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Teachers apply lessons to the workplace in externships.People talk about the ability to solve problems as a vitally important skill for school and career success. But how do teachers learn to teach that kind of creative thinking, especially when demands for test performance are an increasing part of the education agenda?
Two Blackstone Valley teachers have found a way to bring real-world problems into their classrooms this year through participating in an "externship" arranged by the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation. An externship places a teacher for up to three days in a work place. Employers have the opportunity to influence what's being taught in the schools as well as benefit from some additional help. Teachers learn first-hand about the skills used in the workplace and what issues employers face. They bring back to the classroom a better understanding about how to prepare their students for future success, ideas for project-based learning, and new connections with members of the business community. Ed LaChapelle teaches computer science at Douglas High School. He spent three days this summer as an extern with Whitinsville-based Web development company Hit Catcher, Inc. Although LaChapelle previously worked in information technology before becoming a teacher, he was amazed at how much had changed in the industry. LaChapelle arrived at the Hit Catcher offices dressed in business-casual attire, a reasonable assumption for a professional position, and laughed as he described how he was overdressed. The young team of techno-wizzes works in the casual mode of blue jeans. "When you're relaxed, you can do well at what you're working on," he said. Hit Catcher president Jay Johnson and the rest of the development team worked with LaChapelle on how they approach a client project. The challenge for them is to find the most efficient and cost-effective way to solve a client's problem. Complex engineered solutions might appeal to the theorists, but time is money for clients. "Efficiency in this business is huge," said Johnson. "If you build something once, use it again." Johnson added that "advanced Googling", the ability to use a search engine well, is a critical skill to finding solutions and applications. "Unless you're at MIT, the problem [you're facing] has already been solved." LaChapelle's number one question for the Hit Catcher team was what he could teach his students to help them be successful. The answer: the ability to write a professional e-mail. LaChapelle is applying this lesson by issuing his requests to students in e-mail and asking them to respond, professionally, in kind. LaChapelle is also working with his students on improving their search-engine research skills. Hit Catcher has already committed to being a resource to students at Douglas High School. Johnson plans to send staff into LaChapelle's class to conduct mock interviews for Web-development jobs. Coding skills are nice, but Hit Catcher is looking for problem solvers. Students should be prepared for questions like: How would you weigh a Boeing 747 without a scale? How many gas stations are in the United States? And how would you re-do my bathroom? Information technology may be driving the new economy, but some problems, such as world hunger, are timeless. Northbridge Middle School world geography teacher Rebecca Klein is working with a local organization this fall to help her students understand how they can be part of the solution. Klein is doing her externship with Community Harvest Project at Brigham Hill farm in Grafton. Community Harvest grows fresh produce at the 11-acre farm for distribution through the Worcester County Food Bank. Eighty thousand people in Worcester County live below the poverty level, and many rely on this supplemental source of food. Klein will be helping with all the farm chores in the busy harvest season during her three-day externship this fall. She also plans to get her students involved through field trips or as community volunteers. "I teach about sustainability in world issues. A major one is hunger. This brings it right back locally," Klein said. "We're all global citizens and I'm trying to teach them that they can make a difference." Connecting teachers and students to business and community issues facing the Blackstone Valley brings meaning to the lessons. "I would absolutely do this again. It allows me to bring current things into my class," concluded LaChapelle. "Focus on Education" November 2006 Read previous Focus on Education articles...
Six years of focusing on education. (November 2006) |
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Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce
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