Dick Jones Blog

Obstacles to Greater CTE and Academic Integration

Preparing students for the future workforce requires technical skills and work habits. However, accelerating technological change requires future workers to adapt, which adds high-level thinking, problem-solving, and communication to instruction to the workplace agenda. Rather than significantly changing the CTE curriculum, a more efficient and localized solution is to increase collaboration among academic and CTE teachers. Academic teachers generally have more experience elevating student problem-solving and communication skills. More engaging and effective CTE lessons can be created when academic teachers work with technically knowledgeable CTE teachers to craft real-world student projects. Academic teachers benefit as well by creating more relevant and engaging instruction.

One of my current projects focuses on enhancing the integration of academics and increasing collaboration between academics and CTE teachers. This is not a new issue. One of my first statewide curriculum responsibilities was in the early 1980s. I was assigned responsibility for state curriculum work in Career and Technical Education. We funded state projects and participated in several multi-state curricular consortiums. It was apparent to many education leaders at that time that the onset of the computer age would have a significant influence on work and career preparation. This change would require not only new technical skills but additional thinking skills.

The topic of connecting academic skills with CTE was met with great skepticism in CTE, for the concern was that adding academics was the responsibility of other teachers, and time devoted to academic integration would diminish time in developing technical skills. As leaders further reflected on the importance of higher-level thinking skills, a shift occurred in Career and Technical Education curriculum. CTE curriculum began to bring higher-level thinking skills into the curriculum and included academic teachers in helping to develop the curriculum. Cross-reference curriculum maps were created to show the application of academic skills within Career and Technical Education. Many leaders now saw the advantages to students for having both academic and technical skills.

This change began over 40 years ago it would seem that education policy and practice would have a dramatic shift to build stronger connections between academic and CTE teachers. Over the last four decades, some state and federal policies have promoted a stronger connection. However, practices at the school level still discourage increased collaboration. There is a connection between academic skills and CTE on paper and written policy. State curriculum standards require students to acquire both academic credits for graduation and along with those seeking technical school credits. The federal accountability requirements in K-12 education and Career and Technical Education require students to achieve both achievements in technical skills and academic skills. However, in practice, most schools still have significant barriers” that isolate career and technical education teachers from academic teachers. Yes, there are examples of effective collaboration in schools that create career pathways and promote more project-based learning and relevant education. However, several significant obstacles still discourage increased collaboration. These obstacles are diploma requirements, teacher certification, teacher security, and teacher evaluation.

Diploma requirements in most states are still defined in courses grouped by subject areas and are based on a time requirement of a minimum number of hours of instruction. The diploma may require end-of-course tests for some subjects to earn a diploma. This traditional approach has been in place for over 100 years, and perpetuates a model of individual teachers teaching a separate subject in high schools. Diploma requirements based on separate subjects make it difficult to teach interdisciplinary courses, including content from several sources. Some states have created options for substituting graduation requirements from career and technical courses, such as using health science to meet a portion of the science requirement. While these options create flexibility for some students, it adds complexity and data-keeping for school officials. It is much easier to track each student satisfying the traditional course requirements. In addition, the State Boards of Education have increased the number of courses required to earn a diploma, making it more difficult for students to find time for CTE courses.

Teacher Certification is similar to the diploma obstacle. At the high school level, teachers earn certification in Individual subject areas. With certification, teachers feel an exclusive right to teach courses in their subject. Creating courses that include content from multiple subjects can create conflict. Teachers may feel that they are taking students away from their particular discipline. Labeling teachers and, more importantly, certifying a license to teach a particular course is one of the strong influences to isolating teachers and instructional subjects in secondary schools.

Teacher Security is another obstacle. Everyone wants stability in the school system to reassure there are learning opportunities for future families in the community. Having regulations of teachers’ tenure is a strong rationale for stability in school. However, these regulations are tied to subject areas and certification areas . This discourages teachers from taking on a teaching assignment that is outside of their certification area and may jeopardize their security. In addition school contacts include seniority regulations which provides that any layoffs of teachers will be focused on the least senior teachers. Teaching interdisciplinary course could be a threat to security. It is easier for everyone to keep doing things the same way.

