Techniques Feb 2013 - 15

Q and A

problem solvers and able to express their
ideas. And so I challenge them to do that
in class, and I let their parents know this
is what we do. My class is more than just
agriculture. It is more than just CTE. It
is life.
JP: What is the key takeaway that
some of your students learn once
they graduate from your program
that they will definitely use in their
careers?
RM: I look at my middle school
students who have gone on to high school
and graduated, and I still stay in touch
with those students. And I think the key
takeaway is that no matter what career
you enter, if you are participating in a
CTSO, the life skills you gain from that,
the marketable job skills, those are the
things that are going to take you far.
JP: What would be one specific
concern about education
or CTE that could potentially keep
you up at night?
RM: I actually hate to admit that I
stay up at night thinking about my job,
but I do! My biggest concern is the fact
that as career and technical educators, we
know that we are integrating languagearts skills, mathematics skills, and science
skills. We know that our students go on
to success, they go on to colleges. But
that key message of how CTE courses
apply academics and that CTE students
go on to college is not communicated as
efficiently and as effectively as we could
to other educators in other areas, to the
community and to our policymakers at
large. And I think the biggest thing that
keeps me up at night is wondering how
we can communicate the benefits of CTE
and the fact that we are helping students
succeed with academics.
JP: On a lighter note, share a
technology tool you can’t live
without.
RM: It’s really hard to pick just one,
but if I had to pick just one right now it
would be Twitter. Twitter for me is a tool
where I stay in touch with my students
www.acteonline.org

and I communicate news in agricultural
education to them. I stay in touch with
my colleagues in the field, not just career
and technical educators, but I’m in touch
with other educators in other countries
like Australia and Great Britain, getting ideas for what they’re doing. So as a
professional-development tool for me as a
teacher, Twitter is a key piece of technology. I’m an avid Tweeter. You can tweet
me at @rmclean.
JP: I represent the CISCO
Networking Academy in the south
region of the U.S. The CISCO
Networking Academy has over
one million active students in 165
countries. Being CISCO, I have to
ask, for you specifically, what role
does the CISCO Network play in
teaching?

RM: To me the network keeps me
connected to my students. And I’ll use the
night I won my award as an example. I
was at the conference and, obviously, not
in my classroom. I posted things on our
class website for my students to know, and
my students emailed me and asked me
questions while l was away. So even when
I wasn’t physically present, the network
helped me be there engaging with my
students, fielding their questions and
continuing to be present in their learning
experience.

The ACTE National
Excellence Awards
Program is a great
opportunity to enhance your career!
Learn more at www.acteonline.
org/awards.

February 2013  Techniques  
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Techniques Feb 2013

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