Artspiration – Santa Clara County Arts Initiative

The Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Career Technical Education Department (CTE) embarked this week on the road to more articulated arts and media.  The work is taking place courtesy of a grant from the California Department of Education. 

“Professional learning communities” (PLC) are all the buzz in education these days, with groups of educators gathering with an established set of norms to work towards the improvement of student achievement. For some, the communities focus on professional reads. For others, its about gathering and discussing topics relevant to the group. In this instance, the PLC emphasizes networking amongst more than a dozen Santa Clara County CTE teachers. This specific group will meet monthly this year to share ideas and learn together and from each other on predetermined topics, all of which are designed to strengthen the already high standards and performance of CTE programs. 

A few of the topics slated for this year include A-G graduation requirements, Adobe Youth Voices trainings, professional webpage design, the latest and greatest in classroom technology that will function in classrooms with minimal technology access, and aligning CTE and arts/media courses to various state standards.

Shared Alyssa Lynch, Director of CTE, “This PLC is all about what topics the teachers want to cover that will best support and expand their skills and learning.”  Jeff Schmidt, a teacher participant from the Central County Occupational Center, told fellow participants, “I’m just looking forward to working and talking with other teachers. Our jobs are lonely. There aren’t a lot of people in the valley teaching what we do.”

Further work in CTE will be presented at the 2nd Annual CTE Conference slated for Friday, October 26th at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. This year’s theme is “Creating 21st Century Career Choices for all Students” and the keynote will be led by Jim Brazell, a national consultant on STEM. Brazell will discuss moving from the “why” to the “how” for integration of CTE into the arts and academics. For more information about the Arts & Media PLC, contact Alyssa at alyssa_lynch@sccoe.org