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Regional Activity Highlights
The East Texas Tech Prep Consortium serves 74 ISDs and five community/technical colleges in the 14 counties of East Texas. Eighty percent of these institutions have approved Tech Prep Plans.
GROUNDHOG DAY
The East Texas Tech Prep Consortium was the originator of the now nationally well-known GROUNDHOG DAY student job-shadowing. GROUNDHOG DAY job-shadowing has been celebrated in East Texas since February 2, 1996. At the summer Tech Prep Directors workshop in 1996, East Texas presented this idea to the directors and requested that this become a statewide project. The next year - 1997 - over five Tech Prep Consortia held a job-shadowing day on GROUNDHOG DAY. Again, in 1998, the program grew to include new consortia, and thousands of Tech Prep students across Texas participated. Now, new records are set in the number of consortia and students who participate in Tech Prep Texas' Groundhog Day each year.
TASSEL
TASSEL - "Technical/Academic Student Scholars Excelling in Learning" is a program begun in 1998. The TASSEL Scholar program recognizes seniors who complete an approved Tech Prep program of study and receive a grade of "C" or better in course work. An outdoor sign suitable for displaying at their residence is given TASSEL seniors to recognize them as a TASSEL Scholar. At graduation or on senior awards day, these seniors will receive a TASSEL certificate of recognition.
TEACHER LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
Teacher Leadership Program - In a joint project of the East Texas Tech Prep Consortium, Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, and Tyler Independent School District, twenty Tyler ISD English teachers job-shadowed in the 1998 fall semester to observe how oral and written communication skills were used in the workplace. Each teacher job-shadowed seven days (every other Wednesday) at a business from each occupational cluster designated by TEA. Teachers were mentored by 140 employees from 125 businesses. Many employees from the same businesses substituted for the teachers while they were out of the classroom job-shadowing. Teachers wrote lesson plans based on their experiences in the workplace, and these lesson plans were distributed to English teachers throughout the region.
STUDENT GROUP PROPOSALS
Request for Proposals developed by East Texas Tech Prep for student groups in our ISD's resulted in twelve students groups being awarded Tech Prep funds for Tech Prep activites and materials for their school. This was truly an exciting applied learning project that not only heightened the awareness of Tech Prep among our students, but which also brought much recognition to our Consortium for another innovative project.
UT TYLER WORKSHOP CREDITS
Our Consortium staff has worked with The University of Texas at Tyler to infuse Tech Prep into the teacher and counselor pre-service programs. We have also worked with the University to get graduate credit for three past workshops we sponsored.

The University, together with the Consortium, has partnered to offer Principles of Technology I and II for college credit or for certification only.
COUNSELOR TRAINING

Our Counselors' Networks, with their non-traditional presentations and themes, have been the highlights of training for our Counselors.

Our 1996 Fiesta for counselors and our 1997 Fields of Dreams Counselor Academies attracted over 200 counselors in our region. The Fields of Dreams theme . . .Counselors helping students with their career FIELDS so that they may realize their DREAMS . . . was such a "hit" that the same theme was used to produce our first Tech Prep recruiting video.

Our 1998 theme, "Counselor Treasure Hunt," was another "treasure" for our counselors.

In 1999, our counselors enjoyed "Bloom Where You're Planted." We brought "MAGIC" (Making a Greater Investment in Children, and Meaningful Activities to Generate Interesting Classrooms) to our counselors in 2000.

In 2001, our theme was "Games We Love to Play." TEXAS CARES software was purchased for our counselors to use with students in career investigation.

In 2002, our theme was "I Can Fly." Counselors were nominated by principals, deans, and others to win Earn Your Wings awards that were presented at our Counselors' Network meeting on May 16, 2003.

MAKE YOUR OWN SCHOLARSHIP
A clever marketing idea for ISD's was implemented to attract high school students. The premise of the theme is that when an articulated course is successfully completed and tuition and fees are saved at college entrance times, the student has indeed made his own scholarship. Signs with "Ask me how you can get college credit for taking this class NOW" were printed and posted on classrooms where articulated courses are taught. Huge dollar bills with tuition savings calculated are given to students who inquire.
WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES
Other highlights of activities have been our WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES teacher/counselor shadowing program. In this project, teachers and counselors shadowed other teachers in either a secondary or postsecondary institution. We also provided opportunities for teachers and counselors to intern at a regional business during the summer and write curriculum based on that experience. The curriculum was circulated region-wide.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
We have provided over 200 professional development training activities for the school districts and community colleges in our Consortium in the areas deemed necessary to begin and implement the tech prep process. As a result of these in-service workshops, new teaching methodologies such as learning styles, cooperative learning, team building, and academic/vocational integration have been implemented in classrooms throughout the region. The Tech Prep staff has developed several training topics for students and has conducted training for our ISD's in Business Protocol and Etiquette, Planning a Budget at Minimum Wage vs. a Tech Prep Wage, Texas CARES, Interviewing Techniques, and Career Choices.
SCHOOL-TO-WORK GRANT
The East Texas Tech Prep Consortium participated in the successful writing of the School-To-Work Planning Grant for East Texas in partnership with the Quality Work Force Planning Committee, the Council of Governments and JTPA. The Consortium also participated in the successful writing of the East Texas School-To-Work Local Partnership Grant for East Texas.

Doris Sharp, Director
dsharp@mail.uttyl.edu
 

(903) 566-7353
East Texas Tech Prep Consortium
The University of Texas at Tyler
3900 University Blvd.
Tyler, TX 75799