Prosser Theorm 15

I know that I often times feel like meeting certain criteria as a teacher can feel rigid and standardized, but one of the luxuries of my job is that I get a sense of freedom in my classroom when it comes to teaching my course. I agree that vocational, or career and technical education, should not be set to a standardized way of thinking. Careers as a whole are always changing and always evolving, so I think it is our obligation as educators to make sure our curriculum meets those changes. In my two years teaching, I have noticed that comments are often made along the lines of “but you teach a fun class”, or “the kids want to take your class”. I know that teachers don’t mean this as an insult, but it can feel like they are saying I am not good at what I teach, that instead, the curriculum is drawing the kids in. Even if that is the case, how lucky am I to be able to teach a “fun” class that is always changing and always evolving!

Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help!

Imagine that a new CTE teacher has taken over the program across the hall from you. This teacher came straight out of his/her occupation into teaching and won't be able to begin NTI until the summer. What is one piece of advice (just one) that you would give this person to survive the semester? Why would you choose this piece of advice? Advice I would give a new teacher across the hall is to stay strong and not be afraid to reach out to their colleagues for even the smallest amount of information. I joined a group that had 3 other CTAE teachers and they were very helpful to me. They assisted with lesson plans all the way to making copies. My transition to teaching high school was a bit of a culture shock because although I had taught college courses, high school students are a completely different set of rules. If the new teacher has as many outside of work responsibilities as me I would definitely advise them on a few different time management tactics that I've developed since becoming a CTAE teacher. K-12 instruction includes a lot more paperwork so setting a particular planning period on a specific day to complete it all is helpful. They won't have a pool of lesson plans to pull from so completing 2 weeks at a time would really help them. And definitely add important dates to a wall calendar and cellphone with reminders. Being "new" anywhere can add extra amount of stress to a situation so asking for help can smooth the transition.

Teach What You Know!

If a co-worker in CTE moved across the hall from me, the piece of advice I would offer them is: teach what you know, and worry about the rest later. I don’t mean for this advice to come across as a type of “ignore what people tell you”, but I would encourage them to teach the class the way they were taught how to do their job in the industry. One of the benefits of teaching a class with this idea in mind is as a teacher they have the opportunity to focus on the facts: the curriculum, the safety procedures, the basics, the overall goal for the students. Sometimes as teachers we get bogged down, and overwhelmed, with the “extras”: test scores, standards, assessments, TKES, SLO’s. By changing your curriculum to focus on the basic information surrounding your career field, you cut out the garbage and get to show your students what you love about your job. The other reason I would use this as my piece of advice is because there will be plenty of time for others to help perfect the way you teach. You will learn tips and tricks along the way, you will get a better grip on classroom management as time passes, and you will certainly learn some invaluable techniques after going through the NTI program. As an added bonus, I would also show them where the teacher lounge is, since nobody ever showed me. ;)

CTE Change

(Am I the only one who feels like this is a trick question? haha) I would have to say that since I don't know how any other departments are run, and I have only taught one subject at one school, I am not really sure what needs to be changed. But from what I have heard “on the street”, our department is quite strict and we are held to different standards. For instance, we are not “allowed” to wear jeans to work, even on spirit days and/or Fridays. We also have department meetings that apparently last a lot longer than other departments’. I know that the subjects we teach aren’t traditional or core curriculum, but I wish we weren’t seen as different by other teachers in the school. It becomes frustrating when we are always referred to as “the fun class” or teachers think our job is easier because “kids want to take our classes”. I apologize, that was technically two things.