My colleagues were frantically taking notes as one of my students, Ethan, was moving forward with his presentation on how educators can use ai more intentionally in their classes. Ethan, a high school student studying to become a high school history teacher at our Education and Learning Academy, was presenting the findings of his extensive research to our school staff.
As part of this program at Morris County Vocational School in New Jersey, where I teach, students engage in research on key topics at our school and learn how to plan effective professional development to support staff. Ethan provided strategies and resources for teachers to use in their classrooms, and through this assignment, he learned a variety of skills including how to design engaging professional learning opportunities, how to find and evaluate sources, and how to communicate his findings clearly to an audience.
When I tell people I work at a Career Technical Education (CTE) school, also known as a vocational school, they often assume I work with students who have struggled academically or behaviorally, but that's not the case at our school. In fact, it's a pretty outdated misconception about CTE programs.
Over the past decade, CTE schools have transformed into educational spaces that are committed to providing students with a well-rounded experience that prepares them for the workforce, helping them cultivate strong skills in their chosen career path. These programs exist in many districts across the country, some as stand-alone schools and others as district-integrated programs. Some include more traditional vocations like automotive, cosmetology, plumbing, and carpentry, while others have expanded into industries like education, computer science, business, biotechnology, and healthcare.
The student population I serve as a teacher at our Education and Learning Academy is interested in pursuing a career in education. Students in the county apply to the program of their choice during eighth grade, a process that involves taking an admissions test; submitting transcripts, teacher recommendations, and a personal video; and entering a lottery, as demand is high. Students at our academy are motivated, passionate, and dedicated to learning more about the field that interests them.
As a teacher at a CTE high school and an alumnus of the same program where I now teach, I have seen firsthand the benefits of this type of education in providing industry-specific training as well as key skills for success in any field, such as professionalism, accurate record keeping, and effective communication.
There are many types of high schools available to students, but regardless of the school model, all high schools must think about how to address the disparity between the skills today's employers want employees to have and the actual skills they have.
By design, CTE programs consider questions that are relevant to this gap. Do students know how to think on their feet? Can students apply the key facts, definitions, and concepts they’ve learned to a project? What skills will students need in the next five, ten, and fifteen years to be successful? I think about these questions every day as I prepare my students to pursue a career in education, and over the years I’ve found that incorporating CTE skills into teaching helps students have a deeper learning experience.
To close the skills gap, there are a number of practices, strategies, and ideas that any high school can adopt from the CTE model. Below are a few.
Develop learning opportunities around authentic issues, problems and ideas
At my school, we focus on creating authentic learning projects for students, which can be a daunting task but has proven to have great benefits. An authentic project has three main components: it integrates a variety of skills, has an authentic audience (think beyond the classroom teacher), and relates to a real-world problem.
When I first started thinking about authentic learning projects, I felt overwhelmed, but I started small. The New York Times Learning Network, which offers educational resources, hosts several contests and challenges for students, and I chose one for my students to participate in. The one I started with was a multimedia project. challenge We asked students to share what high school is like for them. We spent some time brainstorming to create a list of feelings students had about high school, the struggles, the exciting times, and everything in between. Students began having rich discussions about what the purpose of school should be and tapped into their creativity to find unique ways to represent their ideas through writing, pictures, audio, or video. The project was simple for me because it came with guidance such as a rubric, a model, and examples to help with lesson planning. My students enjoyed it so much that we have since participated in several, including a one page challenge where students respond to a New York Times story, a contest where students submit a original podcast and a contest where students can share opinion essays on issues that concern them deeply.
As I became more comfortable, I began designing my own projects. For example, my students read a variety of books on education to learn more about the challenges and solutions in the field. Instead of hosting a class discussion, my students host roundtable discussions about their books, designing their own discussion questions and takeaways to share. The goal is for each student to facilitate a rich conversation based on the main themes of their book, while gaining experience leading an engaging conversation. For this project, students invite teachers, school leaders, and families to join in the conversation.
Recently, I worked on a more complex project where my students organized two family learning nights for a local elementary school. They created stations for students, taught parents key math and reading skills so they could better support their children at home, and gained experience organizing a school-wide event, learning valuable skills from start to finish. Parents and school administrators were amazed at how well the teens organized a community event.
Invite guest speakers to provide further perspective
Guest speakers contribute to deeper learning and help students make connections with the outside world. In our CTE program, guest speakers can also expose students more directly to the industry they aspire to.
Earlier this year, I taught a three-lesson series on classroom management. Students learned how to identify different behaviors, practiced creating a behavior management system, and had the opportunity to give and receive feedback on implementing a behavior plan. I invited a local certified behaviorist to join our class to offer insights along the way.
My students observed children in our preschool to identify a variety of behaviors. The behavior specialist visited our classroom and helped students understand the different reasons why young children exhibit various behaviors, directed their efforts to analyze their observation data, and offered support as they designed individualized behavior plans for specific students. She was able to provide industry-specific language, discuss best practices, and help my students implement real plans to support the preschoolers in our building.
Interweaving themes to create more meaning for students
Interdisciplinary connections allow students to explore topics from different points of view. When students can understand how a topic can be covered in English, history, and science, they can gain a deeper understanding of it. CTE programs are uniquely positioned to build interdisciplinary connections because of the focus on real-world application. Students engage in projects that focus on transferable skills and allow for the integration of core knowledge from academic subjects.
During a recent unit on creating meaningful curriculum, I took my students to visit a local museum to meet with the museum’s curriculum director and collections curator to learn how they create programs for children. They evaluated the museum’s educational program and worked together to design a new curriculum. Through the process, they learned about key historical events and analyzed them from an art and English perspective.
They then combined their knowledge of how students learn best and their experience as young museum visitors to provide feedback to museum educators on the current programming the museum offers. The unique combination of education in history, art, and English offered them insight into how the subjects can be woven together cohesively and also exposed them to new career paths in the field of education.
Teaching at a CTE high school has allowed me to think outside the box and challenge myself to provide authentic and engaging experiences for my students, and it has helped me keep my passion for teaching alive. More importantly, it has allowed me to provide my students with a solid foundation of skills to be successful as they enter the workforce, which is critical, especially in a future that is unknown.
