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. ;)