CTE Month 2026 26 Ways to Explore Careers with Pathful

CTE Month 2026

Assessment & Integration Activities (30-45 minutes)

Interest Assessment Partners: Students take Pathful's interest assessment, then interview

classmates about their results, focusing on CTE-related matches. Create "career pathway maps"

showing how interests connect to specific technical careers.

Skills Portfolio Builder: Students develop digital portfolios highlighting CTE skills and interests

identified through Pathful. Include career research, skill assessments, and action plans for

acquiring needed certifications.

Career Path Mapping: Create detailed visual flowcharts showing education and certification

options within CTE fields. Include time requirements, costs, and potential salary increases with

each credential.

Technical Skills Gap Analysis: Students compare required technical skills from dream careers

with their current abilities. Create specific action plans for developing needed competencies,

including courses, certifications, and practice opportunities.

Experience Tracker Reflection: Students review and organize their logged CTSO activities, Work-

Based Learning experiences, and employability skills using the Experience Tracker. Students

identify patterns in their experiences and reflect on how these align with potential CTE pathways.

Problem-Based Learning Activities (35-45 minutes)

Industry Challenge Solutions: Present real workplace scenarios from job shadow videos or

industry-led projects*. Teams research and propose solutions considering industry regulations,

technical constraints, and best practices.

Future Skills Forecast: Analyze emerging CTE careers to identify future technical skill

requirements. Create presentations about how automation and new technologies might

change traditional technical roles.

Local Industry Connections: Research how different CTE careers impact the local community

and economy. Create impact maps showing how technical professionals contribute to various

sectors.

Culminating Activities (45-60 minutes)

CTE Career Fair: Students create interactive displays about different CTE pathways using Pathful

resources. Include salary data, required skills, and local job opportunities. Invite other classes to

explore the displays.

Innovation Challenge: Teams identify a traditional CTE career and propose how emerging

technologies might transform it by 2030. Create presentations incorporating research from

Pathful's emerging careers section.

Skills Showcase: Students demonstrate and teach basic technical skills learned from their

career research. Create hands-on stations where peers can try simple industry-related tasks.

**All activities can be modified based on class size, time constraints, and available CTE programs. Use Pathful

Explorer's built-in resources to minimize prep time while maximizing student engagement.

*Denotes features limited to Pathful and WBL module.