Some eastern Kentucky high school students now have the option to explore a career in education. The Leslie County Area Technology Center is offering a Teaching and Learning Pathway. The program teaches students to understand curriculum requirements and create lesson plans.
Kristy Roark is the instructor of the Teaching and Learning Pathway. Roark said clinical rotations in real classrooms will give students a glimpse into what being a teacher is really like.
“If you walk in the room, sometimes that's all the spark that you need in order to be like, ‘Yes, this is what I want to do’. Then on the flip side of that, you know, they're juniors and seniors, it's a beautiful thing, because they could walk into that classroom and be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I hate this. And I do not want to do this’,” said Roark.
Roark explained that knowledge will save students time and money when they get to the college level.
The Teaching and Learning Pathway Instructor said students will actually be paid for their time in the classroom.
“They're actually going into schools to work as a teacher's aide, they get to choose what grade level they want to start at. And then we're going to venture out into other parts of the building, I want them to check out special ed, because a lot of times you might not realize that you want to be a special education teacher,” said Roark.
Leslie County ATC is partnering with four local elementary schools to get students this hands-on training. Hazard Community and Technical College is working with the Teaching and Learning Program to solidify dual-credit course work.
Around 40 students are participating in the program this year.
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