discuss briefly what you like most about being a CTE teacher and what you like least

Being in a position to help shape the future of others is very powerful.  I find teaching to be rewarding and challenging, rewarding in helping young people to achieve or at least see their potential, challenging because you can't help all of them.  Being a CTAE teacher affords one the opportunity to teach what you have mastered in that your past career experience serves as a trusted blueprint for achievement.  It is exciting to pass on that knowledge to young people who are eager to learn it, and that facet of teaching is what I like most.  What I like least about teaching is that it can become frustrating when the information can't be received by the students at the pace or in manner that I feel comfortable with.  It is very challenging for me to "slow down" and "spoon-feed" information that I already have mastered, but being able to do that in a way in which students can learn it, truly constitutes what being a teacher is all about.  So I know it is a challenge I must rise to.

The Good and Bad of being a CTE teacher.

Well lets talk about the bad first. I found in helping Officer Gravitt with his CTE class the learning curve of learning and listening is very broad. Marietta High School is a melting pot of different caliber of students. As a CTE teacher trying to get students ready for the world is hard because this generation is lazy and expect things to be handed to them. The worst thing that I found is the lack of respect towards authority. I mean I don't expect every kid to like their teachers and police officers, but I do expect them to have respect. I am sure that is the same everywhere, but as an officer and a teacher that is one thing I expect no matter  how and where the kids are raised.


Now the good is awesome! The kids that want to be in CTE are very enthusiastic. They ask lots of question and I think it is really cool when I have students ask me good questions like how do I get into public safety? Instead of have you ever shot someone? I have found this year that the students  have finally passed the point of seeing me as just officer Cannon. They seem to feel more comfortable in talking to me and are being more receptive to my teaching! I am honored to be able to help mold the future leaders of the world because the way things are today we definitely need the next generation to be smart, educated,  and motivated.






C.Cannon

Likes and Dislikes - Jan

Please discuss briefly what you like most about being a CTE teacher and what you like least.

This should be an easy questin to answer. I am sure that the things that I like most about being a CTE teacher are the same as the rest of you. I enjoy sharing my profession with today's youth. I appreciate that the education system today allows us to open up the eyes of high school kids to the multitude of professions that are available to them. I didn't have classes like this available to me when I was in high school. We had some business classes and art, but nothing like the CTE classes today. I chose to go into the health field because I enjoyed Science, but I had no idea what it was really like until I was in my first nursing class. I enjoy interacting with the students and seeing their interest in healthcare grow.

I am also sure that my least favorite thing will be similar to everyone else. All of the administrative duties really do take up a lot of my time. I feel that it drastically interferes with my instruction. I would love to spend more of my planning time actually planning awesome lessons for my class rather than taking numerous surveys for the state or doing a book study for a department meeting.

Caught off guard - Jan

Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

This week one of my former students came by to visit. Last year I thought that this student was very bright but lacked discipline and the drive to take her education to the next level. She did well on test, but never seemed to pay attention in class. When I would try to engage her, she was always polite and never acted out in class. She was friendly to me and to the other students. I never got the feeling that she was that into healthcare. She came to me last week and told me that she has enlisted in the Air Force reserves and wants to become a flight medic. I nearly fell in the floor. After I quickly recovered, I told her how proud I was of her and that thought she was making a wise and mature decision. I love to see these kids succeed.

 

 

 

 

All Shook Up

Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

I have a story that I just have to share with the group. I was involved in a situation on 11/3/14 that totally shook me up as a teacher and changed my whole perspective on this job. I would like to preface this story by sharing the fact that I spend approximately 60 hours a week at my school with various duties that I have been assigned to do in addition to teaching. Anyway, on 11/3 I was observed during a 3 minute walk through by my reporting administrator. Long story short, I was given a very poor evaluation. Now, I am the kind of person that can handle criticism and appreciate feedback on what I can approve on. Unfortunately, I was never talked to about the evaluation, just that it had taken place and that it was "poor". I was told, however, that my extra duties were obviously taking away from my ability to perform at my best "instruction-ally". With this information, I immediately requested the removal of my extra duties so that my performance in the classroom could improve. It has become very clear to me that I am not successful when trying to wear too many hats in the workplace. Spreading myself too thin has done nothing but stress me out and affected my ability to teach successfully. Though I enjoy the additional roles that I was given, I am a teacher first and foremost, and I have to know my limits. The system will take advantage of anyone willing to step up and help, but will not help you decide when you are in over your head. For me, it took a bad 3 minute walk-through evaluation, that will forever be connected to my employment record, to wake up and realize that I simply cannot do it all. 

