Career Fairs Around The County

Chad Foster, entrepreneur and author of Teenagers Preparing for the Real World, once

said that “the best way to find out if a career is a good fit for you is to try it.” Chad did

not mean that one should work here or there for a year or two and then move on to the

next job. No, he was referring to thinking outside the box and using every opportunity

available to explore career options before a student begins investing money in post

secondary education.

What better person to help a student with career exploration opportunities and post

secondary training decisions than a Career Development Coordinator a.k.a. (CDC). This

year the Davidson county high school CDCs have been very busy coordinating career

exploration experiences from job shadowing, to internships , to hosting career fairs at

their schools.

Career Fairs provide the opportunity for students to talk to numerous employers at one

time and place, giving students a chance to learn more about specific industries, careers,

and organizations.

Congratulations to the following schools and CDC’s for their hard work and efforts in

providing a career fair opportunity for students this year: Lynn Scott-Ledford High;

Gina Moore-Davidson High; Gaye Shipton-West High; and Beth White-North High.

ISSUE 02 May 2015

Career Tech Times

A Newsletter for DCS Career and Technical Education

Davidson High/Valley Academy Davidson High/Valley Academy Ledford High

Ledford High West High

HHigh School Career Fairs P. 1

Spotlight on Agriculture P. 2

CTE-Just the Facts, Ma’am P. 3

Anger Management P. 4

this issue

West High

North High

North High

North High

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

$5000 Grant Allows Agriculture Students to Extend

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Cathy Berrier, Agriculture Teacher at Ledford High School, and her students are in the rabbit business. With a $5000 grant

from NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, Ms. Berrier and her students constructed a barn to house, breed, and care for

rabbits as a continued fund raiser for the school’s agriculture program. Ms. Berrier says that “students love the hands on

application as they get to apply what they have learned in the classroom.” All the Animal Science level I and II students as

well as the Veterinary Assistant students have benefited from working with the rabbits. When asked why she chose to

work with rabbits, Ms. Berrier explained that rabbits are free from disease, relatively free of parasites, and are a model

animal for a classroom and lab setting. Students work hard to care for the rabbits from monitoring vital signs to feeding

(the grant provided a one year supply of feed) to cleaning waste from the cages which is then composted and used to make

raised planting beds for growing vegetables to be donated to the local food pantry. In moving forward with this project,

Ms. Berrier hopes to be totally sustainable and is working to secure another grant to provide solar panels for the barn

which would then provide electricity.

Central High Benefits From Grant

Elizabeth Ritch, Agriculture Teacher at Central High, and her

students are also benefiting from the generosity of the NC

Tobacco $5000 grant. Ms. Ritch has been using the grant money

to update the campus green house and the horticulture program.

She has also applied for and received another grant for $2499

through the National FFA association called The FOOD FOR ALL

grant. This money will be used for new side panels on the

greenhouse and also go toward the purchase of materials to build

raised beds. Because the grant focuses on healthy food options,

Ms. Ritch will be working with Jeannie Leonard through the DC

Cooperative Extension to hold a workshop for her students on

healthy food options. The students will also create brochures to

highlight this information for the community, as well as collect

donations for the Food Bank and the Back Pack program for

needy children.

Art With Purpose: Jenna Shaw,

Agriculture Teacher at West High, and her

students lend a creative hand at the

Habitat Restore by artfully decorating

doors for a fund

raising project for

Habitat for Humanity.

Something Fishy

is going on in the North Davidson High

Animal Science class. Teacher, Donna

Fulton, and her students are raising tropical fish. Students are

responsible for maintaining a habitat and caring for 5 types of

tropical fish in a 500 gallon tank. The experience is invaluable

and graduating seniors will get to take home a fish at the end

of the semester.

The Facts About CTE The facts are in! According to recent findings from the North Carolina Association for Career

and Technical Education, in 2014:

94.1% of North Carolina’s students graduated form high school when they completed a

4-credit CTE pathway (cluster) compared with 83.9% for all graduates statewide.

Over 526,263 students were enrolled in CTE classed in North Carolina.

Over 52,444 students participated in CTE Student Organizations.

Over 93% of CTE students showed a positive placement in further education and training,

military service, or work after high school.

Over 85% of North Carolina’s CTE students earned the North Carolina Career Readiness

Certificate (CRC) according to their WorkKeys assessment results.

