Do We Dress for Success Anymore?

When was the last time you heard the term "dress for success?" When I graduated from college and was attending my first professional organization conference at the Missouri Association for Career & Technical Education (then MVA) meeting in Springfield, MO, I was consumed with becoming a professional educator. Being a brand-new teacher, I made sure to attend a workshop in the family and consumer sciences (then home economics) division on "dressing for success." No doubt the workshop presenters gave me great information as to why dressing professionally was important, but all I really had to do was to look around and see the many well dressed professionals surrounding me. One look at such professionals as Cathy Woolfolk, Peggy Emerson, or Judy Whitener let me know that if I wanted to be taken seriously in this professional organization, I needed to start by looking the part. That was back in the late 1980's. I wonder if new professionals today have those same thoughts?

In FCCLA and other student organizations, we often stress to students the importance of being appropriately dressed for events - whether this be a job interview, a leadership conference, or a STAR Events competition - knowing that the appropriate dress may be just the competitive edge these students need. We also realize that in many professions, the way an employee dresses can impact the amount of trust a customer has in a company, the sale of a product, or even advancement within a company. A unit on dress and personal appearance is standard in many family and consumer sciences classrooms.

Education and professional dress was brought to my attention as a new community for educators has developed - The Missouri Educators Ning. David Tibbles, one of the members of the Ning community, recently posted an article entitled "Dress for Success: Come looking like a slob...what?" I invite you to read the full article, but here is an introduction -

I believe teachers are professionals. All of us are educated; many of us have the official declaration of being the “Master” of our fields hanging on our walls. We strongly care about the fruits of our labor. We arrive to work on a daily basis, including Saturdays and Sundays, and we all know we sacrifice our personal time away from our families and homes, often without pay, for the sake of accomplishing our goals with the kids.

I don’t doubt we care about our work.

Why, then, do so many people not do everything in their power to act as a professional? This discussion can lead several different directions. However, I would like to focus on one simple behavior we all have direct control over. This behavior has a large positive impact on students, parents, other faculty, and administrators. This behavior is so simple to enact, one would hardly have to change a daily routine to enact. Frankly, this behavior I feel slightly irritated and ashamed is an issue to address: teachers dressing like professionals.

Mr. Tibbles, a high school teacher as well as a speech and debate coach, holds himself to the same standards he has for his students when it comes to professional dress at speech and debate tournaments. I'm sure many of you will have a similar perspective on professional dress for students who compete in FCCLA STAR Events.

Mr. Tibbles states that research shows students view teachers who dress professionally as more competent, caring, and trustworthy. Do you agree? What is the dress code for teachers at your school? What differences do you notice (if there are any) in classrooms where teachers dress more professionally on a regular basis? Do you notice any differences in your own classroom when you present a different image based on how you are dressed for the day?

I invite you to take a look at the Ning site and if interested, join. It's a great opportunity to network with other teachers from across the state. Join in the conversation on this topic, and others. I also invite you to post comments here, especially as they relate to the family and consumer sciences classroom and FCCLA leadership events.

Are You Headed to Grasp Greatness?

This coming weekend (November 13-14, 2009) FCCLA begins the fall Cluster Meeting series in Washington, DC. The following weekend (November 20-22, 2009) meetings are held in Louisville, KY and Salt Lake City, UT. Thousands of FCCLA members will be taking part in these exciting events!

Tell us where you're headed by participating in our poll (to the right of this post). Don't forget to tell us the great things happening by posting positive updates to our Missouri FCCLA Facebook page. Safe travels and have a great time!

Dairy Makes Sense $500 Grant

Who can resist a cute cow? Well, that and a chance to win a $500 grant for your project might just entice you to look at some resources that have been made available by the Midwest Dairy Council.

They have developed a curriculum which includes downloadable “Make Change” lesson plans, appropriate for any lessons focusing on health, family and consumer science, or general classroom discussion. The lesson plans and accompanying tools are located inside the “Educator’s Resource Center” at Dairy Makes Sense.

Here, you’ll find posters, a PowerPoint presentation, lesson plans and interactive “cow-culator” activity, hand-outs, charts, recipes, and nutrition guides, all available free of charge.

Educators can also apply for a $500 school grant from Midwest Dairy Council to help empower students to take action for their health and improve their school environment. Fifteen $500 grants will be distributed. The grants are only available to schools in the Midwest Dairy region, which includes Missouri (as well as IA, ND, SD, MN, IL, AR, KS, and eastern OK).

Projects that might be able to utilize these resources would fit well into national programs such as Student Body and Financial Fitness. Using these resources, FCCLA members might be able to develop a project for STAR Events such as Focus on Children or Illustrated Talk.

It's enough to make you moo. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist....)

Tips for Teens: Talking to Your Parents

During the 2009 Access FCCLA Conference, one of the national programs that attendees in the Chapters in Action session learned about is Families First. Families First is an FCCLA national peer education program through which youth gain a better understanding of how families work and learn skills to become strong family members. Its goals are to: help youth become strong family members and leaders for today and tomorrow and strengthen the family as the basic unit of society.

During the training, I asked our guest speaker to discuss communiciation between teens and their families. During the teen years, it's really easy for both teens and their parents to fall into some bad communication traps. Shana Stephenson, from Prevention Consultants, recommends this article for teens from the TeensHealth.org website.

In this article, you'll learn why it's important to talk about everyday stuff (and do it every day), how to discuss difficult topics with your parents (even if you don't want to), how to talk so your parents will listen (you have a role in that), and what to do if you've tried talking to your parents but it's just not working.

It's easy as a teen to complain about your parents - how they don't listen to or understand you (even though I'm not a teen I can remember those feelings) - but you don't have to be a part of the communication problem with your parents and adults in your life. Be part of the solution. These tips might not work for you all of the time, but give them a try.

If this is a topic that is of interest to you, consider using it as part of a Power of One project, making it into a chapter Families First project, or developing an Interpersonal Communications STAR Event.

Chapter Spotlight - Nevada Regional Tech Center

This post was submitted by Elizabeth Eberhard, State Executive Council Occupational Representative from Region 11

Greetings from the Nevada Regional Tech Center Occupational FCCLA Chapter! We are off to a great start here. I should explain that our chapter meets during class time. We have students that come from Butler, Bronaugh, ElDorado Springs, Hume, Walker, and Nevada. The NRTC chapter has both students from Culinary Arts and Early Childhood Careers. Our officers are elected from both classes. When we have meetings, there are two-one in the morning and one in the afternoon- so all students can attend.

In September, we had a culinary cook-off and formed both our FCCLA and ProStart Culinary Teams. Practices begin this month as we prepare for these competitive events. The Early Childhood Careers will be focusing on service projects that relate to children and other STAR Events.

Several chapter members attended the fall Access FCCLA Conference at the end of October. Emily, an attendee, had this to say about the conference, “Access FCCLA was a great opportunity to meet new people. Our guest speaker was definitely unique and funny and I learned a lot about FCCLA.”

We just opened our Service Edge Café. We are planning to set up collection jars at our Café window to kick off our Dig It Campaign. We are having a hamburger drive in December where all proceeds will go to the Children’s Miracle Network. The Early Childhood Class is selling lollipops. They have raised over $50.00 so far.

Some of the students in our chapter have come up with a dance to the Arrive Alive Buckle Up song. We all have been practicing it and we are planning on submitting a video. We are going to do the dance in our chef coats. We are very excited!

There is always something going on in our chapter and we hope that you enjoy FCCLA as much as we do!