Up to start the day at 6 a.m. after going to sleep at 1 a.m. Boy do students love to be in a hotel room away from students. We did have a productive night. Our president had a great agenda put together for the day and we got through most of it (the rest we will conquer later).
Today started with a breakfast buffet provided with the registration (it was yummy lots of fresh fruit). Then into the opening session. We were there for the session and watched students interact and then it was off to a meeting with just the business teachers.
Our DPI Consultant Jen Wegner is a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic supporter of education. She brought to our meeting some great resources. Our meeting started by talking about the current condition of business departments in the state due to the decrease in funding and that a majority of our courses are not required for graduation. That lead into Jen's first handout which was pulled together by another content area and was modified for Business & Information Technology (B&IT), Programs in Peril. One of the biggest steps is to be Pro-Active, develop your professional support networks, be involved in district planning, and understand student motivation and interest. There are 15 points on this document and as a non required teacher it really makes you think about your job and role in the entire education setting.
Then we covered the calendar for the upcoming year. There were already lots of professional learning opportunities this July but still even more to come this school year. Wisconsin Business Education Association (WBEA) and DPI are teaming to offering spring updates. They will be offered in 6 different locations around the state of Wisconsin and I made sure I got the date on my calendar to attend the one in Green Bay. 2011-2012 B&IT Calendar
Since the state of Wisconsin is in such peril for funding in for education every dollar is scrutinized and we discussed the use of the Career Technical Education (CTE) website which offers facts and data on the importance of all CTE (Ag, FACE, Tech Ed, and Business) Here is a great video with highlighting the importance of all CTE
Next we discussed the changing role of accounting in high school. Do we teach accounting as it is in college or do we give an exposure to the area and then let them learn more at their high educational institutions. Have a career research piece is important so students know all of the areas that they can do with accounting. I am going to add more pieces to my course this year. I have also made connections at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) with having transcripted and articulated credit. But the rules and regulations are constantly changing and it is hard to keep up with their changing rules.
We then covered dates and important changes for Wisconsin Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). Have a state officer and working on the state conference planning committee I was already aware of many of these changes but still thinking about how to implement and have my local chapter have a successful year.
We then came to the sharing time. OK, I admit I forgot to bring anything. I will blame it on being at the lake for the 2 weeks prior to attending. Michelle McGlynn and Jan Imhoff provided some great resources on classroom activities and Paul from Pulaski gave some handouts on running a school store. Other great discussion was had about activities. I always love hearing ideas and getting motivated for the school year.
The afternoon was left for us to work on projects. I set up all of our officers with a gmail account and next I will be creating a calendar to share with the accounts so they know dates and responsibilities.
We left the Dells around 3:30 and drove home around 6. So 12 hours on this great day of work. The drive home students were energized and discussed ideas and projects for the year. Watch out FBLA already has their homecoming float idea.
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