Michael Cooper

Safety is the primary concern for many educators, students and family and should be taken very seriously. Continously reminding of rules and posting of safety rules in the lab environment are key.

Active learning strategies can greatly increase the amount of knowledge retention in students. In my classes, I can't get away from lecturing completely, but I can reduce the amount of lecturing to essential information and then have a collaborative environment where the students are able to actively be involved in creating a learning environment. 

The affective domain is, for me, the most difficult to come to terms with. I believe that trial and error methods are probably most effective in creating a good understand and practical application of the affective domain. Understanding a students character and comfort level (and what makes them comfortable) is good to understand. 

I found the idea of a curriculum map extremely helpful when trying to get an overview of all the content I would like to cover for a semester. Another advantage is that if it is well done, it can be translated into a Syllabus very easily, thereby commuicating the course's content and expectations clearly to the the students. 

After reading about the importance of industry certifications in CTE programs, I will look into be able to offer these opportunities to my students in the coming years. 

Aligning my curriculum to facilitate employable skills is a MUST in education today.

Rule and policies should be clearly posted. Students will ingnore/forget them anyway, but at a minimum, they know what they are. 

All students need to respect from the teacher and vice versa. Students with trauma will react more positively to a teacher that understands them and their experiences. 

Stay engaged with your community of advisors, adminstrators, colleagues and other CTE teachers. 

I learned that it is particularly important to set clear guidelines that dictate the relationship I have with my students and the parents of my students. Coming from a small town and school, I know most parents of my students on a personal basis. Many times I have known the parents since before any of us had kids. Now the relationship has to change when I am teaching their kids. Sometimes it is better, sometimes you almost need to stop being friends in order to maintain the proper amount of professional relationship in school.