Tussing, a social studies and language arts teacher who uses all types of technology in her classroom and was able to give hands on information for the tools we looked at.
Some of the new web tools we were exposed were:
Multimedia tools: GoAnimate for creating your own animations (see the lesson plan that tells how you might use this for a teen pregnancy ad) and Masher for mixing pictures and video clips (from their library)
Prezi is a presentation tool which makes Power Point look like a dinosaur. It is a digital canvas that allows you to put many words in different sizes and then you can attach more information that the viewer can read when they click on the word. It would take some practice to be able to use this.
Social Discussion sites such as Wall wisher, which is a web page that allows many students to post on a common topic and Food Network Recipe Box that is a digital storehouse for favorite recipes and it allows you to categorize by types (folksonomy).
Here are a few new vocabulary words that I learned:
The term "Web 2.0" is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with each other as contributors to the website's content, in contrast to websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.
A social network service is a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the internet,
Wikis are website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages.
A blog is a type of website usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
Mashups are digital media files containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video, and animation, which recombines and modifies existing digital works.
A folksonomy is a system of classification and tagging, which is one of the defining characteristics of Web 2.0 services, allows users to collectively classify and find information.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Technology in the FACS Classroom
The Podcast and Wonderful World of Web workshops on June 14th and June15th were, indeed, incredibly informative! We explored dozens of different websites that will be very useful in Family and Consumer Sciences classes. One comment that was made early on in the workshops, which was really powerful, is that today's students have become bored with powerpoints so teachers need to become more technologically creative to engage today's digital learners.
There are dozens of ways that podcasts can be used including food preparation and other demonstrations, lessons/instructions for students when teachers are absent and, having students create their own podcasts for units such as safety and sanitation, meal planning, careers, etc. It was exciting to create IMovies, using Garageband, Google Images, and our own pictures. It was great to not only learn about the different available podcasting resources but also to actually start to create our own podcasts which we can edit and use in our classroom.
The Wonderful World of Web 2.0 offered even more internet resources that can be used in FACS classes-not only for me to utilize as I create presentations but also to have students create their own presentations. Wallwisher is a great tool to have students brainstorm or share prior knowledge when introducing a unit. It can also be used to share ideas such as listing different uses of eggs , sharing real life experiences such as injuries in the kitchen and/or situations when students or people they know have gotten sick from eating food. Using Voicethread, students from different classes within or outside of the school can collaborate on various topics. Prezi can be used to introduce topics or students can create their own presentations applying their knowledge of topics such as garnishing, wellness, meal planning or the importance of breakfast.
Reviewing the International Society for Technology Education's Standards for Students was also very helpful. Indeed, the 2010 FACS Technology workshops were very intense at times because so many tools were covered in such a short time, but it was great to see all the different internet resources that are available.
There are dozens of ways that podcasts can be used including food preparation and other demonstrations, lessons/instructions for students when teachers are absent and, having students create their own podcasts for units such as safety and sanitation, meal planning, careers, etc. It was exciting to create IMovies, using Garageband, Google Images, and our own pictures. It was great to not only learn about the different available podcasting resources but also to actually start to create our own podcasts which we can edit and use in our classroom.
The Wonderful World of Web 2.0 offered even more internet resources that can be used in FACS classes-not only for me to utilize as I create presentations but also to have students create their own presentations. Wallwisher is a great tool to have students brainstorm or share prior knowledge when introducing a unit. It can also be used to share ideas such as listing different uses of eggs , sharing real life experiences such as injuries in the kitchen and/or situations when students or people they know have gotten sick from eating food. Using Voicethread, students from different classes within or outside of the school can collaborate on various topics. Prezi can be used to introduce topics or students can create their own presentations applying their knowledge of topics such as garnishing, wellness, meal planning or the importance of breakfast.
Reviewing the International Society for Technology Education's Standards for Students was also very helpful. Indeed, the 2010 FACS Technology workshops were very intense at times because so many tools were covered in such a short time, but it was great to see all the different internet resources that are available.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Professional Development-State Conference
This was the first year I took students to state conference. My student teacher and I brought eight students and seven of them competed in STAR Events. I was nervous for them since I had never coached students for the competition before, but it all turned out ok. No national qualifiers but maybe next year. :)
The best thing I did for myself was volunteered to be an event chair. I would truly suggest that any advisor that has not done this, should volunteer for this. It was so much fun to talk with students before and after their events. Because of all the interaction between students and of course the judges, this is the best way to learn about STAR Events and the whole process. I will plan to do it again in the future.
For some reason, I did not have any trouble getting students interested in competing at state. I was pleased with the number of students I had this year. I really placed the responsibility on the students to hold them accountable. I set a deadline before registration was due for them to meet with me with detailed plans for how they would get their project completed. I checked in with all of them about a month later. The week before state, each group presented in front of our members and we used the judges rubrics to give them feedback. Now that I have had one group go to state, it will be beneficial next year to have their projects to use as examples as well as a few of the students who were underclassmen, so they will be returning to spread the word about how fun and motivational it was.
As far as recruiting ideas for next year, I will continue making meetings meaningful so students' time is not wasted. One big goal of mine is to work on educating my staff about FCCLA because they just do not get it. We are also making a display board to be used at freshman orientation in August to spread awareness to new students. My biggest advice to newer advisers is to jump right in and get involved at the district and state level because it is really the best and most thorough way to learn.
The best thing I did for myself was volunteered to be an event chair. I would truly suggest that any advisor that has not done this, should volunteer for this. It was so much fun to talk with students before and after their events. Because of all the interaction between students and of course the judges, this is the best way to learn about STAR Events and the whole process. I will plan to do it again in the future.
For some reason, I did not have any trouble getting students interested in competing at state. I was pleased with the number of students I had this year. I really placed the responsibility on the students to hold them accountable. I set a deadline before registration was due for them to meet with me with detailed plans for how they would get their project completed. I checked in with all of them about a month later. The week before state, each group presented in front of our members and we used the judges rubrics to give them feedback. Now that I have had one group go to state, it will be beneficial next year to have their projects to use as examples as well as a few of the students who were underclassmen, so they will be returning to spread the word about how fun and motivational it was.
As far as recruiting ideas for next year, I will continue making meetings meaningful so students' time is not wasted. One big goal of mine is to work on educating my staff about FCCLA because they just do not get it. We are also making a display board to be used at freshman orientation in August to spread awareness to new students. My biggest advice to newer advisers is to jump right in and get involved at the district and state level because it is really the best and most thorough way to learn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
