Monday, June 15, 2015

O*NET: Free Career Source

by Renee Tonquest
CTE Cluster Specialist
Health Science

Working over the past few months with the development of our new Career Portals materials has allowed me to become more familiar with the O*NET website.  O*NET is the nation’s free source of occupational information which contains hundreds of occupation-specific career descriptions.  This site is much more than a tool for the Career Portals course.  You can search for careers by keywords, your interests or you can browse over 900 career options sorted by specific industry. It may be used throughout your life in the event you decide to change jobs later on. 

Listed below are just some of the many resources you can access through the O*NET site. 

Career Exploration Tools http://www.onetcenter.org/tools.html

You can use these tools for self-directed career exploration tools to plan career options. These tools are also a great resource for students who are thinking about their future career plans. 

O*NET Work Importance Locator  http://www.onetcenter.org/WIL.html?p=3

The O*NET Work Importance Locator is a self-assessment career exploration tool that allows you to identify what is important in a job. It will help you identify occupations that you may like based on the similarity between your work values and the characteristics of the occupations.


You can also specifically search for green increased-demand occupations, green enhanced skills occupations, and green new and emerging occupations on the O*NET website. 


The Bright Outlook section highlights careers that will grow rapidly over the next few years; will have large numbers of openings; and are new and emerging. 

Professionals face aggressive competition for the most desired positions in the workforce.  It is essential to be able to use a variety of online tools to research careers and occupations.  Take a few minutes to explore the O*NET website; it may be perfect for you classroom or your personal life. 

Resource

O*NET OnLine. (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2015, from http://www.onetonline.org/

Monday, June 1, 2015

Helping Students Who Have Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (Adhd)

Dr. Mickey Wircenski
CTE Project Director
 
In 2003 ADHD became the largest diagnosed school-age disorder in the country. It is estimated that each school community will have 2-18% of students who have ADHD. Students with moderate to severe cases are highly at risk for behavioral, emotional and academic failure. However, these learners can and do succeed with proper diagnosis, intervention and support.
 
Untreated ADHD carries its share of risks, including academic under-achievement, substance abuse, legal issues, social difficulties and risky behaviors. The ADHD diagnosis carries with it significant implications for educators. Eighty to 90 percent of individuals do not need medication as adults. The majority of individuals with ADHD grow up and do well. 
 
Students with ADHD exhibit a persistent disabling pattern of behavior as well as memory impairment, impulsivity, and poor prediction, planning and reflection skills. In school-age learners with ADHD you may see the following:
 
  • Rushing into tasks but not finishing them
  • Demanding attention from adults
  • Inability to delay gratification
  • Moodiness
  • Often getting into trouble with adults
  • Feeling disorganized and lost
  • Aggression and defiance
  • Poor short-term memory
  • Weak at following directions
  • Asking another person what was just said
  • Looking at others to figure out what was said
  • Late for time commitments
  • Forgetting about promises made
  • Knowing what and how but not when and where to do it
  • Weak time orientation
  • Inability to plan ahead
  • Makes the same mistakes over and over
  • Poor time management
  • Inability to curb immediate reactions
  • Acts before thinking
  • Blurts out inappropriate comments
  • Nearly impossible to wait for things-little or no patience
  • Always wants to be in motion
  • Not focused-tries to do several things at once 
The best way to effectively manage students with ADHD is to provide a positive learning environment that focuses on their strengths rather than their limitations. Some specific strategies for accommodating their special needs include:  
  • Be flexible 
  • Maintain consistent boundaries on important issues, such as those that involve their own and others’ safety 
  • Repeat instructions if necessary
  • Break tasks into small units
  • Set realistic deadlines for each task
  • Have students use a calendar or planner to keep on track
  • Avoid too much pressure as distress causes the ADHD brain to shut down and underperform
  • Provide external reinforcers
  • Establish routines
  • Incorporate more movement
  • Manage information flow-introduce information in manageable “chunks”
  • Acknowledge even partial progress
  • Teach time-management skills  
Source:
Jensen, Eric. (2011). Different Brains, Different Learners (Second Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. Pages 135-150.
 
  

Friday, May 15, 2015

Career Portals: Window to the Future

By Dr. Violet Dickson
Cluster Specialist
Arts, AV Technology & Communications
Information Technology 

About a month ago, I took my 16-year-old grandson to visit the Graphic Design and Illustration class at the LaGrone Advanced Technology Complex in Denton ISD. Garret had taken some art classes during his freshman and sophomore years and had expressed an interest in graphics design, but he really didn’t know anything about the CTE program or what it had to offer. As a cluster specialist for the Arts, AV Technology and Communications Cluster, I wanted to make sure that my grandson had the opportunity to explore the possibilities that were available to him through the CTE program in his school district, so he could make an informed decision regarding his career focus.  

