CTE Teacher Spotlight – Brenda S. Kirkland
Caroline Cox
Associate Product Marketing Manager • Career and Technical Education • National Geographic Learning | Cengage
The Career and Technical Education (CTE) Career Journeys series is aimed to shed light on current career trends as they align to student career clusters. In this series installation, we have interviewed Aimee Steele, Assistance General Counsel in the law, public safety, corrections and security career cluster. Aimee shares with us the career journey that lead her to her current role with Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District. Aimee dives into what motivated her to pursue this career, milestones that lead to where she’s at today, how she stands out in her field and advice for others looking to pursue this career. This series also offers career outlook data collected from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Educator Introduction
Name: Mrs. Brenda S. Kirkland, NBCT
Title: Business Technology Teacher
Courses: Digital Design and Digital Information Technology, FBLA Adviser/Director/Board Representative
School District/State: Fleming Island High School, Clay County, Florida
Question and Answer with Brenda S. Kirkland
Q: What does CTE Month mean to you?
A: CTE month is an opportunity to show a spotlight on programs that impact everyone! Whether you have an interest in Business, Culinary, Woodshop, Engineering, Photography, Childcare, Hospitality or others not listed. CTE reaches the individual student and helps them ignite their personal passion for a future career. Whether they chose to pursue a four-year college degree for their subject or attend a technical college; helping them see the connection with real hands-on experiences makes the difference in so many lives. It is my goal as a teacher to help my students see the many possibilities available to them outside of what they may see in the mainstream and help them achieve their personal goals.
Q: How do you celebrate CTE Month with your students?
A: In a way, I believe CTE Month is celebrated all year in my classroom as I strive to keep the material relevant, and meaningful with real world applications as they learn so their experience can be applied in any field they choose to pursue. My students are encouraged to become involved in a CTE student organization from the beginning of the year, and FBLA is one that is incorporated with various projects throughout the year for my classes.
During the month, CTE is celebrated by inviting a guest speaker to my classroom to give them updated and relevant information from different careers, and by attending the SOAR STEM and Trade Careers Symposium field trip with our business and FBLA students. This is sponsored by the NDIA First Coast Chapter to give students additional networking opportunities for their future with guest speakers, breakout sessions, scholarship opportunities and more! In addition, there are activities we incorporate with our local FBLA chapter as FBLA Week is the second week of this month. Members sell Valentine grams to support the March of Dimes, create small tokens of appreciation to give out to all faculty and staff, and then we incorporate a little fun with FBLA day, where members wear their shirts and meet us at a local business for a smoothie or ice cream.
Q: How does your school, district, or community celebrate CTE Month?
A: Our district helps celebrate by pushing out social media information, giving shoutouts for students and spotlighting teachers in the CTE field. Our school helps focus on CTE by setting up visits to our Junior High schools with students in each CTE area, with display boards and flyers so that they can meet the students, answer questions, and encourage them to sign up for a CTE program.
Q: In what ways do you promote CTE awareness and encourage students to explore career pathways through Career and Technical Education?
A: I promote CTE awareness through what I teach all year. The curriculum, projects, guest speakers, and the co-curricular organization, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), brings it to the forefront and makes the connection. I share prior student experiences on how I was able to help them prepare for their first job interview, to actually landing their first job for some through the networking provided in and out of the classroom. There are former students who reach out and share how what they learned in our program helped them be prepared for what they are doing now for a career. I encourage students to continue to grow as they become involved in FBLA or other CTSO organizations and show the connection to the other pathways. It is great to see students as they become active members in FBLA, develop their leadership skills and find their path to follow. Teaching students in my CTE Business program is my calling and one that I take great pride in every day in the classroom.
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