By the end of a student’s time as a Bulldog, they will have crossed paths with most of Garfield’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) faculty. While it’s easy to dismiss CTE as nothing more than a graduation requirement, most of these classes—and the seasoned teachers that run them—are packed with valuable information that can only be obtained through real-life experience.
Most CTE teachers at Garfield have spent time working in their respective fields, gaining insights and knowledge that can’t necessarily be taught through secondary education. “I think there’s a common thread among all CTE teachers that we’ve been in a workplace away from teaching, and we know what it means to succeed in our specific areas,” video teacher Jacques Pugh said. Pugh explained that his time as a professional broadcast journalist directly impacted the way he communicates with his students. “As an anchor reporter, when that light turns on, you better be ready. If you’re working in front of the camera, you’re influencing, writing, and shaping public opinion,” Pugh said. “You have to be excellent, and I try to bring that into the classroom.” Timothy Zimmerman, a combined MLA and journalism teacher at Garfield, explained that working in a fast-paced, professional environment teaches many useful communication skills, such as the ability to give helpful feedback and mediate conflict. Throughout the ten years he spent as a professional book editor, Zimmerman learned that deadlines and boundaries are just as important tools. “I had to manage ‘too much’ as an editor, but teaching is so many times more than that,” said Zimmerman.
It can be difficult for students looking to continue their education and/or career in a specific subject to find the necessary resources from their teachers. “A lot of times, teachers that didn’t have experience before they became a teacher…all they know of the workplace is school,” Zimmerman said. This is where the flexibility of Garfield’s CTE programs comes into play. Shalahna Rhodes, Garfield’s lead health sciences teacher, explained that each CTE program can adapt to student’s needs. As the Intro to Med class is only a recent addition to Garfield’s course offerings, many changes have been made on the fly. “When it initially started, it was more current things that you would go through at orientation in a hospital setting,” Rhodes said. “Now we’re implementing more hands-on activities in that class, sharing stories and having them learn things like how to give an injection.” With years of experience working as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, Rhodes knows a thing or two about communicating with all kinds of people, giving her a unique outlook on teaching. “Just doing things in the community, the interactions that I had with patients… it always circled around me having to teach.”
The professional world is competitive, and it takes a lot more than it does in high school to “make the grade”. CTE teachers with specialized job experience truly understand that it takes their own continued learning and growth to be successful both in the workplace and in the classroom. “As a teacher, there is no skill ceiling,” said Zimmerman. “I can always get better at so many different things.”
