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Dear VTEEA Members:
On behalf of the Virginia Technology and Engineering Education Association (VTEEA) I would like to welcome you to the 2011-2012 school year. I personally feel that this is one of the most exciting (and possibly challenging) times in our Association's history. This is the first year that our Association will be known as VTEEA. The change in name is indicative of a nationwide movement and reflects a shift of what and how we will teach in the future. As the great song writer and singer Bob Dylan said, "The times they are a changing." This is not the first change to our name and educational focus. Our Association was established on May 17, 1958 as the Virginia Industrial Arts Association. On September 1, 1986, the name changed to the Virginia Technology Education Association. During the winter/spring of 2011, a committee conducted a membership wide survey and our membership voted to change our name to the Virginia Technology and Engineering Education Association. At our Business meeting on August 5, 2011, the membership voted to change the VTEA Constitution and Bylaws to reflect that change. Changing our Association's name is one thing but to design and deliver updated lessons and activities is another issue. The term STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is not new. We see the term used quite frequently but what does it actually mean to the teacher conducting day-to-day lessons? It means that we must incorporate core academic (STEM) information into our daily lessons and activities. Most teachers do a very good job at this incorporation but some may not adequately illustrate that what students are learning in their technology and engineering education course is the same information that they learned (or will learn) in their math and science courses. Also - some teachers may not adequately show administrators and parents how we use math, science, and other core information in our courses. In an era of budget cuts, identifying how much we benefit student achievement could be crucial to the survival of some programs. The better we can advertise how much we benefit students, the better support our programs will receive. Our Association is committed to provide teachers with the professional development needed to advance our programs. Our annual conference is packed with workshops designed to show teachers' new and innovative ideas for their classrooms. Teachers also have the opportunity to meet and collaborate with other teachers during the conference. The VTEEA website will soon host a section where members may sign in and retrieve lesson plans and activity design briefs. These items can be used as they appear or be modified to meet your requirements. Again, I welcome you to the new school year. I would like to propose a challenge to each Virginia Technology and Engineering teacher. During this year do something that will make your classroom instruction better and then share it with someone else in our Association.
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