Congratulations to Valley Springs Elementary. The Newest National Model PLC at Work School. We are proud of your accomplishments!!
OUR Co-op had the privilege of hosting Congressman Rick Crawford and area administrators with the focus of the afternoon providing opportunity for conversation between the Congressman and officials from OUR Co-op district personnel.
OUR Co-op recently hosted a training for school board members. The session was presented by APSRC and provided required information for board members.
On Wednesday, OUR Co-op hosted a session on Texthelp presented by Evan Beavers from DESE. Texthelp consists of a suite of tools which are being made available to every student in Arkansas to help increse student acheivement in reading and mathematics.
OUR Co-op hosted a Fall Principals' Meeting during which updates on a variety of topics were provided.
🌟 Exploring Careers Like Never Before with Virtual Reality! 🌟
CTE Coordinator, Emilee Tucker took virtual reality headsets to the Ozark Mountain business classroom to provide 7th - 12th grade students a glimpse into a world of diverse career possibilities 🌐🎮
With these VR headsets, students can:
🔍 "Tour" different facilities and workplaces in a virtual world.
👩⚕️ Experience assisting with knee surgery.
🚑 Respond to a simulated car crash.
🛠️ Rebuild a destroyed communication tower.
☀️ Install solar panels on a home.
🔥 Weld a broken assembly line, and so much more!
At the end of each simulation, data is collected on student interests in these careers. 📊 (data remains aggregated at the school level and students do not provide their name or any other sensitive information)
This data will be linked to each school and shared by Mrs. Tucker with local industries and the Chamber of Commerce. 💼💡 It's all about targeted career pipeline planning to shape our future workforce!
It's worth highlighting that OUR Co-Op achieved recognition last year in the area of VR Career Exploration. 🌟 Among the 15 co-ops in the state, OUR secured the #1 ranking in "Started SIMS" and #2 position in "Total Number of Unique Users by Site." 🏆 We are committed to ensuring all students have ample opportunities to explore diverse career paths!
Keep an eye out for future updates as the VR headsets journey to other schools within the OUR Co-Op area! 🚀 #OUR #CTE #ArCTE #VirtualReality #CareerExploration #FutureLeaders #InnovationInTheClassroom
Our Early Childhood Coordinator, Cindy Lambe and Assistant HIPPY Coordinator, Gayle Slape hosted a meeting of the HIPPY/PAT Advisory Board . We value the input and collaboration received from the individuals and agencies that participate and support our early childhood programs throughout the year. Agencies represented were HFA:Circle of Life/Northark, Educational Opportunity Center/Northark, U of A Snap Ed, U of A Boone County Extension Service, Ozark Opportunities/Headstart, ADA/Forestry Division, Hope Cottages, Mt. Judea School, ADE/First Connections.
🔒 Stay secure this October! 🚨 The Arkansas CIRT (Cyber Incident Response Team) wants you to know these 4 essential actions to protect yourself and your district during Cybersecurity Awareness Month: 1️⃣ Create strong passwords 2️⃣ Enable multifactor authentication 3️⃣ Spot and report phishing attempts 4️⃣ Keep your software up to date. For more information or cybersecurity resources, contact your ESC’s Technology Coordinator. #CybersecurityAwareness #StaySafeOnline
Our CTE Coordinator, Emilee Tucker, continues to make significant strides in the field of education and workforce development. Emilee recently attended the NWAEDD Business Services/One-Stop Operator meeting, where discussions revolved around economic development, sector planning, and regional partnership strategies.
Mrs. Tucker has been appointed to the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District Workforce Development Board, where she now serves as the chair of the Youth Committee.
📚 The Youth Committee has some inspiring initiatives in the pipeline:
🗓️ On October 17th, there's a youth career fair conference at OUR Co-Op, aimed at empowering at-risk seniors.
📆 On October 26th, another conference is set to take place in NWA, targeting Benton County. Again, it's focused on guiding at-risk seniors towards promising career opportunities.
But that's not all! In the spring, the same students will be invited back to both locations for a second conference. This time, they'll engage in mock interviews and receive guidance on employment opportunities upon graduation.
Stay tuned for more updates as these initiatives unfold!