Teacher Evaluation also supports the segmentation of the school system. Teacher evaluation systems, expanded under the Federal Race To the Top initiative, stimulated more school districts to rate teachers based on test student test performance and standardized criteria. These criteria or based upon the traditional perspective of a teacher lecturing in a classroom rather than facilitating learning of student projects in collaboration with other professionals. Most teacher evaluation efforts have been one more edict that has pushed the isolation of teachers into separate disciplines.

These four obstacles are significant and originate and well-meaning state law and policy and have support in local school district teacher contracts and the self-interest of many teachers. However, many schools are found ways to work through the rigidity of regulation to provide interdisciplinary, highly engaged activities for students that break down the barriers between academics and CTE. A second blog will dig deeper into how states and school districts leadership can make changes to reduce the impact of these obstacles for student benefit.

Current CTE Writing Project

I am excited about my current writing project in CTE. ACTE has agreed to publish a book on Models of Academic Integration in CTE.

This book is needed because the integration of connecting academic concepts in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs is losing momentum. There was a burst of activity when Common Core was introduced in many states a decade ago; however, the politics of common core dwarfed the significance of this effort. Now, most states have settled in with their own version of academic standards, even though much of this work is duplicated in CTE standards. The July 1, 2019, introduction of Perkins V CTE legislation stressed the importance of academic standards. While connecting CTE students’ accountability included academic achievement, most students will meet these benchmarks with little effort from CTE instructors. CTE Academic integration is not just important because it is established in regulation; it is important for student success. The message from industry leaders is clear that they desire employees with technical expertise and professional skills such as critical thinking, analytical skills, problem-solving, and communication (writing and speaking). CTE must continue to embed these skills in CTE projects and student work.

In public forums, many question “college for all” goals for student achievement. This is an opportunity for the growth of CTE, not as an alternative to academic college prep but as a joint venture to develop student ability to apply cognitive skills and knowledge in real-world CTE projects. Many successful models build connections with academic subjects, such as career academies, team teaching, and high-level CTE courses. No single model will serve every school setting. There is a need for a comprehensive reference for school and CTE leaders to display the various models for CTE integration.

This publication will describe why CTE Academic integration is essential and existing models for connecting CTE and Academics. It will offer case studies as suggestions for school leaders to implement academic integration in their school setting. The target audience for this publication is school administrators and Career and Technical Education Leaders. CTE directors, high school principals, and district curriculum and instruction leaders can better support CTE instruction by understanding the many options and models for connecting academic concepts with CTE instruction.

We are partnering with several education practitioners familiar with each model to share their perspectives, experience, and suggestions for administrators to support each model successfully.

If you would like to learn more or have suggestions on content for this publication, don’t hesitate to contact me. The goal is to have this complete by the end of the year,

Not A Crazy Idea

Elon Musk recently mentioned that voting rights should be reserved for parents when he claimed the “childless have little stake in the future.” That seems a crazy idea and is quickly dismissed by most people. However, many of the political squabbles we face today are exactly a lack of focus on the future. We have in this country a pervasive short-term vision.

Seniors growl at any changes in Social Security that may affect current payments when the whole system is unsustainable in the long run. Most seniors admit that they realize there will not be the same benefits for their grandchildren from the current system, but still, the majority want no changes. Opposition to dealing with climate issues is fear of changing the status quo. What happened to the notion of planning trees today for future generations, which was the motto at the beginning of Earth Day? Some environmental zealots push the idea of population control to deal with pollution and limited resources. That is the wrong-headed solution. As a species, you either grow in numbers or decline. Many current critics of our nation don’t focus on the future; they also want to erase our past by removing statues and rewriting history. Too many financial decisions, whether Wall St., Congress, or family finances, are short-term. Congress can’t even agree to a yearly budget, an alarming action for any organization.

Turning to something I know better as an educator, too many decisions are made for the current benefit of adults rather than children. The shutdown of schools during the pandemic is a great example. I have been in nearly 2000 schools in my career, both great and not-so-great. Those most successful schools had made the needs of students the priority. The controversial efforts by the Biden administration to forgive student college loans reveal that one of the worst economic decisions in this country was to saddle young families with significant debt. It is a long-term economic obstacle. The easy offers of loans to college students parallel the no down payment real estate loans that led to a housing bust and recession. The current forgiveness efforts are controversial, but making loans so easily available is another poor short-term economic blunder.

