Podcasts about pltw

Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing, a podcast that asks young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer.For this episode, I welcome Chloe Doherty, a 22-year-old Industry 4.0 tech center engineer for machinery manufacturer Zoller Inc. Doherty's interest in manufacturing started as a student in FIRST Robotics and PLTW, a nonprofit organization that develops STEM curriculum. Through FIRST Robotics, Doherty was introduced to a mechatronics CTE class where she studied many disciplines in manufacturing. She then discovered Zoller at a career fair and went on to earn a mechatronics apprenticeship. Doherty became a full-time Zoller employee in the spring of 2023 where she has been responsible for ensuring that the machines in the showroom are up to date and working properly, training new employees and customers, helping the technical support team with customer inquiries and doing live or online demonstrations.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Research from Sales Enablement PRO found that companies with a consolidated tech stack see a 19 percentage point higher average quota attainment than teams with multiple disconnected tools. Shawnna Sumaoang: Hi, and welcome to the Win Win Podcast. I am your host, Shawnna Sumaoang. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. How can you boost rep productivity with a unified sales enablement platform? Here to discuss this topic is Andrea Holzworth, the vice president of sales enablement and customer operations at Project Lead The Way. Thank you for joining us, Andrea. I’d love for you to tell us about yourself, your background, and your role. Andrea Holzwarth: Thank you for having me today. I’m Andrea Holzwarth, as you mentioned serving as the vice president of sales enablement and customer operations for Project Lead The Way. I’ve been with Project Lead The Way for eight years now served in a variety of roles. Mostly on our sales team, so I served on our school success team, our new district engagement team, and our strategic accounts team. I recently transitioned over to our customer operations team in July, and really in this role I serve as the leader of our sales enablement, so providing our sales team with all the resources that they need, all the professional development coaching training they need, while also solving some of those operational challenges that we may have. Whether those are internal or external, just making it easier for our customer to implement Project Lead The Way. SS: I love that. Now, prior to Highspot, you were leveraging a different platform for enablement, including a separate learning management system. Can you tell us about that experience and ultimately what led you to decide to really consolidate your enablement tech stack? AH: As you mentioned, we were using a variety of resources, and as you can imagine with a variety of resources, there’s really no source of truth of where the right resource is, or where that learning is. And so, Highspot really was selected by Project Lead The Way as our sales enablement tool because of its ability to be the source of truth but also its ability to integrate into Salesforce. It’s an easy-to-build learning management system for us. A couple of the other things that we really appreciated about Highspot was the ability to provide sales plays to our team. So, the “know, say, show, and do” to really equip our team with the right resource at the right time to the right audience. And then we also really appreciated the development of talk tracks and how we can provide team members the opportunity to listen to their peers and some of those role-play conversations around targeted topics or specific PLTW programs. SS: I love that. What have you seen as the impact of having a unified solution rather than separate siloed tools? AH: We’ve seen quite a bit of impact so far, but I’ll say that Highspot really provided our team a unified vocabulary and again, that single source of truth. And it also allowed our sales team to be really more efficient and effective in the field. Instead of digging around trying to find that one resource, they were able to find everything in one spot. And it was also tagged correctly. And I say “spot” a little bit of pun intended there, but it allowed them to find everything they needed. I mentioned this earlier, but we do like to say the right resource, right time for that right audience. SS: I love that. And you guys are actually driving fantastic adoption across the board, so kudos to you and the team. I believe you guys have a 95% pitch adoption rate and 68% play adoption. What were your best practices for ensuring a successful launch when you first rolled out Highspot? AH: Yeah, we’re very excited and encouraged about our initial implementation, definitely some early wins for us, which has been just phenomenal for our sales enablement team, but also for our sales team as well. We took two approaches and I will say that we started developing our implementation plan far before our launch date. We wanted to really take a two specific approaches. The first approach is the “do with, not do to” mentality. And the second was to go slow to go fast later. Obviously, those sound very corny, but that’s what we kept going back to every time we were developing our implementation plan. We wanted our team to feel those small victories along the way. So we started off with really small monthly learning. I’ll give an example: our launch date was actually October 5th, and we shared only one expectation for the month of October for our full team. Send five pitches. That seems kind of small and some people got it done within hours and the others took a couple of days or weeks. And that’s okay because that’s all they need to do is send five pitches. We wanted to bring everyone alongside us and have an impact on that early timeline. We wanted them to get comfortable. The other piece that we did too develop a feedback group before our launch date and