Expanding Possibilities: How CTE Child Development Inspires Students' Unique Career Paths

In this episode, Tiffiny Webster is joined by Crista Bross from the high school department to discuss all things Career Technical Education (CTE) Child Development. The CTE program at Sage Oak offers a robust curriculum that goes beyond regular course content to provide students with hands-on experiences and opportunities for growth. Through this program, students not only fulfill graduation requirements but also gain concentrated instruction in the area of child development.

The Child Development series consists of three courses. The first two, Child Development 1 and Child Development 2, are taught at Sage Oak, while the third course, Child Development 3, is a partnership with a community college. This collaboration allows students to earn community college credit and further deepen their learning. The program also offers additional benefits such as field trips, guest speakers, and a student-run club, which provide students with a more immersive experience in the subject.

The child development program covers a wide range of topics, starting from conception to toddlerhood. Students also have the opportunity to participate in simulations, such as wearing a pregnancy suit simulator that simulates the third trimester of pregnancy. This hands-on experience allows students to empathize with pregnant women and gain a deeper understanding of the development that occurs during pregnancy. The program also delves into the scientific aspects of child development, helping students appreciate the complexity of prenatal development.

After completing the child development program, students can pursue various college programs and careers related to the field. While early childhood education is a common path, the program at Sage Oak aims to broaden students' horizons. Field trips to explore medical careers involved with child development and the exploration of entrepreneurship in the industry are part of the program's vision. Whether students are interested in science, business, or government, the knowledge and skills gained from the program can be applied to a variety of passions and career paths.

Overall, the CTE Child Development program at Sage Oak provides students with a comprehensive education in the field of child development. It not only fulfills graduation requirements but also offers students the opportunity to gain practical experience and explore various career paths. The program encourages creativity and individual drive, empowering students to imagine what they can do with their knowledge and make a difference in the world.

To learn more about the CTE Child Development program and other educational opportunities offered by Sage Oak, visit their website at www.sageoak.education.

