Paul Bailey
8/7/2017
“We have openings for technician level jobs in [West
Virginia] but cannot find employees who routinely show up for work, pass a drug
test, and can possess a positive work ethic,” states a business/industry report
by the West Virginia Department of Education. One major goal of a secondary
education is to prepare students career, not a job but a career. Acquiring job
skills during the educational process will allow students to have the ability
to obtain a job until a career is identified and obtained.
Throughout all years I have been in education, I have
worked with at risk students through online programming due to credit
deficiencies from course failures and/or high absenteeism. With online courses
I have known
- many students that memorized the material long enough to pass a test but never retained the information.
- a student that burrowed inside his bedroom for 4 days to complete one online class.
- many students that find ways to beat the multiple choice lessons, quizzes, tests, etc. without even reading the questions.
I believe that an educational system should utilize
technology for learning. I implemented a flipped mastery classroom with great
success to teach students more Algebra in a school year than I had instructed
previously using the traditional lecture method.
From my experiences I believe that online learning can
be beneficial for the students to have flexible learning opportunities both
online and in person. The learning opportunities will be designed to provide
students with pride and satisfaction of learning and for the community. The
local community will grow as students learn to become productive members of
society and provide helpful change to the area.
“Shared ownership drives positive culture
dedicated to ongoing improvement.”
Big Picture Learning
Many students I have interacted with that complete
learning online have little sense of community. Online learning has individuals
focusing on completing personalized courses at the pace of each student. Many job
skills are not learned through online learning such as learning to work with
others, meeting deadlines (or missing a deadline but working diligently to get
the job completed), and caring about job
well done for the neighbor or friend. In order to give back to the community,
local members would need to provide assistance to students. The local community
would provide students with mentors, career advisors, internship opportunities,
community services projects, and support with physical and behavioral health.
Denzel Washington stated, “Show me a successful
individual and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or
her life. I don’t care what you do for a living – if you do it well I’m sure
there was someone cheering you on or showing you the way. A mentor.” Mentors
would be selected by each student to provide guidance throughout the remainder
of the child’s secondary education. The
mentor could meet the student for lunch or drop in for a few minutes of
conversation during the school day. The mentor and student would complete the large
class community service projects together to continue building their
relationship.
“It takes a caring community to raise a child
that will be a whole person and a contributing
citizen.”
Jessye Norman
Local entrepreneurs would participate on the career
advisory committee for the online learning class. The local businesses would
create and/or identify unpaid internship opportunities that the student could participate
in for credits towards earning a diploma. The internship opportunities would
provide students with an understanding of the type of career he/she would like
to pursue, but also, and maybe more importantly, the type of job that is not satisfying.
Ideally the student would complete multiple internships throughout the year in
a few different vocations to identify the field of interest or with a few
different businesses to gain a variety of experiences in one field.
“Small acts,
when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world.”
Howard Zinn
To complete the sense of belonging, students in an online
environment would complete community service projects. “Without community
service we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the
person who serves, as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we ourselves
grow and develop,” expresses Dorothy Height. Individual and whole class
community service would be completed. The individual student project would be
determined based on personal interest. The whole class would discuss various
community needs and determine the community service that would be completed by
the entire class. The whole class project would be a larger scale project that
would include mentors, parent/guardian(s), and other members of the local
community.
“Every kid is one caring adult
away from being a success story.”
Josh Shipp
Students at risk of dropping out of school can have
his/her life greatly affected by one caring adult. Building relationships with
students by mentors, career advisors, teachers, school administrators, and
other members of the local community will greatly increase the likelihood of at
risk students graduating and graduating in 4 years. However, involving
parent(s) and guardian(s) in the educational process for at risk children would
be a great benefit for the child to earn a high school diploma. Conducting frequent
parent/guardian meetings will create a relationship between the teacher,
parent/guardian, and student. During the meetings online learning progress,
internship reports, and community service efforts will be discussed.
Parent/guardian(s) will be invited to participate in the large scale community
service project.
Involving students at the local career technical
center would be beneficial for students to obtain specific job skills. Career
technical programs can be utilized during the school day to provide students with
hands on learning, collaboration with peers on projects, and learn how to
communicate and interact with clients and customers.
“Physical fitness is not only one of the most
important
keys to a healthy body,
it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual
activity.”
John F. Kennedy
The physical education requirement for graduation
should be completed either in a classroom or through independent study. Online
physical education class provides the theory behind being physically fit.
