2024VSTE Annual Conference

Join us for a session to explore practical strategies for seamlessly integrating space-related content into your current CTE courses. You'll gain valuable insights through specific examples of engaging lesson plans and hands-on activities that will empower you to connect CTE with the ever-evolving realm of space exploration and development. By incorporating space-related projects and discussions into your curriculum, you can ignite a passion for aerospace, engineering, and technology careers.

Technology is a great way to bridge the gap for students who need accessibility options. This session will help us identify visible and non-visible disabilities and ways to address them in programs we use every day to teach our students.

Discover digital tools and activities to enhance instruction of science topics for understanding people?s relationship to the natural environment. Engage and collaborate with fellow participants using digital game boards, group simulations, virtual graphing, and problem-solving challenges, all related to the SOLs.

In this session, attendees will be introduced to AIM-VA a nonprofit organization funded by the Virginia Department of Education that provides alternative text formats to eligible Virginia K-12 students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and a documented Print Disability. Participants will learn about the eligibility criteria for AIM-VA, the process of requesting materials, and the range of formats available, including digital text, audio, and braille. Through interactive discussions, attendees will explore best practices for integrating AIM-VA into their teaching practices. Practical tips will be shared on how to select appropriate materials and leverage technology to enhance accessibility.

In the sea of education, standardization often acts as both a guide and a roadblock. How can educational leaders become lighthouses, guiding their teams to innovative shores without losing sight of necessary standards? Being an innovative (lighthouse) leader involves adopting a mindset and practices that encourage creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

In this session, we will delve into developing our "guiding light" as innovative leaders, focusing on skills that embody courage, authenticity, and awareness. We will navigate through eight mastery pathways to enhance our innovative leadership style: coaching, personal story, purpose, interpersonal relationships, change management, resilience, and self-awareness. By the end of this session, participants will embark on their journey to becoming guiding lights in their educational environments, equipped with a clear understanding of their innovative leadership identity and practical strategies for ongoing growth and development.