Alaska ACTE Professional Development Conference
NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT
President’s Letter
Professional development for CTE educators helps build high-quality CTE programs. Innovations emerge when we have the time and space to learn and share ideas with colleagues and industry partners. Please plan to attend on Monday, October 2nd and Tuesday October 3rd at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage for the two-day CTE professional development conference. A consistent request of attendees is to have hands-on and interactive experiences, so we have brought back our teaching and learning pre and post conference activities on Sunday October 1st and Wednesday October 4th. The Alaska ACTE provides an energetic conference covering four days of connecting, learning, and networking!
There will be dynamic keynote speakers, breakout sessions, hands on pre and post conferences workshops and tours, panel presentations and plenary sessions to fill the four days with many learning opportunities, and plenty of networking time to connect with your peers and peruse the many vendors that will be participating in the expo.
If you or someone you know would be interested in providing a breakout session on any of these topic areas, best practices, teaching and learning strategies, or leadership for educators and administrators, please submit a proposal at this link NLT September 1.
The annual awards luncheon to honor excellence in Career and Technical Education (CTE) is back this year as well. Please consider nominating a colleague for this noteworthy recognition.
We look forward to seeing you in October to learn together and strengthen the delivery of CTE to support Alaska’s future!
Kern McGinley, President
KEYNOTE SPEAKER & ACTE PRESIDENT
People: Whether with Zoom or “In the Room,” we elevate communication.
For thirty years, Terry has inspired and encouraged educators from Guam to Florida and Montana to Texas. He is more than an entertaining conference speaker. He is a person of vast life experiences and a love for people. He has taught communication, People Connectors, to thousands of educators.
Having traveled to thirty-seven states and twenty-six countries, Terry understands people, diversity, and change. He is a careful student of human actions and interactions, as well as a voracious reader.
For ten years, he wrote a monthly leadership column for the San Antonio Business Journal. He is the author of six books, including People Connectors: Elevating Communication for Educators.
As a conference speaker Terry’s uniqueness is his ability to connect with audiences through empathy, authenticity, an enthusiastic sense of humor and lots of practical takeaways. He reminds audiences that we have to connect before people want to listen to and learn from us. His approach is practical and captivating!
Clients say: “Terry’s Practical People Connectors message is timely in this world where, with technology, we are more connected than we’ve ever been before and yet we’re more disconnected. His message brought laugher, tears and at times put chills on my arms.” – Mark Branger, Executive Director, Montana ACTE “Your targeted, yet gentle, discussion about trust, respect, communication and consistency was an excellent choice for the ‘leadership’ focused day on the program. Thanks for hitting the mark (at Region V conference).” – Nancy J. Trivette, ACTE/BOD, Past President “Terry was encouraging, positive, filled with humor, and he truly connected with the attendees…an uplifting message.” – Michelle Chiles-Fourcoy, Chief of Staff, Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE)
For more information about Terry and People Connectors go to www.terrysumerlin.com
ACTE Past President, Scott Stone
Scott Stone, ACTE Past President, is a 25 year high school Ag Teacher from Centralia, MO. He and wife, who is an at-risk educator, reside on a small family farm with their three children. Stone has a passion for helping students find their calling in life and providing the tools necessary to achieve those goals. Stone is a product of CTE having been a member of both FBLA and FFA while in high school. Another passion of Stone’s is making sure we have quality educators in all of our CTE programs while providing the support teachers need to be successful in and outside the classroom.
PRE & POST CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES
Pre Conference Session A: Tour of UAA CTC
Take a tour of the University of Alaska Anchorage Community and Technical College Aviation Technology, Automotive, and Transportation and Power Division and learn about how your students can benefit from enrollment in these programs after high school. Meet the subject matter expert faculty members and talk with them about their programs and how you can better prepare your students for success at UAA CTC.
Tour is limited to 15 participants. Bus departs Hotel Captain Cook at 8:45 and returns at noon.
Pre Conference Session B: Integrating Writing into Your CTE Course
Are apprenticeships the defining feature of CTE? What is the major factor causing the CTE teacher shortage? Do CTE courses look good on a college application? Is CTE funding adequate?
