CREEED’s Educator Externships provide professional development, inspiration, and an answer to a top student question.
As schools across El Paso start a new year, teachers are preparing to hear the inevitable, age-old question: “When will I use this in the real world?”
Every teacher has heard these words at some point in their careers. And while educators know every subject and lesson has value and is important to their students’ future success, it can be helpful for them to provide real-world examples to answer the perennial question. It was out of this desire to connect classroom learning with workforce needs that the CREEED Educator Externship was born.
Through our Educator Externships, CREEED provides real world experience to help teachers connect their classroom lessons and curriculum with the skills and training employers and businesses are seeking.
As part of this program, teachers spend part of their summer in a one-week paid externship at a regional business, gaining firsthand experience of the skills needed to fill in-demand jobs in various industries. The goal of the initiative is to bring back timely and relevant insights to their classrooms, enriching their teaching and showing students the real-world applications of their studies.
This June, CREEED was proud to connect 15 teachers from across the region with a variety of organizations and businesses and the insights gained from these externships were invaluable. The educators will be returning to their classrooms this year equipped with new knowledge and skills to create lesson plans based on their experiences. They are ready to provide their students with concrete examples of how their lessons are not only useful, but critical in the workforce.
After her externship at HUB International, Mayra Balderrama, a math teacher at Montwood Middle School, shared her lesson plan designed to help students imitate the real life experience of shopping for insurance using the tools and skills from class.
Andrew Cowart, a world history teacher at El Dorado High School spent his externship at El Paso Electric. To some, these two fields may seem incongruous. But in this year’s history class, Mr. Cowart’s students will learn why specialized labor is fundamental to the growth of complex institutions.
After spending a week at the Paso del Norte Health Foundation, Canutillo Elementary School curriculum coach Éricka Kihara is prepared to introduce 5th grade students at her school about the intersection of science, technology, and society through a lesson in which students will learn about a community project and research how it will impact the community and local ecosystems.
These are just a few examples of the creative lesson plans CREEED’s educator externs will be introducing into El Paso’s classrooms as a result of their externships, introducing El Paso students to new career aspirations by connecting the dots between what they’re learning now and how it can help them land a dream job in the future. The Educator Externships are more than just professional development opportunities. They are a powerful answer to the question, “When will I ever use this in the real world?” and equip educators with the tools to make learning even more meaningful and impactful.
CREEED would like to thank these organizations and businesses for opening their doors to educator externs this year: