The Teacher Externship Program is a collaboration between Rural Capital Area employers, Chambers of Commerce (Chambers) and Independent School Districts (ISDs) within the region, to provide middle and high school educators’ professional development opportunities to enrich the classroom to career connections made for students. For more information, email us at: k12outreach@ruralcapital.net
What's the Purpose of the Program?
The purpose of the Teacher Externship Program is to engage educators in activities in business and industry to learn how classroom content and learning strategies apply in the workplace.
Educators improve their instructional practices by incorporating employment skills that meet current industry standards.
How Does the Program Work?
The ISDs market to recruit teachers to participate in the program, and the chambers of commerce market to recruit businesses to host workplace opportunities. The Chambers and ISDs then match the business and teacher based on the workplace requirements and the teacher’s subject matter.
After matches are made, the Chambers and ISDs work with the businesses and teachers to individualize each externship. During the five days of interaction in the workplace, the teachers develop strategies to integrate, not only job-based learning for career content, but also essential skills into daily curriculum for students.
At the end of the program each teacher submits a sample lesson plan demonstrating the new strategies and schedules a date to present their learnings to their peers.
Testimonials
