Melissa Anne Konkol

The best career advice I ever received was that an F is an F. Let me explain - you can have a kid fail your class, but if they fail the first 9 weeks with, let's say, a 24, there is no way that kid will ever get credit for that semester because mathematically, they can never pass your class with a grade from second 9 weeks. So if I put in a 59F for that student, they still haven't passed the class, but now they have the opportunity to go in and get a passing grade for the semester and earn credit for that class. So they still have a chance. You're not cutting them off at the knees, because if you cut a kid off first 9 weeks, why should they work for you at all second nine weeks if they're not going to get anything out of it? You gotta be able to allow the kid to get out of the hole that they dug themselves into. Otherwise, you just shot yourself in the foot - you're gonna have a child that doesn't want to work for you because there's no reason to, there's no incentive, and more than likely, then they're going to be a problem in your classroom and not let other people earn their credit.

I would say find your passion. Figure out what it is that works for you. Everyone has a different skill set. College is not for everyone. Find their niche that's gonna work for them and is going to lead them to a meaningful career. I fell into teaching, but I tell all my students, you gotta figure out what's gonna work for you and your skill set, because we all have different skill sets. Then find your path - how are you going to get there? If you want to be a doctor, that's great. How are we going to get there? What's our path? My advice would be figure out what your passion is, and then find your path on how you're gonna get there. And you gotta break it up into pieces so you don't get overwhelmed. What's my first step? And then just concentrate on the first step. As long as you're on that path, you're gonna get there.

I would say the state legislature is the biggest obstacle to teaching, and that's really sad to say. I also see an obstacle being, at least for a career technical education teacher, finding resources. The courses are gone, and it's very difficult to find them. New teachers need to be able to connect with other CTE teachers, especially in their specific field, just to network and to bounce ideas - you know, what do you do when this happens? You need that network, you need to be able to know that, hey, I can email Mary if I've got a problem with Photoshop, or maybe Johnny has a better idea on how to do a layout. I think with CTE classes going away from the college level, simply because they don't want to offer them or they don't have enough interest in offering them, you gotta find that network for your area. And new teachers just don't realize that there are professional organizations that can help you with that. But either they don't know about it, or they're not joining. They don't realize that that professional organization is going to help them professionally because they offer professional development during the summer. A new teacher's gotta know that they exist. They need mentors. Business teachers, unfortunately, are becoming a dying breed. The experienced ones are retiring, and the new ones don't know that they need to join their professional organization. They don't know that they've got to keep up with professional development. This generation just doesn't understand that these resources are out there, but they have to reach out, too. We truly need mentors, if not in their school, in their district, to help them out and make sure that they don't get lost.

Ethics is really big, following the rules, making sure that we do what we say we're going to do, and following through. If I tell a customer I'm gonna have that sign for you tomorrow, I'm gonna have that sign for him tomorrow, and it doesn't matter if I have to stay late to get it done. Setting that example for students is important. The biggest problem we have in the classroom right now are these blasted cell phones and earbuds. Right now, it's against state law for them to have them out, which I thought was great, except it's not enforced. But when I see a kid with a cell phone, I'm looking at him and I'm like, is my cell phone out? Am I on the phone? Because I'm over there setting that example that I want them to follow. The phone doesn't come out. I think it's important - I'm not getting on a kid for having a cell phone out and then I'm on it. I've seen other teachers do that. I mean, that's very hypocritical. So I'm not gonna do that to a kid. At the end of the day, I'm not gonna say I've never said I have my degree, because I have, but it's not because the phone is out. It's not because I'm doing something that's not within my job. I'm trying to give them an example that I want them to follow. I want them to be model employees when they get out into the workforce. It's not do as I say, not as I do. I just don't think you can do that with students and earn their respect.