There are dozens of examples of short-term thinking; it is time for a highly visible long-term vision for this country. Families with children and grandchildren are the best people to share their thoughts on that vision. Heads of families, more than any other demographic, care more about their offspring’s future and the country’s future. Changing who can vote to only parents may be too drastic a solution. However, a potentially powerful variation of this idea is to support a large-scale poll of heads of families on a future direction they would like to see for the children and grandchildren. It is 2023, and an election is coming up in 2024. The next Congress could adopt this notion of creating a long-term collective vision authored by heads of families. A national vote could be scheduled for 2025 and restricted only to adults with children or grandchildren under 25. The vision would be to set a goal 25 years into the future for the year 2050. All of these children will be adults in 2050. What do heads of families what for their offspring in 2050? Congress should appoint a commission to develop the voting questions and hold the poll in 2025. The goal is to set a long-term vision for our nation and guide intermediate decision-making and the self-interest of political leaders’ actions to benefit the next election cycle. Hopefully, this would redirect our political and economic thinking away from pervasive disastrous short-term thinking.

What is Rigorous CTE and Why Is It Important?

Rigorous describes something rigid and difficult, and imposes hardship, such as taking a rigorous hike. Some might avoid rigorous tasks such as weeding a garden to avoid hardship. Others might embrace a rigorous physical workout because the goal of athletic performance drives them. Tasks can be categorized by degrees of rigor, and each person chooses whether to embrace or avoid rigorous tasks based on their goals.

When rigorous is applied in education, the term means something slightly different from difficult, arduous tasks. Rigorous education is not more physically difficult or necessarily a more extended test or exotic and difficult questions. Rigorous education differs from other learning in requiring more thinking before finding a solution or completing a task.

Rigorous CTE, just as in other subjects in schools, is defined on a continuum of learning from low levels of thinking to high levels of thinking. The notion of moving from low to high is not measured in the quantity of how many facts someone knows. High levels of academics are measured in the complexity of thinking, not the rapid recall of facts, such as a Jeopardy Game Show winner.

The most common frameworks for defining levels of cognitive learning are the six-level Bloom’s Taxonomy and 4-level Webb’s Depth of Knowledge. Common to both of these frameworks is low-level thinking of acquiring and recall in bits of knowledge. The Rigor/Relevance Framework is another Teaching/Learning framework that defines both rigor and more relevance. CTE teachers can see in this framework where their teaching of technical skills is commonly at the high relevance level but also can set student aspirations on both.

All these frameworks define the higher halves of the scales of more rigorous learning using terms such as analytical thinking, creativity, reflection, and extended thinking. So Rigorous CTE is when instruction helps to develop higher-level thinking, typically seen in higher-level academic courses. Rigorous CTE does not mean making CTE courses more difficult or raising cut scores on a Technical Assessment. It means planning instruction which increases the complexity of student thinking. This is where there needs to be greater collaboration between Academic Teachers and CTE Teachers.

Why is Rigorous CTE important? Workplace standards and not educator-developed standards drive CTE curricula. Practicing craftsmen and employers describing the required abilities to be taught. In those conversations, employers often identify specific technical skills but also expect human or professional skills such as communication, problem-solving, analytical thinking, and critical thinking.

The best path to Rigorous CTE and teaching the thinking skills employers seek are collaborating on lessons with experienced academic teachers. (FYI, the best path for Academic teachers to develop Relevance that engages students is collaborating with CTE Teachers). Academic teachers in secondary school design learning activities in the disciplines of Mathematics, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies. When CTE teachers only expect students to learn fundamental technical skills, the content is exclusively within the CTE subject area. However, when attempting the stretch the student’s technical skills to problem-solving and analytical thinking, the content broadens to include content from these academic subjects. CTE teachers may have the academic depth to teach these skills in some situations. But for many, the collaboration of academic teachers can provide ideas to make the lessons and assessments more effective.

Students may perceive rigorous lessons as obstacles, but they are essential challenges leading to future success. Academic challenges wrapped in real-world CTE projects are perceived differently from most students’ prior academics. Consider Rigorous CTE and Integration as one in the same strategy. Rigorous CTE, striving to meet employers’ expectations, requires collaboration and blurring the lines of delineated subjects. Teachers working together can better prepare students for the ever-changing workplace.

The CareerEd Lounge community group on the Integration of Academics and CTE will continue to share ideas and practices on this topic. All educators are welcome

Less Coddling Means More Learning

The Coddling of the American Mind is a book that has helped me analyze and understand student behaviors I have seen and heard over the last few years. Things have changed and some would argue that “not for the better.” I remain an optimist and believe that the “worst” of behaviors are overblown in conversation and media.

