At a Glance
Early Childhood Education students spend one full day in an elementary school classroom teaching a Junior Achievement lesson.
Overview
At A.W. Beattie Career Center, senior and some select junior Early Childhood Education (ECE) students are given the opportunity to teach elementary school children for one day. The ECE students pair up to deliver a Junior Achievement lesson in Kindergarten, first, second, or third grade classrooms. Junior Achievement offers programs and curriculum designed to foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy skills.
The ECE students are given the curriculum ahead of time and the ECE instructor helps them prepare for implementing it. There are approximately five Junior Achievement lessons within each subject, and it generally takes most of the day to teach all of them. In between lessons, the ECE students will perform a quick activity to interact with the students and keep them engaged.
Although there is not a formal evaluation form to be filled out, A.W. Beattie requests feedback (verbal or via email) on the performance of the ECE students.
Origin / Implementation
During the 2011-2012 school year, Junior Achievement reached out to Joanne Vano, the co-operative education coordinator, to determine if students would be interested in participating in the project. (Ms. Vano had previously met the Junior Achievement, Director of Education, Amanda Laichak, at a Chamber of Commerce event.) Because the project would align well with the ECE program curriculum and offer students an opportunity to apply their classroom learning to the real world, Ms. Vano decided it would be beneficial for students to participate.
Results / Impact
ECE students state that the opportunity to teach elementary school students reinforces the theory taught to them by the ECE teacher. It also allows them to observe the challenges of working with elementary students. Given the success of the Junior Achievement project, Ms. Vano expects it will continue.
Contact
A.W. Beattie Career Center
Joanne Vano, Cooperative Education Coordinator
Joanne.vano@beattietech.com
