Technology education teachers learn skills and teaching techniques during a summer workshop.
One of his favorite ways to do courses is the summer workshops the Department of Environmental Technological Studies puts on for students each year.
“I enjoy the high intensity of the all-day classes,” he said. “I think you can really get into what the professor is trying to get across if you have a high-intensity daylong class.”
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The feature of the summer workshops he most enjoys is the opportunity to work with other teachers who come to the workshops with varying levels of teaching experience and backgrounds.
The workshops bring together young students who live on campus and are energetic about teaching together with older students who are coming to teaching as a second career and bring with them different ideas about teaching methods and the subjects, he said.
“It’s just a good collaboration between everybody there,” he said.
During the workshops the teachers work together on creating lessons and ideas on the best ways to teach their topics to young students, said Catherine Ludowese ’16, a technology education graduate program alumna and design teacher at Sanford Middle School in Minneapolis.
Living in the Twin Cities it was hard for her to do traditional on-campus classes during the week.
“The summer classes were amazing,” she said.
The workshops are each three days of intense coursework followed by weeks of independent work on papers and projects. They help individuals preparing for technology education teaching license, those going for their master’s degree or technology education teachers who are looking for continuing education opportunities.
“Every single unit that I created at St. Cloud State I’ve actually used in my classroom,” Ludowese said.
Technology education is a field of teaching that does not have curriculum guidance from the state, so having the courses at St. Cloud State gives teachers a leg up in improving their teaching skills. Having a master’s degree also leads to pay increases and more opportunities when moving jobs or seeking to teach at the college level, she said.
Heida came to teaching this year after a 20-year career as a professional photographer. He was working as a technology paraprofessional before being hired on with his district under a variance. He now teaches graphic design and photography on a teaching variance. He’ll earn his teaching license in the fall and graduate with his master’s degree in fall 2018.
While he teaches graphic design and photography, Heida needs experience in a wide array of technology education for his license.
Summer workshop students learn teaching techniques during a construction workshop.
This summer he is coming back to St. Cloud State to attend workshop classes in teaching manufacturing and teaching construction concrete.
The summer workshops are a great refresher for teachers. They provide added education experience because the workshops are about how to teach these subjects not just about the course’s subject matter, he said.
“I am really thankful and grateful for St. Cloud State offering those workshops because they fit into our schedules just fantastically,” Heida said. “I really appreciate them and the effort that the school puts out.”
The technology workshops are just a few of the ways that St. Cloud State University helps teachers earn advanced degrees, earn continuing education credits needed to maintain their licenses and support teachers.
The university also offers Project Lead The Way workshops and several graduate programs for teachers. IGNITE: The Teacher Preparation Initiative supports novice teachers through their first few years of teaching. Learn more about the summer workshops offered by the Department of Environmental Technological Studies by contacting Kurt Helgeson at [email protected] or 320-308-3127.
