South Dakota Career and Technical Education Conference Opening Speaker

Good morning! Bright and early we headed out to the SDCTE Conference in Mitchell. A combination of High School and Post-Secondary Career and Technical Education teachers and administrators are joining here to review what is going on in South Dakota for Career and Technical Education teachers. I am glad that this conference is in the summer when teachers still have the time to tweak what is going on in the classroom, rather than at the end of the school year when change seems much more difficult to facilitate.

The opening speaker is Mark Taylor and he is facilitating multiple sessions today with the intent to talk about generational differences in the classroom and, subsequently, in the workplace. In his bio, he highlights that that there is "a serious mismatch between what they want expect from a school, and what we offer." He is a psychotherapist and a Baby Boomer with some great ideas.

A conversational presentation, Mark Taylor spoke lot about the value of each of the generations and his quick-witted humor was a breath of fresh air to start the morning. He spoke in Boston a few weeks ago and in Dublin, Ireland this summer as well, so he is not a stranger to speaking to large crowds like ours. Also, this may indicate that we are not the only people in this world that are concerned about the ability to teach the next generation.

As I am a GenXer myself, I sometimes think I may be able to relate a little bit more to some of the "under 26" population, but the lack of ability to self-motivate and the increased involvement of parents for the younger generation is something that I do not have first-hand knowledge. Mark Taylor referenced his article, "Helicopters, Snowplows and Bulldozers: Managing Students' Parents" and it is very telling of not only high school parents, but also post-secondary parents now. Parents do not only get in there to "helicopter" over what is going on, but also to "snowplow" (a reference really apt for South Dakota) and "bulldoze" obstacles out of the way! We all laughed about it, but it's hard not to think that perhaps we are guilty of it, too.

I really appreciated his comments about problem-based learning and how colleges are just not preparing students for the real world anymore. Technical colleges are really preparing students for the future and really preparing students for the workforce. These comments make me feel great about the move to Lake Area Technical Institute! I have readily admitted that I worry about being able to still be able to make a difference (yes, I still believe that I can do that in my life), but in reality, yes, I am going to be able to be a part of really helping prepare students for the real workforce and not just to continue to learn.

I linked some of his articles below as they are a great compliment to what he is saying. I can surely see myself referencing some of his articles in the future, so they are really here for me as a bookmark for future reference, but you surely could read them, too.

Teaching Gen NeXt
Teaching Generation NeXt: Leveraging Technology with Today’s Digital Learners
Meet the Parents: Managing for Student Success

I will surely be attending his future sessions today. Also, he brought up a new book that Howard Gardner and Katie Davis just completed titled "The App Generation" that I will be putting on my reading list. Howard Gardner is already famous for the multiple intelligence and learning style theories, but this is definitely showing that even one of the traditional pedagogical units of your teacher education block is now changing. Shifting paradigms... yes, the times they are 'a changing...

Soft Skills to Pay the Bills

When teaching workforce skills, we often forget some of what are called the "soft skills". The U.S. Department of Labor has created a learning module with videos and additional text to support teaching these soft skills in your curriculum for a "workability" type of class.

The US DOL categorizes soft skills as: 

1. Communication
2. Enthusiasm and Attitude
3. Teamwork
4. Networking
5. Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
6. Professionalism 

And, for each of the soft skills, there is a pdf with information and a video that corresponds. 

The Disability Employment Policy Office has put this out, but I could see it being very beneficial to any teen or young adult looking for career opportunities.