- What do all of these questions have in common? They all require a respondent to take a stand and make an argument for a position. This is the basis of argumentative writing, often required in business, industry, and careers. For example, an architect or engineer must make a sound argument for the structural design and cost of a bridge; a health care worker may see a need for in-person versus telemedicine services; a welder must convince a client to support a safer but more costly repair; and a commercial fisherman might need to develop a convincing case to influence industry regulations.
- Argumentative writing fits naturally into CTE instruction because of the opportunity to use authentic examples and situations related to the CTE course. It is also a skill sought after by employers. In fact, potential employees often must demonstrate their argumentative writing skill via their application and interview.
- The Writing and Revising Interventions to Excel (WRITE) workshop will offer a professional development opportunity for CTE educators to learn how to effectively integrate writing into their curriculum to help bolster student success after graduation from high school. This workshop will provide teachers with a coherent instructional framework that improves their writing instruction and the writing products of students at all ability levels.
- The WRITE project is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Education to the Arctic Slope Community Foundation who has partnered with Accessible Teaching Learning & Assessment Systems (ATLAS) at the University of Kansas. WRITE has a specific goal to create instructional resources and provide training for CTE teachers to incorporate writing into their own curriculum.
- Workshop attendees will receive a 500-level university credit for participation. Educators who attend the session will have an option to earn another 500-level credit and a stipend for implementing argumentative writing strategies into their own instruction in appropriate and authentic ways. and participating in the WRITE project implementation research. Coaching will be available for educators who agree to try out the WRITE argumentative writing resources with students.
Pre Conference Session C: Coding in Minecraft
Coding in Minecraft’ is an immersive, easy-to-teach and standards-aligned CS curriculum that is FREE for all public schools in Alaska.
In this workshop, come learn how to leverage ‘Coding in Minecraft’s’ Computer Science aligned curriculum and the familiar world of Minecraft Education to help your students’ progress from the basics of using MakeCode to advanced coding with JavaScript or Python.
You will get hands-on with our curriculum and leave ready to bring ‘Coding in Minecraft’ to your students – all at no cost!
For this workshop you will need to bring a device with Minecraft Education installed.
Pre Conference Session D: Curriculum Building for Ag in CTE
Middle School X-AgXplore (AgX) takes middle school students through an exploration of the daily impact of agriculture over 60 days of instruction.This course introduces students to the plants, resources, energy, and animals we use and consume due to agricultural technologies CASE, 2023.)
This is an Introduction to AFNR and Careers in and parallels to food security , subsistence and Sustainable practices in Agriculture, Environmental Stewardship and Natural Resources.
Teachers may need a personal Gmail account, to set up Google classroom.
Pre Conference Session E: CTSO Chapter Learning Academy
This workshop will give you all the tools necessary to be a successful chapter advisor. The first part of the day will be devoted to learning about chapter structures and activities to keep students engaged and thriving. Developing a thriving CTSO in rural Alaska can be difficult, this workshop will deal directly with the challenges with innovative and creative program engineering. There will be lots of networking opportunities to learn from chapter advisors from around the state. The second part of the day will deal with fundraising. The cost of everything is going up and no one has time to do fundraisers that will only generate small amounts of money. We will be looking at fundraising on a larger scale so you can use your time working with your students!
Post Conference Session A: Integrating Writing into Your CTE course
Are apprenticeships the defining feature of CTE? What is the major factor causing the CTE teacher shortage? Do CTE courses look good on a college application? Is CTE funding adequate?
- What do all of these questions have in common? They all require a respondent to take a stand and make an argument for a position. This is the basis of argumentative writing, often required in business, industry, and careers. For example, an architect or engineer must make a sound argument for the structural design and cost of a bridge; a health care worker may see a need for in-person versus telemedicine services; a welder must convince a client to support a safer but more costly repair; and a commercial fisherman might need to develop a convincing case to influence industry regulations.
- Argumentative writing fits naturally into CTE instruction because of the opportunity to use authentic examples and situations related to the CTE course. It is also a skill sought after by employers. In fact, potential employees often must demonstrate their argumentative writing skill via their application and interview.