#OUR #OURCTE #CTE #BetterTogether #Education #YouthDevelopment #CareerOpportunities #NWAEDD #Partnerships
Celebrating the success of Workforce Initiative Network (WIN) Leadership Academy Session #1! 🎉👏 A big thank you to all attendees for their active participation in this afterhours session. Together, we're forging stronger connections between educators and industry partners to empower student success. 🌟 #WINLeadershipAcademy #EducationAndIndustry #CTE #SuccessInSession1 #HarrisonRegionalChamberofCommerce #Wabash #Partnerships
Schools with educators in WLA this year:
- Alpena (Ginger Armington, FACS)
- Berryville (Cassie Swofford, Counselor)
- Deer/Mt. Judea (Nathan Windel, Science - Keith Perkins, Agriculture)
- Flippin (Kelvin Hudson, Superintendent - Vicki Hurst, Counselor)
- Green Forest (Charlsie Polk, Career Development)
- Harrison (Micaela Fitts, FACS - Will Potts, Business - Kelly Regan, Career Coach - Ashley Massengale - Career Coach)
- Kingston (Angelia Mueller, Librarian & Parental Engagement)
- Marshall (Janet Seymore, FACS)
- Omaha (Mary Arnold, Counselor)
- Ozark Mountain (Melissa Smith, Business)
- Valley Springs (Scarlet Williams, Counselor)
Emilee Tucker, OUR CTE Coordinator, and Gordon Eichelberger, DCTE ESC Regional Specialist & Pathways Coordinator, are on a mission to enhance the partnership between DCTE and our local schools. They've already made visits to seven schools and will cover them all before the Fall semester ends. This statewide initiative ensures stronger connections in CTE and allows best practices to be shared across the state!
During these visits, several noteworthy achievements came to light:
1. Marshall High School witnessed remarkable enhancements to its Agriculture program under the guidance of Andrew Hendrix, the new Agriculture Teacher.
2. Jasper High School proudly unveiled its new Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) classroom
3. At Green Forest Middle School, Charlsie Polk, the Career Development Teacher, showcased an innovative approach to engaging parents and staff in cultivating essential soft skills in students.
These positive discoveries underscore the collaborative efforts and commitment to excellence within our educational community!
We are excited to be hosting Cassandra Erkens, Solution Tree Assessment Specialist at the co-op today with PLC Cohorts 5 and 6. Personnel from these districts are learning best practices in assessment to increase student learning.
Emilee Tucker, OUR CTE Coordinator, Wilson Marseilles, Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce President/CEO, and David Mason, North Arkansas College Dean of Workforce, had several collaborative meetings last week including a Manufacturer's Roundtable, NWAEDD Youth Committee, and a Startup Junkie planning session.
There will be ample opportunities for educators across OUR Co-Op to engage with CTE and local partners this school year!
#WeAreCTE #OURCTE #ArkansasCTE #BetterTogether #CommunityInvolvement #Collaboration #Northark #HarrisonChamber
The Arkansas AWARE program is beginning in the Berryville School District!
Teacher Child Interaction Training is a professional development, train-the-trainer model, designed to strengthen teacher-child relationship skills and increase teachers' confidence in their ability to manager challenging behaviors in their classrooms.
Eight staff members are currently being trained as coaches and will be coaching teachers and staff in the Berryville K-2 building, the ABC program, and The Learning Center Preschool.
To find out more about TCIT got to www.tcit.org
K-2 Literacy welcomed K-12 educators to participate in stand-alone Science of Reading days. The 3 days included phoneme awareness, phonics decoding, and phonics encoding. We had a room full of varied backgrounds and this was a phenomenal 3 days of learning!!
#RISEArkansas
OUR Cooperative teachers participated in a workshop with the Shiloh Museum learning about resources and activities to help build background knowledge and experiences in social studies.
Algebra I and Geometry teachers explored the new standards & ATLAS testing. Teacher collaboration focused on math curriculum ideas.
Earlier in July, Arkansas Cooperative Technology Coordinators (ACTC) and Arkansas Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT) presented multiple sessions at the ADE Summit in Hot Springs. Sessions focused on cyber awareness regarding insurance, timeline & system reconnections, superintendent cyber panel, MFA, COOP, data responsibility, and Google for school leaders.
Preschool- 4th grade teachers explored students' mathematical thinking this week. We had great math progression & math understanding discussions! We also had a special student guest. I am starting to work with her on number sense too! :)
K-2 Literacy has worked on learning more about background knowledge, syntax, and developing inferences. Our guiding text was the Comprehension Blueprint. This group of educators really got into this information and the conversations were amazing!! Lots of deep thinking!
