Date: June 13, 2008
More than 250 classroom teachers from 18 school districts spent this week (June 9-13) in Houston-area offices and job sites, during Teacher Externship Week 2008 – a collaboration between Houston A+ Challenge, Taking Education to Work and the Greater Houston Partnership.
This year’s sixth annual Externship Week more than doubled the number of 2007 Teacher Externs, and attracted participation from more than 70 businesses from across the Houston region.
The Externship pairs teachers with business professionals in their fields of study, in order to make students' learning more relevant to the workplace. After their Externship experience, teachers spend part of their summer developing lesson plans to share with their students, based on their firsthand experiences.
“Through the Externship program, teachers gain insights into the real-world skills their students need to graduate high school prepared for postsecondary education and the workplace,” said Scott Van Beck, Executive Director of the Houston A+ Challenge. “Teachers are exposed to a broad range of jobs in Houston’s leading industries – energy, aerospace, medial, construction, public service, fine arts and more – so that they can help students create a vision and a plan for a successful future."
For the second consecutive year, the Houston A+ Challenge Teacher Externship program was sponsored generously by Shell Oil Company, which this year hosted 15 teacher externs.
“Strong bonds between the classroom and workplace are vital in order to adequately prepare our students, our city and our nation for a sustainable energy future,” commented Frazier Wilson, Shell Social Investment Manager. “Through our years of participation in the Teacher Externship, teachers and business professionals are building bridges of understanding - between the public and our industry – while the greatest benefit falls on our students.”
Teachers gained exposure to the fields of energy, aerospace, construction, technology, legal, medical, nonprofit, the fine arts and more.
"This experience is going to help us write the curriculum for a new 'global innovations' unit next year," said Candy Core, an Aldine Ninth Grade Center teacher who is one of 26 teachers placed at seven aerospace industry companies. "I'm looking forward to the opportunities that it will open up for our students."
“There’s so much going on here, with science, with math and with history,” said Port of Houston extern Stephanie Cocce, an 8th grade science teacher from Patrick Henry Middle School. “I see so many options to integrate it into the classroom in a way that’s engaging for students.”
Teacher Externship Week 2008 began with a breakfast on Monday for teachers and their business sponsors. After the breakfast, teachers went to their host business to work through the morning of Friday, June 13. All teachers and their business hosts gathered again for a Friday luncheon to share lessons learned.
The Teacher Externship Program was started in 2003 by the Greater Houston Partnership and Houston A+ Challenge as part of an initiative to create a system of high schools in the metropolitan area that assure students a seamless transition into higher education and the workforce.
In the increasingly global, technology-based economy of the 21st Century, more than 40 percent of employers believe that high school graduates are unprepared overall for entry-level jobs, according to a recent survey by the Conference Board. In addition, 70 percent of employers surveyed rated high school graduates unprepared in the critical areas of writing, professionalism/work ethic and critical thinking/problem solving.
Contact:
Melissa Milios Davis
Houston A+ Challenge
713-658-1881
mmdavis@houstonaplus.org
###
About Houston A+ Challenge
Houston A+ Challenge is an independent nonprofit that has supported public school improvement and education leadership development in the Houston area since 1997. Houston A+ partners with local school districts to build professional networks and school leaders who create lasting improvements in classroom instruction and student achievement.
About Taking Education to Work
Taking Education to Work (TEW) is a coalition of business and education partners who have come together to improve the employability of Houston’s emerging workforce through increased exposure of students and educators to the workplace, and through broader inclusion of life and work skills in the curriculum. On the web at: www.takingeducationtowork.org.
About Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America's leading oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers. Shell, a leading oil and gas producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is a recognized pioneer in oil and gas exploration and production technology. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Shell Group, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, employing approximately 109,000 people and operating in more than 140 countries and territories.
About The Greater Houston Partnership
The Greater Houston Partnership, through its membership, represents the 10-county Houston region's business interests to promote the growth of high-paying jobs, international trade and capital investment. Partnership Members include representatives of small and mid-sized businesses and Fortune 500 companies. The Greater Houston Partnership's board of directors oversees corporations that directly account for one in every 12 of the Houston metropolitan area's more than 2.5 million jobs. These corporations also represent annual sales and receipts that, when combined, exceed $1.9 trillion.
|
