East Valley Tech Prep Consortium (EVTPC) hosts workshops throughout the school year to demonstrate the connections between the vocational curriculum and the Mathematics Standards. Teachers come away with ideas they can use in career and technical education classes that support the teaching of mathematics in the subject matter context.

For example, the Agriculture Sciences workshop takes examples from agri-business, commodity marketing, ecology, landscaping and a variety of other agriculture areas. The Industrial Technology workshop draws on math connections/applications from the various construction, auto technology, drafting, and computer manufacturing areas. The Business Workshop allows teachers to revisit marketing lessons using applied graphs and charts.

Another half-day workshop, “Over-coming Math Anxiety,” was presented to high school and community college math teachers, as well as counselors and career and technical education teachers. This workshop visited math, the psychological barriers that non-math people seem to erect, and how to instill confidence in students. Attendees were given lessons to help students reduce their stress and anxious feelings about taking math tests, attacking difficult math problems, and thinking through math exercises without losing their cool.

With math performance being a national concern, Tech Prep has made math proficiency a top priority. Visit the East Valley Tech Prep Consortium website at http://www.evtpc.org/tutor to find sample lesson plans and learn more about the math integration projects.