Students in Firefighting Course Experience "Live Burn"

Students in the CATEC Firefighting Course took part in a "live burn" today at the Charlottesville City/Albemarle County Joint Training Facility near Monticello. This was a culminating event from their semester long training for their basic firefighting program that they take daily at CATEC. 

This was an exciting experience for the students as they were able to enter a burning building (a controlled fire) and perform the steps necessary through a variety of simulations including a search and rescue operation.  As the Principal, I was able to witness this experience first hand by "suiting-up" with all the equipment and taking part in the live burn myself. I gained a greater appreciation for the work that our career and volunteer fire and rescue personnel take part in on a daily basis. I also applaud the high school students for their effort in tackling the challenges of this course.

I commend Captain Bobby Elliott of the Charlottesville City Fire Department and his staff for all the work they do for our kids and the opportunities and doors that are open through these experiences.  This truly is authentic school work at it's best.

Something to be thankful for...

Dear CATEC Family,

As I sit at my desk finishing up some odds and ends before leaving for the Thanksgiving break I wanted to share some thoughts about things I am thankful for.

First, I am very thankful to and for the group of dedicated individuals I work with.  The teachers and teaching assistants at CATEC are charged with creating meaningful, authentic, and engaging lessons and asked to be extraordinarily flexible each and every day.  This is no small challenge and our staff meets it head on.  Most simply stated, I am thankful for our teaching staff that work so hard and care so much. 

I am thankful for the students.  Our students have made a choice to be at CATEC and a commitment to their futures.  This type of decision is a mature one and, as we look at the success of many of our CATEC graduates, one that leads to opportunities after high school.  I can assure you that the young people at CATEC challenge us, occasionally frustrate us, but never cease to amaze us ...particularly with their energy and their abilities.

I am also thankful to the individuals who work in our front office at CATEC.  Kindness, professionalism, and highly skilled are among the many praises that come to mind when I think of these individuals who serve and support our staff and students.  Often these positions do not receive the recognition they deserve, today I want to make sure I personally say thank you.

I decided to write this blog after, over the last several days, seeing our Culinary Arts students and staff prepare and deliver hundreds of pounds of turkey, an equal amount of stuffing, potatoes, yams, and green beans as well as countless pies.  I am impressed by, and thankful for, the performance of the Culinary Arts team in serving so many meals to our community.  What I am most thankful for is the spirit in which this task was accomplished.  We saw students staying late, coming early, and taking on tasks that challenged them to be excellent.  We saw Chef Bressan working to exhaustion, yet continuing to serve as both chef and instructor.  We saw students and staff from other programs join with Culinary Arts to form an even stronger, more efficient team.  We saw that team truly experience and conquer "real world" challenges and expectations.  I am thankful to work in a place where I can see such things happen on a regular basis.

Please know that though that Thanksgiving and our Culinary Arts students are deservedly in the spotlight today, there are many other such opportunities to shine for all of our programs throughout the year.  Teamwork, customer service, meeting deadlines, working under pressure, and delivering what is promised are each specific skills that employers are looking for in new employees.  Having observed Chef Bressan and his student support staff, and knowing they represent what we do at CATEC, I feel good about the skills our students are demonstrating and the work ethic they have demonstrated.  In short, CATEC is truly a place to be thankful for.

Finally, after all this writing, I am quite thankful that it will soon be time to go and eat some pie!

Sincerely,

Mr. Mountjoy

So many too choose from!

Let the Tours Begin!

Every year CATEC opens its doors to all the 8th grade students in Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville.  Each middle school gets the opportunity to bring their 8th graders over to CATEC to take a tour of the building and get a glimpse into all of our programs.  Students get a good idea of the training requirements for each program area, and the career opportunities that are available in each profession. Tours occur once a month, starting in October and ending in April.  Click here to see a slideshow of images from the Burley Middle School Tour.

Students Connect with Community

CATEC students in the Culinary Arts Program at CATEC prepare a meal for the Charlottesville Senior Center. CATEC has partnered with the Senior Center over the past several years to provide lunchtime catering on a monthly basis. Not only do the students get a change to enhance their culinary skills but they also learn the value of giving back and contributing to the good of their own community......NICE!

Students in several CATEC programs were engaged today in activities that have significance to the futures and to their community.

CATEC students in Auto Tech and Auto Body were part of a presentaton today by the Universiity of Northwestern Ohio.  UNOH,  a 4 year school located in Lima, Ohio, has programs designed specifically to serve students interested in pursuing careers in various automotive industries.  Several former CATEC students have continued their academic and vocational training at UNOH.   Today marks the start of CATEC's tenth annual Auto Body/Auto Tech Career Week.  Students will meet representatives from various trades and schools today through Friday as they explore the possibilities that available to them beyond high school. 

Culinary Arts students were also very busy.  Student chefs spent much of today preparing a meal that will be served to CATEC's Joint Board tomorrow evening.   Representatives from both City and County school boards as well as principals, guidance counselors, and various community members will experience the talents of our Culinary Arts students first hand on Tuesday as part of the annual gathering of the Joint Board.  These students are doing a great job of walking the walk and we look forward to sampling the fare Tuesday evening.

A Lesson in Energy Conservation

Eric Gilchrist, LEAP

This week the Building Trades II students learned how good building practices can lead to major benefits in energy conservation.  Eric Gilchrist, from the Local Energy Alliance Program LEAP,  visited the classroom to talk to the students about how they can do their part to conserve energy, not only at their own homes, but in all the homes they will be building in the future. They discussed changes that can be made in existing structures, and practices to follow when building new construction.  The students were also made aware of the new job opportunites that are being created by this effort to conserve energy and water.  For more information on how you can join this movement and make your own home more energy efficient, click here to visit the LEAP website.

