Ryan Masters

In PLCs, educators collaborate to enhance student outcomes by sharing best practices, discussing challenges, and developing strategies to improve teaching and learning. For CTE programs, this means working with other CTE teachers to align curricula, share resources, and stay updated on industry standards and trends. Additionally, PLCs allow for peer feedback, creating a supportive environment where teachers can grow professionally while directly impacting student success.  I plan to actively participate in PLCs by contributing insights from my own CTE course and learning from my colleagues. This will help me stay current on industry changes and teaching techniques. I will also… >>>

One area that might prove useful in regards to teaching the retention and transition stages in a CTE classroom would be to role-play scenarios relating to conflict resolution or problem solving and teamwork issue within the industry for the students to see who they would handle the problem so that they might continue to work productively in their respective careers/fields.   

Something I have done and will continue to do regarding the preparation and commitment stages are to have my students develop an E-Portfolio, which contains their personal and professional missions statements, and "About Me" section which includes a Resume and an Accomplishment/Achievements section and to include a profile for contact information as well. This way the can, on the fly, provide a prospective employer with a link to their Resume but also everything else that might not fit so snuggly into a crisp 1 page resume. This gives the impression to the employer that the prospective higher is more than… >>>

I would introduce a series of career interest surveys and self-assessments and other similar instruments and have students discuss and report on the data and results to encourage further exploration in presentation style assessment. I can use career assessments, interest inventories, and personality tests to help students identify their strengths, skills, and preferences. For example, administering tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or the Holland Code (RIASEC) to understand students' career interests.

It's important to provide student voice in the CTE classroom in regards to promoting global/multicultural fluency for both our students as well as to grow professionally ourselves. As, we learned, "show & tell" can be a great way to provide an outlet for our students to not just share their backgrounds and perspectives but for everyone to gain new outlooks based on what is shared with us. This can lead to valuable soft skills and students learn to "manage" their fellow co-workers, colleagues, employers and future employees regardless of which field they transition to post-high school.

The Commitment stage for students is such an interestingly difficult stage as students are expected to transition from exploring career options and acquiring knowledge to actively committing to a specific career path or goal. This requires a higher level of self-awareness, focus, and confidence in their choices, which can be daunting for students who may still be unsure of their long-term goals. Do they transition into that specific career let alone field or should they re-evaluate and transition into another industry all together. Regardless, it would seem that we would serve our students best by teaching social networking skills as… >>>

Professionalism could be taught by the CTE instructor to their students by including real-world scenarios and
the of use role-playing activities to teach handling workplace challenges such as resolving conflicts, giving feedback, or dealing with deadlines. Additionally, one could incorporate case studies about workplace professionalism and ethics as well for student analysis and discussion/debate.

Allowing for leadership roles in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) classroom is essential for student growth because it provides opportunities for students to develop critical skills that prepare them for both professional and personal success. Particularly in emulating expected softs skills (decision-making, project management, and team coordination) in real world scenarios as Leadership roles mimic workplace structures, helping students understand how to function effectively in professional environments.

Industry Advisory Boards and Student Advisory Councils can prove to be influential regarding sustainability as they promote buy in and and generate massive action towards program building. 

One critical area for an SBE is to implement a F.L.E.X. model and let students know that failure is an option but that you can learn from it and grow and sometimes it's not always about the outcome but what we get out of the process.