Journal of K-12 Educational Research 79 Observations Regarding not having received observations as part of their certification program, participant T6 explained that being able to watch other teachers in action would have helped them understand the difference between their previous experience and teaching prior to entering their classroom. Participant T6 said: I think being able to observe other teachers and being able to see the difference between them was most helpful. I got to see that when I did the mirroring after the certification process. At that time, I thought, ‘You know, this would have been super helpful to just see the difference.’ Lesson Planning The desire for more time and training on the core education concept of lesson planning surfaced as an additional theme among teacher participants. Some participants felt that when it was time to create their lesson plans, they were at a loss. As participant T3 stated, “My principal didn’t require lesson plans, so I really didn’t start doing lesson planning until this year with our new principal, and I didn’t know how.” In addition to knowing how to do lesson planning, time to get lesson plans done properly for specific classes was also mentioned. “Writing the lesson plan is one thing,” said participant T2. “But transitioning it to how it actually plays out in the classroom was difficult.” Classroom Management The teachers who transitioned into education from a professional career found that even when they did receive classroom management training, it was unclear how to apply the techniques to a real-world setting. For example, participant T4 said, “Understanding discipline is one thing … but transitioning it to how it actually plays out in the actual classroom was difficult.” Participant T8 added that had they been able to observe classroom management in practice through observations, the instruction on the topic may have been more helpful. “Classroom management sounds great, but it doesn’t really work well in the classroom … so [seeing how students’] play off one another is really beneficial in order to actually use classroom management skills,” participant T8 said. Supervisors Current supervisors of alternatively certified career and technology teachers stated that the alternatively certified teacher candidate had the best content knowledge and therefore were appropriate choices for these specialized teaching positions. These supervisors were thankful to have such content masters teaching unique courses. Supervisors appreciate the unique skill sets and various course offerings that can be offered to students thanks to career and technology professionals. Supervisor participants outlined that overall, hiring alternatively certified teachers who come with a high level of content mastery from their professional career is an asset in the classroom and to students pursuing career and technology education. Participant S3 explained their perspective on hiring candidates with industry experience, and why they view these professionals as a preferred candidate from a supervisory standpoint: When I am looking for staff for my campus, and a lot of my stuff is trade and industry-based, I want people with that experience. I do not want to hire somebody that necessarily went to school to be a teacher to teach a generalist class. I want somebody that has been out in the industry, that can relate to the kids, and form those relationships, and then effectively run their classroom and their programs. The findings also indicated that supervisors preferred teaching candidates with mastery of their content regardless of their teaching background. Supervisor S2 said that in their experience, transitioning a trade professional into a teaching position that focuses on the same subject matter is effective. S2 participant explained, “We are not trying to take an engineer and make them a math teacher. I am trying to take an engineer and make them an engineer teacher. So that approach has worked great.” Supervisor participants highlighted teacher observations as an important pedagogy practice many alternatively certified teachers did not demonstrate in the classroom. Teacher participant data lead to the researcher noting a similar theme. Participant S6 explained their perception of this concept. “Since the alternatively certified career and technology teacher does not receive a student teaching
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