this has helped us to pre-identify some team members that we thought would be early adopters. And most of them are, and so that has helped us gain feedback from our, from those using it. So again, do with, not do to. SS: I love that motto. Along those lines, as you mentioned, one of those things that you did to help build that momentum was get feedback and create a super user group. Tell us more about that. How did that help you drive adoption? AH: Yeah, so we developed that super user group or we call it our engagement team feedback group – and just for reference our sales team at Project Lead The Way is referenced as our engagement team – we wanted them to be those that were driving the adoption So we didn’t want it to be something that was happening. From the operations team, you must do this. It is really like I’m doing with them and we wanted them to be leaders within their groups, so we asked for a couple of commitments right away from those team members and those commitments were one: commit for a whole group, a whole year to be in that group, and not to prioritize meetings. We know that there’s lots of meetings, lots of conflicts, but to prioritize attendance. And the second one was really laid out pretty clearly was we want to provide Brene Brown’s “clear is kind” feedback, meaning we didn’t want it to just say, “Hey, this is great.” “No, it’s all going well.” What wasn’t going well, how could we learn that? Before we took that learning to our full sales team, we can work out some of those kinks. And then the other thing that we’ve really seen success with is this group has continued to provide that feedback along the way, but they’ve also taken their learnings and experience and shared it with their home teams. And that wasn’t a requirement and something we even said it’s just they were identified by their leaders as being super users And so it was a nice way for them to have some of that peer-to-peer learning As opposed to you know, the customer operations team coming in and sharing so we host those monthly learnings as a full team And then our super user group goes and shares in their individual teams, which they also kind of share some of their tips or tricks how to do something a little faster or a workaround which is just fun to see as well. SS: I really love that approach. I hope some of our other customers can take advantage of that and implement that within their own organizations. Now, rolling out a new tool and driving adoption can also require some behavior change. What are some of your best practices for motivating that behavior change? AH: We all know change is hard. No matter what change you’re going through, your personal, professional, change is going to be hard. Everyone has a certain threshold of change that they can take before it becomes uncomfortable. We really wanted to sit there and identify and bring everyone alongside us in that change, so we wanted them maybe to feel pushed a bit outside comfort zone, but never to go past that threshold. We wanted them to feel successful. I think that’s one best practice. Not going again too fast, maintaining some of that slow momentum. So you’re bringing everyone with you. The thing that we’ve loved to see over the last couple of months, their implementation is we have some that aren’t necessarily the super users, but yet they still want more. They want to keep learning more. They want some more nuggets where we have another group who’s just kind of staying along right alongside our learning. So it’s been a really nice thing there. Another best practice I mentioned earlier, but again, it’s. Do with, not do to – so how can we bring everyone with us in this learning? How do we make everyone feel a part of our implementation? It’s not something that they have to do, it’s something they’re getting to do. The other thing that we really did in the beginning was share the end result. Highspot was a change and our team is very mission-driven at Project Lead The Way, so we wanted to showcase to them how utilizing Highspot was going to feel better to our customers. One of PLTW’s core values is customer centricity. Our customers are at the center of all that we do. And we truly believe that Highspot as a resource makes a more customer, seamless customer experience. And so we shared that with our team and showcased that to the team so they knew that, “hey, I’m not only doing this because we’re changing over to this, but it’s also better for my customers that I’m serving.” Lastly, I’d say data helps. So we’re now able to showcase to our teams how effective their outreach is. In some ways before, we could say if someone was opening an email, but now we can show if they’ve opened it, how long they viewed it, did they share it. And we were just somewhat in the dark before. Empowering our team with data, just helping them to want to own some of their own learning and Highspot, too. SS: I think that’s fantastic. And you guys actually have a very unique and specialized sales team at Project Lead The Way. A lot of them actually come from a teaching background rather than a traditional sales background, which is amazing. What are some of the unique considerations you have for driving behavior change amongst a slightly less than traditional sales team, and how does Highspot help? AH: At Project Lead The Way, we see a strong value of team members who have that experience from our customer base within our PLTW network. Many of our team members do come from our network prior to joining us. I’m going to go back to what I mentioned earlier, but Highspot provided us with that common vocabulary. It also gave us consistency across the board, and we could share that there was something that if a school was contacting us in California or even in Florida, they were having that same customer experience because of Highspot, we were able to showcase that consistency. It’s also provided an easy button for our account owners and they don’t have to search for things. They don’t have to maybe