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

0:14

Welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I'm Tiffiny Webster. And today I am joined with Crista Bross from our high school department. And we are talking about all things CTE child development. So excited to get into this. Crista, welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Tiffiny. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Of course. We always love hearing from our high school education advisors. We know that you guys work so hard to create incredible programs and incredible learning experiences for our students beyond just the the regular content of a course, you're really trying to find different pathways for them and experiences for them so that they can grow not only in high school, but in what's to come in college and careers. CTE definitely, is a part of that. So we will dive deeper into that for sure. But first, tell us a little bit about who you are as far as what you do here at Sage Oak and how you got involved with the CTE program. Sure. I am an education advisor at Sage Oak like you mentioned I teach English 12 and the child development course and I just, I love working at Sage Oak because of the possibility. There's lots of great ideas that get developed. And I think this CTE pathway is one example of And so I'm just really excited to get to share child development with students. I love that. So for our parents who might not be as familiar with that term CTE, explain a little bit about what CTE is and how does that relate to child development? How are these things connected? Sure. So CTE stands for career technical education. And basically what it does is it's like a class series with some additional benefits. So for the child development series, there are three classes. The first two are in house with Sage Oak, Child Development 1 and Child Development 2. And then the third class, Child Development 3, is with partnership with a community college. And so that will allow students to get community college credit, of course, and deepen their learning. The extras related with a CTE pathway include things like field trips, guest speakers and a student run club. So it's just a way to really immerse yourself in that subject which is great for students who are really interested in child development but also great for students who just might want to learn a little bit. The first course does satisfy one of the high school graduation requirements, which is one year of either a CTE. Class or a visual and performing arts class. So that's another benefit for students who, they may not be wanting to be in this sort of career, but could still learn a little bit more about it. What a robust program. Just to unpack that a little bit, it's like through this program, they are getting a chance to tick the boxes on different types of courses that they need to take for graduation. Regardless, but they're getting some concentrated instruction in a certain area. There is some pathways to college programs or careers. There's some field trips involved. There's some hands on experiences. Sounds like there is a lot of win happening inside of the CTE program, which is so cool. When we talk about child development. It really could, cover so many different things. So what can, what does get talked about in the child development program? What does it cover? Sure. The first course really covers from conception all the way to like toddler hood. And really that could be its own course of study. There's a lot going on that time period. But what I think is also really cool is within the program, there are several simulations for students. So for example, right now students have something called a pregnancy suit simulator. So it's like a backpack that. It goes on the front and then there's like a water bladder that puts it puts in zips it up and it's supposed to simulate the third trimester of pregnancy which it does because I wore it in one class and I was exhausted afterwards, even though I was just sitting. So these sort of real life situations just allow students to empathize more with pregnant women. We have. All sorts of kids in class. So boys, girls, et cetera. And even for one of our gentlemen had the suit on and he's that was really hard. So to grant that sort of empathy and realization of what being pregnant might be we talk about development in the utero, so we're going week by week right now. And students are learning, just wild things that go on in the womb. For example, one thing that really surprised us is that. The baby's intestines actually develop in the umbilical cord first, and then they migrate into the baby's abdomen. Just, it's amazing. The process you're always. Yeah, very surprised and interested and just realizing how much development happens so early in the pregnancy, I think, is really important for all people to understand. Even if they don't go into a child development field down the road when they're ready to start a family, this information will help them also. It sounds like it would for sure. And I think it's really interesting too that there is such that scientific component to it. I think maybe, on its face, maybe somebody wouldn't realize that maybe they would just think it's more of like the nurturing and care of children, but I think it's interesting that you do have such a scientific component that could definitely appealing to someone that maybe didn't realize that was part of the program. So good to know what happens beyond that course of the program. What's the next phase. Yeah, so the next phase is child development to which, this pathway is still very new. So we're going through the curriculum, but that's like early childhood adolescence and then child development 3 is at the community college where we'll really get more concentrated in this knowledge. What type of college programs would someone go into after participating in this type of program? I think the most common one would just be like early childhood education, like the preschools, the elementary school teachers, even just a traditional teacher. Okay, but what I think what we want to do with our program is, it broadened that a little bit. For example, our field trip next month is to a mobile ultrasound unit and we'll be able to see some of the medical careers that are involved with child development. Also. We want to open. Open that up a little bit. We have thoughts even around, entrepreneurship there. There's a huge industry around child development, babies, kids, how can we like, really learn more about what are some of the concerns and how we can, develop different ideas around it is something that we want to think about too. I think no matter what your interests are. It can probably connect to childhood, development, if that's something that is also a passion of yours. So interesting. And I think you're right. they're thinking maybe of just preschool teaching or just elementary teacher, right? I think that you're right when you can take this as a stepping point, but then, Take it in more of a science direction or take it in more of a business or entrepreneurial direction. I think that really opens up a lot of possibilities for our students. Maybe they like government and they're going to start