Caught off guard!!!

Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

In the past week I was caught off guard and SHOCKED completely! Officer Cannon and I took the time to set up evidence collection scenarios in the woods at the high school for the students to get out of the classroom, have fun and learn an important part of Law Enforcement. We set up three scenes with five different pieces of evidence.


At the beginning of third block, I took my group to the woods where I was told by my first volunteer "Officer Gravitt, I can only find four things." Of course I replied "look harder!" I then entered the woods to find someone had stole some of my evidence. That particular item was a fake pistol. At first I was mad but in an instance I became very disappointed and concerned.


I was disappointed that one of my students would disrespect me and our program. I then became very concerned. I could not stop thinking of the shooting I was involved in several years ago where a 16 kids lost his life after making a horrible decision with a gun. Though I am still struggling with the theft I have chosen to let it go. I expressed my concerns to my student and advised them who ever took the gun to please not make a bad decision with it. Though they don't care, they at least know where I am coming from and that I don't want another Officer or Citizen to have to defend their self in an instance because one of them make a STUPID decision.


I am looking at the bright side in that I hope during my conversation with the class I may have detoured one of them from making a fatal decision.


Stay SAFE!


AG

Question of the Week November 3

Question of the Week November 3:

Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

Week of November 3^rd, that is a tough one because I got most of my surprises my first year of teaching.  And those surprises were based on what I thought education was and what education truly is.  I also believe that my definition of education will change depending on the following; Administration; Parents; the Student; and the actual placement of that student.  I guess is what continues to surprise me is that sometimes when you plan a lesson and its awesome on paper.  Then you put that lesson into action it just does not go to plan.  Then other time it goes exactly as planned and you and the student end up on the “Cloud Atlas.”  In short I have a lot of this moments but it hard to point just one for the week.

"This is what being a teacher is really all about"?

I could somewhat see leaves on a tree mockingly waving at me through my shattered passenger door window.  As I searched around my car to make sure no valuables had been taken in this brazen attempt at theft in the faculty parking lot, my mind wondered.  "How could this have happened,  could it have been prevented?" Then I asked myself:  "What was I doing at the time of this tragedy?"  I had to retrace my steps...My day certainly started out okay:  One of my colleagues invited me to and paid for my breakfast of two burritos with OJ (although one of those burritos went to a student who out of the blue said she was hungry and had missed breakfast to drop her brother to school).  I stayed up the night before to finish today's lesson plans, as this was a Monday, and I wasn't about to miss Monday Night Football.  I had just about finished my breakfast, when I saw my supervisor taking a seat in the back of the class.  My mind suddenly jolts as I realize that I am being evaluated!  I taught my classes, trying not to be mindful of the evaluator, just trying to remember to relax and just do what I do everyday.  Maybe I could have shortened the conversation I had with a student who was heartbroken because he and his girlfriend had just broken-up.  Long story short, "teenage drama".  I eventually ran across an email regarding a faculty meeting after school, so I rushed to the meeting which consisted of going over all the things I am suppose to be doing outside of teaching, and how I am to enforce this rule, that rule, and Oh don't forget about this new rule.  Looking back on the day, there was nothing that I could have done differently to prevent the attempted break-in.  I am perplexed and confused until I find myself in the parking lot sitting in my car with my window shattered, and then it hits me...Ohhhhh that's why my window is broken, I left change in my center cup holder.

