What if career and technology education was a graduation requirement like math and language arts? I think I’d want to live in that world. I sure would have liked to go that school. And I definitely would be a happy employer. If done well, CTE lesson plans give students a much-needed sense of the real world in a way that reality TV will never do.
CTE lesson plans…It’s REAL, man!
Raise your hand if you ever found yourself in a math or language arts class asking, “When am I ever going to use this?” or “How does this relate to the real world?” If you’ve had the privilege and opportunity to take a CTE course, I doubt those thoughts crossed your mind. The beauty of CTE lesson plans is that you are training for a career. You are learning skills that you can quite literally take to your workplace and use. Pretty engaging, right?
CTE lesson plans hit the soft skills
I recently posted about professionalism and how it should be taught to EVERYONE; not just our CTE students. And not just professionalism, CTE lesson plans include all sorts of soft skills training, including communication, etiquette, personal qualities, and teamwork. I got my Bachelor of Arts degree from a great school without even taking a speech class let alone any kind of course on soft skills.
CTE lesson plans include the stuff employers want
Employers need people with the skills that students only seem to get from CTE lesson plans…
In a spotlight article, the National Careers Service says employers want people with skills in communicating, making decisions, showing commitment, flexibility, time management, leadership, creativity and problem-solving skills, being a team player, accepting responsibility, and ability to work under pressure.
This article from the Metropolitan New York Library Council outlines more important soft skills.
CTE lesson plans for soft skills
Need some resources? As I mentioned in the earlier post, HealthCenter21 and Business&ITCenter21 offer a great deal of content that covers soft skills, like these:
- Legal and Ethical Responsibilities
- Personal Qualities
- Communications
- Health Care Careers
- Job Seeking Skills
- The Health Assistant
- Medical Office Assistant
- Office Environment
- Telephone Etiquette
- Written Communication
For some actual [free] lesson plans for professionalism in health care, take a look at some of the content I shared in some recent posts here, here, and here.
I also found this great resource from the US Department of Labor. I love the title: “Soft Skills to Pay the Bills.”
Now, don’t get me wrong, math and language arts are both very necessary to our survival in the workforce. All I’m saying is that requiring students to get through some CTE lesson plans sure wouldn’t hurt either.
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