lobbying to the government about how childcare needs to be embedded into workforces or something like that, for me to say what they're going to do with it is tough because each of the students at Sage Oak are just so gifted and individually driven that what they do with it is, it may not even be invented yet. They do. a lot of creativity here. And what we want to do is provide the education, the building blocks of what child development is and start to create opportunities for students to imagine what they can do with it. Oh, that's so powerful and so well said. And I would definitely agree. Having had a chance to work with some of these students and families myself, I've always impressed by the way that they take the knowledge they are acquiring the experiences that they are having here at Sage Oak and then they just run with them and they put their own interest and passions into it, and they can really do incredible things. So I think you're right. I think that a lot of the skills that come out of this, aside from just great child development skills, are these new ways of thinking or imagining how to take a skill set and turn it into, something that you love. It could go into the way of technology. It could go in the way of business. You could become a swim coach. You could do, like music lessons for kids, like babysitting. There's just a lot of different ways that. That students can take this experience and then apply it to different pathways in their lives. Oh, I'm excited to see where they go with this. Are you also noticing that this would lead students may be into like medical field jobs as far as like nurses, doctors, you see there's interest in that as well. Yeah, we have a lot of students that are interested in, NICU babies and nursing. So we do have, a labor and delivery nurse coming in as a guest speaker. And and we are looking for other partnerships. So if anyone out there is listening and you are connected to a child development field, or, someone who is we would love to connect with you. So we're always looking for more partnerships, but yeah, that's one thing we're definitely looking to do is to pull in guests. speakers and, potential experiences that can help students to just see the variety that really is connected to child development. And down the road, potentially, we're looking at, maybe getting some internships for students. We do have work experience at Sage Oak. Working with their local communities to find opportunities for them is something that we want to do long term. We're not there yet, but I think that's something that'd be really important. Child development one is open to all students. And so if you have any interest at all, even if it's not for a career, if it's just for life pretty much everyone at some point will encounter a baby, even if it's not their own. So having a sense of how babies and kids develop, I think is really important and can save you a lot of frustration. So I think it's a great life skills class, to be honest. But yeah, there is a lot of room to develop a career passion if you stay in the cohort. So that's another thing that we're working to develop is not just three classes that you take, but it's three classes that you take with the same group of kids. And so you develop this community. Also, within this CTE pathway and that's one thing that we're always working to improve at Sage Oak, being independent study, that is a challenge. But this is a really great opportunity because you'll be with like minded students, right? So the finding things in common is already, you're already there. And so being able to develop those friendships and those partnerships through, the field trips and the club and those sorts of things is another goal of ours. I love that. That's such a a great way of building the community, So amazing to see that's happening in here what can our families do to help support this program and help that it continues to thrive and grow. Yeah I think the most important thing that we're working on this year is developing the partnerships with different organizations and businesses. And so if a family has a connection, either personally, or they have a friend or a family member. That would be willing to share their time and their knowledge with us. That would be a huge boon to our program. So that's really our number one focus is just developing these partnerships because the extra things, the field trips, the guest speakers and the club, that's what makes this pathway something that's more than just a class. And so that's where we're really working to create experiences that students. can have those, those imaginations around child development, the curiosity the drive to fix a problem that they learn about is, like talking on zoom and learning online is great. And that's the start, but it's, When you put the pregnancy suit on, it's when you go and see an ultrasound or, it's those life, it's those real experiences that are so important. So yeah, I'm not sure if you'll link my email or something in the notes, but if you have any connections, I would love to hear from you. That would be great. Oh, before we wrap up, though, it would be remiss to not like, just give a couple of shout outs because this CTE program is a huge team effort. So I just wanted to mention our high school specialist, Channon Alexander. She has been instrumental in actually getting the suits out to the kids. So huge. Thank you to her. And then also. Our counselor, Coral Prendergrast she is leveraging her connections to help us get some great experiences for the students. So we're super grateful for her. And also Laura Glaviano, our assistant principal. She is a wealth of CTE knowledge. I think she was on the show a couple of weeks ago. Yes. So smart guidepost. And so I appreciate her so much. And then, of course, our principal, Traci King who has the vision and the creativity and the generous support of this program. Without those four and of course, our amazing students who are taking the class, like we would be no pathway. So super grateful to all those folks. So glad you mentioned that. They definitely deserve credit for sure. I know that starting these programs and getting all those details coordinated and getting the program off the ground is no easy feat. So I do really appreciate you recognizing all of those that are helping our students with this opportunity. I will leave your email in the show notes as well as a link to our Sage Oak website. Always a great place to go for some information. But parents, if you do have connections out there with either a business or a service or someone in your community that you think could be beneficial to this program, we would definitely love to hear from you. I would love to hear from more students at some point after the program has been through its first year. So maybe that's something that we can talk about doing too, is maybe bringing some students on towards the end of the year and hearing from them firsthand, because it just sounds like you're setting them up for all kinds of success and I'd love to hear about it. It's great to see all the things that you are doing for our program. So can't wait to see where it goes. So thank you so much, Crista. All right. We'll see you on the next one.