assume that someone needs something or, you know, try and put themselves in those, the shoes of that customer. We really have done that legwork for them by putting things in particular spots and showcasing or tying them to the correct opportunity stage. We’ve made the easy button, so there’s not a lot of other additional thinking. They can just build the relationship, which is what our accountants are so good at; building relationships with our school districts. SS: I love that. Training programs play a really big role in being able to drive behavior change. One of your key initiatives for the year ahead is to build out robust onboarding and training programs. How are you designing these programs and leveraging Highspot to help deliver them? AH: We believe that onboarding for a new team member is one of the most crucial times when you’re bringing on a new team member during their tenure. We want every team member to get that best fundamental start. We want them to be foundationally sound but also see the buy-in and understand where we’re going as an organization, and we believe we had a pretty strong onboarding experience before. But, a lot of our onboarding was built in-house, and it was a lot of meetings with other individuals, and we are trying to take down the amount of meetings that we may have, and we’re trying to define, but also decide what is the best way for some of that learning. Highspot's learning management has helped us do that because we can build courses. We can also check for understanding along the way. It’s not going to replace every meeting. We believe, again, those first four weeks are really crucial. We want that new team member to feel interaction, to feel a relationship building with Project Lead The Way. But some of those things are very operational or very administrative. How can we take some of those and put them into Highspot that they can do on their own time? Instead of having to schedule some meetings, we’re still dipping our toe into what that looks like. We’re excited to transition some of that learning into Highspot SS: I love that. What are some of the early wins that you’ve started to see since you launched Highspot and how are you measuring success? AH: That’s a great question. There’s lots of ways. I think I was talking to someone the other day – Highspot gives you a lot of data and there’s so much of it to look at, you don’t have to identify which data that you’re looking at. One of our early wins: I mentioned our October learning, so our November learning was that all of our lead outreach would move over to Highspot and would use pitch templates. Again, create consistency for us. We had never had a consistent lead outreach experience before. We moved all of that to Highspot, and the biggest win that we received from our sales team was that we could show to them by the end of the month that we had a 71% open rate for all of our sales-qualified lead outreach. We could never share that data with them before because we didn’t have it and it wasn’t consistent again a school in California may have been getting a different email than a school in Connecticut. We wanted them to have that and seeing that data helped them get again additional adoption and buy-in. That was one of the big things. Then, I’ll just say, we keep hearing anecdotal feedback too, from different team members along the way. My favorite is when team members will reach out to me via teams and just share their experiences. The other day, one of our top performers messaged me and said, “Oh my gosh, Highspot, such a game changer for my lead work. I was able to get through 30 leads in 20 minutes.” And it was like, “Wow, that’s awesome.” That’s more time for them to be out in the field, for them to be supporting customers instead of, you know, just sending an email kind of thing. So lots of different ways to see success, but that’s really where we’re starting with. SS: I love those. Those are some great early wins, Andrea. It’s the new year. So, my last question for you: how do you plan to continue to optimize your enablement strategy with Highspot in the year ahead? AH: Yeah, we did develop a year-long implementation plan. I kind of mentioned this earlier, but we wanted our team to feel confident, to feel comfortable with Highspot this year. Our full first year of implementation was just what we thought success would be if we were adopting, comfortable, and confident. So what we’ve done is starting in October of this year, we identified one monthly learning each month, and then we build upon that each month as well. And so that’s our plan, to continue building on. We put some of those bigger nuggets, the exciting things, a little bit later in the year because we wanted the team to be operationally sound with Highspot. But for example, our digital rooms are going to be coming up soon. That’s where we’ll be sharing with the team. Also, more sales plays will be involved with the team. And so we’ve shared that calendar with the full team. We want to be transparent in this. We do have an asterisk, “subject to change”. Things may change along the way, but we have shared with them what that learning is going to be, and also what that expectation of what to do with that learning. So, we’re all in with it, we’re going to keep rolling, and we’re excited to see how far our team goes. We already have some team members who we haven’t shared a digital room with just yet, but they’ve done it on their own because they’ve done some self-learning and we’re excited about that. They’ve been in there. They’re the ones early adopting. So we see some early success and we’re excited to see the rest of the year with it. SS: I love that, I am too. I’m excited to see how you guys succeed in the year ahead. Well, Andrea, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. AH: Thank you for having me. SS: To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win Win Podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize enablement success with Highspot.

