Helping Teachers

Decision-making scenarios work best when they require realistic decisions and avoid preaching. Let’s look at some examples.

Not a real on-the-job decision

Carla, a sales person, is meeting with Amit, a new customer. She shows him a megawidget.

“You’ll love this megawidget,” Carla says.

“I don’t want a megawidget,” Amit says. “I came in here for a microwidget.”

What is this an example of?

1. Product Boundary Issues
2. Customer Misvetting
3. Courageous Upselling

What’s wrong with this scenario?

We’re not asking the learner to make a challenging decision like the ones they make on the job. We’re checking the learner’s short-term memory: Can they still recognize “Customer Misvetting,” which we defined three screens ago?

We’ve disguised a quiz question as a scenario. It’s better than a generic quiz question, but it doesn’t require the kind of thinking that learners need to do on the job.

Also, the question tests only whether the learner can apply the right label to a problem. It doesn’t test whether the learner

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Victor Cristales/Reporter-News Miku Takamatsu, a truck driving student at Action Career Training, conducts a pre-trip inspection.

Ever try to put a square peg into a round hole?

That’s right, it just doesn’t fit.

Some educational experts are saying the same thing about how many high school graduates in the United States are pushed toward attending four-year colleges and universities, when instead a high percentage of those students would be better off learning a trade or job skill.

Dixon Bailey, vice president of marketing and corporate relations at Texas State Technical College of West Texas, said changing how we look at education is TSTC’s vision of the future.

“In the future, most jobs in the United States won’t require a college degree,” Bailey said. “We have to change the culture of how we look at education.”

Bailey explained that in the coming decade, many employers will be looking for employees with certified training in their area of expertise.

The need for a liberal arts-based education will have less value in much of the marketplace.

“There will always be a need for higher education,” Bailey said.

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Being multilingual can certainly help you in the short-term–whether traveling abroad, working internationally, or meetings people from different backgrounds.  But did you know that there are long-term benefits as well?  A new study shows that it can help delay the onset of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease by years.  Start building your cognitive reserves with Transparent Language!

Because what’s happened in Providence, Rhode Island is so outlandish, it could seem like a joke that the city government would issue would issue pink slips to every teacher in the district. Of course it’s no joke, but a painful reality when it was announced several days ago that every 1,926 of the district’s teachers would get notice of termination. If anybody in the education world in Providence is laughing, it’s nothing but gallows humor.

And why would a city lay off all of its teachers? Like so many American school districts in crisis, Providence’s district is facing staggering deficits; theirs to the tune of $40 million. (Other cities considering similar “You’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me” maneuvers include Detroit, where they may shut down half the schools, leaving some classes with as many as 60 students.)

In Providence, teachers must be informed by March 1 if they’ll be laid off. So in the likelihood city officials will have to do severe layoffs when they decide on what budget cuts to make in several months, they terminated them all. Providence Superi

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It doesn’t have anything to do with knee socks, tights, or ankle socks. It doesn’t involve shoes. And, it doesn’t involve any dress code at all. Curious? SOC stands for System of Creation  and is part of the Culinary Arts curriculum .  Students have the opportunity to look at a type of cuisine creatively and create a dish they have dreamed up.  SOC  day  is  devoted to letting students creativity flow and executing their culinary expression. Yesterday in Culinary Arts, students put their best socks on for SOC Day and prepared an assortment of canapés. At the end of class, the spread was beautiful and delicious and highlighted each student’s creativity in the kitchen.