Candice- Digital literacy

All information is not equal therefore we must be able to evaluate information across a range of media.  All information is not accurate so we must be able to synthesize the information for our students and in turn teach them how to do the same thing.   For several reasons the information is definately worthy of our attention.  The main reason the information is worthy of our attention is because it gives us several different points of view to investigate.  During the investigation process we are able to cross reference information and thus use the information effectively.  As we learned, in order to meet the needs of a changing society we must teach a variety of new skills to our CTE students.  I try to incorporate some form information literacy in my clasroom daily.  I do things such as have their warm up activity to be looking up an article related to our class topic, or having a class discussion for my closing on a you tube video that relates to our topic for that day or  allowing the students to research the same topic and compare information.  I think that because the students were practically born in the information age they realize that information is everything or almost everything.

Question of the week September 22-What was the moment this past week when you felt most connected, engaged, or affirmed as a teacher - the moment when you said to yourself, "This is what being a teacher is really all about"? Candice

Last week I broke the students up into groups to do a demonstration.  Each group had an assignment to do until it was their turn to watch the demonstration.  The students were acting very interested which motivated me while I was teaching.  I was paying attention to other groups while I was teaching my individual group.  The students were behaving well and were flowing smoothly. Then I thought to myself, "I like when I feel that I'm managing my class well", and I looked up and noticed that my assistant principal was observing me.  When I noticed that he was there he stood up with his clipboard in his hand and gave me a big smile and walked out.  I am very interested to read the feedback that should be included in my observation.  I felt that the principal was able to see me engaging with my students and it was very genuine because I didn't know he was there.  I felt affirmed as a teacher when he gave me a big smile.

The Dropped Tray - Casey 11/4/14

First of all, so sorry for the late response - last week, I was at a conference and relatively unplugged with no student engagement. I'm going to reflect on one of my most unexpected moments. I had an 8th grade student who was sitting silent lunch for choosing not to complete a project in my class. I had determined that he was going to sit in silent lunch until that project was finished (which was probably going to be the rest of our term). We were all eating lunch when a young girl dropped her tray. She was horrified, and I know she was on the verge of tears. My boy who was sitting silent lunch immediately jumped up to her call and cleaned up the mess on the floor. This gesture alone caught me off guard, but what truly amazed me was when he walked her tray up to the tray return for her. Immediately, I had him sit with his classmates and took away the silent lunch. I truly believe this is the exact moment where I reached my first student where he was in life. I was fresh into teaching and still struggled understanding 8th graders, but I could understand this gesture. I think this is the moment I believed that my students are actually human beings who will generally make the right decision when faced with it. I love my students. I love getting caught off guard. I love a little jolt. I love the unexpected. I love teaching. 

Surprised and Unexpectedly Happy-Tawanna

As I begin my fourth week in the classroom, my To-Do-List is looking better. I promised myself that I was not going to get overwhelmed with things that need to get done. My storage room have been a dumping ground for everything. I committed to begin cleaning the storage room on Monday 11/10. I asked for volunteers to help clean but only a few students responded. This morning was the best day ever!!!! My students stepped up and helped me clean and organize my storage room. We still have a long way to go but it is looking very promising. The enthusiasm that was demonstrated this morning showed me they are just as excited and passionate about Health Care as I am. Kudos to my students!

Question of the Week November 3: Chef Oliver

 

Question of the Week November 3:

Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

Where do I begin with this? We are catering all the time to make money for the culinary program this semester since I will not be here next semester and so far we have made $2,600.00 profit! Killing it as we say in the business. 11/5 we had 40 Fulton County principals come to our school for a breakfast at 8 am. I was at school at 6:15 and told the 32 students that signed up to be here at 6:45 ready to go. I walk down the hallway to the room and there they are! all ready and some still asleep which was ok because they were there early. We had prepped everything and now was our moment to shine. Smoked salmon needed to be plated, cinnamon rolls to be iced, quiche to be baked and orange juice and coffee to be made. My 189 students this year always surprise me but this exceeded my expectations! The event was flawless and the superintendent was amazed. My students made me happy and gave me that last jolt I needed to make over 275 pies that we are selling for Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 

Surprised and Unexpectedly Happy- Chasity

A few weeks ago I found an online courtroom game that would allow my students to go through the trial process while competing against one of their classmates.  I usually teach each section of the trial process and use a mock trial to bring it all together, but I have found in the past that since there is so much information to retain students tend to get frustrated.  Last week I went over the basic steps in the trial process and used the game to bring it all together.  The game allowed students to choose questions, notes, objections, etc. (with prompting) and they were able to gain and lose points as they went through the game.  I was elated to find that ALL of my students were actively engaged. Not only were they engaged, but also they were learning.  They were using terms correctly and they were having fun.  The following day, we did the actual mock trial and my students were excited and prepared.  I was unexpectedly happy at the end of the week because, I finally found a way to get everyone to understand the trial process without loosing the interest of a few students.