After his initial visit to Mrs. Wilson’s graphics design class, he was - in his words – “Stoked!”

She explained how the CTE program worked, gave him an overview of what he could expect in her class, and showed him many professional-looking projects that her students had completed. She also showed him examples of things he would learn to do with the computer software programs that were available to students in her class. The classroom visit was followed by family discussions at home, online research to find out more about the local CTE program, and a preliminary and a final meeting with his school counselor.

I am very proud to say that Garret made the decision this past week and finalized the scheduling changes so he could enroll in the CTE program in the fall, with the purpose of focusing on Graphic Design and Illustration in the Arts, AV Technology and Communications Cluster.

This experience got me to thinking about the incredible opportunities CTE programs offer students every day. Today’s CTE programs are a far cry from the vocational education courses that were available in my day.  CTE courses are designed to meet the needs of today’s students in a global economy and a digital age and to prepare them for success in college and careers by equipping them with “the academic knowledge—as well as the technical and employability skills—they need to find productive careers and lead fulfilling lives.” Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education (http://www.ed.gov/blog/2014/02/celebrating-cte-month/).

The following is an excerpt from a CTE “fact sheet” provided by the Association for Career and Technical Education (www.acteonline.org).

What is Career and Technical Education?
  1. Encompasses 94 percent of high school students and 12 million postsecondary students.
  2. Includes high schools, career centers, community and technical colleges, four-year universities and more
  3. Educates students for a range of career options through 16 Career Clusters® and 79+ pathways
  4. Integrates with academics in a rigorous and relevant curriculum
  5. Features high school and postsecondary partnerships, enabling clear pathways to certifications and degrees
  6. Fulfills employer needs in high-skill, high-wage, high-demand areas
  7. Prepares students to be college- and career-ready by providing core academic skills, employability skills and technical, job-specific skills

When you consider all the benefits of being in a CTE program, you may wonder what we can do to inform students, parents, and teachers and make them aware of the college and career possibilities that are available through CTE.

Well… in addition to working on new advanced-level practicums for the CTE career clusters, the UNT Education Excellence grant team members have also been working this year to develop a year-long Career Portals course for 8th grade students. The Portals course will provide teachers with exciting and engaging lessons that guide students through a year of career exploration by investigating a different career cluster every two weeks. 

The Career Portals Module is filled with lesson plans for teachers that include step-by-step, hands-on activities that introduce students to various career possibilities. Students learn how to write resumes, develop portfolios, research career and college requirements, and participate in “engaging” activities that allow them to sample many different careers from each of the career clusters.

I’m excited about all of the work we’ve done this year and the new resources that will be available for teachers in the fall through this website: www.cte.unt.edu - New advanced-level practicums for the CTE career clusters and a new year-long Career Portals Module that will hopefully open the “Window” to many students’ future!

Friday, May 1, 2015

Year-end Awards and Recognition

By Kathy Belcher
CTE Cluster Specialist for STEM and Manufacturing
 
As we are approaching the end of another school year, consider a fun and easy way to have your students document and show off their accomplishments in a short video that can be shown at the school’s year-end awards banquet. This project aligns nicely with the student expectations in the Practicum in STEM TEKS. 
 
130.374 (6) The student documents technical knowledge and skills. The student is expected to update a professional portfolio to include:
  • (i) attainment of technical skill competencies;
  • (ii) licensures or certifications;
  • (iii) recognitions, awards, and scholarships;
  • (iv) extended learning experiences such as community service, active participation in career and technical student organizations and professional organizations; and
  • (vii) samples of work.
Animoto is a very user-friendly, video-making platform with a subscription for educators. When you sign up, you will receive a six-month free Plus subscription promo code and may create up to 50 accounts for your students by using the assigned classroom code. Each student will need a Gmail account. Students need to know not to provide personal information where they could be identified, and they should also be reminded about copyright permission and infringement. The content in the student videos remain the student’s and not Animoto’s. 
 
To get started, have your students organize the photos and videos they have accumulated from event competitions, awards they have won, and samples of their work, etc. It will make production easier if photos are digitally in the order they will be used so they can be highlighted and all uploaded at once. 
 
