What's next for education? Voices of career and technical education students and teachers
Career and Technical Education (CTE) is emerging as a platform for educational innovation in schools. CTE and academic courses are now part and parcel in preparing students for the rigors of learning, living, working, and playing in the 21st century.
On June 17, 2019, Pearson CTE Specialists Deborah Noakes and Jim Brazell presented a workshop titled Certified Futures at Certiport’s 2019 Certified Conference. Certiport,® a Pearson business, is dedicated to helping learners excel and succeed through certification.
At Certified, teachers were asked to write haiku poems where the first stanza reflects the state of learning, the second line illustrates a key change, and the third line exhibits the final state of learning after the change. A haiku is a poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five. Below are select Haiku from students and teachers:
Student Haiku
My mom made me come
My teacher cares about me
Now I want to go
My phone is my life
I learned how to innovate
Tech is my life line
I’m not an artist
Teacher, teach me Photoshop
I am an artist now
Teacher Haiku
Code on screens
Inanimate life takes shape
Building the future
Technologies
Here, there, and everywhere
Everyone needs to certify
The test is a bore
Entertainment we implore
Too stressed for high stakes tests
Certification
Empowering students
Embrace the future
Apathy vs Enthusiasm
Daily grind of change
Students seek relevance
Teaching relevance is key
Real world experiences
Certify them all
The world is ready
Education is behind
Time to shift the mind
Students bored in class
Active engaging lessons
Transform the classroom
Graduation sparks
Those that certify before
They face the future
These haiku exemplify the key shift in 21st century learning: The shift from axiomatic (self-evident truth) to inductive (using observation and experience to move from specific to broader conclusions) presentation of curriculum. This strategy worked in the 1960’s as a platform for the United States to reform teaching physics as a national priority motivated by the Space Race.
The shift in pedagogy engender improvements to education by modeling the way experts work and think affording students the opportunity to approach the content knowledge in the same way that experts approach problems in the field. Today, we call this inquiry-driven, project-based learning and for many states and schools the method of assessment is industry certification. CTE is answering this call for innovation. Learn more about Pearson CTE programs.
About the author
Jim Brazell is a CTE Specialist at Pearson K-12 Learning. He is a former high school DECA officer, and in college, a George Gilder Fellow in High Tech and Entrepreneurship. Jim’s background in the Sociology of Science is a critical lens for leading innovation for students and schools. He is a published author, noted CTE advocate, and former member of the Thornburg Center for Teacher Professional Development. Jim has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology, Summa Cum Laude, Bradley University, Peoria, IL.
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