What Does The CTE Curriculum Teach?

I’m guessing you’re a Career and Technical Education teacher if you’ve found my blog. So, do you know what CTE can teach?

We are a large and mighty contingent of educators around the country—and the world—who are blending traditional education with workplace readiness skills. I am extremely proud to be among your number, and hope you get the respect you deserve from your school, district and students.

Over the years, with the ebb and flow of the popularity and respect for CTE, there have been times when I’ve been tempted to get out of the Business Education game and dip my toe into the core subjects—English in particular for me. I am beyond grateful to Sweet Husband for encouraging me to hold fast to my love of CTE and not give in to the whims of the education policy environment that doesn’t always understand us. 

So, within CTE, I’m Business Education. I’ve dabbled in Information Technology and Digital Media, but my heart is in Business Management and Accounting. I’d love to hear what your schedule includes, and the (probably) circuitous path you took to reach this current plateau. 

For many of these past years, the curriculum has been quite nebulous, with plenty of room for me to include or expand on topics that I thought were most interesting and relevant to my students. This lack of a formalized curriculum made it possible for me to focus more instruction, for example, on the travel and hospitality sector since I live in Las Vegas. When I taught in a very white collar town in New Jersey, I focused my energies more on mid- and upper-level management opportunities, as that was the logical trajectory for those students. 

I was definitely great at what I did.

But it wasn’t exactly transferable when students moved around or headed off to college.

We, as a group, needed to be focused more on a centralized curriculum so that we could be sure all students are learning the same types of subjects so they could be more successful should they switch schools, and when they moved on to college or the workforce. 

We needed—and have finally received—a more generalized curriculum.

Can You Include Your CTSO When You Teach CTE?

My current (and permanent) school utilizes a very well-respected and high level national curriculum. I encourage you to steer your school towards MBA Research’s High School of Business curriculum if at all possible (https://www.mbaresearch.org/ ). It is a tremendous curriculum, and includes a wide variety of classes that cover everything students need to know. Unit and semester exams are included, and we receive national rankings, so we know how our students fare against others their age. 

But what if you are still creating your own CTE curriculum to teach? No problem! Our Career and Technical Student Organizations have you covered!!!

After years—decades really—my CTSOs have finally found their way into my curriculum. Both DECA and FBLA  have designed crosswalks that can be used separately or in tandem with the curriculum model at your school. They each have websites dedicated to including DECA and FBLA in your classroom, with lesson plans, activities and suggestions for you to use. 

At this point, “can you…” should really be changed to “why aren’t you…” because putting CTSOs into your curriculum is the best possible way for you to ensure that your students are not only educationally prepared, but have learned and practiced all of the soft skills necessary to be successful in the workplace. 

Ways To Implement Your Organization In Your Classroom

I get it. Your lesson plans and schedules are already jam packed with different things you are required to cover and teach and test. I’m in the exact same situation, but that doesn’t change what I SHOULD cover. My kids are useless if they can take an objective test but can’t succeed in an interview. So, no matter your curriculum, your schedule or your supervising administrator, here are a few ways I incorporate CTSOs in my daily teaching:

Use as warm-ups

I don’t care what you call it, you have something short for kids to do as soon as they enter the room. Why not make it CTSO related? This is a perfect way to infuse your classroom with vocabulary specific to CTSO events, or even to brainstorm how they would answer a specific question in a case study. 

Use as guided practice activities

Nothing is more powerful for our students than to see other students being successful. It shows them that they, too, can achieve at that level. Fortunately, both DECA and FBLA make available some of the winners from the previous year’s National Leadership Conferences. One of the best things to do is to show a video from their home website of the winning team delivering their presentation to judges. Broken up into groups, students can use the exact grading rubric to “judge” the performing team on the screen, and can haggle over how many points they should receive.

This is a non-threatening way for students to critique their peers, because these are strangers on the screen. It is also an excellent example of how to build and deliver a presentation, which is perhaps the most valuable skill we can teach our students. 

Great for additional material

I’m not a fan of extra credit points, but there are absolutely times when students need to resubmit something or complete an alternative assignment for one reason or another. Of course, this applies to when you teach CTE, as well.

This is a great time to utilize the practice tests, performance events and case studies that DECA and FBLA make available on their websites. Having students work through the case studies is an excellent way to reinforce skills in a wide variety of classes, and supports their performance and public speaking skills.

Case studies for subs

Sometimes I struggle with assignments for guest teachers. Do I really want them moving on to the next topic without me? Will they complete a dry assignment without the benefit of me looking over their shoulder? Enter case studies and presentation events for our CTSOs! Not only is this a great way for students to showcase their skills, but it is quite easy to differentiate learning. When I leave case studies, I leave STUDIES. Letting kids choose which topic they decide to research and present on gives them some ownership over their learning, allows them to “test drive” different competitions in the organization, and makes it significantly more interesting when they do the presentations in the following class. 

Compete in class

All right, you caught me! This is my favorite! You want a fun and exciting lesson plan? Make it a competition. My favorite one to do this with is an Extemporaneous Speech (available as a competitive event in SkillsUSA and FBLA), where students are given a topic with a ten-minute time limit to come up with a three-minute presentation. Some suggestions: 

1. Tell them the day before so they can dress professionally.
2. Have them recommend good prompts in their warm-up the week before.
3. Have students present in groups of five or so, and only have the “winner” in the group compete in front of the group. (Saves time)
4. Give each group a different prompt.
5. Change it to a 30-second elevator speech with a three-minute prep time.
6. Create prompts specific to your school 
7. Invite guest judges

Benefits Of Using CTSO Information In The Classroom

I could go on and on about the benefits of infusing my classroom with CTSO material. Starting with the relevance of the material and ending with success on the national stage, it is a winner from the beginning to the end. A few little pieces you may not have considered:

• Increasing the use of professional vocabulary by students, who tend to utilize the vocab they find in the case study.
• Improving presentation and speaking skills in a non-threatening environment.
• Getting students used to working with a time deadline, both in the preparation portion and the presentation portion. Extremely valuable skill.
• Create comfort with speaking in front of peers and other adults.
• Overcoming nerves and anxiety by knowing the plan for presentations in advance.
• Anticipation for your class, as they plan their professional dress for the day.
• Opportunity for students to demonstrate skills they are usually too shy to show.
• Increase participation in your organization at after school meetings once students get a “taste” for what your CTSO is all about.

Negatives Related To Using CTSO Information Anywhere

There aren’t any. Move on to the next section.

Extending The Learning Into The “Club” Environment

Loyal reader, you already know DECA changed my life. I don’t make a secret of my absolute adoration for any and all CTSOs, and wish every student would get involved in at least one during their educational experiences. As DECA and FBLA move into the middle schools, I am even more excited about the opportunities we are creating for these young scholars. I love to teach CTE.

So, yes, I’m doing this to boost membership in my CTSO.

I don’t deny it.

What I’m doing is convincing them to do something that will, at the very least, benefit them while they are in my school.

Every so often, though, I’m showing them how to change their lives.

Just by writing a good warm-up. 

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR

Wow, thank you for reading about what CTE can teach!

Hey, since you’re here! You may as well check out the “wh-” questions I have for advisors, here, and learn how to celebrate with students, here! Check out our other topics here! Either way, I appreciate you!

Please leave a COMMENT about any tips you may have!! Or comment what your favorite lesson of mine was! How’s your student organization operating? What are your freshman orientation tips?

Feel free to contact me or leave a COMMENT with anything you would like to hear more about! Or reach out with any unrelated questions, comments, concerns, or random outbursts of excitement by clicking here.