How to Connect With Your Local K-12 Community

Collaborate,Collaborate, Collaborate
The ASME sections which conduct teacher workshops find that they are most effective when working with another educational group in their community.  This can be a special science center education program, a university math science education center or even a multi-district education consortium. (See below.)

For an ASME section, it is important to identify the key players in teacher training for math and science in your community.  Perhaps the best person is the math and science coordinator for your local district.  He or she will likely be a good starting point to determine the profile of your educational community and the individuals and organizations who are working independently and collectively to support educational goals.

If this is your section's first attempt at reaching out to your local education community, it is a good idea to contact other organizations first who may already have good education contacts.  The key to connecting is networking.  There are likely a variety of resources that already exist in your community.  

Other engineers, other professional association members, teachers, students, universities contacts and parents may be able to help point you in the right direction.  With a few advance phone calls, you should be able to determine who the key education contacts are in your community and also determine what other organizations are actively supporting education.  You might find that by contacting these other groups, you can collaborate on a workshop, or you might be able to support other programs already in place.  Don't try to reinvent the wheel....take advantage of groundwork laid by others and work together.  The goal is to help educators and their students, and it may be reached more effectively by joint effort than by starting from scratch.

If you have a few individuals involved in planning your workshop, split up the contact list below and then regroup and compare notes about what might be already planned in your area.

Connection Tips
Once you've determined who the key players are in your local educational community, you might want to write to them and follow-up with a phone call to determine their current support needs.  If you decide to write a note to a teacher first, be sure to copy their  administrator so that they are aware of what you are doing.  Also, when contacting teachers via phone, just before the first class, or just after the closing bell are the best times to call.  It will be difficult to reach teachers during school hours.  And be sure to ask about e-mail: many teachers cannot check their e-mail more frequently than once every few days.

Try to set up appointments at convenient times for the educators.  This may be just after the end of the school day, which varies from school to school.

Schools and Districts
Determine how your local schools and districts are organized.  You might first call a local school, or if you have internet access, most schools and districts now have on-line directories.  This first step will help you determine the number of schools and teachers you could connect with.  That number may cause you to scale down, or expand your initial workshop in terms of the geography it will cover.

Local Consortiums
Some communities have banded together and created educational consortiums to reduce the cost of training and other expenditures.  Often these consortiums will have facilities at which you could hold your workshop, or may be able to help you with promotion.  If there is a consortium near you, make an appointment and visit with the director.  Likely you will benefit from a discussion about how your section could assist the consortium in reaching their own goals.  Also, you'll be able to view their facility and see if it might serve as a site for your meeting. For examples, the Northwest Educational Technology Consortium provides access to professional development, collegial interaction, and technical assistance to support K-12 educators in using technology in schools.

Local Universities
Check with the education and continuing education departments of local universities.  These facilities are often very familiar with the local educational system and be able to recommend the names of key individuals who you could contact regarding educational needs.  They may also be actively involved in hosting workshops to the same group.  You may consider hosting a joint workshop, or assisting in programs already underway at the university level.  Be sure to check community colleges and smaller schools as well.

Technology Centers
Local technology centers are often used by school districts to offer technology training to educators.  These facilities are frequently familiar with good contacts at the school and district level and may also end up be a facility resource for your workshop.  For example, SciTech is a hands-on science and technology center that offers both educational programs and science resources.

Educational Collaboratives
Some communities have educational collaboratives where a group of schools will work together to fund a center for technology training, or workshops, or professional development.  Often these organizations have facilities that could be used for workshops, and their executive director will have very strong links to key educators in your area. For example, the South Shore Educational Collaborative in Hingham, MA works to host workshops and training for schools and districts throughout the south shore of Massachusetts.

Professional Associations
Another good way to connect with educators is through with professional teaching associations that serve middle level educators in your area.  Be aware that most of these organizations are national, and may not have the resources to help you on a local level.  But it is worth being familiar with the major groups and to see if there are any local contacts who can be of assistance or guide you regarding workshop content and planning. You might also time your workshop to coincide with a local or state conference.