Unexpectedly happy

"What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

Being in the medical pathway, our CTSO is HOSA.  When I first started, I wasn't sure what to make of the pathway, let alone this pathway's organization.  Thankfully, I have a great co-worker who is very helpful with orienting me to the field of healthcare teaching and support of the members of HOSA.  As a fundraiser this year's HOSA officers decided to do a haunted house.  None of us really knew how to coordinate the endeavor and had to figure it out as we went along.  Some became frustrated with trying to get the faculty on board, while others just plain didn't want to be a part of something they thought would fail.  With a week remaining, it appeared that the naysayers would be proven right.  However, I told my faithful few to have heart and to put their noses to the grindstone.  The effort that they mounted was phenomenal!  We managed to put together our school's first haunted house and raised $600.00 for our efforts.  Needless to say the kids were happy and impressed.  Some have found a new interest in what we do, while others from other pathways have asked to join our organization, which undoubtedly makes me happy.

Jolt I needed- Ruth

This week I realized that some of my students need lessons in life skills and that I am the one who will have to teach them. I feel that I teach some of the smartest students in my county. Unfortunately, what comes with that are a lot of excuses and students who want to get away with unacceptable behavior. I had two students who were clearly out of line this week. The first one was actually trying to fight another student in another class. The second one cut class by going to another teacher's class. Both of these incidents happened in the same day. I decided to address each of these students about their behavior and even though the situations were different my message was the same. I explained to them the importance of thinking about consequences and about their own expectations of themselves. I didn't fuss at either student, but I talked and even listened to their "reasons" for their actions. After all was said and done, I politely told them the consequence for their actions. The next day one of the students came to me and said that she understood what I was saying and that she would do better and that made me happy.  This made me feel that there is hope, it gave a jolt to keep trying to help my students develop life skills.

Observation Surprise

 Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

The event that took me by surprise was when Dr. M came to observe me. It was on Halloween and during my worst class. I was so surprised how no one challenged me or tried to show off. Students were engaged and enjoying the class discussion. The students worked well together and did their work with no issues. I was surprised how relaxed I was with him there. After the students left we had our talk and he reassured me that I was doing a great job. It was a much needed talk for me. I had been finding myself questioning, “Did I make the best decision by taking this job?” I really love the students and the teaching. If only that was all we had to do. J 

Information Literacy

Discussion Topic for Two Weeks: We have spent two sessions related to our new blog topic, so I am sure you have some thoughts to share. We are bombarded daily with information from the media, newspapers, magazines, radio, and the World Wide Web. Is all information equal? Is it accurate, worthy of our attention? How do you decide which information to take in and which to discard? Most importantly, how will you teach your CTE students about information literacy?
 I personally do not think all information is equal, accurate, or worthy of our attention. I will make sure to preview sites. Students have so many different things at their fingertips. I want to make sure to narrow it down. I will make sure to have a few sites to choose from. I will also make sure that it isn’t just opinion but facts. I will use the knowledge we learned in our lesson on how to filter though the websites. I never thought to look for an editor of a website. Makes sense. 

Nov.3 Blog... Jennifer W.

Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

The timing of the blog posts always seem to coincide with things I have going on in my life. Just this past week I sent out an email to the parents of my second year students because I am amazed at the caliber of work they are doing. They were given a patient with a list of symptoms. They had to decide what tests they would order, then use the results from those tests to determine the patient’s diagnosis and treatment. They were allowed to ask me questions but the questions had to be very specific therefore not questions that just gave away the “answer”. I will just paste the email I sent because it sums up my proud moment.

