While instructing students during a pandemic, there is no doubt that creative and talented teachers have been forced to improvise as they turned their classroom lessons into virtual courses. Contra Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE) Regional Occupational Program (ROP) teachers have certainly met the challenge with their courses, many of which are hands-on instruction, such as auto technology, medical interventions, and robotics.

 “This pandemic has caused all of our educators to change what they do and how they do it,” Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools Lynn Mackey said. “I am proud that ROP teachers are still able to educate and engage students in rigorous, relevant instruction. The fact these hands-on classes have been able to still provide value in a virtual setting speaks to the commitment and imagination of these teachers and the ability of students to adapt to an unpredictable and ever-changing environment.”

Working directly with the school districts, CCCOE currently spends over $8 million to fund 263 ROP classes at 20 high schools in the county, serving more than 8,000 students who take part in courses as varied as automotive technology, sports medicine and play production. This funding comes from a combination of CCCOE’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), a K12 Strong Workforce Program Grant, and a Career Technical Education Incentive Grant (CTEIG).

Since its creation in 1975, CCCOE ROP has been a career and technical education (CTE) provider that prepares both high school students and adults for a wide range of careers and further educational opportunities. The ROP course of study combines classroom instruction with hands-on learning; ROP teachers are fully credentialed and experienced in their related industries. For example, a high school technology teacher will be hired to teach a robotics course.

Students enroll and attend the ROP classes at their High Schools. To learn more about ROP, as well as other CCCOE College and Career Readiness programs, visit our web page.

At Dozier-Libbey Medical High School in Antioch, Sports Medicine students have had to shift their normal “hands-on” activities to the virtual world. Sports Medicine teacher Kim O’Leary said despite the challenges of moving her lessons to an online format, her second-year students were still able to design a virtual instructional project successfully.

“They were to create, determine the criteria, write the rubric, and help judge a teaching tool [video] titled: 'What Does a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Degree Ankle Sprain Look Like?'” O’Leary said. “In this class, we assist students learn career skills in the field of Sports Medicine, through a combination of academic and ‘hands-on’ activities – which are quite challenging virtually. Our standards include things like anatomy, basic first aid, taping, injury evaluation, concussion management, and blood born pathogen training, along with much more career technical training.”

Current Sports Medicine students said the class still provides engaging lessons despite being held online. Senior Nattaliya Vatananan said internship opportunities attracted her to the class. “Last year, I was able to do the sports medicine internship and be the student trainer for Antioch High School's wrestling team and some Antioch’s football games,” Nattaliya said. “I enjoy learning the different ways to tape up a body part in the case of an injury. It's great to be able to have the class time to learn and perfect the skill. Then, in the internship I was able to use what I learned often. During COVID-19, my family members get to be my taping practice subjects -- haha.”

Vatananan plans on majoring in Kinesiology in college, and hopes to become a sports medicine physician’s assistant or work in emergency services.

First-year Sports Medicine student Sofia Hernandez decided to take the Sports Medicine class after enjoying the First Responders course she took last year.

“I was interested in how injuries were treated while playing a sport,” Hernandez said. “Everyone will get hurt throughout their lifetime and I always have wanted to be prepared, so I can know what I had to do to help make the injury better. I do enjoy wrapping the foot when we must do those activities. My sister is also taking the class with me, so we practice our wrappings with each other. Mrs. O'Leary is a great teacher. She teaches us how the injury occurs and what we can do to prevent it and treat it. This makes class fun and interesting through these difficult times.”

Hernandez, who is a senior, said she is interested in a career in the medical field after college.

Laura Woods teaches the Play Production course at California High School, in San Ramon. “In Play Production, our students learn all aspects of producing a play, from design to building to execution,” Woods explained. “Students learn costume, sound, light, set, and make up design. When in person, we learn power-tool training and get on the light and sound boards. We compete at a statewide theatre festival against 65 other schools and then perform the play for our home audience.”

Any other year, the class would be finishing up planning for the upcoming production’s physical backgrounds and props. Soon after, the students would begin putting their handy-work skills to build the planned stage sets.

But it is 2020, and things change.

Woods and her students will offer William Shakespeare’s Hamlet for California High School’s Winter Show.

“My techies, who usually build the theater’s set have been learning Adobe to bring our play to life over Zoom. The students have been researching the time period of 1949 for costume and prop examples and are busy making Elsinore Castle, a mob-owned castle casino in New York City,” Woods said.

The class is still working out details, but the plan is to record each actor in front of a green screen that Woods will mail to them, along with a costume from the 1940's and any necessary props.

Woods will direct the play from Zoom, while the tech students record the actor and splice together the video, she explained.

“They tell me they will be able to add numerous actors in one scene,” Woods said. “I honestly cannot wrap my head around this, but my students are super tech-savvy and have a full plan.”

ROP Play Production student Ryan Gee, a senior, said taking the class in a COVID-19 world has forced him to learn new skills.

“This class has given me the opportunity to learn and experience more within the theatre production world,” Ryan said. “Initially, I was going to be a lighting technician, but as our class is virtual due to Covid-19, I have been enjoying editing with Adobe Premiere Pro in order to bring the vision for our Virtual Hamlet to life. Play Pro is such an amazing class even within the virtual environment, so I'm excited to combine my skill with technology and experience in the theatre to create an incredible show.”

The class is still working out details, but the plan is to record each actor in front of a green screen that Woods will mail to them, along with a costume circa 1940's and any necessary props. “I will direct the play from Zoom, while my techies record the actor and then splice together the video,” continues Woods. “They tell me they will be able to add numerous actors in one scene. I honestly cannot wrap my head around this, but my students are super tech-savvy and have a full plan.”

Elizabeth Rodriguez teaches Careers with Children at Freedom High School, in Oakley, where she has her students working virtually with younger children in the Oakley elementary schools. “ROP goals are to give hands-on internship experiences to students in careers they are exploring. In this class, our students are working with children, early childhood through 5th grade,” Rodriguez said.

Though many would think this class is for students who want to be teachers or child-care workers, Rodriguez said students find themselves in a variety of fields. “Some of my students want to become teachers, but most all of them want to work with children in some way such as in dentistry, social services, law enforcement, medicine, etc.,” she said.

Currently, there are 32 ROP students on Zoom calls with preschool thru 5th grade classes one day a week. Students are observing, helping take roll, calling on students during question/answer time, reading stories to groups, singing, leading brain breaks, helping with counting and ABC skills, and other classroom teaching duties that are now taught virtually.

For the past 23 years, Rodriguez has been quite successful in reaching out to Oakley elementary school teachers and asking them to serve as mentors to her students. “Most of my mentors are happily willing to take on a high school intern and involve them in ‘their world’ of education.”

“My students work from the lessons the mentors give them, especially during the first semester, but my students learn how to plan, prepare, and teach lessons in my class so by the last five weeks of school they know how to put a lesson together for let's say science according to a unit being taught in the internship classroom,” Rodriguez said.

COVID-19 has certainly introduced our ROP classes with challenges, but our teachers and their students have prevailed with creative virtual lesson plans and learning goals.