- The Writing and Revising Interventions to Excel (WRITE) workshop will offer a professional development opportunity for CTE educators to learn how to effectively integrate writing into their curriculum to help bolster student success after graduation from high school. This workshop will provide teachers with a coherent instructional framework that improves their writing instruction and the writing products of students at all ability levels.
- The WRITE project is funded by a grant from the United States Department of Education to the Arctic Slope Community Foundation who has partnered with Accessible Teaching Learning & Assessment Systems (ATLAS) at the University of Kansas. WRITE has a specific goal to create instructional resources and provide training for CTE teachers to incorporate writing into their own curriculum.
- Workshop attendees will receive a 500-level university credit for participation. Educators who attend the session will have an option to earn another 500-level credit and a stipend for implementing argumentative writing strategies into their own instruction in appropriate and authentic ways. and participating in the WRITE project implementation research. Coaching will be available for educators who agree to try out the WRITE argumentative writing resources with students.
Post Conference Session B Tour of Covey Academy
Tour of Covey Academy – Covey Academy is the state-of-the-art education and employment facility and program for Covenant House Alaska.
We have 19 micro units where students can stay while they are attending training and/or working with staff on their educational and employment goals. The academy also features a commercial kitchen, training rooms, and simulators (CDL, Boat, Flight, Heavy Equipment and VR) for career exploration opportunities.
Tour is limited to 15 participants. Bus departs Hotel Captain Cook at 8:45 and returns at noon.
Post Conference Session C: Maritime Tours and Career Exploration for CTE Professionals
Maritime Works has arranged a tour and a maritime career exploration day for CTE professionals. The day will include engaging tours and hands-on learning to discover exciting career opportunities in Maritime, Fisheries, and Seafood Harvesting.
The session includes:
- Interactive tours of maritime operators and employers in the Anchorage area including a tour of Copper River Seafoods processing plant and the Port of Alaska in Anchorage.
- Engaging and informative presentations by maritime professionals about opportunities in the field.
- Sponsored brunch with opportunity to network with maritime industry professionals.
Learning Objective: This session will allow educators and CTE professionals to see first-hand the array of excellent career opportunities available to students in maritime. Many of these careers promise adventure and travel, great pay, and career advancement on-the-job. By giving educators the information about these careers and the “how tos” to access training, these opportunities will be made more accessible to rural and urban Alaskan students.
Tour is limited to 20 participants. Bus departs Hotel Captain Cook at 9:30AM and returns at 4:00PM.
REGISTRATION - Attendees, Exhibitors, Sponsors
Attendees, Exhibitors, and Sponsors may register at this link:
HOTEL INFORMATION
HOTEL REGISTRATION Alaska Association for Career and Technical Education
Group Code: AKACTE23
AWARD NOMINATIONS
Each year the Alaska Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Board of Directors recognizes the outstanding work of the CTE professionals in Alaska through the annual award nomination process. Nominated by their peers, the recipients will be announced and celebrated at the October 2nd and 3rd, 2023, Alaska ACTE State Professional Development Conference.
Individuals, groups, or teams are eligible for recognition in the following six categories:
1. CTE Teacher of the Year
2. NEW CTE Teacher of the Year
3. CTE Leadership Award (may or may not be a professional educator)
4. Community Service Award (may or may not be a professional educator)
5. Counseling and Career Development Award
6. Innovative Program Award (may or may not be a professional educator)
A complete nomination package includes:
1. The name of the person (if a team or program, identify ONE individual representative)
2. The category of the award.
3. THREE letters of recommendation. (uploaded to this site)
Use this form to submit a nomination package no later than Wednesday, September 20, 2023.
Questions: contact Andrea Wade andrea.wade@k12northstar.org
UNIVERSITY CREDIT & CEU HOURS AVAILABLE
The Department of Education & Early Development is offering a Continuing Education Credit (CEU) for attendees that complete 15 hours of seat time for the conference. The regular conference is not enough hours, so attendees will need to do at least one following to reach 15 hours;
a – attend the pre-conference on Sunday,
b – attend the AKEE Mixer on Monday October 2 after the conference day,
c – attend the post conference on Wednesday, or
d – complete a profile on the Alaska Education Exchange (AKEE) and post 2 lessons to share.
Look for the link at the conference.