By Susan Reese

Connecting education and careers through professional development experiences can benefit academic teachers as well as career tech teachers.

Have you ever found yourself explaining to a math, science or English teacher the relationship between what they do and what you do? Making the connection between education and workplace skills may work best when everyone understands and respects the roles of the others on the team who are, after all, working toward the same goal—the best possible preparation for their students.

At the Upper Rio Grande College Tech-Prep Youth Consortium in El Paso, Texas, there is a professional development program that helps the academic teachers see that connection between learning and earning. A 40-hour externship program offers middle or high school math, science and English teachers the opportunity to spend a week paired with an industry representative in order to make connections between academic learning and the experience of a real-world workplace.

Director James Valdez notes that their CTE teachers stay more connected with industry because they all have advisory committees that keep them abreast of new developments; therefore, their CTE teachers participate in shorter activities such as job shadowing. However, sometimes a CTE teacher may need a more in-depth experience because he or she has been asked to take on a new class or a new focus, and that need is respected and accommodated.

For the most part, however, Valdez says the emphasis has been on the need to “convert the academic teachers.” The academic teachers need to see what is being demanded in the workplace for which they are training their students. It is important to help these teachers “feel the world of work,” as he puts it.

“We call it an educator externship because it is also important to get administrators out there,” explains Valdez.

So the program is available to principals, assistant principals, counselors and office administrators. Administrators who are on a year-round contract don’t get the stipend provided to the teachers, unless they attend during their time off. Although, as Valdez points out, it is clear that the small stipend is not the motivation for these educators.

“It’s their desire to get out there and get more information,” he says.

Connections for the Teachers

 The Upper Rio Grande College Tech-Prep Youth Consortium partners with the Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce on the externship program, which is available during the spring or summer breaks or school intercession. A stipend of $360 is provided to each teacher. The teachers also receive an extensive package of materials that includes the following:

• pre-externship meeting agenda
• tips for making the experience a success
• an educator externship journal
• lesson plan forms
• academic standards for math, science and English
• an educator externship evaluation form
• the U.S. Department  of Labor’s Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) blueprint
• a thank-you reminder

Teachers are advised to meet with the business representatives before the externships in order to establish the work week and schedule, and to determine the expectation of duties as they relate to the teachers’ academic objectives. The agenda includes job responsibilities, business rules, dress code, educator requirements and company requirements.

The educator externship journal is described in the package as a “learning journal” that is provided for the teacher to reflect on the externship experience. The teacher can record background information on the company and describe the occupations observed, including the daily routines involved as well as the education required. Space is provided for describing SCANS required on the job.

The journal also asks the question, “What work competencies and/or abilities did you observe that you could connect to your teaching?”

The journal further asks the teacher to describe the working conditions and the characteristics of a person good at the job. Space is also allowed for employee information and perceptions such as what school subjects the employee feels would be “most helpful to prepare for this position.”

Connections for the Students

 As part of the teacher externship program, teachers are required to submit three lesson plans that incorporate information from the externship experience into making school-to-career connections. The tech-prep consortium intends this activity to introduce the science, math and English teachers to the effectiveness of contextual learning—something already well known to most career tech teachers.

After completing the weeklong experience and developing lesson plans “that provide relevant, real-world connections for students,” the teachers earn a Continuing Professional Education certificate for 40 hours.

Teachers who participate in the program are reminded to send thank-you notes to the business representatives, since the participating companies donate the time of one or more of their employees as part of the experience. In inviting the businesses to participate, the tech-prep consortium notes that the program is designed to bring business and education together for the benefit of students and employers.

“These companies are very receptive,” notes Valdez, who adds that whenever they call a company about the program, they rarely get no for an answer. “The companies get an extra set of hands, but it is also their way of giving back to the education community,” he explains.

But the biggest proponents of the program, according to Valdez, have been the teachers who have gone through it. They tend to be the younger teachers—those who have been teaching less than 15 years and want to expand their teaching repertoire. By spending time in the world of work, these teachers can gain new understanding and new respect for career education. They can make the connection between the academics they teach, the skills taught by career and technical educators, and the workplace for which all of the teachers are preparing their students. As a result, this is one professional development experience that benefits the academic teachers and the career tech teachers as well as their students. 

Susan Reese is a Techniques contributing editor. She can be reached at susan@printmanagementinc.com.

For more information about the Upper Rio Grande College Tech-Prep Youth Consortium, visit www.careersprep.com.