On a beautiful Spring evening I walked up to a warehouse in a light industrial section of Richmond, CA. I heard music playing and community members socializing and celebrating. Bright eyed youth dressed in formal serving wear with aprons were expertly serving hot appetizers and engaging with party goers about each choices’ ingredients
and flavors. These students were finishing their final project for a program called Plant to Plate organized by West County Digs, a local non-profit that works with school gardens in West Contra Costa Unified School District. 16 High school students learned how to grow food by reclaiming an abandoned garden plot and teaming up with local chefs to expertly prepare what they grew. The event culminated in a presentation of gratitude to the parents from their teens in the form of flower bouquets in
vases that the students had also created and a graduation ceremony where the students received a professional chef apron and a personalized trowel to commemorate there experience.
This Plant to Plate program exemplifies what our teens need most: motivating career themed experiences. Teens naturally are curious and driven. This teen energy is amazing to behold but can also not mix well with traditional sit and get modes of content delivery. For a lot of students, this antiquated mode is ineffective and becomes frustrating for both students and their teachers. The confines of a classroom with textbooks and a sage on the stage teacher has left so many students behind. Work Based Learning (WBL) opportunities, especially those that are thematically integrated into high school course work, offer a promising shift in how students value their education. If students value their education and know in their bones that what they are experiencing will help them find a real career, they will perform.
Students experiencing success, even if small, is key to motivation. Motivation is the key to learning!
What is your district or school doing to provide more Work Based Learning opportunities for students? I’d love to hear your comments.
Here is ConnectEd’s Work Based Learning Toolkit which has great resources to plan WBL.
If you would like to donate to West County Digs so more teens can benefit from programs like Plant to Plate, navigate here: Donate to West County Digs/Earth Island