In 2014, CTE students earned 115,005 industry-recognized credentials in varying areas from

Microsoft Office Specialist to Certified Nursing Assistant to Automotive Technology.

Thank you for the important part that you played in

making these facts, reality for CTE graduates of 2014

and Best Wishes to the Class of 2015!

We Want to Hear From You!

CTE Computer

Requirements

Staff, this is just a friendly reminder

that Windows updates must be done

weekly on all computers. Please:

-Log on as Administrator

-Thaw Deep Freeze if on applicable

-Click on start menu

-Click on all programs

-Select Windows Update

-Follow screen instructions (select

Express)

-Select install

-When installation is complete,

reboot your computer

-If using Deep Freeze, Freeze

computers

Save Money & Energy

Turn Monitors OFF

The county has asked that you

please take time to turn your

computer monitors off at the end of

each day and shut down your

computers each Friday at the end of

the work day. Teachers can get

students involved by having the last

class of the day to turn off the

monitors at their stations before

leaving the classroom. Your

assistance in this conservation

process is greatly appreciated.

Please let us know of any upcoming projects and

interesting classroom activities with which you and your

students are involved. We would love to include it in one

of the Career Tech Times issues. Call or e-mail Debbie

Sheppard or Kim Hayes.

Just the facts,

Ma’am!

Jack Webb—Source: bignoze.fr

Source: NC Association for Career & Tech Ed. Legislative Newsletter.

Issue 562, pg. 2

Professional Development

Classroom Management Techniques

The Biggest Mistake Teachers Make

“The absolutely biggest mistake that teachers

consistently make is this: they let students know that

the students have gotten to them emotionally, have

pushed their buttons. Students should never even

know that their teachers have buttons.”

-Todd Whitaker

Let’s face it, students are aggravating at times;

however, when you let students know that they have

“gotten to you emotionally”, they are now controlling

your emotions. As a teacher, you need to understand

that it is okay to let students know that you are

disappointed by their actions/behavior, and it is okay

to hold students accountable for their behavior. The

key is to hold them accountable in a “professional, not

emotional manner.”

Points To Ponder

1) If a flame is not fueled, it will soon burn out.

2) When a person loses his cool, losing your cool in

return will fuel his flame.

3) When a person loses his cool, NOT losing your cool

will cause his flame to eventually burn out.

4) While on the job, it is unprofessional to scream at

someone who is screaming at you, even if it is human

nature to want to scream back. Two screaming peo-

ple never solve any problems.

5) It is never productive or appropriate for you, a

professional, to lose control, no matter how out of

control a parent or student becomes.

6) As educators, you are sometimes confronted by

parents who have lost their composure. When this

happens they are looking to you to fuel their flame.

7) If you’re going to deal effectively with an out– of-

control person, you have to defuse her anger before

you can effectively address the cause of that anger.

Source: The Ten Minute Inservice by

Todd Whitaker & Annette Breaux

SUMMER CONFERNCE DATES AND INFORMATION

North Carolina’s 2015 Career and Technical Education Summer Conference will be

held July 12-16, 2015, at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons/Joseph S.

Koury Convention Center. Please check your e-mail for upcoming registration

information.

The Ike Kearney scholarship process is underway at your high school. Seniors who

are CTE completers may be contacting their CTE teachers to fill out reference

forms and CDCs may be contacting CTE teachers to serve on the scholarship

selection committee. Thank you for your cooperation in this process. As in the

past, Tammy Carhart would like to have your winner(s) information AT LEAST 2

WEEKS PRIOR TO YOUR SCHOOL’S AWARDS DAY IF NOT SOONER!

IKE KEARNEY SCHOLARSHIP PROCESS

As the semester begins to wind down and we begin to gear up for final exams,

please take a moment to remind your graduating seniors, to remember to fill out an

articulation application with DCCC if your course is one that gives articulated college

credit. Please see a CDC at your school for more information.

REMIND STUDENTS TO COMPLETE ARTICULATION APPLICATIONS

Upcoming Events

Career Tech Times Issue 02 May 2015

Career & Technical Education Dept.

Davidson County Schools

2065 East Holly Grove Road

Lexington, NC 27292

Phone: 336-242-5664

Website: http://tinyurl.com/q8cnhyf