However, online physical education does not increase heart rate or burn very
many calories. Many kids are consuming foods and drinks that are harmful to the
body. Many studies have shown that overweight or obese children have a higher
risk for Type 2 Diabetes and other health concerns. Routinely showing up to work
requires people to be in good health. Schools that choose to teach habits for a
healthy lifestyle, provide students with the knowledge to be in good health and
the opportunity to be physically able to go to work every day. The physical education
requirement for online learning should be in busting out reps in a workout
facility, stepping over fallen trees on a hiking trail, pedaling fast enough on
a bike to feel a cool breeze hit the face, stretching and sweating on a yoga
mat, and/or many other possibilities.
A mastery approach to grading would be utilized for
earning credit for online courses. Skills learned early in the school year
would continually be assessed for retention of knowledge. If a student masters
the skill early but fails to obtain mastery later in the year, the student
would be required to relearn the material, complete a reassessment opportunity,
and retain mastery of the skill throughout the entire online course.
“Test scores and measures of achievement tell you
where a student is,
but they don’t tell you where a student could end up.”
Carol Dweck
Teaching students to ‘possess a positive work ethic’
involves students to possess a positive, growth mindset. Involving the local
behavioral health agencies to teach strategies to students for managing social,
emotional, and behavioral health will be beneficial for students. Students that
live in poverty and/or have had one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
will benefit from learning positive and healthy coping mechanisms to prevent or
decrease the possibility of disease, disabilities, and social problems.
“The only thing worse than training your employees
and
having them leave
is not training them and having them stay.”
Henry Ford
The school day for online learning would also emulate
the workplace. The name of the online learning facility would have ‘Workforce
Development Center’ or other similar phrase added to the title. Every time the
name of the facility would be said it would highlight that the main goal would
be to develop students for the workforce. Students would complete an
application process that would include a cover letter, resume, references, and
an interview process. The interview team would involve a combination of career
advisors, current students, teachers, and/or administrators. Students at the
Workforce Development Center would be required to wear uniform clothing and
participate in drug testing. The drug testing would be required to enter the Workforce
Development Center as required by most jobs and random drug testing would occur
throughout the remainder of the child’s education at the online learning
facility. If a student has a negative drug test, then the student will enroll
in drug counseling with the cooperating local behavioral health agency to stop using
drugs. The students enrolled in the Workforce Development Center would be
separated in an organizational structure of small teams. Each team will be led
by a team leader and assistant team leader. Each student and team will have
progress goals for online assignments completed, skills learned at the internship,
hours of community service completed, attendance rates, and behaviors. The
students will create a portfolio that will include an updated resume,
certificates earned, and letters of recommendation and evaluations from
internships. The portfolio will be a guide for each student to monitor his/her
progress towards being a career ready graduate. Mentors, parents, teachers, and
school administrators will use the portfolio in discussion with each student.
“Developing skills is as important as training.
A larger effort is needed to create a skilled
workforce
with employment potential.”
M.M. Pallam Raju
Given that learning can be completed online, a
flexible schedule would be utilized to provide students with opportunities to
learn necessary job skills. For example, online learning can occur four out of
the five weekdays with the fifth day being utilized for an internship
opportunity, whole class field trip for physical education, community service,
or to explore a workplace environment. Any students interested in an
educational opportunity at the Workforce Development Center would plan to
complete the requirements of the program five days a week for all 52 weeks
during the year. Students would have the opportunity to earn ‘vacation time,’ ‘sick
leave,’ and ‘personal days’ similar to those earned at local employers.
Traditional brick and mortar schools occasionally have days off due to
inclement weather, teacher professional development, parent teacher
conferences. However, each student at the Workforce Development Center would be
provided with a personal device, therefore, online learning, internships, and
community service would occur even if local schools are not in session.
National holidays would be observed by the Workforce Development Center.
The Workforce Development Center would strictly be
utilized to develop job skills for students. The facility would not be used by
schools as a disciplinary consequence for inappropriate behaviors in the traditional
brick and mortar school. Students that struggle to follow the procedures and
policies of the traditional brick and mortar school would have the opportunity
to apply for enrollment at the Workforce Development Center and complete the application
process as positions (or seats) became available.
Through the collaboration of school, community, and
family, every child can learn the skills needed to be a responsible and
productive member of society that will grow and give back to the community and
future generations of children in the neighborhood.
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