The 2023 Teacher Externship program is scheduled for June 12-16. There’s a kick-off/orientation Monday afternoon, three days at the worksites and a debriefing on Friday. I wanted to give you a heads up in hopes that you are interested in covering the project.
We have 25 teachers from 16 school districts matched with 24 businesses (healthcare, manufacturing, forestry, business, public safety, etc) across the region. Participating school districts include: Central, Coldspring-Oakhurst, Crockett, Deweyville, Diboll, Goodrich, Hudson, Huntington, Jasper, Latexo, Livingston, Nacogdoches, Newton, Shepherd, West Sabine, and Woodville.
A little more info: The Deep East Texas Teacher Externship Program introduces a real world perspective for career and technology education. By connecting classrooms to the workplace, the project can help shape tomorrow’s local workforce to meet industry needs, benefitting:
- Employers – Strengthen the future workforce.
- Teachers – Apply industry specific strategies in the classroom; and inform, educate, guide and connect students to industries that match their skill sets.
- Students – Develop the academic and technical skills they need to compete for jobs that are in demand in the local community.
Here is more detail about the schedule:
- June 12, Monday – 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. – Orientation. Location: Pitser Garrison Convention Center, Texas Room, 601 North 2nd St., Lufkin. Agenda items include: kick-off the week with the Objectives of the Teacher Externship program, workforce development strategies, labor market information, work-based learning, career exploration resources, hear perspectives from employers and education officials about aligning to meet the needs of local industry.
- June 13-15, Tuesday through Thursday – Teachers report to their assigned worksites for learning, observing, job-shadowing as defined by each employer. Employers include: Burns Forestry, Champion Oaks Ranch, CHRISTUS Southeast Texas Jasper Memorial Hospital, City of Jasper, City of Nacogdoches, Crockett Veterinary Hospital, First Financial Bank, Georgia Pacific – Corrigan, Health Center of Southeast Texas, Jasper County District Courts and Clerk’s Office, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Lakes Area Veterinary Hospital, Legacies Nursing and Rehabilitation, Lemon Seed Marketing, MRC PineCrest Retirement, MSGPR, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Real Graphics, Sabine County Hospital, St. Luke’s Health Memorial, St. Luke’s Health Memorial Livingston, STI Group, Texas Department of Transportation, West Fraser Angelina.
- June 16, Friday – 8 a.m. to noon – Debriefing. Location: Pitser Garrison Convention Center, Texas Room, 601 North 2nd St., Lufkin. Teachers will present their lesson plan outlines. Teachers and employers will share their experiences and lessons learned.