When one thinks of public education what comes to mind is the image of a teacher in a classroom lecturing to students or assisting them to learn in other ways. However, in this edition of the SCCOE newsletter you will see how students learn in a variety of settings, and the important role that teachers and parents play.

We have students learning math, science and environmental education through a Forestry Challenge and others experiencing the complexities of our judicial system by participating in Teen Peer Court. We also see high school students giving back through an educational mentoring program at an elementary school. At the heart of these unique learning settings is the teacher. Nowhere was this more evident than at the recent screening of the documentary "American Teacher" where, on one Saturday morning at the Nickelodeon theatre in Santa Cruz, teachers, parents and administrators met to view and discuss the current status of this profession. You will also read about our nationally recognized Migrant Head Start program, the importance of professional development, and how bicycle repair has taken on a whole new meaning.

In these times where the budget attracts most of the attention, it is reaffirming to see that creative teaching and learning can still happen.

Three years ago, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education saw a serious need in our county and worked hard to find a way to fill it. Realizing that many districts were struggling to find teachers for their most challenging Special Education classrooms, the county developed a way to "grow our own" through the Project IMPACT Intern Program. Recently, the first cohort of fully credentialed teachers celebrated their successful completion of the intern program surrounded by family, friends and staff.
 

Read more about Project Impact interns completing their credentials. 

In the painful world of adolescence, often nothing looms larger than what other teens think of you.

Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News

Santa Clara County's fledgling Peer Court hopes to take advantage of that mindset, by placing low-level criminal offenders in front of a jury of their peers.

In the fourth session since its start last month, on Tuesday 12 teen jurors will decide the punishment for a student defendant represented by two teen defenders, facing off against two teen prosecutors. As in other successful programs in Santa Cruz, East Palo Alto, Oakland and across the nation, the defendants have admitted guilt and appear only for sentencing.

Read the article in the San Jose Mercury News.

SANTA CRUZ - The first-graders watched with excitement as water washed doughnut sprinkles and soy sauce - representing pollution - from the hills and fields into an ocean model.

Cries of "That's disturbing" and "That's gross," peppered animated discussion around a table-top model of a watershed.

The Bay View Elementary School students were learning about watershed health and the harmful effects of pollution. But their usual teachers were standing back and watching. The instructors for this lesson at Bay View were high school students from Natural Bridges High School and Green Career Center.

Santa Cruz Sentinel article continued here.

WATSONVILLE - In a large sunny room off Lupita Fernandez's dining room, toddlers built towers with brightly colored blocks and slightly older children made "bubble gum cakes" from Play-doh on Wednesday morning.

Each day, Fernandez and her assistant, Anelly Alvarado, play host to a dozen small children while their parents work. Along with what's obviously loving care, the women work to give their charges the foundation that will one day make them successful in school.

"We're here for the kids," said Fernandez.

Find out more about Migrant Head Start in the Santa Cruz Sentinel article.