Next, it is as simple as this: 
  1. Choose a design theme template 
  2. Upload photos (JPG and other file extensions) and videos (MP4 and other file extensions) 
  3. Select music soundtrack from the Animoto music library, or upload your own (MP3) 
  4. Add text to your images 
  5. Add a title 
  6. Spotlight a special photo for emphasis 
  7. Save your video and preview before “publishing” 
  8. Publish your video when you are ready for your final version (published versions can be edited to create a new version) 
Some features that make Animoto so easy to use are: 
  • Extra images are held in a tray for future use 
  • Selected images can be shuffled and the order changed easily 
  • Images and videos can be easily deleted 
  • Songs may be trimmed and images easily paced to match the song 
  • Songs from Animoto’s library are licensed for your use (no need to obtain permission from the copyright owner) 
To see an example, go to Winning Team and Robot:
 
 

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Practical Practicum


By Holly B. Smith
Cluster Specialist
Business Management Administration and Finance 

Have any of you taught your practicum in the last year?  Will you be teaching it next year?  If so, pull up a chair because I think your life is going to get easier very soon. 

For 18+ months, we, on the UNT Educational Excellence grants, have been working on an entire year’s worth of practicum lessons.  They are all alike and all unique, sharing many of the same attributes you’ve come to know and love with UNT lessons while differentiating themselves within each cluster’s specific content requirements.  

If you are in Health Sciences, then you already have a practicum that easily laps most others, including the Practicum in Business Management.  I know it’s been sorely lacking for a long time, and that makes me even more excited and eager to share the new practicum with you.  In fact, Kristin Firmery Petrunin (Marketing) and I are going to present the socks off the practicum project this summer at our July conference.  Go to this link to learn more about the TCEC Summer Conference:  http://tcecconference.com/summer.   

The layout of practicum looks like this:
  1.  Introduction 
  2. Prep (classroom tips, useful websites, a general practicum, house keeping details, training station orientation) 
  3. Curriculum
Each cluster’s curriculum will look different from this point.  For instance, Business will cover the History of Office Administrators; then, our lessons will lay out according to the scope & sequence document.  This is traditionally how our lessons flow and that will continue through the Practicum lessons.  We have worked in some presentation opportunities, some projects for both individuals and groups and both Leadership and Advanced Leadership lessons. 

Additionally, you will find useful supplemental lessons.  We used an “above-and-beyond” approach to rounding out practicums.  Our Business practicum doesn’t have any TEKS that specifically talk about a digital portfolio, how to search for scholarships, how to understand and work in a global marketplace or understanding general project management, time management and personal management.  

YET, we know that these are vital skill sets for out students.  For that reason, we included them.  We spent a lot of time, on this project, putting down the basics and then asking “what else?” What else do practicum students need to know, need to practice, need to understand?
 
I, too, kept asking myself, “What else? What else is there to offer students during practicum?”  I suggest reading some of Jeff Haden’s submissions, as Contributing Editor, to Inc.  He has written insightful articles that fall in the “soft skills” arena.  My particular favorites are:  “7 Traits of Exceptionally Charming People” and “Habits of Remarkably Giving People”.  

www.inc.com is full of useful articles written from a young and fresh perspective about the trials of the workplace.  Any practicum teacher can use one of these articles on a weekly basis to preface an upcoming unit of study.  (Please preview any articles or videos prior to using them in your classroom.) 

Here’s to a practical, “above-and-beyond” practicum for us all!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Finding “IT” at Texas Tech’s College of Architecture

by Dr. Jennifer Smolka
Architecture & Construction
Cluster Specialist


As a parent, there are few rights of passage which can be more fun ... and more stressful than college visits with your senior year in high school.  My second son, Mark, is a senior at Waxahachie High School and he had figured out what he wanted to be his major:  Architecture. This wasn’t a complete surprise since Mark always had this incredible eye for spatial reasoning and was a whiz at building with Legos when he was younger.  That spatial eye has allowed him to excel at pool and golf where it’s all about the lines and angles.  But as he was growing up he went through several career choices.   There was the police force and more specially a K-9 officer that combined his sense of justice and his love of dogs.  Then for a long time, I thought he might do something like a game warden that continues along the justice path but layers in his pastimes of hunting game and birds.  But when he decided on Architecture, it really seemed to fit and since I had just become involved in CTE & Architecture at UNT, I couldn’t believe the synchronicity of it.  

Last year, we began looking at the eight different universities that had Colleges of Architectures and he narrowed down where he wanted to go:  Texas A & M or Texas Tech University.  This Red Raider mom couldn’t be more excited to think that one of our four boys would attend the school where I met my husband.    We scheduled our visit to be able to attend a football game on the same weekend and the three of us headed out in November for a college visit.  

