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09/18/2026

Day 20, Part 2 of 100 Days of Fashion Marketing Teaching

Your classroom does NOT have to be Pinterest-worthy on the first day. 🎓✨

I know the pressure.

You see those beautiful classrooms online and think:

“Wow… I want my students to walk in and say, ‘I LOVE it here!’”

And yes—there are things I loved having in my classroom:
✨ A career wall
✨ A college wall
✨ My DECA information and displays
✨ Areas that supported the learning environment

But here’s what I learned:

Your classroom doesn’t have to be finished on Day 1.

Sometimes you only have a day or two to get your room together.

Sometimes the room isn’t even ready for YOU.

I remember coming back for professional development one year and my entire wing was a mess. The floors had been worked on, my desk wasn’t even in my room, the computers weren’t set up, and I was wondering:

“What am I going to do when my students walk in?”

The answer?

We built the classroom together.

And honestly, that became something special.

When students have a role in creating their classroom environment, they begin to take ownership of the space.

Their activities become projects.

Their projects become displays.

Their work becomes the decoration.

And suddenly, the classroom starts to come alive.

You can have your rules.
You can have your procedures.
You can have an SEL space.
You can have your career and college information.

But you don’t have to have every wall perfectly decorated before the first bell rings.

Let your students help build the space they’re going to learn in.

Because sometimes the best classroom isn’t the one that looks perfect…

It’s the one students helped create.

💬 New teachers: What is one thing you want your students to help create in your classroom?

MarketingTeacher TeacherTips NewTeacher ClassroomSetup ProjectBasedLearning MarketingEducation MarketingEdVenture

09/18/2026

Day 20 — Part 1 | What I Wish I Had Done on My First Day of Teaching

If I could go back and talk to myself before my very first day of teaching, I’d say:

Walk into the room and get to know your students.

Don’t walk in thinking you have to immediately prove that you’re the teacher.

Don’t spend the entire first day talking at them.

Start with a conversation.

Tell them who you are.

Tell them your story.

Ask them about themselves.

Find out what they like.

Find out what interests them.

Build the relationship.

Yes, there are rules and procedures that need to be established. And every school environment is different.

But your students are going to learn a lot more from you once they know that you’re interested in them.

And here’s something else I wish I’d understood:

You don’t have to know everything.

Your industry experience gives you a foundation—but it doesn’t automatically teach you how to teach.

Students are going to ask questions you don’t know the answer to.

And that’s okay.

You can say:

> “I don’t know. Let me look into that and get back to you.”

That’s not weakness.

That’s modeling what professionals do.

💡 Today’s lesson: Your first day isn’t about proving how much you know. It’s about beginning to build the relationships that will make learning possible.

👇 New teachers: What are you planning to do on your first day to get to know your students?

And experienced teachers—what’s one thing you wish you’d known before your first day?

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09/12/2026

Day 19 — Part 2 | You Don’t Have to Have It All Figured Out

One of the biggest lessons I learned during my first year of teaching?

Learn to pivot.

You can have an idea, take it into the classroom, and realize...

”Yeah...this isn’t working.” 😂

And that’s okay.

You adjust.

You try something different.

You pay attention to what works—and what doesn’t.

Looking back, I realize that my first year wasn’t about becoming an expert teacher overnight.

Honestly?

My first THREE years were a learning experience.

Each year I learned something new about:

• Engaging students
• Managing my classroom
• Teaching dual credit
• Managing my Entrepreneurship Academy
• Working with administration
• Building my teaching methods
• Creating the type of program I wanted for my students

It took time to establish the foundation of how I wanted my classroom and program to operate.

And once that foundation was established, I could spend the years that followed **refining it, improving it, and adding new experiences for my students.**

So if you’re a new teacher and you’re feeling like you should have everything figured out...

You don’t.

Give yourself permission to learn.

Give yourself permission to change something that isn’t working.

Give yourself permission to pivot.

💡 The lesson: Being an expert in your subject does not make you an expert teacher.

Your first year is where you begin turning what you know into experiences that help your students **understand it, apply it, and remember it.**

👇 What surprised you most during your first year of teaching?

Share it in the comments. Your experience might be exactly what another new teacher needs to hear.

NewTeacher NewTeacherTips TeachingTips TeacherJourney MarketingTeacher CTETeacher FashionEducation MarketingEducation MarketingEdVenture

09/12/2026

Day 19 | The Biggest Surprise My First Year Teaching

I thought knowing my subject matter was enough.

I had the professional experience.
I knew fashion marketing.
I was excited to get into the classroom and share what I knew.

But I quickly learned:

Knowing something and teaching someone else to understand it are two very different things.

In corporate America, I was working with adults who already had foundational knowledge and could take information and run with it.

Now?

I was teaching teenagers.

And teenagers don’t all learn the same way.

I had to learn how to:

✨ Explain the same concept in different ways
✨ Build the foundation before adding more information
✨ Communicate at a level students could understand
✨ Recognize when my students weren’t following me
✨ Adjust when my perfect lesson didn’t go according to plan

Because here’s another thing I discovered:

A lesson can look PERFECT on paper and completely fall apart in the classroom.