In The Coddling of the American Mind, authors Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff argue that well-intentioned parents and educators are unwittingly harming young people by teaching them in ways that implicitly convey three untruths:
Fragility: Avoid challenges for they make you weaker.
Emotional Reasoning: Make decisions and take action based on your feelings.
Us vs. Them: Life is a battle between good people and evil people.

The authors suggest to succeed in pursuing your own goals, you do three things:

Seek out challenges “rather than eliminating or avoiding everything that ‘feels unsafe.’”
Free yourself from cognitive distortions “rather than always trusting your initial feelings.”
Take a generous view of other people, and look for nuance “rather than assuming the worst about people within a simplistic us-versus-them morality.”

Read the book and make your judgment; I am reminded of three positive teaching practices which overcome the coddling untruths. These are, Appropriately Challenge Students, Nurture Critical Thinking, and Avoid Judging People by Actions or Beliefs

Following are examples to remind you of how to apply each of these.

Appropriately Challenge Students

Create a supportive learning environment: It is important to create an environment where students feel safe to take risks and make mistakes without fear of judgment or ridicule. This can be achieved by providing positive feedback, encouraging teamwork, and building a sense of community within the classroom.
Set clear expectations: Clearly communicate to students what is expected of them and the learning goals. Students are more likely to take on challenges when they know what is expected of them.
Use real-world examples: Use real-world examples to illustrate the importance of taking on challenges and the rewards that come with overcoming them.
Model taking on challenges: As an educator, model taking on challenges and show students that it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them.
Provide opportunities for self-reflection: Allow students to reflect on their learning and their challenges. This can help them to identify their strengths and weaknesses and develop strategies for future challenges.
Use positive language: Use positive language to encourage students to take on challenges. For example, instead of saying “this is difficult”, say “this is challenging, but I know you can do it”.

Nurture Critical Thinking

Provide examples: Provide examples of situations where emotions may lead to poor decision-making and contrast them with examples of situations where rational thinking is the better approach.
Practice mindfulness: Encourage students to practice mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing and meditation, to help regulate their emotions and stay focused on rational thinking.
Provide opportunities for debate: Provide opportunities for students to engage in debates or discussions that require them to present evidence and use logical reasoning to support their arguments.
Highlight the consequences: Highlight the potential consequences of emotional decision-making and help students understand how their decisions can impact themselves and others.
Incorporate metacognition: Incorporate metacognitive strategies, such as think-alouds or self-reflection prompts, to help students become more aware of their own thinking processes and to monitor their own decision-making.
Celebrate successes: Celebrate instances when students demonstrate rational thinking and decision-making, and provide positive feedback to reinforce these behaviors.

Avoid Judging People by Actions or Beliefs

Model open-mindedness: As a teacher, model open-mindedness and demonstrate that you value diversity of beliefs and opinions. This can create a positive learning environment where students feel comfortable sharing their own beliefs without fear of judgment.
Encourage empathy: Encourage students to develop empathy for others and consider the perspectives and experiences of those with different beliefs.
Emphasize the importance of respect: Emphasize the importance of treating others with respect, even if we disagree with their beliefs or opinions.
Incorporate diverse perspectives: Incorporate diverse perspectives into the curriculum, including texts, activities, and guest speakers who represent a variety of beliefs and viewpoints.
Challenge stereotypes: Challenge stereotypes and biases that students may hold about people with different beliefs. This can help students to recognize their assumptions and to approach others with an open mind.

THE PUSH AND PULL OF STUDENT LEARNING

Teaching is challenging! Many times, at the end of the day, exhausted teachers wonder if they are making any headway in moving a reluctant student toward success. Having to repeat safety procedures, reminding students to replace their tools, or tutoring a student for the third time on multiplying fractions can create the unsettling feeling that learning is impossible. The Greek legend of Sisyphus comes to mind as an apt metaphor for this kind of frustrating teaching — endlessly pushing a boulder up a hill, never making any progress.

The boulder could well represent some of our students, who require considerable effort to push them to the place where we hope they will be, on the mountain of education achievement. The mental image of the weary teacher and a massive, impassive student boulder is not healthy for teachers or student learning.

