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I
Am a CareerTech Teacher and Proud of it. By
Mark Clemons ACTE/McDonalds
Teacher of the Year 2003 (Delivered
at the National Policy Seminar of the Association of Career and Technical
Education in Thank
You Kathy Jo, I
am taking out my watch because many of my fellow teachers are fond of saying
that I cannot even say hello in 15 minutes. I
am a CareerTech Teacher. And I am
proud of it. I take every
opportunity to tell people about it. But
I often get asked, “Just what is this CareerTech?”
In But
whatever you call it, CareerTech links academic skills, technical skills and
employability skills to empower people to become productive and responsible
citizens. CareerTech empowers
students to take charge of their own learning and to take charge of their own
careers. So
just how did I get started as a CareerTech Teacher?
Not overnight for certain. As
an operator of a Heating, Air Conditioning and Sheet Metal business one of the
greatest problems I encountered was finding good workers, especially good
technicians. Just finding someone
who could read a tape measure was difficult.
So after some difficulties, even going broke in business once, I decided
that I should become part of the solution. I
taught myself to be a good HVACR Technician and went to work for someone else. At
the same time I was training people in my own and other companies and eventually
got involved with the setting up of a new Heating and Air Conditioning program
at Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma, first on the advisory
committee and then teaching a couple of nights a week.
When a teacher died, the daytime Director there drug me into the
instructor position. And I do mean
drug. I was not sure that this was
what I should be doing. But I have
been forever grateful to Jim Hyder for getting me started in something that I
have come to love. But
entering the classroom, taking on the title, does not make one a teacher.
One does not become a teacher until one becomes a teacher in one’s
mind. In the early years I had
disagreements with school administration on several occasions.
I gradually puzzled out that one of the reasons was a difference in
perspective. When the Director spoke
of dressing like a professional, I thought professional technician while the
Director meant professional educator. I
thought of myself as a Technician who happened to be teaching and it took
several years to recognize that I was really a Teacher who happened to be a
technician. So
why am I a teacher? For the same
reason I pastored a church for several years. To Make a Difference in the World! To Make a Difference in Individual Lives! So
which individual lives do I touch? Primarily
the lives of my students. My
students range in age from 16 years old to 60 years old, from 6th
grade dropouts to college graduates, from those who have hardly ever touched
tools to those with many years of mechanical or even computer experience.
Yes, I have students in my current class who are from computer companies
in the I
divide these into roughly 3 groups: 1.
High school juniors and seniors from a dozen different sending schools, 2.
College age students right out of high school or who have been out there in the
world a year or two and have discovered that they cannot really make a living
without a marketable skill, and 3.
Career change students who have lost their jobs or have discovered that they
really don’t like what they are doing and are seeking a new career path. This
mix of young and old is, I believe, very important.
CareerTech is important to young and old and I really like them mixed.
I find that the younger ones impart their youthful exuberance and
enthusiasm to the older ones. And
the experienced students are telling the younger ones that they better take
advantage of what they have available because they have been out there and you
can’t make it without what CareerTech has to offer. Thought
in the current Administration seems to be to make CareerTech primarily
postsecondary education. CareerTech
is important to both secondary and postsecondary education.
Students need to start forming a career path in Junior High or earlier
and not wait until high school graduation. CareerTech
is important to those who are just beginning their first career, to those who
are beginning their second or third or fourth career, and to those who are
needing skills to improve their position within their current career. But
CareerTech Programs cost more. They
require equipment that is equal to that used by current business and industry in
a particular field. In many cases
that means High Tech equipment. This
means that CareerTech Programs almost always cost more than other high school
programs, certainly more than programs such as math or history.
Most
schools cannot afford many, if any, of these expensive programs without extra
assistance. Perkins Act and other
federal programs make many high school CareerTech programs possible.
A year and a half ago I was told that approximately eleven programs in
the We
must fight to keep CareerTech alive and well in the secondary as well as in the
postsecondary schools of As
a CareerTech Teacher I am Making a Difference in the World. As
a CareerTech Teacher I am Making a Difference in this Nation. As
a CareerTech Teacher I am Making a Difference in my community. As
a CareerTech Teacher I am Making a Difference in individual lives. I
am proud to be part of the CareerTech system and I am proud to be a CareerTech
Teacher.
Mark I. Clemons, MSEd, NBCT and National CareerTech Teacher of the Year. For more information or to book Mark for a Consultation, Keynote, Seminar or Workshop contact him at 918 277-9864 or mark@markclemons.com
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