Evolving the Secondary Classroom
Written by: Jason Walke
Indiana is getting ready to blow up the requirements for a high school diploma. A major shift in secondary education is on the horizon. Those entering seventh grade for the 2024-25 school year will be the first class to have to meet the new requirements. Without getting into the politics of everything, some of the biggest changes are a shift to learning about and understanding careers. There will be fewer academic requirements and more work-based learning taking place. Under the new guidelines, most mandatory classes will be completed by the end of the sophomore year. Besides a couple required classes, their junior and senior year will be able to be filled with internships, mentorships and other experiential types of classes. This shift in education can also be incorporated into the traditional classroom. One of my main goals as a teacher is to create a connection between my students and the community. There are a number of reasons I focus on community connections.
Students who have good experiences and build relationships with business and community leaders have a better chance to return to the area to begin their career when their education ends. Having the opportunity to network and build relationships will put them one step ahead when beginning a career compared to being in a community with no feeling of connection. Likewise, local businesses that have established relationships with students would be more likely to hire that student in the future if the relationship and experience was a positive one. Oftentimes, people who are job searching will use the phrase, “if I could just get a foot in the door.” This phrase is used with the thought that if they knew someone or had a chance to prove themselves with someone within the company that they would be able to land the interview or job. Creating experiences and relationships as high school students with someone within the company gives them that “foot in the door” many are looking for.
“Creating experiences and relationships as high school students with someone within the company gives them that “foot in the door” many are looking for.”
In the classroom, my focus is to try and tie in the real world whenever possible. To help with this, I have started focusing on connecting with the community myself and bringing in guest speakers and creating activities that tie into providing assistance with our local community. For guest speakers, I have had the CEO of a $100 million manufacturing company visit to talk about work ethic and employability skills as well as discuss his own journey to how he became the CEO. I also brought in a marketing strategist with a company that helps businesses build their brand through customer feedback and surveys. He discussed with students what successful companies do to bring in the feedback needed to build their brand compared to what unsuccessful surveys look like. In both of these instances, I asked the guest speaker to meet with the small groups set up in the classroom and have a conversation with each of them about the importance of networking and building various soft skills needed to succeed in the job hunting process. In both instances, the guests provided contact information to each student and said they would be more than willing to answer questions in emails or set up Zoom meetings to help my students. The seed had been planted in creating some relationships between local business leaders and students.
One of my favorite projects we did this past school year was with my Intro to Business class. This project could have fit into Economics as well as other business courses. A local non-profit Main Street organization received some grant money to explore and put together a potential plan for the downtown district of our small, 7,000 person community. The downtown area currently lacks an identity and businesses struggle to find much success. The Executive Director for the Main Street organization along with one of the small business owners who is part of the organization came in to talk with students on separate occasions. After their visits and having some great discussions, a project was put into place. Students were to come up with ideas that the Main Street organization could use to help give the downtown district an identity. Along with that, they also had to create a separate presentation for the small business owner on ideas that she could implement in her business to help bring in more customers. With this project, we took time to walk around the downtown district. We studied the history of the area along with analyzing what businesses are located where. Students then came up with presentations for the Executive Director that discussed possible ideas to help the downtown area. I was amazed at the work the students put into these and the research they did. They found grants the Main Street organization can promote to the business community as well as talking about how some businesses should be moved off the town square and to focus on certain types of businesses on the square. They discussed tax incentives that the local government could provide based on other towns for businesses to relocate or move into town. The Executive Director shared the ideas with her board members as well as with city officials. Some of the ideas of the students have been incorporated into their master plan. In doing so, the students have established relationships with local businesses and organizations.
As for the presentations for the local business, the owner loved the ideas the students came up with. She has implemented several of them including modernizing her business website, trying some new products and focusing on keeping displays fresh and evolving. Again, the students now have a local business leader in their corner and someone who could be an asset to them later in life.
“The students now have a local business leader in their corner and someone who could be an asset to them later in life.”
Even outside of my business classes, guest speakers by local business leaders and community officials have proved to be beneficial. In a media class, a local videographer business owner came in and discussed his passion for videography and how that turned into a full time career for him. He also shared his tips on creating great videos and will be working with students this upcoming year to create a video for our school. A local podcaster invited a group of seniors to be on his podcast for a special segment he did and this led to my media class now having podcasting equipment and working towards setting up our own podcast. Again, students have begun making connections and building relationships with leaders within our community and this will only serve them for the better.
Education is evolving in Indiana. We can choose to embrace the change and make the most of it or refute it. Changing up my traditional classroom to one that is centered on community connections has become my ultimate supplemental resource. Students have provided positive feedback to me on having guests come into the classroom. Guests speakers have also provided positive feedback on their experience and how they want to continue to do this. It ends up being a win-win for everyone involved. Finding a way to connect your classroom to your community not only benefits your students, but will benefit yourself. Showing your school boards and administrators your commitment to connecting the school to the local community shows your commitment to adapting and preparing your students for not only new diploma requirements, but for life after graduation.
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