CTSO’s In Your Classroom Vella Coffman, Business Teacher & FBLA Adviser River Valley High School Yuba City, CA

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

What does CTSO stand for? Career Technical Student Organizations

What is the difference between a club and an organization? Both clubs and organizations have a designated purpose. Clubs are associated only with the school, even though there may be similar clubs on others campuses. Organizations have State and National levels they are affiliated with. Most organizations are broken into local chapters.

California Accepts 6 out of the 10 CTSO’s FFA Agriculture FBLA Business SkillsUSA Technical, skilled, service & health occupations HOSA Healthcare DECA Marketing, finance, hospitality, and management FHA-Hero Home Economics Careers. Affiliated with FCCLA (Family, Careers and Community Leaders of America) All hyperlinks are to the California web sites; NOT the National sites!

Purpose of CTSOs CTSOs provide relevant, engaging programs that CTSOs engage the community and local businesses to help students understand global competition and chart effective and efficient pathways through high school and postsecondary education for their personal success. improve student achievement, reduce dropout rates and help students discover the wide range of career options available.

Purpose Continued CTSO programs, such as industry based competitive events and community service, provide students with the opportunity to develop 21st Century Skills focused on creativity, problem solving, teamwork and goal setting. CTSOs bring relevance to the classroom and prepare students to be college and career ready. CTSOs are essential to receiving grants such as the Carl D Perkins Grant. (New Mexico CTSO Report)

Incorporating Into the Curriculum Make it an assignment Not sure which CTSO? Find a CTSO that fits this class Give students a list of the 6 CTSOs accepted by California. Research and find the one the best one that will meet the needs of this class. Write up a brief explaining why it is the best choice for our class. * Be sure to back up your explanation with facts and site your information! Put it to a student vote – UNLESS you want to decide yourself! Students are to present their choice for a CTSO. PowerPoint presentation? Groups or as individuals?

Find the web page listing the competitions for your CTSO? Send me the web address In the email list the information found on the page Decide on 2 competitions you are interested in. Write a 5 paragraph essay. Be sure to include the following information: Why these 2 competitions are interesting to you Links to each competition What you could do to prepare for the competition Who you could get help from to prepare for the competition

More Assignment Topics Find 2 mentors for one of your competitions Get permission from the mentor to pass their contact information on to your adviser. Find the yearly goals the local chapters are to strive to complete during the year for your chosen CTSO. Some organizations call it the Program of Work (POW) Email me the link to the web page Use the POW (or whatever it is called) to make assignments from FBLA POW & SkillsUSA POW have categories with different mandatory goals and optional goals chapters to choose from that they need to complete for the year.

Come up with ideas for: Service Projects for the school, community, nation, or world. Fundraising Guest speakers & contact information Topics for guest speakers Fun activities could do as a chapter Who would they invite to join Descriptions of officer positions 2 officer positions they would like to apply for List of committees chapter would need Why need the committees Which committee chair position would they like & why Etc.

Assignments part of what you are already doing: just a change in the topic! Example: teaching how to format a memo or letter. Have them type up a memo based on the topic of the assignment and follow the formatting guidelines. Grade on both the formatting and the content.