New "What's Included" Section!
April 25, 2007

There are new "What's Included" sections on the individual CPU (career pathway unit) and PAC (pathways for agriscience careers) pages.  This information will give you a better understanding of what our packages contain.  Please understand, however, that contents (and pricing) may change.  We don't post new information about an upgraded course until it is complete.  So use the contents and price as a guideline.

3/9 - Planning Guide Photographer a Technology Teacher

Planning Guide Photographer a Technology Teacher
March 9, 2007

If you haven't already received your brand new Applied Technologies Career Connections Planning Guide, you're welcome to request one.  While we're pretty happy with it, there is one omission we need to correct.  And that is, that Rome, Georgia technology teacher Steve St.Clair was the primary photographer for the catalog.  It wasn't until the Planning Guide was published that we realized the mistake of not crediting him.

To that end, we wanted to tell you a bit about Steve, his work as a technology teacher at Coosa Middle School, and his side business, Highlights Photography & Videography.

Please be sure to view some of his pictures at the bottom of the page.

As Steve was growing up, he acquired an interest in creating things with his hands.

"My dad handed me blocks of wood that I would turn into craft projects," he recalled.  "So I spent countless hours cutting, shaping, and finishing many projects.  I was certainly inspired by my dad who was a carpenter.  He wanted me to take my skills and use them to pursue a career.  I thought about architecture and how I might like to design and build structures of all kinds, I considered possibly being a building contractor and developing dream homes, but it was my experience in a high school Industrial Arts class with a great teacher named Don Keil that touched my life."

This experience led him to Berry College where he would attain a degree in Industrial Education.

"There I was fortunate enough to be a lab assistant under the wings of great teachers like Raymond Bowen, Ron Barker, Michael Bachler, and Lee Clendenning," said Steve.  "Having the opportunity to work with these teachers and in the Industrial Arts facilities I found a love of working with others and sharing my skills."

That training all led to a career teaching Industrial Arts for seven years at Coosa Middle School in Rome.  As the changes in technology moved forward teachers started creating technology labs in their schools.  Steve wasn’t sure about the changes he would have to make, but he knew the task ahead was immense.  He attended a state sponsored workshop for three weeks immersing himself into developing a technology lab.

"I spent countless hours planning and designing my lab.  I spent almost a year developing the curriculum that I would teach to my students.  What did I know about robotics or computer numerical control?  Not much. But I turned to my new found friends at Learning Labs where they provided the guidance and necessary basic curriculum materials I needed in order to teach."

He's now in his 23rd year at Coosa Middle School and has added Career Education courses to teach his sixth and seventh graders.  "I'm trying to give them a better insight and understanding what careers are and how they will need to prepare themselves in order to achieve their goals," he said.

While teaching was his full-time job, Steve's fledgling affection for photography was growing.

"I would enter and place in many photo contests at the fall fair. And like many budding photographers, I cut my teeth shooting events and portraits for family and friends."

As his skills and experience grew, others began asking him shoot portraits for them. Therefore, with a love of photography, he entered the real world of professional photography.

"I opened my own home-based photography business in 2000 and decided to call it Highlights Photography & Videography.

Since then, he has shot an average of 25 weddings per year, dozens of family portraits, and many special occasions like dances and sporting events per year.  That's well over 25,000 pictures a year!

"This past year I celebrated by shooting a 25^th wedding anniversary of one of my first clients," he said.

Steve's photographs have been featured as stock photos in catalogs for commercial businesses like Mpix, one of the largest online photo labs for consumers.  Kendall Hartcraft Frame Catalog has also featured his work.  A local magazine showcased some of his work, and of course he recently collaborated with Learning Labs Vice President/Applied Technologies General Manager John Richardson to produce images for our Planning Guide.

"It was a lot of fun working with students at Sonoraville High School who modeled for our catalog shoot," said Steve.

Applied Technologies would like to thank Steve again for his hard work and the talent he brought to the catalog.  If you live in the area and have considered hiring a professional photographer, we would certainly encourage you to email Steve or visit his website for more information.

 

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2/22 - Student Work from Ohio to Trinidad!

Student Work from Ohio to Trinidad!
February 22, 2007

From the winter weather in Ohio, to the tropical sun and sand of Trinidad in the West Indies, students are taking information gained from our products and applying it to their own work.

Let's first take a break from the cold and travel near the equator to Trinidad and visit with Tobias Julian, the Technology Education Teacher at Trinity College East.

"Having completed five years in alliance with Applied Technologies," said Julian, "students still find the technology education lab amazing."

The teacher noted that the "friendly modular system addresses the needs of students with both fast and slow learning abilities.

"The Student Guides have been written to encourage ‘student-centered’ learning; this gives me more time to assist slower students. They also give students an insight to a variety of careers to enhance their choice."

Julian also likes the challenges at the end of each module, which "lend itself to discovery learning and problem solving. This opens up a whole new pathway for students to transfer what was learned into real life projects."

Julian presented several examples of his students' work.  They're broken down by CPU title:

Bio-Related Technology CAD CNC Mill Jabari Gordon Kendel Alexander

Graphic Communications: Vinyl Signmaking Graphic Communications Wax Thermal Animation Challenge Landscape Design

Next, we'll head north all the way up to Clarksville, Ohio and see what students have been up to in Nancy Rudduck's information technology classes at Clinton-Massie High School, a satellite to Great Oaks Institute.

This month, she submitted several newsletters created as a part of our Desktop Publishing CPU, a Valentine's greeting created with software included in our Computer Applications CPU, and several PowerPoint presentations created by students in the Interactive Multimedia CPU:

• Clinton-Massie Newsletter (69 Kb)

• Clinton-Massie Sports Newsletter (29 Kb)

• Technology Newsletter (33 Kb)

• Valentine's Post Card (95 Kb)

• Holiday Newsletter (20 Kb)

• Pulling Trucks Presentation (578 Kb)

• Martial Arts Presentation (1 Mb) - excellent

• Valentine's Day Presentation (227 Kb)

• Sports Presentation (203 Kb)

We always welcome student work to be submitted for us to see and/or post online!  Email us for more information!

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