Working with reluctant learners feels like pushing students across the finish line of passing a course. Instead of thinking of teaching as a “pushing” exercise requiring considerable effort, reimagine it as pulling. Your immediate reaction might be, “Wow, pulling an object up a hill is even more challenging than pushing.” However, think about using an internal pull rather than thinking about an external pull of you trying to pull the boulder uphill. Shift the mental model of the teacher working externally to pull or push students toward a learning goal to one of facilitating the student’s internal pull toward that goal. This is the push and pull of student learning. Teachers pushing students to learn is exhausting and frustrating. In contrast, the feeling is very different when the student feels an internal pull to accomplish a learning goal. Setting up an internal pull still requires effort, and teachers may exert more time planning and facilitating learning. Still, the results are rewarding for students and teachers.

What drives our students? And how can teachers create an internal pull that motivates students? In his book Drive, Daniel Pink describes the three inner motivators that move people, in other words, that pull people toward a goal. Pink points out that it is not rewards and punishment that drive people; it is a shared purpose, frequent measurement of mastery, and the ability to make autonomous choices. First, we are motivated when we adopt a clear goal or objective, especially when we share that common purpose with others we care about. Second, when people can frequently measure that they are gaining proficiency in their work through frequent recognition, feedback, or even self-reflection, it drives them to continue to practice and improve. Finally, when people have greater autonomy in what they do, and when they do it, it increases their drive. These motivating principles apply to students as well.

Career and Technical Education offers some natural pull learning because the subject matter is usually not a requirement, students have some choice in what they study, and the courses have a clear, relevant purpose. Moreover, mastery is often visible because it is measured by performance in a real-world setting. That is why CTE students are generally more motivated than students in general academic courses.

Of course, even CTE teachers’ work can sometimes drift into feeling like teachers are pushing reluctant students to success rather than the learning goals pulling them toward success by their interest in the content. Teachers can rely less on pushing and facilitate more pulling by applying the Drive principles — shared purpose, frequent measurement, and autonomous choices — in a mental learning model.

A great way to think visually about push vs. pull learning is to use the Rigor/Relevance Framework™. The framework categorizes high and low levels of rigor and relevance. Low rigor/low relevance learning is what teachers seem to have to push students to complete. CTE is naturally highly relevant, but even CTE can sometimes become bogged down into low-rigor tasks. When students are challenged with real-world problems of high rigor and high relevance, solving that problem becomes a pull on student motivation. In these teaching situations, students will work to acquire the foundation knowledge of skills needed to solve the problem or construct the solution ultimately.

Think about your teaching. The more you can pull learning into your work with students, the more motivated they will be.

Try to include more pull in your CTE instruction, and at the end of the day, your instruction will seem less like the work of Sisyphus and more like the reason you became a CTE teacher.

Taking a Spin With ChatGPT

Much has been posted in education circles on the innovative AI tool ChatGPT. Is it a way for students to cheat? Is it a teaching tool? Should educators ignore it? In five decades of experience, I have seen educators embrace many forms of technology, and some were always reluctant. I took ChatGPT for a spin to try it out. After using ChatGPT, I believe this is an easy-to-use tool to improve writing and save time. Teachers are likely to use this more than students doing tasks such as writing teaching scenarios, content for online courses, and student feedback. ChatGPT and future AI products add to existing tools of SpellCheck, Grammarly, and GoogleSearch to make us more productive in our work.

To try ChatGPT, I posed this statement related to the Integration of Academics in CTE – It is important to teach academic skills when teaching technical skills

ChaptGPT “wrote” in a few seconds this clear and accurate passage.

Yes, it is important to teach academic skills when teaching technical skills. While technical skills are essential for performing a specific job or task, academic skills provide a foundation for lifelong learning and success in various aspects of life.

Academic skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, and time management are crucial for success in any field, including technical fields. These skills help individuals to approach tasks systematically, make informed decisions, and effectively communicate their ideas and findings.

In addition, technical skills often require individuals to research, analyze, and interpret data, which are all academic skills. Without these skills, individuals may struggle to perform technical tasks, especially when faced with complex challenges.

Moreover, academic skills can help individuals to adapt to new technologies and stay updated with the latest advancements in their field. This is particularly important in technical fields, where new technologies and tools are continually emerging.

In summary, teaching academic skills alongside technical skills can help individuals to become more well-rounded and adaptable professionals, who are better equipped to succeed in their careers and tackle complex challenges.

