While McMichael Middle School seventh- and eighth-graders were in their normal routine Tuesday, their work in a Career & Technical Education classroom was anything but customary when compared to what might normally be expected during the school day.
In the lab, students spend time at different stations over the course of the school year and are exposed to a number of industry-related choices that transition seamlessly into programs already in place at NHS. That allows students time to develop their interests while still at McMichael, before they even begin making selections for their freshman year.
“Even though the goal for the employable skills lab was to give our seventh- and eighth-graders a better understanding of the available CTE pathways at NHS, the best thing has turned out to be the buy-in these students have in their own learning,” said Haleigh Hall, the McMichael teacher who heads up the General Employability Skills & Teen Leadership class. “It is a step outside of their traditional core classes, but still incorporates so many of those subjects into each module.”
On Tuesday, the lab was part of a Showcase of Best Practices in College & Career Ready Education hosted by a vendor and on display for other Texas school districts to observe. While the group toured the lab, students worked at a wide range of tasks, from simulating welding to drone technology, nursing and veterinary medicine, and pretty much everything in between.
“This has really changed how our eighth-graders make their choices moving forward,” said Shawn Lucena, NISD’s Director of College & Career Readiness.
NISD uses the lab to introduce middle school students to the wide array of CTE options before they arrive at Nacogdoches High School.
“We’ve used this for a couple of years,” said McMichael Middle School Principal Gerald Fonzie. “It’s allowed us to align our high school and middle school curriculums.”
There are 15 modules available in the McMichael classroom: Cosmetology & Barbering, Criminalistics, Design & Marketing, Energy & Power, Flight & Drone Technology, Home Maintenance Fundamentals, Home Maintenance Systems, Intro to Child Development, Intro to Computer Sciences, Intro to Culinary Arts, Intro to Health Science Careers, Nursing, Robotics, Veterinary Medicine and Welding.
Students can choose eight areas of interest during the year, allowing for roughly 14 class periods with each selection, Hall said.
“The kids really enjoy the content and activities they're learning about and getting to participate in,” Hall said, “all the while doing high school level coursework and meeting those expectations.”