Dear Parents,

I hope you are doing well. We have just finished up our unit on the Neuro system. The students learned not only about the anatomy of the nervous system but about common diseases as well. Instead of giving a conventional test over the unit I chose instead to give out case studies. The students were given a little information about the patients and they had to research to make decisions such as the patient's diagnoses, what tests they would order to reach that decision, how would they treat the patient, etc. I have to say I am floored by your young men and women. They by far exceeded my expectations!! Don't let them kid you these are very very intelligent students who rose well above the high school level and were doing college level work. This assignment really challenged them beyond what they normally do in school and again they rose to the challenge. I am so grateful you've given me the opportunity to work with them.

Thank you,

Mrs. Whitfield

This week's reflections - Jan

Question of the Week November 3:

Think about your teaching this past week and then answer the following question: "What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

 

 

 

 

 

              The other day I overheard some of my student's talking. I did not intend to eaves drop, but they happened to be sitting in front of my desk. One of the girls that were in the conversation is new to the school, so I did not teach her last year. This young lady happens to have a tatoo and the group was discussing the fact. One of the other girls commented about the fact that we had a very long discussion about tatoos in my class last year while we were learning about the integumentary system. After learning about the layers of the skin, we started debating whether tatoos are considered art or mutilation. It was a lively and interesting debate. What made me smile was the fact that some of the facts brought up in the debate really made an impression on my student and that she remembered everything that we learned about the layers of the skin. I love it when that happens. When they show you that what you are doing really does sink in.

 

 

 

 

November 3rd Blog-Chris C.

"What was the event that most took me by surprise - an event where I saw or did something that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"




This week I did not do any teaching. My SRO duties have been very busy lately. I unfortunately do not have much to comment on this week. In reference to Adam Gravitt's class I can say what has surprised me is how well the course is effecting the students at Marietta High School. I can't tell you how many students come and tell me how much they love the Public Safety Pathway. Gravitt is doing a wonderful job teaching the students and they seem to be responding in a positive manner. On days I fill in for Adam, the students are happy to see me and are very responsive. To be the first year of this program and having first year teacher, I fill this is a big step in the right direction in teaching our future generation positive information on Public Safety.






Officer Chris Cannon

Week 7 Sandra's Teaching moment.

Over the course of this past week I have had a couple of moments where I said to myself and I actually caught myself saying out loud to a student "this is why I teach". One of the major problems that we face at our school is sagging pants predominantly by male students. I took a moment out of the lesson to explain to a predominantly male class the anatomical dangers of sagging pants and the medical information relating to the high incidence of males 18-25 needing hip and knee replacements.  One day later one of my chief offenders came to class with his pants on his waist telling me that he he made the decision to no longer sag his pants and further explained that he had been experiencing knee pains. That was the moment that I realized that anything that I teach him about graphic design may or may not be remembered but the ability to make a difference in the life of a child is why I teach. I left him with the requirement that he go out and share the word with someone else in his circle so that he too could make a difference in someone else's life. I like to think that I teach Graphic Design and Life 101.
Dr. F.

Week 7-Teaching event-"Took me by surprise" Gina

  In thinking back and reflecting on this past weeks teaching, I smile.  I am picking a moment or two that made me "unexpectedly happy" and so very proud.  I have had the privilege in teaching some of the most delightful, brilliant and creative students in this last year.  Across the board, most of my students work hard at what they do.  A select few go that extra mile to make their projects perfect.  When those specific students get recognized-it makes it worth it to all of us.  Last week I had six students recognized and given awards for their hard work and projects they put a lot of work into.
  Earlier in the week, I had two students win an award of Best Overall Videographer.  They competed with half a dozen surrounding schools in a community project.  This was a huge recognition and we were so very proud of what they accomplished.  They knocked it out of the park in terms of effort.
  The next moment that made me "unexpectedly happy" was when I had the honor of escorting two of four of my students that were nominated for a very prestigious film award in New York City.  We were all ecstatic at the announcement, but when we actually arrived at the screening on Times Square-it made everything real.  There my students were on the "Big Screen" at the AMC Theater in Times Square in New York.  Their work that they created and their faces were there LIVE for all 2,000 plus attendees, judges, famous directors, actors and students to view.  They competed with 20 plus countries and over 40 states in a very harshly judged film competition.  I got chills when they appeared on screen.  So very proud moment for me as an educator!