Teachers: Authentic Influencers

Remember the teachers who had a significant influence on you and that you still remember how they changed your life—hopefully, those memories are positive influences. I remember well several teachers in my childhood that challenged me to achieve more than I thought I could and built my confidence with timely compliments. Those teachers influenced my life, and I am thankful.

The term influencers is popular today. However, influencers is currently used more often to describe people who have thousands of online groupies who tune in regularly for the latest selfies, mini-videos, and tweets. These influencers do change people’s lives but in ways that are very different from those memorable teachers. Often today’s influencers are inauthentic, using enhanced images, rehearsed videos, and sponsored products to display. Online influence efforts are just a powerful form of visual marketing. Social media influence does sell products and feeds to the ego and bank account of the influencers, but it is a significantly different type of influence that teachers have.

The following chart identifies some of the contrasts between authentic and inauthentic influencers:

As the term influencer becomes linked to social media, it is fitting to add the adjectives such as marketing, celebrity, or ego-hungry to describe the true self-centered focus of social media influencers. Teachers, however, should continue to hold the title of authentic influencers who change students’ lives with positive influence in the two-way communication of listening and caring. Teachers are authentic influencers inspiring students to shape their future based on their aspirations rather than mimicking the inauthentic lives of others.

CTE Teachers: Check Your Networks

The request to “Check Your Networks” could mean to check your Internet network. We all depend on internet connectivity, and an interruption from a storm or equipment failure is frustrating. But I am referring to people networks, not digital networks. Developing and maintaining human networks are essential in any profession. They are necessary for all education professionals but critical for Career and Technical Education (CTE)teachers. Compared to other teachers, CTE teachers have more and different networks. All educators can benefit from mentors and school peers to rely on for advice and negotiate the organization’s culture.

Effective CTE teachers need four additional types of human networks. It is important to periodically reflect on how strong these relationships are and decide if the time is right to devote energy to expanding networks. These four networks are Industry Associations/Vendors, Local Employers, CTE Professionals, and Student Pathway Professionals.

Industry Associations/Vendors represent the technical skill area you teach, such as Construction or Automotive. Most of these skill areas have Not-For-Profit Associations, Unions, and Companies as part of the large industry community. CTE teachers stay current with the technology and needs of the industry through relationships and frequent communication with industry professionals. Some teachers may obtain certification in these technical fields when available and devote time in training programs from companies and vendors. Strong networks keep your skills current.

The second network may overlap with industry-related groups, and that is local employers. These employers may have employees with many different skills area, and working with peer teachers may be a strategy. These local employers can help host work-based learning sites, contribute content to instruction, and employ future graduates.

The third network category is your CTE Professional Association which includes the umbrella professional association ACTE for all CTE professionals. There are associations for program areas at the national, state, and regional levels. These associations provide professional growth and advocacy for growth and improvement in the wider education community. Parallel to the professional association is the network of adult volunteers who lead student leadership organizations, such as Skills USA and FFA. Your commitment of ideas, active membership, and volunteer leadership benefit the wider profession and the next generation of CTE teachers and students.

The final network is what I call Student Pathway Professionals. This includes teachers, counselors, and admissions officers in the educational institutions where your graduates may go on to further education and school grade levels where students might choose to enroll in your program. Consider this the network for student recruitment and placement. CTE is not an isolated program, nor is it a required program. Students working with education professionals decide to enroll in a CTE program and also decide whether to continue learning at a higher level. Developing relationships with teachers at middle schools and earlier high school grades help with recruitment. Relationship with technical program teachers in higher education helps with placement and creating an environment of a strong pathway to a career. Conversations with this network help to build an articulated and relevant curriculum.

Take time to reflect on your professional networks. If it needs expansion or refreshing, reach out to meet new people, and join new groups if necessary. While these networks help you and your students in the program, initiate new relationships by describing what you do and asking how your work might help them. Avoid starting a new relationship with a request to help you. Other professionals are busy, too, and welcome anyone offering something to assist them in reaching their goals. Industry Associations want to expand their brand recognition. Local Employers want to give back to the community. Professional organizations need volunteer leaders. Student Pathways Professionals want to help students find their passion. Check your people networks for greater benefit to your students and you as an education professional.