Join me for an engaging conversation with Andrea Holzwarth! Andrea is a STEM Advocate who helps serve as a positive catalyst for student engagement with schools all over. Our conversation connected to STEM in schools. We also discussed the importance of collaboration and trust in any organization. Andrea and I are also fans of "Ted Lasso" and our conversation landed there as well. Andrea Holzwarth currently serves at the Senior Director of New District Engagement with Project Lead The Way (PLTW). The New District Engagement team is dedicated to supporting new schools & districts as they implement PLTW. Andrea is passionate about bringing STEM & career learning opportunities to students across the country.Andrea is based in Kansas City and every Sunday in the fall you'll see her cheering on the Chiefs to a Super Bowl championship! Twitter: https://twitter.com/andreaholzwarth LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-holzwarth/

What would an economy look like that centered justice, regenerativity and collaboration? Want to play a role? Find out more about the Next Economy MBA from LIFT Economy.  On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Tom Vander Ark is joined by Dr. David Dimmett, President and CEO of Project Lead the Way. Prior to Project Lead the Way he served for over a decade at the Evansville Vanderburgh school district in a variety of roles. Links: LinkedIn PLTW David Dimmett PLTW Project Lead the Way 2022 Annual Report Sam Seidel and Olatunde Sobomehin on Creative Hustle Stoked

Missouri teacher Nathan Fleming started teaching high school science in 2000. Teaching for the first ten years at two small rural schools, Fleming learned the value of strong student relationships and he gained experience teaching nearly every subject.  In 2010, Fleming transferred to a larger area high school, West Plains High School, and helped start their Project Lead the Way biomedical program in 2016.  Two years later he partnered with the local hospital to start the annual white coat ceremony in which students receive customized lab coats while being praised in front of friends and family. Thanks to continual presentations by Fleming and his students West Plains High School enjoys full and even competitive rosters for all biomedical PLTW classes. Thanks to agreements with a state university, 114 students have earned college credit eligibility in the past four years. Using his professional photography background, Fleming started a Twitter feed to further promote his classes and this helped his classroom be chosen for the nation's first live PLTW biomedical showcase in 2021. Recently Fleming has focused on creating fiercely independent student run classroom environments in which students learn and acquire the soft skills that will help them succeed in a wide variety of careers. Nathan was recently named one of 13 Project Lead the Way teachers in biomedical sciences for the 2022-2023 school year.

#EdChat Giving students success-ready skills. Building them for global competitiveness. It's what happens in #PLTW #STEM classrooms. Meet three FZ seniors and their teachers as they share their Project Lead The Way Engineering experiences and how those experiences have shaped their plans for the future. From modeling and collaboration through to a capstone project, this strand of Career Technical Education is exposing students to every angle of what's possible as they move into life after high school.

Preparing Workforce 2030 means providing hands-on coursework rooted in collaboration and problem solving. Since it was first implemented in FZSD in 2014, Project Lead the Way (PLTW) courses have brought high school students hands-on learning in computer science, health science and engineering that lead to college credit and an understanding of possible career pathways. Hear from an East High senior about how her four years of study in the Health and Biomedical strand have not only shaped her goals for the future, but how she takes on the work of each day. Special thanks to East High teacher Carrie Stowers for sharing what it means for a teacher to meet the PLTW challenge, and to Dr. Patrick Brown for some insight students and parents can use as they begin discussing class schedules for next school year.

Preparing Workforce 2030 means providing hands-on coursework rooted in collaboration and problem solving. Since it was first implemented in #FZSD in 2014, @PLTW courses have brought high school students hands-on learning in computer science, health science and engineering that lead to college credit and an understanding of possible career pathways. Last year, Project Lead the Way (PLTW) was introduced at FZ middle schools, where every sixth grader now takes an introductory coding class. Hear from Computer Science teachers about the skills students are carrying beyond the PLTW classroom and see why FZSD high schools are recognized as PLTW Distinguished Schools in this FORTiTUDE podcast.