The campus tour was a nostalgic walk down memory lane for me and I could just envision Mark walking the same paths that we had over twenty years ago.  With the campus tour over, we made our way across campus to the Architecture building that is one of the tallest buildings on campus giving the department on the top floor the impressive view across the West Texas Plains.  (Yes, it really is flat!)  

We were able to have scheduled a visit with the department to learn more about the program.  Encourage your seniors to visit with departments and faculty of the actual programs at the university.  Each campus and each group of faculty will have a different culture and you’ll want to make sure that you fit in to the entire environment.   

Our guide discussed the programs and the various options for an academic degree program that best fit each learner.  Students can combine engineering, business, and construction as possible double majors and there is even a five-year program that combines the undergraduate and graduate degrees.  As an administrator and faculty member in higher education for the last twenty years, I was impressed.    

We were shown different design projects that students at various levels had been creating and we heard about how much effort and rigor went in the program studies. 

Students had been known to build hammocks under their drafting tables in order to catch a little sleep while working on big design projects.  In fact, the building is known as “Motel 6” because there is always a light on.  The building is set up with 24-hour security guards and keypads so that students can always have the access to the design spaces.  

The department has thoughtfully considered what an architecture student needs to be able to create authentic design projects to include in their design portfolio in a professional way.  The College of Architecture at Texas Tech is really like it’s own little island which may make one of the largest physical campuses seem just a little bit smaller.   

Within the 10-story building, the COA has its own two-story Library with books, materials, and a reference librarian to help students on course projects and research. 

The COA also has their own Print Shop that can do professional posters, publications, presentations – you name it they can print it in any format and any size.  

Just around the corner, a photography studio has been set up with the space and tools for digital photography of models and 3-D projects.  The have SLR cameras and video cameras that students can checkout or use in the design space to create artifacts for their portfolios.  

Finally, they have so many different types of Workshop spaces that you could create anything from anything including wood, metal, and even plastic 3-D printers.   

Perhaps one of my favorite elements of the program is the study-abroad requirement in the summer between the junior and senior year.  On my own travels abroad, the architecture of the churches, castles and museums that have lasted hundreds or thousands of years is awe-inspiring.  It makes me wonder what would an archecture program be without the opportunity to study first hand the historical aspects and the cultural influences in the field. 

It’s clear that if you want to create and design “art that we live in” (CITATION), this would be an incredible opportunity to learn in an authentic, hands-on, design environment.   

At some point in the tour, I realized that I was more engrossed in the program offerings than my son was.  As we were walking, he was working on a small box puzzle that our guide had given the two potential students.  Figuring out how it worked enthralled Mark.  How do you put the six-notched pieces together to form a cube?  

But he was somewhat quite and not asking questions like dear old mom.  Something was amiss.  What was this boy of mine thinking?   

This right of passage for a parent taking their child on college tours (and even to their own alma mater) is heavy.  It means our children are getting ready to leave the nest.  Have we given them all of the skills, knowledge … and dispositions… to make it this world today?  But even more critical is this right of passage for our children.  They are preparing to leave their safety net and venture out where they have to make their own decisions and they get to take those first steps towards the rest of the future.  For some, deciding what to study and where to go may have been part of their family destiny.  For others, it takes really knowing yourself and examining the possibilities.   

We could tell at dinner that night that something wasn’t sitting well with Mark.  This was an incredible place to go to study Architecture, but it wasn’t clicking and he couldn’t quite express why.   It was hard as parents to not push and prod.  But given some space and the quiet of a hotel room in the middle of the night, Mark figured it out.   

Remember those design projects that we saw at the very beginning of the tour?  That was the key.  Mark doesn’t feel the creative juices to design boxes that flow; he has the mind of the puzzlemaker figuring out how to make everything work.  While he still wants to design, he wants to do it from the structural side of things and it clicked for him to begin looking for Structural or Civil Engineering programs.   

He asked if I would be disappointed if this took him to someplace other than Texas Tech University since I was so excited to be sharing our history with him.  I told him, that Texas Tech would also be an incredible special place for me.  Without it, I would not be who I was today.  My love of higher education was definitely planted in the culture and community of Raider Land.  And I met my husband there and our dreams and family will always have roots on the campus of Texas Tech.  

But all we really want for our sons is to find their place in this world.  While I found “IT” in the windy West Texas plains of Lubbock, I let Mark know that where he found “IT” was fine … as long as it was his very own “IT”.