😂

You can plan A → B → C...

And your students will take you somewhere you never expected.

And that’s okay.

I learned that teaching isn’t just about knowing your content.

It’s about knowing how to help someone else learn it.

💡 The lesson: Don’t measure your teaching by how good your lesson plan looks. Pay attention to what happens when your students actually experience it.

👇 New teachers, what’s been the biggest surprise you’ve discovered in the classroom?

And if you’re preparing to become a Fashion Marketing or CTE teacher, follow along for more lessons from my years in the classroom.

NewTeacher TeacherTips TeachingTips MarketingTeacher CTETeacher FashionEducation RealWorldLearning MarketingEducation MarketingEdVenture

09/10/2026

Day 14 | DECA Mistake #5: Stop Trying to Do It All Yourself

When you have students working on multiple DECA projects, you can quickly become the person who has to read, evaluate, correct, and give feedback on everything.

I eventually realized:

That wasn’t sustainable.

So I created a system.

For the first draft of their written project, I put together a folder containing:

📄 Project guidelines
📊 The DECA scorecard
📝 Their written project
📋 An evaluation sheet

Then I sent the folder home with the students.

Their assignment?

Get feedback from another adult.

It could be a teacher, a parent, or another adult they trusted to give them honest feedback.

I tried to have this process happen around Thanksgiving.

By then, their first draft needed to be completed.

They took their project home, received feedback, and brought it back after Thanksgiving break.

Then I reviewed the feedback, added my own feedback, and they used all of it to revise their project.

The result?

A much stronger final document ready for December submission and January competition.

And it helped tremendously.

But here’s the bigger lesson I learned after years of advising:

It’s not how you start. It’s how you pivot.

You may start the year thinking you have the perfect system.

Then you discover what isn’t working.

Change it.

Build a better process.

Delegate where you can.

Create systems that allow your students to take ownership of their work.

💡 Lesson learned: You don’t have to be the only person responsible for helping your students improve. Create opportunities for feedback, reflection, and collaboration.

👇 Experienced DECA advisors: What’s ONE piece of advice you’d give a new advisor?

And if you’re a new DECA/CTSO advisor, what’s one thing you want to know before competition season begins?

Drop it in the comments. Someone reading this may need exactly what you have learned.

CTE CareerTechEd MarketingTeacher DECACompetition CTSOs TeacherTips StudentLeadership ProjectBasedLearning MarketingEducation MarketingEdVenture

09/09/2026

Day 14 | DECA Mistake #4: I Had to Learn How to Manage ALL the Projects

Here’s the problem with having students compete in different DECA events:

You’re suddenly managing A LOT of different projects.

And honestly?

It can become overwhelming.

I had students working on different projects, different sections, different deliverables—and everyone was moving at a different pace.

Which meant I was constantly repeating myself.

“This group is working on this section.”

“That group is already on section three.”

“Wait… this group hasn’t started that part yet.”

😩 You get the picture.

So eventually, I created something that changed everything:

A project management timeline.

I looked at all of the DECA projects my students were working on and identified the concepts and deliverables that overlapped.

Then I created a timeline that allowed us to work cohesively.

Instead of teaching the same concept five different times to five different groups, I could teach it to everyone at the same time.

➡️ Teach the concept
➡️ Students work on that section
➡️ Check progress
➡️ Introduce the next concept
➡️ Students move to the next deliverable

Now I wasn’t managing chaos.

I was managing a system.

And this is one of the biggest lessons I learned as a DECA advisor:

💡 Your students can work on different projects without you having to manage every project separately.

You just need a system that creates a common timeline for the work.

👇 DECA advisors: How do you keep track of multiple students working on different projects?

And if you’re a new advisor, remember:

You don’t have to manage harder. You need to manage smarter.

CTE CareerTechEd MarketingTeacher DECACompetition ProjectManagement TeacherOrganization StudentProjects TeacherTips MarketingEducation MarketingEdVenture

09/08/2026

Day 16 | DECA Mistake #3: Stop Putting Every Student in the Same Competition

Here’s what I discovered after a few years of trial and error as a DECA advisor:

Not every student should compete the same way.

I discovered that my sophomores weren’t strong writers yet.

So instead of pushing them toward written projects, I had them focus on role-plays.

And eventually, I discovered something that worked particularly well for my sophomores:

Partner role-plays.

They had the opportunity to work with another student, prepare together, and perform as a team.

That worked much better for my students than having them compete individually.

Then I changed my strategy for my juniors and seniors.

They focused on written projects.

And we became strategic about partnerships.

I told my students:
🔹Don’t automatically choose your friend.
🔹Choose someone who is going to help you succeed.
🔹If you know your friend doesn’t want to work...
🔹If you know your friend isn’t going to contribute...
🔹If you know you don’t work well together...
That’s probably not your best partner.