Dan Garrison is new to podcasting but not to failing forward as a leader. Listen in for a brief bit of my story and why I decided to launch Amazing Things. When I'm not teaching PLTW engineering and coaching the Robocats FIRST robotics teams in our Academy of Engineering at Woodrow Wilson HS in Dallas ISD, Dallas, TX, with an amazing team, I'm spending as much time as I can with my 4 creative, inspiring, and young adult "kids" who are doing their own amazing things around the world, my friends from around Dallas or Watermark Community Church, my amazingly faithful community of Jesus followers, or my amazingly fun family in Atlanta. As part of the Amazing Things podcast launch, I am supporting an amazing pilot project in Uganda. LIsten in to learn about the Conscious Coalition (CC) and their ground-breaking international joint venture bringing clean water, world-class servant leadership training, compassionate peace building, women's empowerment, and children's enrichment in a pilot project in west Uganda. Leaders from across the community will receive in-person and virtual training from international experts, and our Amazing Things kickoff is helping promote the fund raising to support this project. Visit the CC site to learn more and donate to the project that will begin a movement multiplying community building in the region and around the world. Listen to the episode with Michael Bezdek to learn more from the project's visionary leader. For more Amazing Things visit MoreAmazingThings.com where you can join the VIP Team (Very Inspiring People) for members-only benefits including fun giveaways for the Amazing Things launch month of April, 2021. Help share the inspiration by subscribing, reviewing, and sharing Amazing Things with others! Thanks for stopping by and tuning in. Join Dan Garrison on Amazing Things to learn and be inspired as he shares authentic conversations with friends who are servant leaders doing amazing things to impact their neighbors both down the street and across the nations. Entrepreneurs, educators, and other high-impact humans will encourage you to go do amazing things in your communities. Via video on YouTube Via Apple podcast Via Spotify

Vince Bertram is a native of New Castle, Indiana. He earned four degrees at Ball State University, including a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in educational administration. After graduating from Ball State, Vince spent 20 years in education as a teacher, a principal, and a superintendent. Today, he serves as President & CEO of Project Lead The Way (PLTW), an Indianapolis-based nonprofit organization that provides a transformative learning experience for PreK-12 students and teachers across the country.In this episode, Vince talks about his upbringing, what inspired him to become a teacher and a coach, and his memories of working with legendary coaches John Wooden and Rick Majerus.Vince describes some of the influential educators he met as a student at Ball State and the moment he knew he was ready to leave his successful career as a school administrator to lead PLTW.  Vince also shares his thoughts about Ball State's innovative partnership with Muncie Community Schools and weighs in on how our country might address inequities in our educational system as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can learn more about Project Lead The Way at www.pltw.org. You can follow Vince on Twitter at @vincebertram and President Mearns at @PresidentMearns. If you enjoy this episode, please leave a review to support the show. 

Great morning all! Just announced new leadership positions within our school - for PLTW assistants, robotics coordinator, and courtyard assistants. Today is the last day for Jar Wars, tomorrow (Friday) is VIRTUAL LEARNING for DCSC. Also, we get our picture retakes done today. Have a super day and please reach out if you have questions about tomorrow - our teachers (and myself) want to help where we can. Thank you!

So excited to see everyone this morning. Today, we celebrate our veterans - all those who have served our country! Also, we discuss the availability of school-wide leadership positions for students opening today - tour guide, morning greeter, bulletin board, breakfast transporter, arborist, and PLTW. Ask your child if he/she applied for one of these school-wide leadership positions (jobs). Reminder we have spirit days all the remaining days of this week! Which grade will win the spirit trophy? Don't forget there is a virtual All Pro Dad event tonight at 7:30 p.m. - you can find that link information on our November newsletter. Have a great day!

This week’s PonderCast Edu podcast

This week’s PonderCast Edu podcast

Andrew is a 2019 Riley alum who is attending Rose Hulman to study computer science and is a member of the football team. Thank you for sharing during Computer Science Education Week. #CSEdWeek Andrew's Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalkowskiAndrew Riley Student Athletic Advisory Committee: https://twitter.com/RileyHighSAAC Follow Riley High School PLTW on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rileyhighpltw/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SBRileyhigh Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RileyEngineeringMagnet/?ref=bookmarks Subscribe to this podcast on your favorite streaming service YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGGcZPJ4ydXVwCyOwtbKdqQ/ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1451874280 Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/pondercast-edu Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7ys3Oex2AbF1ecaJ2OP6d7 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/anchor-podcasts/pondercast-edu-2 Follow Me On: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SethPonder LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/seth-ponder109/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sethponder/ Website: https://www.sethponder.com