Community Courses Mix With Student Learning

Being in a Technical High School has its advantages. Other than the relevancy of the work we do within our programs, is the opportunity to connect with community members in that particular trade.

As an example, the local community offers a "guest chef" series to adults in the area, typically once a month, centered on a specific cuisine. While these mini-lessons could be offered in the evening, instead they are offered during the day time when our high school students are in session.  Not only will community members benefit from these instructional series but so will our high school students who are learning WITH adults.

See below......

Teacher Training- GoogleDocs

Every other week, as part of our school-wide technology training, faculty and staff spend 45 minutes working on the innovative technology that helps with student engagement and student learning. Today's training was centered on GoogleDocs. Teachers will utilize a GoogleDoc with their students and report back in two weeks on their progress.

Several ideas that the teachers have come up with to try over the next few weeks are:

• One student takes notes during a lecture and shares it with other students to later edit or add value at another time, links, etc
• A collaborative group project with 2 or 3 kids working on one specific part.
• A teacher prompt that allows students to reflect on a previous assignment
• A research project where students can collaborate.
• Our entrepreneurship plans that students create that allow to share with mentors to review.

So, how do you use GoogleDocs? Cloud computing is here to stay and it's important that we create these opportunities with our students.

Community Partnerships At Work

Thursday, September 23 was the ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the Patriot Pride Branch at Albemarle High School. The Patriot Pride Branch is the result of a partnership between Albemarle County Public Schools and the UVA Community Credit Union. It is designed to benefit the young people in the community by promoting good financial citizenship.

CATEC was fortunate to partner with this project by having our Building Trades students build the cabinets and countertops for the branch.  Thanks to Jim Coyner, CATEC Building Trades instructor and our students, the branch has a great design and look for operation.

The grounds around CATEC have a fresh look now thanks to the efforts of the Day of Caring volunteers from UVA Procurement Services.  Eight volunteers worked tirelessly completing various landscaping projects to beautify our campus.  They mulched, planted, trimmed, weeded and cleaned debris from various areas on the grounds.  Their time and efforts were greatly appreciated by the faculty, staff, and students at CATEC.    Thanks UVA Procurement Services volunteers! 

Walking the Talk with Technology in Schools

Walking the Talk with Technology

Everyone has heard of the saying, if you Talk the Talk you must Walk the Walk.  We’ve modified that at CATEC this year to say simply….Walk the Talk.

Today as part of our bi-monthly Tech Tuesday, our faculty and staff meet to review and get hands-on practice with tech tools to enhance teaching and learning at the school.  Today we focused on the use of GoogleDocs, using Excel-like spreadsheets, to provide both a form for teacher goal setting and a form for tracking student performance in each program.  After our 45 minute session this morning our teachers (who have been working on Goggledocs for over a year) were able to use these documents and share with others.

Not only will our faculty and staff be using this method of reporting for tracking personal and student progress but they will also be creating GoogleDoc sharing opportunities for their students. These ideas will be worked on until our next meeting in two weeks. 

All of our data analysis work this year will be in the form of PDSA which stands for Plan, Do, Study, Act. For student progress checks, the teachers have provided info on the Study to start (how are kids doing) and have now developed an ACT (what can we do to help). This info is also shared with other resource personnel to have more of a collaborative team to assist the student who may be struggling.

Lastly, today we also had teachers assign a student as a Tech Leader in each program area. This student will start by getting training in the use of a FlipCamera and filming a process or demonstration in the classroom. Our hope is that they will be able to train others students and assist the teacher in providing a new means of capturing and learning at CATEC.

One step further along in Walking the Talk.

Guest Speaker Monday at CATEC

Today's guest speaker in Cosmetology was Donna Darrington of Infinity Barber & Beauty Salon in Richmond.  Ms. Darrington also represents Avlon Industries, a leading beauty supplier.  Today's engaging presentation dealt with hair coloring, pigmentation, and the science associated with correct color matching.

Engagement Level- Clear Modeled Expectations

What does engagement look like in a classroom at CATEC? Check out the students in our Firefighting/EMT course thsi morning. An AUTHENTIC example of clear/modeled expectations as students review protocol for both equipment and procedures on a call. NICE!

Real-Life Work in Schools

The image above is from a Friday walkthrough of our AutoBody Class.  Authentic work in action.

Dental Gets a Visit

As we start to post various "happenings" at the school, you will notice the tons of authentic opportunities our students have to connect with business partners in the area. Here our Dental Assistant class gets a visit from a local Dentist explaining the intricacies of making dental impressions.  Very Cool.......

Welcome Inside CATEC

Several weeks ago I was walking the halls of CATEC with a local contractor. While we walking towards our meeting inside the school I asked the gentleman how long had he been in the Charlottesville, Albemarle area. "All my life" he replied. "So how many times have you been in CATEC?" I asked....... I was surprised at his response, "Well, this is actually the first time."

Unfortunately, our visitor's sentiment is the same as many in our area. So instead of sending out post cards and personal invitations to come into our school (which you are always welcome to do, by the way).....WE ARE COMING TO YOU.  Throughout the entire school year we will be featuring, not just the "big splash" events that happen at our school but we will feature the everyday teaching and learning that exists.

We are doing some wonderful things in our school and our students and teachers are at the core of this work. We're not going to keep them a secret any longer. So subscribe to our blog, and prepare to step into our world of learning.