Jan Kennerknecht, M.Ed.

Jan earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Home Economics Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), always planning to teach. After working as a preschool teacher for several years, she was hired by IUP’s Center for Vocational Personnel Preparation to work as a field resource person (FRP). Jan’s responsibilities included working with approximately 20 beginning teachers in CTE schools in the central ‘territory’ of IUP’s western Pennsylvania service area.

 

As a field resource person for IUP, Jan assisted new teachers as they worked through their vocational teacher certification program. Teachers worked through six modules per semester, each focused on one key teaching skill. Examples of these modules include “Demonstrate a Manipulative Skill,” “Develop a Lesson Plan,” and “Introduce a Lesson.”

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In 1990, Jan left the “Center” and developed and taught a new Child Care Services program at Crawford County CTC, then moved on in 1994 to initiate and teach the Child Care Services program at Erie County Technical School, all the while maintaining ties with IUP’s Center as a School Resource Person and Learning Lab Instructor, assisting teachers from five CTE schools. After 10 years of teaching, Jan moved into an administrative position as a Supervisor of Instructional Support Services. Her role was to assist CTE teachers with curriculum development and represent the teacher at Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings at 11 participating school districts.

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Retiring in 2016, Jan began Kennerknecht Consulting, pursuing her passion for CTE by providing curriculum workshop services for IUP’s Center, DACUM workshops for Ohio State University (OSU) in both Ohio and Toronto, Canada, and curriculum development and modified DACUM workshops at several CTC schools in northwest Pennsylvania. Jan holds vocational director, supervisor, and curriculum certification as well as Level III DACUM facilitator trainer certification from OSU.

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A strong grasp of CTE principles and practices based on extensive education, coupled with nearly 70 years of experience teaching, supervising, and directing in CTCs, created a well-informed point of view in the authors’ philosophy, perspective, and practices. Their work allowed them to develop and see best practice examples of curriculum documents that are shared with CTCs both state-wide and nationally.