🔹My students started changing their mindset.
🔹They weren’t choosing partners based on friendship.
They were choosing based on who would help them win.

And that strategy worked.

We became very competitive—and eventually, we were making it to Nationals every year.

💡 Lesson learned: Know your students. Pay attention to their strengths and weaknesses. Then build your DECA strategy around what gives your students the best opportunity to succeed.

👇 DECA advisors: How do you decide which events are the best fit for your students?
And if you’re a new advisor, don’t be afraid to experiment. Your strategy may evolve as you learn what works for your students.

09/08/2026

Day 15 | DECA Mistake #2: Don’t Let Students Pick Their Event Without a Plan

After that first year at DECA State, I knew something had to change.

I went back to my students and said:

“I don’t want to experience what we experienced last year.”

So we changed our approach.

Instead of everyone simply choosing whatever event they wanted, I created a process.

We looked at the different written projects and competition opportunities, and I started matching students with opportunities that aligned with their strengths.

And I learned something important about my students:
Written projects were a game changer.

Some of my students didn’t have the discipline to sit down and study for a role-play or a 100-question test.

But give them a project?

They could research.

They could create.

They could communicate with people in the community.

They could take what they were learning and build something around their own interests.

And perhaps most importantly...

They controlled the narrative.

They weren’t wondering what question would appear on a test or what situation they’d be given in a role-play.

They were able to decide what they wanted their project to communicate and how they wanted to demonstrate what they had learned.

So here’s my advice if you’re a new DECA advisor:

📌 Review the written projects with your students.

Have a DECA day where you walk through the different projects and explain what each one means.

Then have students:
• Choose a project
• Identify their partner
• Explain WHY they chose it
• Share their initial idea
• Submit it for your review

Then you can decide:

“Yes—move forward.”

“Maybe—let’s work on this.”
or
“No—let’s look at another option.”

Don’t just let students pick an event.

Create a selection process.

💡 Lesson learned: The goal isn’t to put every student into the same type of competition. It’s to help each student find an opportunity where they can demonstrate their strengths and what they’ve learned.

👇 New DECA advisors: Do you have a process for helping students choose their events?

Tell me what works for you—or if you’re still trying to figure it out

09/07/2026

Day 14 | DECA Mistake #1: I Let My Students Choose Their Competition

Let me tell you something...

I made the same mistake I believe many first-year DECA advisors make.

My first year teaching, I knew NOTHING about DECA.

Instead of taking the time to really understand the competition structure, I let my students tell me what they thought they needed to do.

One group wanted to do a community service project.

Everyone else chose role-plays.

So that’s what we did.

They prepared. We went to competition. And they actually made it to STATE.

But when the awards ceremony came...

Names were called.

And my students’ names weren’t.

I watched the disappointment on their faces—and I knew I didn’t want to experience that again.

So I went home and did something I should have done from the beginning:

I studied DECA.

I looked at the different competition areas and started figuring out which ones actually aligned with what I was teaching in my Fashion Marketing program.

That experience completely changed the way I approached DECA.

💡 The lesson: Don’t let your students’ knowledge of DECA become your DECA strategy.

If you’re a first-year advisor, take the time to understand the competition areas and then determine which opportunities make sense for YOUR students and YOUR program.

You don’t have to figure it out the way I did—by learning the hard way.

👇 DECA advisors: What is one thing you wish you had known your first year?

And if you’re a new DECA advisor, follow along because I’m sharing the mistakes I made so you don’t have to.

CTE CareerTechEd MarketingTeacher DECACompetition TeacherTips CareerEducation MarketingEducation MarketingEdVenture

09/05/2026

Day 13 — Part 2 | I Didn’t Just Build a Class. I Built a Student Experience.

One of the biggest changes I made to my Fashion Marketing program was creating a project-based environment with progression.

My students didn’t just move from one grade to the next.

They moved from one experience to the next.

My project management background helped me think about the program as a progression:

Freshman → Sophomore → Junior → Senior

And each year came with something new to look forward to.

🛍️ Sophomores looked forward to going to Market Hall and visiting malls for hands-on activities.

🎓 Juniors looked forward to entering the dual credit program, going to the college campus, getting a college ID, and taking college courses.

👗 Juniors also began looking forward to planning the fashion show.

✨ Seniors looked forward to producing the fashion show, completing advanced coursework, and even walking across the college graduation stage before receiving their high school diploma.

There was always something ahead.

And that expectation created excitement.

Students knew:

”Next year, I get to do THAT.”

That’s what I learned about creating a project-based environment.

Students remember experiences.

And when students have clear expectations for what they’re going to experience and accomplish, it creates excitement, accountability, and a sense of growth.

Your program doesn’t have to look exactly like mine.

But ask yourself:

👉 What can students look forward to next?

👉 How can each year build on the previous one?

👉 What experience can you create that makes students excited to move forward?

💡 The lesson: Don’t just plan your classes. Think about the student experience across the entire program.

👇 What’s ONE thing you could implement that would give your students something exciting to look forward to?

Tell me in the comments!

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