Jan. 28, 2016
Seven Crowley ISD students will attend the Texas Association
of Future Educators (TAFE) state conference and competition Jan. 29-Feb. 1 at
the University of Houston.
Students had to place first or second at regionals or score a 90 percent or higher on specific projects and presentations to advance to the state competition. More than 1,500 students from across the state will attend and compete in 29 events. Seventeen regions across Texas will be represented.
CISD will compete in five different events — including Professional Teaching Portfolio Presentation, where students make a five-minute presentation that includes their philosophy of teaching, how to teach diversity, classroom management techniques and lesson plans.
In another event, Impromptu Teaching, students must prepare and teach a brief lesson based on a prompt they are given. This is also a national qualifying event, where teams must place in the top five out of 32 teams to advance to nationals in Boston.
Other events include Bulletin Board Presentation, Project Visualize Presentation and the Outstanding Chapter Application, which is the highest honor a TAFE Chapter can receive. Crowley ISD’s chapter hopes to receive this designation for a sixth year in a row.
Hours of preparation, starting at the beginning of the school year, are needed to get ready for regional and state competitions.
“We live, eat and breathe it the first semester,” CISD TAFE Advisor Bobette Vroon said, noting students also prepare intensely when they return from winter break. Ms. Vroon also incorporates the TAFE projects into her classroom instruction so some prep work can be done in class.
Ms. Vroon is the sole teacher for the education and training path at the Bill R. Johnson Career and Technology Education Center. Students interested in becoming educators take courses to prepare for the teaching field and participate in internships their junior and senior years in which they work at Crowley ISD elementary schools.
Her students come prepared to those classrooms, she said.
“They know critical thinking, and they know how to make a decision,” Ms. Vroon said, noting the veteran teachers her students are paired with in the internships “love my kids.”
“They make me proud every day,” she said.
Some students come to the program shy and nervous about making public presentations, but those students end up participating in multiple TAFE competition events, Ms. Vroon said.
“It’s a huge confidence booster,” she said, adding that students who participate in TAFE events also develop leadership skills, have networking opportunities with major universities and make friends for life.
It’s all in an effort to attract quality teachers to the profession.
“We need great teachers,” Ms. Vroon said. “If we build and breed our own teachers, it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Participating students and their events:
· Ashley Kromann, Alyssa Mason and Nayeli Vallin – Professional Teaching Portfolio Presentation
· MiAsia Bennett and Monica Kelley – Bulletin Board Presentation
· Nayeli Vallin and Katherine Nelon – Project Visualize Presentation
· Nayeli Vallin, Jordan Milton and Katherine Nelon – Impromptu Teaching (national qualifying event)
· TAFE Officers – Outstanding Chapter Application
