Blogs
CTE and the State of the Union
Editor's Note: CTE professional and ACTE member Lisa Barnett of Botetourt County Public Schools was recently involved in what is so often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Sen. Tim Kaine from Virginia invited her to attend the State of the Union address as his guest on January 20, 2015. When I reach...
Bridging the Gap
I have been fortunate for the past 20 plus years to be in the “business” of helping adults forge a new careerpath as a middle or high school CTE teacher. I’ve heard numerous stories about how they have been “recruited” to fill vacant teaching positions. Stories range from a school nurse mo...
The Importance of Connection
For the past few years, we have seen an increase in the number of adults coming back to school to learn a new skill. These skills will expand their opportunities in the career they are currently working in or to pursue a new career path. Many of these adult students have not been in the class room f...
What Makes You Tick, and What Ticks You Off?
My favorite question to ask someone when meeting them for the first time is “What makes you tick and what ticks you off?” Think about this in perspective of professional development opportunities. Have you been to a professional development that has energized you and changed your way of teaching...
How Are You Growing Professionally?
Do you ever find yourself sitting in a professional development workshop and wondering “How is this
helping me grow?” or “How will I be able to apply this to my classes?” or “What can my students gain from me being here?” Those questions have the potential to be negative or positive dep...
The Power of Professional Development
As a CTE teacher, high quality professional development opportunities can be hard to find. In my home state of New Jersey, we are lucky enough to have a Fall Agricultural Educators Conference for CTE teachers specific to my content area, as well as an annual statewide CTE conference in the spring. A...
Will You Be Prepared?
Over the last 5 years, my students have worked on several different anti-bully projects and worked with
students in grade 2nd- 8th. We started out with what is a bully and how to deal with one. Now our focus has turned and we are trying to teach a more positive avenue through friendship and good co...
Reinvigorating School Safety
Here we go again…another fire drill, and just when the class lesson was starting to unfold. I could sense every teacher rolling their eyes and every student shifting their focus to this newly allotted social time as they grab their cell phones and herd out the gates and into the parking lot. We kn...
Many Problems, Many Solutions
Why don’t students choose STEM careers and courses? Mainly students say they are interested in the STEM field, but few go on to college and graduate with a STEM degree. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, only those students who complete a college-level math course in their...
How Do You Think About STEM
Recently, I was invited to participate in a survey for which addressed agriculture teachers’ perceptions of STEM integration. Some of the questions, although I can’t recall them in exact detail, gave me pause. They inquired about my feelings toward science, technology, engineering and mathemati...