From March 2010 archived blog
by Nancy Gorman
There have been several articles recently in The Dallas Morning News about career courses in the Texas public schools. School officials are eager to have programs that work for and appeal to students who are not focused on a college preparatory course in high school. Their hope is that good programs will keep students in school (who might otherwise drop out). Give themsome realistic and do-able course work toward definite goals, and make achievable some class work for disadvantaged, disabled, bilingual, physically impaired students who can succeed in public school courses.
Additionally ,in the DMN, Steve Blow, columnist, writes “what we used to refer to as ‘vocational education’ is now called ‘career and technical education,’ or CTE. Emphasis on college loses many kids,” writes Steve in the DMN on 1-27-10. Let’s make aware that these courses can be and are incorporated into the regular classroom, regular curriculum according to the needs of the situation. Many “lessons” can apply to every student in the classroom; for example, accounting procedures, health and science advances, technology updates, etc.
Additionally, in the DMN on 2-21-10, Karel Holloway writes, “revisions in career and technology education… have trickled to the TEA and to school districts….Cluster career classes (developed) into 16 areas.”
- Architecture and Construction
- Arts/A/V Technology and Communications
- Education and Training
- Finance
- Health Science
- Hospitality and Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Law, Public Safety Corrections and Security
- Manufacturing
- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
- Transportation Distribution and Logistics
(Listed in the Dallas Morning News Article)
Additionally, as listed by the CTE:
- Business Management and Administration
- Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources
- Marketing
- Government
These cluster courses have been well developed by the UNT Career and Technical Education Center in the Department of Learning Technologies.
Well, guess what: The grants have built tremendous programs in each of these “clusters” for several years: up-to-date lesson plans to coordinate with the most recent publications and policies from the TEA (TEKS: Texas Essential Skills and Knowledge items), current resources to show teachers internet sites that can enhance their lessons, etc.
So, a teacher has a specific lesson plan for a specific topic, giving details such as how long it should take to present (day, two days, several hours), what activities enhance the lesson material (i.e., handouts, PowerPoint displays, visual materials, group activities), what the follow-up is, and what the learning result is from the students.
These lessons plans can be a superior useful tool for educators to present the most up-to-date ways to help students learn practical career job knowledge in the public classroom.
The University of North Texas Learning Technologies Department Career and Technology Education Grants have been working this program for more than twenty years. It has developed and put on the web site programs for teachers, introducing career choices for children to consider from grades 5 through high school.
These programs are built from the basic policies of the Texas Education Agency (TEA); they are reviewed, approved, updated, and published by the State of Texas. Consider:
- Lesson Plans written with specific details and resource location items for the teachers
- Activities and handouts for class participation, whether individual, group, or whole class
- Measuring charts for how well the learning/performing activities are achieved
- Learning situations for students to find their knowledge in out-of-class resources
- Accessing community professionals in the chosen field to speak to the students in the classroom setting
- Actual participation in a field, giving the student hands-on work experience (practicum)
So, Steve Blow, please append this article to those you have published, and let folks know we are working this program constantly. Call us, email us, have your write-ins send us a message….whatever…with your blogs, questions, suggestions, and plaudits!
References
- Blow, S. (2010,January 12). Preaching to the choir on need for job training: Stressing CTE can keep kids in school. The Dallas Morning News, pp. 1B and 4B.
- Holloway, K. (2010, Feb. 21). Career curriculum gets with times. The Dallas Morning News, pp. 1B and 9B.
- Pauken, T. (2010, Jan. 27). Letter to the Editor: “We need attitude shift.” The Dallas Morning News.
- TEA: Texas Education Association, Austin, TX
- TEKS: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills
- CTE: Career and Technical Education
- UNT: University of North Texas, Denton, TX
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