Write, Reflect, and Improve

“Tell me about your writing experience?” That was the question that was asked of me during a job interview early in my education career. I had been a successful teacher and was considering a job in the private sector. I was confident describing my teaching but stumbled when asked about my writing experiences. As a college graduate, I had completed all of the required essays and papers, and there were some writing expectations as a teacher. However, once confronted by this question during the interview, I recognized that my writing skills were woefully weak. Teachers do a lot of talking but little writing. Later when I entered my graduate program, I made a point of minoring in communications and taking several writing courses. Over the years, I think I have gradually improved my writing skills. The fact that I have published 14 books indicates that I can fashion a few complete sentences and some logical paragraphs.

Writing is a powerful and essential communication skill that is becoming even more challenging when we look at the multiple forms of writing that use technology, including text messaging, emails, tweets, and blogs. Effective educators today must not only have good pedagogical skills but examine their skills in the area of writing. As someone who has engaged in writing for some 50 years, I now recognize that writing is more than just a process of putting words on paper or a computer screen.

Writing, including the process of preparing and revising text, is a powerful thinking process. Writing plays an important role in continually improving individuals in the profession and education as a whole. All educators should be encouraged to write, not simply to have good communication skills and share their ideas, but as a reflective improvement process critical to professional learning. Noted, 20th-century educator John Dewey made a comment, “We do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.” As teachers and administrators engage in experiences in their profession, those can become powerful learning experiences by reflecting on those experiences. What better way to reflect on those experiences than through writing? Even if you never published that great novel or completed a dissertation adding writing to your daily responsibilities will help you improve within the profession.

Technology today offers many tools to check spelling and grammar and even artificial intelligence to compose text around your ideas. These tools will help you write well and give instant feedback to learn and improve. Technology also enables us to have multiple forms of writing in simpler ways to publish our work and thereby share the results of our writing. A personal journal is a good form of reflection but doesn’t hold the same accountability because it’s not published. A personal journal reflects on experiences by putting thoughts into words. But writing that involves publishing and sharing those thoughts with others creates greater accountability, heightening the level of reflection.

Educators should consider writing blogs, Twitter, journal articles, book chapters, grant applications, and even graduate degree writing to improve in the profession.

Blogs

Blogs are an incredibly easy way to publish thoughts and share experiences. Blogs are less than 500 words, and there are many opportunities to publish as personal, professional organizations, or school communities with short thoughts and ideas. Try establishing a routine of touching on important topics in a blog format to continually focus on the best practices and reflect on how those might be improved. Podcasts are becoming a more popular narrative form of communicating ideas. The best podcasts have writing behind them with a detailed outline or even a complete written script.

Twitter

Twitter is a short form of blogging. It is an incredibly easy and quick way to publish your thoughts in a tweet. It is considered microblogging because you are limited to 280 characters. This is a real challenge in writing to take and summarize an idea in a short form. You begin to question if this idea is worth sharing and how to. adequately describe it in just a few characters. Maintaining a regular Twitter feed constantly has you thinking about those items of new information that will be valuable to your work and interesting to your followers. Twitter has recently gotten a bad rap in the political realm, where pundits post insults and personal attacks, yet there is much valuable information sharing within Twitter.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

A well-known expectation of higher education professors is that they must publish their work. These same expectations do not fall upon K-12 educators however, taking advantage of the opportunity to publish an effective practice in one of the many journals as an article is a great experience to reflect on the essence of what makes a practice effective. Thinking through that experience and describing it enables you to reflect on that practice and begin to replicate how those good educational practices might be replicated in other experiences. Look for opportunities to write articles and tackle a book for a chapter in a book. When I started teaching, I had no idea I would ever write a book, but looking back, it was some of my most rewarding educational experiences.

Grant Applications

There are many government and not-for-profits that fund education initiatives. This is a special form of writing targeting the priorities of the funding source. But meeting the challenge of describing your program’s success and focused goals is a powerful reflective experience, even if you don’t receive the funding.

Graduate Degree Writing

Many educators complete graduate degrees for added prestige, opportunities to pursue new positions, or increased salaries. Dissertations often required in these programs require research and scholarly writing. I have enjoyed working with many educators over the last several years in my adjunct teaching at Lynn University. The structure of completing a dissertation is a rich learning opportunity to probe deeply into an issue your feel passionate about. It also provides feedback from other scholars in improving your logical thinking and writing.

In summary, do not consider writing as just a communication process. It is also a process that drives thinking and reflection, which leads to improvement. Taking advantage of opportunities to write helps move you further on a journey of continuing to learn and grow in the profession.