May 04, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - For five days, June 18 – 22, South Central Kentucky Area Health Education Center (AHEC) at Western Kentucky University will conduct its fourth Teacher Training for Health Careers. The training is for teachers of grades 4 through 12 and will be in Glasgow.
The first three days of the academy provide a working knowledge of health careers, shortages and educational opportunities. The teachers examine the knowledge base, skill requirements, roles, and responsibilities of a broad range of different health careers. T.J. Samson Community Hospital arranges shadowing for the teachers with different health careers professionals.
The fourth day focuses on the 25 modules of the “Exploring Faces of Opportunities,” a curriculum developed and piloted by Southwest Georgia AHEC.
Implementation is the goal of the fifth day, which will explore addressing the appropriate Kentucky academic standards as well as integrating the curriculum into the school’s curriculum map.
In previous training, one school needed to increase writing scores, so the teacher used the curriculum to examine transactive writing and the class produced brochures, newspaper articles, PowerPoint presentations, etc. on health careers.
Teachers involved in previous trainings have given high reviews.
One teacher stated: “The shadowing experiences were so beneficial. I can’t begin to write about the knowledge I gained while seeing these individuals in their working environment. I have a much deeper understanding of the many, many jobs that are in the health care field. This will allow me to perhaps get students interested in a health care career.”
Another teacher said: “If you do not have a lot of money but want to be in the medical field of some form, there are a hundred options that students can do and then gradually work their own way up both by on-the-job training and eventual testing to push upward both educationally and financially.”
Still another teacher remarked: “In my experiences we were able to see behind the scenes – it was fascinating! The jobs we saw did not always deal directly with patients, but totally affected patient care. One fact that I can use in my classroom is to find an area you’re interested in, there’s a need for it or a related area in the medical field.”
Finally, another teacher said: “I feel the most useful resource I gained was the hands-on shadowing I did at T.J. Samson. My knowledge was greatly enhanced by personally observing and discussing with the staff as they went about their daily routine. This was great info that I can pass along to my students.”
Participants will receive the curriculum resources, training in the implementation, and a stipend of $100 per day with the understanding that the curriculum will be implemented in the classroom.
Currently, there are eight openings for this year’s training. More information is available by calling Glynda Stone at 745-3325.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For more information, contact Glynda Stone, (270) 745-3325.
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