We chat with two amazing STEM teachers from Leicester Public Schools who are working hard to help their learners understand STEM form the early years and onward. Listen in to Dr Matthew X. Joseph and Mr James DePace as they describe some of the lessons & activities they've used to help STEM shine in their district. Hosted by Ben Newsome from Fizzics Education More about Dr Matthew X. Joseph Dr. Matthew X Joseph is currently the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Leicester Public Schools. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 25 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, elementary school principal, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist. These experiences have provided Matt incredible insights on how to best support teaching and learning and led to nationally published articles and opportunities to speak at multiple state and national events.He is the author of Power of Us: Creating Collaborative Schools and co-author of Modern Mentoring, Reimagining Teacher Mentorship (Due out, November 2019). Follow him on Twitter @matthewxjoseph and visit his blog: techinnovation.live More about James DePace James DePace is currently a middle school STEM educator in the Leicester Public Schools in Leicester MA. For the past five years has been teaching STEM in grades 6-8. Before moving into STEM education, he spent 15 years in aviation. His time in aviation allowed him to teach Flight and Space class authentically due to his years of personal experience. Other classes that James teaches include Automation and Robotics, Design and Modeling and Computer Programing. James is enthusiastic and passionate which is evident in his classroom. He works closely with the state STEM organizations to stay current in his practice and add his experience to the curriculum development. He was co-chair of the 2019 PLTW state conference at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Follow him on Twitter @mrdepace. About the FizzicsEd Podcast With interviews with leading science educators and STEM thought leaders, this science education podcast is about highlighting different ways of teaching kids within and beyond the classroom. It's not just about educational practice & pedagogy, it's about inspiring new ideas & challenging conventions of how students can learn about their world! https://www.fizzicseducation.com.au/ Know an educator who'd love this STEM podcast episode?  Share it! The FizzicsEd podcast is a member of the Australian Educators Online Network (AEON ) http://www.aeon.net.au/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When he looked around his classroom and saw unused manufacturing equipment, PLTW instructor Chris Townsend had an idea. Why not put it to use year-round through a student-run manufacturing business? Two years later, Eagle Manufacturing is helping high school students develop real-world skills and cut their teeth in real-world jobs, right in their high school. Instructor Chris Townsend and student manager Caleb Doss break talk about its beginnings, successes, and challenges. For more InspirED, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode! Subscribe links: iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, email newsletter Follow links: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube Feedback or suggestions: Email us at podcast@pltw.org.   GUEST: Chris Townsend and Caleb Doss – Website, Twitter HOSTED BY: Jennifer Erbacher - LinkedIn, Twitter

In this episode, you'll listen to my conversation with Paula Rodriguez who recently graduated from the FAME (Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education) program and currently employed as an Advanced Manufacturing Technician at Toyota. Paula talks about how she became associated with the FAME program and how her high school coursework in PLTW (Project Lead the Way) classes, helped her in being selected. Paula then goes on to describe the comprehensive education, training, and mentorship she and her fellow FAME students gained during the program.To hear more to a bit more background on Paula's story coming to the US as well as PLTW's great learning programs, listen to Paula's episode on PLTW's InspirED podcast series. Please click here and check out episode #7 For more information on the broader, national FAME Program, please click hereandPlease feel free to send me you comments as well as any ideas on how I can improve the Skilled Trades Playbook podcast series on Twitter to @aybcareers or you can email me at jcarosso@AtYourBest.comFor more info about the Skilled Trades Playbook and a full listing of episodes categorized by topic, please click hereTo learn more about the At Your Best Playbook series, please go to www.AtYourBest.comThanks a lot.Juan Carosso

