Three teachers chosen for work program
By From staff reports
Published in News on July 6, 2016 1:46 PM
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Three teachers from Wayne County Public Schools are among 51 educators statewide participating in the North Carolina Business Communities for Education, or NCBCE, 2016 Teachers@Work program.
They will spend one week during the summer monitoring a local company, gaining exposure to the different aspects of the business or industry.
Mount Olive Middle School technology education teacher Chantel Moore and fifth-grade science teacher Shaconda Ford will be partnered with Duke Progress Energy. Southern Wayne High School business teacher, Caitlin Foss, will be paired with SPX Flow in Goldsboro.
The workforce development program is designed to help bridge the gap between education and business and industry, said Beverly Boltinhouse, WCPS career and technical education associate director.
"All of our schools are working to equip students with the necessary tools to be successful academically and professionally after graduation," she said. "Through this experience, these three teachers will become a resource to their schools and the district by helping identify employable workforce skills at local industries that can be transferred to a classroom environment."
Teachers@Work(r) is a joint initiative between NCBCE, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, STEM East and the North Carolina Community College System.
"Teachers know the hard skills to teach their students, but they also need to see firsthand how those skills are being used in their local businesses," said Sue Breckenridge, executive director of the NCBCE. "This will help them make more relevant connections for their students so that learning is about real-world applications and not abstract ideas."
At the end of the on-site program, the teachers will create a lesson plan that showcases both hard and soft skills needed by future employees that are specific to their partnering business or industry. In the coming school year, lesson plans from the 51 Teachers@Work(r) participants will be shared and made accessible to all WCPS teachers.
Students of the three WCPS teachers will also have an opportunity to participate in a job shadowing or job mentoring program with SPX Flow and Duke Progress Energy next spring.