My Future? Carol M. Hotlz Yuba County Career Preparatory Charter School

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Yuba County Career Preparatory Charter School 1104 “E” Street Marysville, CA My name is Carol Holtz and I am the principal of a career orientated charter school. The school enrolls students in grades kindergarten through grade 12. Many of our students are considered to be at-risk. Most of the school follows an independent study model with much support available on site. We also have a growing number of career orientated high school classrooms (Construction, Automotive, Business, Technology, and Leadership) that engage students in hands- on learning all day long. This project was meant to help the seniors in my school complete one of their graduation requirements. You can find my web page at My is: yuba.net

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology My Future? The tiny acorn is predestined to be a mighty oak tree. It may undergo hardships and changes, but if properly nourished, it will endure and flourish. It never has to think about its future. We, however, must plan. We also have the option of changing our plan whenever we like. The better we are able to plan; the quicker we get to our goals. Take an adventure - define yourself - define your plan.

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? The Lesson This lesson was designed to help the seniors form goals for their future after high school. The students are so intent on receiving their diploma, they do not take the time to plan what they are going to do next. This lesson helps them to explore the possibilities. Some have an idea of what they want to, but change their plan after they do some exploration. Others know where they want to end up, but they do not know how to get there. This lesson is meant to give them the skills to do career research now and later in life.

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Expectations How to effectively use technology in lessons Create a lesson that would be useful Learn how to make a web page Share ideas with others

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Actual Learning How to use Front Page How to integrate technology with lessons Created a useful web page Ideas from other teachers in class

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Reflection on Success Students enjoyed using resources Students having more realistic career goals Students compose written business communications Students identified steps for setting goals and wrote personal goals Students learned to use a variety of resources

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Reflection on Success (cont.) Students learned how to create word documents Students made connections between education and career fields Anxiety level while doing project was decreased

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Shortcomings Students had difficulty using Power Point Some students had limited time to use computers because of jobs, or family duties Internet downtimes affected the ability to do research

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Student Data Most of the student projects are not complete because they are not due until the end of school. Overall the students are doing much better at finding and citing sources as well as in the general format of their finished work. The physical project was not stressed as much this year, but students were more actively involved in job shadowing and interviews instead.

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Data Analysis (projected figures) data not available Students wrote better essays with technology help Students had better résumé, job applications, and cover letters with examples readily available Presentation skills need to improve Project was not emphasized this year

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Resulting Changes (possible ratings)

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Conclusion I learned very much about how to integrate technology with lessons. I enjoyed working in Front Page. One of the things I did not expect to see happen was the degree to which the student work improved over last year. The other thing that had surprising results was the realistic goal setting that the students did. Usually the students chose career goals and have no plan on how to go about attaining those goals, but with the integration of technology resources, the students refined their goals and are excited about starting to move toward those goals.

CTAP 295 Teaching With Technology Carol M. Holtz Yuba County Career Preparatory School MY FUTURE? Conclusion I look forward to adding career based projects for all levels of students in my school. The students enjoyed doing the project, and did not seem to be threatened by it.