Teachers attend ‘summer school’ at UniTec

UniTec Career Center recently held a “summer school” for teachers that gave them a hands-on, up-close perspective on vocational training, courtesy of UniTec instructors and a state Career Pathways grant.

UniTec Career Center recently held a “summer school” for teachers that gave them a hands-on, up-close perspective on vocational training.

UniTec Director Jeff Cauley said he wrote the Career Pathways grant, which provides vocational training and industry tours for elementary and middle school teachers, with Laura McVay from Southeast Missouri Regional Professional Development Committee. The state grant is intended to give educators experience with the hands-on instructional process of UniTec Career Center.

Teachers who participated spent their first day on safety and tool identification before going to work designing and building a shed, led by retiring Construction Technology Instructor Rob Stacy and assisted by newly-hired Construction Technology Instructor Josh Gibson. UniTec Power Sports and Equipment Technology Instructor John Teimann helped with the framing process and retired Electrical Technology Instructor Bruce Pratte was in charge of electrical. Adult supervisor Justin Marler helped Cauley administer the program.

“The teachers were super-excited to start working,” Cauley said. “Many of them had never been involved in anything like this and truly enjoyed the learning experience.”

Lindsay Hammon, a 6th grade teacher at North County Intermediate, said she plans to bring what she learned back to her students. “I really enjoyed using and getting an understanding of all the tools needed. I will definitely be incorporating more hand-on projects in my class and discussing trade options,” she said.

Some instructors took a shine to the construction process.

Teachers who participated in the UniTec Career Center “summer school” spent their first day on safety and tool identification before going to work designing and building a shed.

“My favorite part was using the nail gun and building trusses,” said Rachel Brewen of North County. “I teach middle school language arts and I can’t wait to incorporate technical writing into my lessons. I think it is important to teach about not only the building, but invoicing and ordering of materials.”

In addition to the building project, the teachers were scheduled to tour Cap America in Fredericktown to gain an understanding of the manufacturing industry. The last day of the program, teachers were set to tour the UniTec house that is being built in Bonne Terre. Cauley said the house is 75% complete and has been built by UniTec students from its eight sending schools: Central R-3, Bismarck R-5, Farmington R-7, Fredericktown R-1, Kingston K-14, North County R-1, Potosi R-3 and West County R-4.

Cauley said the experience didn’t stop there.

“Teachers are required to write a lesson plan illustrating how they will take what they have learned from this program and apply it to their classroom. It is great to see how excited they are to take this knowledge back and pass it on to their students,” he said. “Many of the teachers did not realize the math and science that goes along with any type of construction. The goal of the grant is to expose teachers to this learning process and style of instruction so that they can apply it in a regular educational setting.”

North County 5th Grade Teacher Annie Whitfield said she enjoyed the hands-on process of seeing the construction project through from start to finish.

“Before this program, I had no knowledge of the difference in building materials and tools,” she said. “This has been great. I would love to see this expanded to include other programs like Culinary Arts.”

North County Middle School Science Teacher Ashley Counts said the experience “really took me out of my element.

“I had to be a student again and not a teacher. I did not get some of these concepts the first time they were explained. This program will help me be a better teacher. I may even have my students tackle a bird house project or something similar.”