#RuralEdChat is a chat that focuses on the needs of the rural educator. This chat has been revised by Tammy Neil (@MathNeil), John Martin (@edventures) and Natalee Stotz (@nataleestotz).
I'm Matt, and I volunteer teach an online computer science course for a high school in central WA. I have the honor of moderating our discussion tonight! #RuralEdChat
We'll be using the standard Q1, Q2, etc. format for questions, so if you miss one, that's the best way to search for it. Q1 up in a minute! #RuralEdChat
Q1: Does your school partner with community members or organizations for any programs right now? If so, how? It can be one-time events or ongoing efforts. #RuralEdChat
A1: Yes, we do. We have several Business Partners that support a variety of programs including academics, athletics, and vocational. There are also a few that support more targeted programs that fit them better, i.e. Farm Supply/Agri-science. #RuralEdChat
A1: I'm sort of in this group - I'm an outside volunteer helping to teach and to provide professional development. No other ongoing programs, though we did have a local business owner give a guest lecture once time. #RuralEdChat
Sometimes it is direct donations (fences to Ag Farm) other times it is funding for student incentives. It is a small town so many businesses are pressed to support all of our schools. Not always easy. #RuralEdChat
A1: Our district has partnered with @NPCedu and are in our 2nd year of Distance Learning classes. Kids from the deep Reservation are taking dual enrollment classes from all over the region.
A2: The fast food places are always popular. I'm still learning the area so I'm not as familiar with all the local businesses as I plan to be. #RuralEdChat
A2: For us, it's mostly food, anything from fast food to nicers restaurants. The movie theater in the town over gets a good audience as well. #RuralEdChat
Q3: Combining thoughts from the first two Qs, what skills could students learn from the leaders of those businesses/programs/organizations? #RuralEdChat
Hello, sorry for the late start, A2 we worked with the branch of our county library last year and got to visit every 6-8 weeks. Awesome getting book into kids hands. Especially at a small school where they have read every book in the school library by middle school. #RuralEdChat
The level of the skills can match to the level of your students - maybe high school students can learn some management skills,or younger ones learn about cools jobs from people who do them #RuralEdChat
A3: I really hope they learn what is expected to be successful. This is making me think about a possible class project. I love it when #RuralEdChat sparks an idea.
Q4: Now that you've thought about "what" - how can your students learn from those leaders? Guest lectures? Job shadows? Jobs? Career panels? #RuralEdChat
It's always great to see the things we hope we're teaching in action, and seeing skills in action can help us refine what we teach. The learning certainly should be for us too! #RuralEdChat
A4: I'm hoping my students will find community leaders and determine what it took for them to get where they are. I love the idea of Career Panels.
#RuralEdChat
Q4: Now that you've thought about "what" - how can your students learn from those leaders? Guest lectures? Job shadows? Jobs? Career panels? #RuralEdChat
A4: Our department hires student technicians, they move a lot of computers around. Think how awesome it would be if software companies did "distance internships" to a rural community?! That would expose them to something they only hear about! #RuralEdChat
A4: I really want to do a career panel, but scheduling with outside professionals is hard! I've found success in guest lectures, especially if I assign "come up with 3 questions" as homework a few days before. #RuralEdChat
As a software guy by day, there's so much focus in the industry on being in person in office. Which I think really excludes a lot of possible talent. There's a growing push for more remote work, and I hadn't even thought of the internship angle for it. #RuralEdChat
Q5: School fundraisers often involve selling fairly generic items, such as clothing or food. What unique items experiences could your community, or businesses in it, offer? #RuralEdChat
I'm thinking about having the students find a local business owner/manager to interview about personal skills needed to do their job. Web design Class can make a group site about the Local Business Community. #RuralEdChat
I'm definitely open to schedule something - talking to my classes about what I do is some of my favorite stuff. Might be able to round up some friends too. DM me. #RuralEdChat
A5 I think that fundraising is strong in rural communities, part of the year I don’t have to cook at least once a week because of all the local clubs having a dinner (drive thrus are the best) and some great raffles including half a beef, or fishing/hunting trips #RuralEdChat
Thank you. It's their very first Web Design class. Learning HTML and CSS this year. Kids are excited to learn each new tag. Their energy is contagious. #RuralEdChat
A5: right now, we do a lot of standard 50/50 raffles or school-branded clothes. I want to work on more experiences - I think our students would give and arm and a leg to get to watch a choice teacher/admin try to drive a tractor. Or spend a day in their lives. #RuralEdChat
If you have a wall that can be used, we once raised about $400 selling 1 yard strips of duct tape to tape a teacher to the wall. (Teacher needs long pants and long sleeves.)
#RuralEdChat
Very cool! I teach a digital PR class at SMU and I've done something similar. I gave each "team" of students a real company to manage portions of their PR strategy. Social media, outreach, messaging, relationship-building, etc. They loved it! #ruraledchat
Was about to get started on another question, but looks like we're running out of time for tonight! Perhaps fundraising needs it's own chat night! #RuralEdChat
