Early in February, three Career & Technical Education (CTE) math teachers from Questar III BOCES presented at the 8th annual National Technology Centers that Work Leaders’ Forum in Charleston, South Carolina.
“This conference is an opportunity for representatives from Career and Technical Education programs from all over the country to get together and share ideas,” said Danielle Bouton-Wales, Director of CTE at Questar III.
The 2016 theme of the conference was “Linking CTE Pathways to Business and Industry.” It was an ideal symposium for Questar III integrated mathematics teachers Kristi Dannehy, Signe Knutson and Karyn Watt, who strive to focus on the most industry-relevant math concepts for the curricula of their respective high school CTE programs.
“Our integrated math teachers’ approaches to the math instruction in our CTE programs answers the age-old question that students often have: ‘Where am I ever going to use this?’” Bouton-Wales noted. “Participants at the session were excited to see our teachers make math accessible and applicable for the students by utilizing the career area that the students are studying.”
During the two-hour “deep dive” session titled “Integrating Math in CTE through Project-based Learning,” Dannehy, Knutson and Watt presented projects and lessons from their work with Questar’s Automotive Technology, Criminal Justice and HVAC/R (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning/Renewable Energies) programs. They also showcased student work.
The session was attended by CTE math and program teachers from various states and regions, bringing Questar III’s initiative of being a learning organization to a much broader stage. The goal of the deep dive sessions is to prepare teachers to return to their classrooms with the tools they need to implement key improvement strategies.
Additionally, the self-titled “Calculadies” highlighted the collaborative and embedded nature of the integrated teachers’ work with the program teachers, further emphasizing the links between industry and CTE curricula that help the integrated math teachers draw out the concepts that need to be taught. These co-teaching CTE and integrated teams then “pull out the math embedded within the CTE curricula and make it engaging, authentic, rigorous and fun for the students,” according to the presenters.
The integrated math teachers meet monthly with Questar III’s School Improvement math coach, Heidi Bromley, and together these “Calculadies” plan challenging and relevant math applications for the different CTE programs.
