From the Executivev Director's Desk: No Teacher Left Behind

FLATE tries to work diligently to be sure students are exposed to and learn about Florida’s

great manufacturing industry and the great careers pathways that they can follow right in their own community, or anywhere across the globe. But it typically takes more than one encounter or one experience. How do we extend and deepen the impact of a “Made in Florida” Industry tour, or summer robotic camp experience? How can we make relevant career and job information integral part of student learning? It’s not unexpected, but many teachers do not much about our industry sector, nor about the lucrative and exciting technical careers in manufacturing. A workshop can be a good beginning, providing a spark of interest, the beginning of a passion. But a workshop is not typically enough for teachers to bring the materials to life in a classroom. To provide more opportunities for teachers to teach each other and collaborate, FLATE is working to re-activate FAITE, (Florida Association of Industrial Technical Education), a division of FACTE, the Florida Association of Career and Technical Education (FACTE). FLATE, together with the Florida Department of Education Adult and Career Education (FLDOE) is providing foundational support for building a collaborative learning community. Such a “Community of Practice” have three simple components:

• a common goal (enhanced student learning)
• shared time (regular in person and/or virtual collaborative meeting spaces), and 
• passion for the focus of the community

As an infant organization, FAITE’s goal will be just that, to build a Community of Practice that

will sustain itself with the passion of its members. Keeping it simple is important so that the community can focus on its passion and not on maintaining the infrastructure of the group itself. With regular opportunities for industrial technical educators to come together in person and virtually, FAITE aims to build capacity and confidence in participants, provide a platform to share promising practices, finding solutions, and voicing common concerns. Working in isolation can be tough, and can be frustrating and demoralizing in the world of frequent changes in policy and processes. Working together with our peers, sharing experiences in a collaborative environment is invigorating. FLATE strongly encourages educators to join us and the FL DOE to participate in FAITE. Reasons and incentives to join include, but are not limited to:

• Advance your career
• Advocate
• Get Legislative Updates
• Connect with Industry to
• Lead
• Learn
• Network
• Share Ideas
• Sharpen Skills 

For more information on FAITE and/or technical and industrial education throughout Florida 

visit the FAITE website, or contact Alan Lynch, president of FAITE at alan.lynch@ocps.net, and Dr. Marilyn Barger, Executive Director of FLATE at barger@fl-ate.org. I now invite you to enjoy the stories in the September issue of the FLATE Focus. Our primary efforts in the next month, or two will be focused on MFG Day/Month. We invite All across Florida to celebrate and participate in the various tours and events that have been planned starting October 7 through the end of the month. As always jot down your thoughts and comments under each of the stories in the blog, or contact us news@fl-ate.org and follow us across our social networking platforms on Facebook, connect with us on LinkedIn, or Tweet us @Made_InFlorida using the Hastag of the Month #FLMFGMonth16 and at #MFGday16.