Student Engagement Through CTE — Part One

0:01 Hello. Welcome back to The Road to an Effective Classroom Environment. I am your host, Dr. Lashonta, and I am so happy to be back with you all. If you've been with me on this journey since April of 2018, I want to say thank you. Thank you so much for being an avid listener of the podcast. Please share this with your educator friends. You know, I was that type of person that I used to say, and sometimes I still say it, depending on how I'm feeling, that, you know, podcasts just aren't for me. I, you know, I don't think that that's my forte.

0:41 But there is something about, you know, delving into the waters and trying something new, trying something different, even if you think you may not like it, this is how we figure out what we like and what we don't like. So share this with someone. That's one thing I'm asking if you've been an avid listener or if you just started listening and happened to stumble across this. If you'll share this with others, also, what I want to be able to do in helping to support educators, whether you're a classroom teacher, a counselor, if you are the uh uh custodian or uh sanitation engineer, whatever your role is in education, I want to be able to support and to help.

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2:07 If you notice, the last time I came before you with um any type of information was last year in March. And so uh it seems that spring break and right before spring break are usually the times that I have opened up myself to be able to come before you with episodes, but with um adding on the possibility of having subscriptions and really wanting to reach people across the world, I want to be able to come before you a little more often. So the next episode that you'll receive will be either tomorrow or sometime next week.

2:44 And this is for school counselors, and even though it's geared towards school counselors, there is still information there that others can receive regarding what I will share at that point in time. So look for me to give you more information more often and um to be able to give back to education um in the form of um resources, supplies, gift cards, things of that nature to those who are operating in education. Okay, so let's get started. Our topic today, we're looking at CTE and how students remain engaged in CTE programs.

3:26 So, wanted to back up just a little bit for those who may not be um aware of what CTE is and what CTE offers. CTE is career technology education, and I am now a part of this arena. This is my second rodeo in CTE. I was a classroom teacher, I taught social studies at a school, a career center back home, and so now I am in um an administrative role at a career center here in Columbia. And so I love CTE, I've always loved CTE, but wanted to give you just a little bit of uh background information about CTE and its origins.

4:16 So, how many of you knew that CTE goes all the way back to 1700s, the 1700s, 1749? We see where Benjamin Franklin, who we know as one of the founding fathers of um of America, he actually saw that there was a need for a another type or a different type of education. And so the school that was created was the Academy and College of Philadelphia in 1749. So this school focused on helping helping people to gain practical uh work skills that were needed in order to um maintain or to get maintain um jobs in certain areas.

5:15 And so we used to hear, as in some places, depending on where you are located, where you live, what's uh what city, state, um, even country, you may still hear vocational use. And so CTE is the new phrase for vocational education, and many times you'll you would hear vocation for those who were getting skills after high school, or if they were may not have uh they may have gone through high school, gotten their diploma, or not, and they needed some other types of skills in order to be able to get a job to help uh maintain themselves as well as their family.

5:58 Well, now CTE is looked at as this is it's a choice, it's not something just to fall back on. You have many students who come through the doors of CTE who are IB students, who are um honor students, who are part of Avid programs, um, students who are going on to a four-year college, but they come through CTE because they have a love and a passion for one of those um jobs or one of those interests that um the programs that are offered there at the schools, and they want to see if they can um fine-tune a craft that they have.

6:39 For instance, uh cosmetology, you know, many, many women love um makeup and hair, and you have some young ladies that come through those programs in order to be build a business, be their own entrepreneur, but as well as you know, some of them may want to do some other things and um transition with that particular skill into an area that they go to college to do. So CTE offers a lot of different possibilities uh for our young people. Um just looking at some of uh some of the more background information on CTE and um how it was devised.

7:29 In 1990, the Perkins Act defined vocational education as organized educational programs, offering a sequence of courses which are directly related to the preparation of individuals and paid or unpaid employment. This is information straight from uh the uh United States State Department. So in devising these programs, these are programs that are set to that are set to set our children up for success because they can come through, have certifications before they even graduate high school. There are programs that are set up where they can receive certification, work in their area of interest before they even have a high school diploma.

8:20 And how cool is that.

9:36 So, again, just because someone has the aspiration of going on to a to a two or four-year school does not mean that CTE is not for him or her because in actuality it is and it can be. So there are many benefits to our students in being involved in CTE programs. So, how can students remain engaged in this type of environment? Well, number one, you have students who are using their hands. These are programs that require you to work hands-on daily in that lab setting, in that classroom setting. Um, and so students gain hands-on experience that develops into knowledge that they need if they want to go into that uh particular realm.

10:30 Also, uh, content is shared in a smaller environment. Traditionally, you have smaller classrooms because if you're working in certain settings, uh, for instance, um, when you are in uh you're in a lab setting for barbering, there are only so many, depending on how big the room is, um, so many people allow in a particular area. So, again, traditionally they are the numbers are a little smaller, and so that serves as a benefit because that teacher can give more one-on-one assistance uh to the students.

11:13 Also, um, another way that students can remain engaged is through work-based learning through field studies. Students who are involved in CTE programs have an opportunity to go um onto uh on field studies in which they get to see people in action doing the jobs that they're doing and they get to go on a more frequent basis. Whereas in a traditional setting, the traditional schools field studies may be limited because you are focusing on your core content classes. Well, when you're part of CTE programs, your core content really is that particular program you're in.

11:56 So those students are able to go a little bit more frequently on field studies to actually see people in action doing the jobs that they may be able to go into themselves once they receive certification. And then um, lastly, how students remain engaged. Um, there are various organizations that students can be involved in in a part in CTE. Some of those organizations include future farmers of America, FFA, Family Career, and Community Leaders of America, FCCLA. You also have Skills USA, National Technical Honor Society, Future Health Professionals, and looking at HOSA.

12:47 Um, you also have DECA. These are different student organizations that are a part of the CTE arena, and within those organizations, there are different conferences that students are able to go to with their teachers, in which they are able to see other CTE students, other CTE, how other CTE programs are done. And there are also competitions that are held in some of these organizations. So students remain engaged because they're able to go to different different conferences in order to fine-tune their skills and their talents by seeing what others are doing in other places, as well as be involved in a competitive um arena as well, and competing in different um categories within their field in these student associations.

13:54 So those are just a few ways that students remain engaged in CTE, and there's just so much that can be talked about when we're looking at how this can be the right choice for students to get involved in these types of programs. So, what I think I'm going to do is we're going to do a part two to this, um, how students remain engaged in CTE because there's just so much to unpack. So, this is just a little taste for you right now. But I promise I will be coming back before you and giving you a part two, and then we will slide into another episode in which it'll be geared towards school counselors.

14:38 But again, as always, there's something for everyone on our podcast here, The Road to an Effective Classroom Environment. I hope you enjoyed, and I will see you and listen to you next time.