Rigor and Relevance being taught to teachers for students

While most students are enjoying their summer vacation in whatever ways they can, their teachers were hard at work being students themselves.

While most students are enjoying their summer vacation in whatever ways they can, their teachers were hard at work being students themselves.

For four days Imperial Valley teachers filled the seats of a classroom in the Imperial County Public Health Department building in El Centro to learn how to make what they teach during the school year relevant and rigorous for their pupils. This professional development effort was part of the “Relevance Project” established by the Imperial Valley Regional Occupation Program and other local entities.

During workshops by International Center for Leadership Education consultant Al Fabrizio, teachers learned about the benefits students may take from the classroom by learning the real-world applications of the traditional classroom curriculum and how to develop lesson plans that show the students those real-world applications, Fabrizio said.

“We think it’s a good project because they’re not just doing the standards for the standards’ sake. They’re using the standards but they’re showing the relevance of the real world,” Phil Villamor, IVROP Relevance Project coordinator, said.

“It’s a reflective process for the teachers which they may not have the time for in the day-to-day rush. Being able to sit down and specifically think about (real world relevance for students) is incredibly important.”

Villamor also noted that these workshops are good for all types of teachers.

“It’s a good mix of teachers because we’ve got the academics — your basic English, math, history types — mixed in with the career technical education teachers that teach woodshop, agriculture, graphic design and those types of classes,” he said.

“This way the academics, who already have the rigor in their subjects, will be taught how to make their lessons relevant to the students. At the same time the CTE teachers will be able to add more rigor to classes that, traditionally, students sometimes write off as easy classes,” Villamor said. “This way it helps everyone,” he said.

The teachers’ teacher, Fabrizio, praised his newest batch of teachers on their quick understanding of the rigor and relevance model.

“Teachers are presenting their lessons to their peers and their peers are providing feedback,” he said of Thursday’s exercise. “I’ve worked with teachers in about 12 states and the ideas of these teachers are right up with the best of them; very creative. And they really care about their kids,” he said.

The teachers themselves seemed to have had a great time.

“It takes what we already know and builds upon it, especially delivering different teaching strategies,” Calexico High School teacher Danjomi Ramirez said. “I think that’s the hardest thing for teachers, developing different strategies to keep the students from being bored. It’s really helpful,” he said.