Today the team is talking with Vince Bertram, the President and CEO of Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a nonprofit organization that provides transformative learning experiences for PK–12 students and teachers across the U.S.   Vince grew up in a small town east of Indianapolis, where his teachers inspired him to study education. After serving as a Principal in several schools, Bertram served as Superintendent in a southern Indiana district. Eight years ago, Bertram took on the leadership of Project Lead the Way, which began as a small nonprofit STEM curriculum provider. Today, PLTW serves 12,000 U.S. PK–12 schools and helps prepare millions of young people for high wage employment.   In today’s episode, Tom Vander Ark and Vince Bertram the growing impact that PLTW has on millions of students and the details of each of their pathways and programs from PreK–grade 12. They also speak about the work they’ve done to make PLTW more accessible and equitable, some of the new assessments they will be piloting this year (and how they will become a part of the core offering), the power of STEM and transportable skills, and key learnings from Vince’s book, Dream Differently.   Vince is absolutely dedicated to transforming the PK-12 education system to ensure it prepares students to succeed in work and life. Tune in to hear all that he is doing and get the inside scoop about PLTW!   Key Takeaways: [:14] About today’s episode. [1:00] About Vince’s upbringing and early education. [2:14] How Vince became a high school principal. [3:30] How Vince became a superintendent. [4:54] Vince looks back at the incredible growth he helped orchestrate at PLTW and elaborates on some of the things that played a role in it. [7:11] Why PLTW started their elementary program, Launch. [8:32] What the Launch curriculum looks like. [9:46] Vince speaks about PLTW’s middle school program, Gateway. [10:30] About PLTW’s high school pathways: computer science, bio-med, and engineering. [11:20] How many school district partners does PLTW have that are PK–12? [12:03] How Vince has aided in making Project Lead the Way more accessible and equitable. [14:42] Say a Principal wants more of a STEM focus at his school, why should he consider Project Lead the Way? [17:02] Vince speaks about some of the new assessments they may be piloting this year. [19:09] Will these assessments become a part of the core offering? [19:26] What else PLTW has done to help accessibility and equity. [19:52] Vince summarizes some of the key learnings from his book, Dream Differently. [23:13] Why PLTW focuses on STEM as well as helping students build transportable skills. [24:01] What PLTW believes that STEM is all about. [25:15] Tom thanks Vince for joining him this episode!   Mentioned in This Episode: Vince Bertram Project Lead the Way (PLTW) PLTW Launch (PreK–5) PLTW Gateway (6–8) PLTW Computer Science (9–12) PLTW Biomedical Science (9–12) PLTW Engineering (9–12) Better Together: How to Leverage School Networks For Smarter Personalized and Project Based Learning, by Tom Vander Ark and Lydia Dobyns “The Power of Transportable Skills: Assessing the Demand and Value of the Skills of the Future,” Report by PLTW and Burning Glass Dream Differently: Candid Advice for America's Students, by Vince Bertram   If You Want to Learn More About STEM Studies, We Recommend Listening to Episode 193 with teacher David Platt and the students from Covina High Tech Squad!   Get Involved: Check out the blog at GettingSmart.com. Find the Getting Smart Podcast on iTunes, leave a review and subscribe.   Is There Somebody You’ve Been Wanting to Learn From or a Topic You’d Like Covered? To get in contact: Email Editor@GettingSmart.com and include ‘Podcast’ in the subject line. The Getting Smart team will be sure to add them to their list!  

There’s nothing more powerful for students than seeing how they can apply what they’re learning in the classroom to solve a real-world problem, and if you can gamify that real-world application, even better. That’s what happens in PLTW’s powerful partnership with VEX Robotics, where students are learning skills they’ll use for the rest of their lives, on any career path they take. Get the inside scoop and hear practical and inspiring tips for bringing your student’s learning to life through robotics.   For more InspirED, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and check out our website, www.pltw.org/podcast.   Follow links: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube Subscribe links: iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, email newsletter Feedback or suggestions: Email us at podcast@pltw.org.   GUEST: Grant Cox of VEX Robotics – www.vexrobotics.com; Twitter; Find a competition HOSTED BY: Jennifer Erbacher - LinkedIn, Twitter  

Please Subscribe to this YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/unqfXG9NH3g You can also subscribe to the podcast on Anchor: https://anchor.fm/sethponder Seth’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SethPonder Seth’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-ponder109/ Seth’s Website: https://www.sethponder.com Seth’s Email: sethtponder@gmail.com EdTechHeroes Website: https://www.edtechheroes.com I am always looking for new guests, please contact me on Twitter or email. Thanks for watching.

Louis loves playing Quizlet Live. His second-grade teacher uses Quizlet Live to help the students study for math, science, and other subjects. I use Quizlet to help my PLTW classes. Quizlet Website: https://quizlet.com Please Subscribe to this YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/CEyVlcHk9rg Seth’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SethPonder Seth’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-ponder109/ Seth’s Website: https://www.sethponder.com Seth’s Email: sethtponder@gmail.com EdTechHeroes Website: https://www.edtechheroes.com I am always looking for new guests, please contact me on Twitter or email. Thanks for watching.

