The Teacher Education and Children’s Health (TEACH) EXCEL TECC program offers high school students a teacher education that includes much more than lesson planning.
Students learn about children’s developmental needs and the brain’s role in learning. They also gain critical skills for fostering relationships between teachers and students.
The program’s co-instructors Katie Ball and Patti Krupinski encourage students who are interested in any child-related occupation to apply for the program.
“[This program will prepare you for] any field that you’re going to be working with children on a daily basis,” Krupinski said. “…whether it’s in psychology, counseling, teaching or any type of therapy.”
Ball and Krupinski currently have 35 Juniors and 40 seniors in their classes, drawing on EXCEL TECC schools including Aurora, Beachwood, Chagrin Falls, Mayfield, Orange, Richmond Heights, Solon, South Euclid-Lyndhurst, West Geauga and Willoughby-Eastlake.
What sets this program apart is its hands-on approach, allowing students to work directly with children through internships even before they are accepted into college.
Students who choose to apply to the program can leave their textbooks behind each week for an internship at the school of their choice, gaining over 500 hours of experience. This exposure to teaching helps students determine if a career in education is right for them.
Program participants earn college credits that transfer to any Ohio public university.
Lilah Droe, a first-year attendee, initially had doubts about teaching but was encouraged by her parents to join the program. She was pleasantly surprised by the hands-on learning methods. Instead of lectures and endless textbooks, Droe found herself designing toys to teach children specific skills and providing one-on-one help at her internship at Sunview Elementary in Lyndhurst.
“The program is helping me learn more about teaching,” Droe said. “It’s not just talking at students and lesson planning, but learning how kids think and how to empathize and understand children.”
The program’s curriculum emphasizes project-based learning. For example, the “Toys that Teach” project prompts students to physically create a toy to aid in learning and to present it to children at their internships.
Other projects include author studies, storytelling projects, creating individualized student profiles, classroom set-up and open conversations about controversial topics in education.
Randall Brown, a second-year attendee, recalls that one of her favorite projects was creating a visual representation of a storybook to engage younger students.
“Their first year they learn about child development, intro to education theory and then curriculum and lesson planning,” Krupinski said. “And then in their second year we actually talk about classroom setup, future classrooms, controversial topics in education and social issues in education.”
Brown describes how the program’s intensive writing reflections help prepare students for college.
For Brown, one of the most rewarding aspects of the program is working with children and witnessing their imaginations.
“The kids are sweet,” she said. “Yes, they can be a lot sometimes, but they’re really sweet kids and they have really big imaginations, and it just reminds me of when I was a kid.”
