Donald Robinson II

Student agency is a perfect vehicle in CTE for students' hands-on learning.  The best way for students to learn is to have them actively participate in projects that relate to what they are learning.  The more relevance the students see in it for themselves, the more likely they will be active in their hands-on learning.  Our students are learning through both operating drones and understanding the rules and regulations from the FAA to pass the Unmanned Aircraft General Remote Pilot exam.  Our projects allow them to learn though the process of establishing their own initiative and enthusiasm, keeping them focused… >>>

Active participation from students, SWOT, four-corners, entrance and exit cards, talk tickets, dry-erase boards and hypothetical real-world scenarios, these are all useful tools to allow students to express their opinions and conclusions.  Those opinions and conclusions are essential for the students to come up with results developing their critical thinking skills, communication skills, and listening balanced with speaking to express those opinions and conclusions in a manner that is constructive, productive and insightful.  

In our class we allow for open discussion, and as the material is pretty much straight-forward, we use an adequate amount of hands-on activities to illustrate what… >>>

Lessons with engagement appear to be one of the most effective ways to succeed in students' learning and applying what they've learned.  Depth of knowledge and productive failure seem to be ways that are novel and unique to success in retention and mastery of both the material and the technical expertise given by the teacher.  Active questioning provides support in the students' confidence and participation, more than merely calling on students one-by-one when the teacher's goal is to get the students to give an answer.  The notion of having the students take the lead on discussions, research, interpersonal communication with… >>>

Coming into CTE as a Special Instructor, I am fascinated by the concept of productive talk.  Learning how active talk stimulates neural pathways in a student's brain, this concept helps to reinforce our methods of allowing our students to ask questions during each class period, WHILE WE TEACHERS ARE DISSEMINATING THE MATERIAL.  My approach in previous teaching opportunities was to have students ask questions as I was presenting, rather than have them wait until the end of me speaking, or the end of the entire lesson.  That way, asking questions and getting answers in the moment provides for better retention. … >>>

Teaching in CTE programs provides innovative ways to connect with students and helps them to obtain valuable skills for the workplace while still in school.  Since employability skills are a tantamount element in the whole CTE concept, activities such as work-based learning, simulated workplaces and field trips/visits to businesses and organizations help to "connect the dots" for students.  One element noted in the "Simulated Workplace" module captured the notion I've heard for years, even when I was in school:  "How often do teachers hear, 'Why do I need to know this?'"  CTE makes this question ever the more relevant to… >>>

Meeting the needs of every student can appear to be a challenge at first, but after looking at the onset, and further exploring ways to expand approaches to students' learning, it can be a fun and rewarding experience for teachers to provide alternative ways in reaching the students to meet, and in many cases exceed, their expectations in learning the material. 

Every student learns differently, and we incorporate different techniques in our classroom, because we have a few students with IEPs, and we do not discriminate because they are bright and talented students who will most likely pass their FAA… >>>

Planning a curriculum helps students in a great way, but also helps teachers greatly in being prepared and effective in both the classroom and for having the students retain and utilize the information of what they learned.  CTE is an excellent way for students to learn concepts for real-world application, yet fulfill academic requirements in an innovative approach that makes what they learn much more relevant.  I like the idea of having the curriculum plan and map become "working" models, ever adaptable and being updated rather than just a static document that could easily become outdated in the near future. … >>>

Student assessments are necessary to make sure students are maintaining progress in the respective programs they are in.  Assessments are basically "check-ins," to determine if students are understanding the material covered, as well as gaining the work experience involved with the respective discipline studied.  Along with that includes the effectiveness of how the technical experience helps the student relate to the academic material, so that the student will have a better understanding of the academic studies by way of the technical studies and experience.  Through our drone program, we help our students with studying the material necessary to know in… >>>

Understanding Instructional Alignment in CTE helps a CTE teacher realize the importance of how academics and technical education can align under CTE in a powerful way.  It helps the student be more proactive in their education path, and also leads to more participation and interest if that student knows the knowledge he/she receives will lead to a tangible result, such as a job opportunity, post-secondary education credits, experience that can be documented on a resumé, along with the knowledge received that lasts a lifetime

In teaching aviation, in particular drones, I always stress to the students about safety in flying, because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a major concern about safety in the airspace, airspace that's shared among airplanes, helicopters, jets, fighter planes, along with drones.  My teaching partner and I also have the students perform pre-flight and post-flight checks each time they use the drones, and we take very good care in supervising the students in-flight to ensure they are also using best practices while flying the drones.  Using encouragement and techniques to make the class a fun experience helps us to… >>>