Kristen Haubold teaches PLTW computer science at Riley High School and South Bend Code School. Kristen shares PicoCTF. Kristen's email: khaubold@ sb.school Kristen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/MsHaubold PicoCTF: https://picoctf.com/ PicoCTF Twitter: https://twitter.com/picoctf PonderCast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6rKiSQ1gYs&list=PL0zVsgbYOuE_9DSBRG0F3iFODX5PLqpQu Please Subscribe to this YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/l3qvS9t3IUY Seth’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SethPonder Seth’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-ponder109/ Seth’s Website: https://www.sethponder.com Seth’s Email: sethtponder@gmail.com EdTechHeroes Website: https://www.edtechheroes.com I am always looking for new guests, please contact me on Twitter or email. Thanks for watching.

Today, in Episode 8, I sit down with Ms. Witek, Charlie (7G), Kayla (7G), Chloe (8G), Jack (8G), & Tyler (8G) to share their observations, triumphs, and challenges in Project Lead the Way - Design and Model at Bryan Middle School. Enjoy!

Not just any elementary teacher in this episode...she is my wife! Married for 26 years with 2 children (ages 19 and 22); she is an incredible wife and mother; and also a fantastic educator. She has been an integral part of the integration of technology in her school and district, teaching music, Project Lead The Way and other programs that have come and gone. Listen as she tells me about her past and present experiences and future ideas.

In this episode, I sit down with Ms. Emily Witek and Mr. Joe Fowler to discuss Project Lead The Way (PLTW) at Bryan Middle School in Elmhurst D205. We learn about their backgrounds as teachers, their take on PLTW in both Design and Model & Computer Science courses, and the 21st century skills our students are learning! As always, we connect PLTW to the 6 C’s (specifically Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking) & we look ahead to the additional courses D205 plans to implement throughout our schools. Enjoy!

Chris Durbin is the Lead Engineering Instructor for Project Lead the Way. Chris started his teaching career in 1994, as a Career Technology educator in Danville, IL. The focus for this urban clientele, was to help students understand that knowing something now was not going to be enough for a complete life. Technology and our culture are so fluid that we must learn how to learn in order to be relevant in the future.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2I71x1X. Vince Bertram, 50, CEO of Project Lead the Way, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides STEM education, curriculum and training to schools, districts and teachers for millions of students across the country, says operating as a mission-driven business is key to having impact. With $73.2 million in 2017 revenue and programs in 10,500 schools in all 50 states, Project Lead the Way—PLTW—serves millions of kindergarten through 12th-grade students. Bertram says, “We are a business and if we don’t have a sustainable business model, we can’t provide the service to schools.” Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2I71x1X. Check out my free webinar where I share the secrets of successful nonprofit crowdfunding at http://crowdfundingforsocialgood.org.

Teachers at all-girls schools might have insights on how to engage more young people – especially girls – into engineering. Several teachers at The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders in Austin shared their thoughts in this two-part episode. In Part 1 (01:15) we hear from Shamaa and Shireen, two high school engineering teachers, and then in Part 2 (28:50) we hear from Patience, Simon, and Kristina, three middle school engineering and STEM teachers. They discuss teaching in a small school, differences between all-girls classes and co-ed classes, the importance of school culture, Project Lead The Way curriculum, advice for parents, and more. Mentioned in this episode: • Ann Richards School: https://www.annrichardsschool.org/ • PLTW – Project Lead the Way: http://www.pltw.org • IED – Introduction to Engineering Design at PLTW: https://www.pltw.org/our-programs/pltw-engineering-curriculum#curriculum-1 • Alternate teacher certification information in Texas: https://tea.texas.gov/Texas_Educators/Preparation_and_Continuing_Education/Becoming_a_Certified_Texas_Educator_Through_an_Alternative_Certification_Program/ • UT – University of Texas: https://www.utexas.edu/ • AutoCAD Inventor: https://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor/overview • ACC – Austin Community College: http://www.austincc.edu/ • Multisim – circuit simulation software from National Instruments: http://www.ni.com/multisim/ • TEKS – Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills educational standards: https://tea.texas.gov/index2.aspx?id=6148 • STAAR testing in Texas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Texas_Assessments_of_Academic_Readiness Our closing music is called “Girl” by Miros, used with permission, and you can find more tracks by Miros on SoundCloud, user “mirossound”: https://soundcloud.com/mirossound Subscribe and find more podcast information at: http://www.k12engineering.net. The K12 Engineering Education Podcast is a production of Pios Labs: http://www.pioslabs.com. Support Pios Labs at: https://www.patreon.com/pioslabs