A direct path to a career has arrived and it is called Careers In Education. Sophomores and seniors are able to sign up for the class to learn about the theories of teaching, child development and instructional strategies to prepare them for education related university programs. The Career & Technical Education Pathway, called Careers in Education, is a two-year program. In their first year, students will learn the foundational skills necessary for teaching and other education-related fields. In the second year of the program, students will be placed in collaborative programs in nearby schools, much like university sponsored teacher-candidates. Escondido Union High School District Director of College and Career Readiness, Mia Funk, proposed the potential course to Assistant Principal Tessa Riley, who oversees the CTE programs.
“It’s a way to get people to think about education. Adding the class gives kids a direction towards a job”, Escondido Union High School District Director of College and Career Readiness, Mia Funk, said.
Site leadership will continue to collaborate with Funk, as the program continues to develop. continued to review and refine their plans with the course. As of February, 20, 15 students registered for the course next year.
“I was thinking of becoming a teacher myself at the time, so I did it and now I’m here and over time I started going in a different path and helped in making me realize that teaching isn’t for me. Doing that program will help kids realize what they want to do at an early age and I learned a little late,” AVID tutor, Oscar Medina, said.
The second year of the class has the students tutor teach at the school but also transition to teaching at elementary and middle schools. Doing this will help students build a professional portfolio to help build their future career in education.
“It’s really rewarding to kind of see them go through from freshmen year to their senior years to see the issues that they’ve kind of surpassed,” Cazares, said.
“I do see a lot of kids who are interested in teaching, but they don’t have the sense of like, they see what their teacher does, but that is it, but there is so many more different kind of learning styles, depending on the kids, the age groups and that is a really good idea,” Cazares, said.
Joining this course benefits those who are looking for an active class for that can open up multiple paths of opportunity toward a career in either education, consumer services, child development or family and human services.
“Make sure you have a lot of patience because some kids might get on your nerves and treat everyone the same,” Medina said.
