Amanda Wichman

I'm finding ways to strengthen my partnerships and expand WBL experiences to lower grades.

ICAPs are an extended version of what I'm already doing. I have students work through activities in the Montana CIS, and each year when we discuss scheduling for the following school year, I work through a planning document with them. I will be changing that document to be more comprehensive and show students the way their plans and interests have evolved over the years.

This module reinforces what I'm already doing and helps me think about how I can expand.

Having the different visuals to share with my students will help all of us remain accountable, and students will have more ways to connect their skills to their future plans.

It's important to refresh our memories on the definitions and reasons why we offer WBL in our classes.

Many good ideas for communicating with employers have come from this module. I look forward to working on orientation plans and a manual for my cooperating supervisors.

I've taken notes on ways to improve my program. I will flesh out my training agreement better, include specific professional skills on my evaluations, and figure out how to conduct site visits.

I am excited about the idea of a PR campaign - I plan to do a service learning project with each grade level, work with elementary teachers to include career awareness activities, create a WBL page on our website, and start social media pages for my WBL/all CTE programs and have the kids help me share our program goals.

My need to work with community members, business owners, my Perkins Advisory Committee, and my school board was definitely reinforced in this module. I can garner support for when I experience some backlash from other teachers who view WBL as kids just not wanting to take in-person classes.

My biggest takeaway is that WBL experiences designed with INTENTION go so far beyond a simple school-to-work job during school hours. These experiences can start in elementary school and expand as kids get older. This course is sparking a desire to work more with younger students to set a better WBL tone and culture within the school so that when kids get to be juniors and seniors, it's not a surprise that there is more to WBL than simply leaving school to work a couple hours.