MCNC welcomes Johnston County educator for Teachers@Work week

The North Carolina Business Committee for Education’s Teachers@Work initiative connects educators to businesses for an experiential learning opportunity about employable workforce skills that can be transferred to the classroom environment. It is a joint initiative between NCBCE and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, linking education and the business community to help teachers create relevance between their classroom curriculum and the skill sets needed by local businesses.

Jessica Brooke Woodard from Johnston County Schools has been selected to participate this week with MCNC. On Monday through Wednesday, she will work with MCNC executives and staff to learn more about the world of networking technologies and related careers in broadband connectivity services and infrastructure. She will then close the week out at CenturyLink in Wake Forest on Thursday and Friday.

Woodard has been a Business Education and Technology teacher at Princeton High School for the last seven years. She provides hands-on instruction in computerized accounting as well as assists students in exploring the nature of business in an international economy, emphasizing the important roles of technology and communications along with problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

As part of Teachers@Work, Woodard and other participating teachers will create a lesson plan that showcases both hard and soft skills needed by future employees that are specific to their partnering business or industry. The lesson plan will be executed in the teacher’s classroom during the same calendar year and will be shared with other teachers in their school system and throughout North Carolina.

In 2014, NCBCE launched the Teachers@Work initiative with a goal of connecting educators and businesses in a way that will give an in-depth learning experience about employable workforce skills. Darleene Heath, director of communications and member engagement at MCNC, said Teachers@Work is one of NCBCE’s signature programs - one that MCNC has proudly supported since it began.

"Bringing in motivated and exceptional educators into our workplace is a terrific way to ensure students in North Carolina are taught the practical skills they need as future employees," said Heath. "This program brings workforce relevancy directly into the classroom by providing educators with a real-life business experience that puts learning in context with careers."

Teachers@Work strengthens classroom and business connections while empowering teachers to cultivate knowledgeable, qualified future employees. The program is made possible by grants from Biogen and State Farm.

MCNC also supports NCBCE’s annual job shadowing and mentoring initiative, Students@Work. In March, MCNC welcomed students from Brogden Middle School in Durham as part of the program this year.