They call them High School Heroes — students in grades 10 through 12 who train to teach second-grade classes for a day in the Massapequa School District.
The opportunity, offered through the School-to-Career Office at Massapequa High School, is designed for students who are thinking of pursuing a career in education and looking for real-world experience to help them decide if the profession is for them. Now in its sixth year, the program has soared in popularity since its inception, climbing to 62 participants this year, according to School-to-Career Coordinator Denise DeLury.
Students use lessons from Junior Achievement, a non-profit organization that provides hands-on curriculum, and are trained after school by DeLury.
“We use a unit titled ‘My Community’ and it consists of five fun, hands-on lessons to teach the students about workers, the work they perform, why workers are paid, what taxes are and how they are used, and how and where to save money,” DeLury said. “The second-grade teachers love it because it aligns very nicely with the curriculum.”
“My second graders absolutely love this experience,” said Donna Crowley, second-grade teacher at Fairfield Elementary School. “They benefit greatly from the well-organized social studies lessons based on communities and cooperative learning.”
Teaching in pairs, “many ‘heroes’ choose to teach in the elementary school they attended and some even teach in the teacher’s class that they had,” DeLury said. “It gives them a chance to see how much planning is involved with teaching, how to manage a class, differentiate their lesson and work with students with disabilities. They are exhausted by the end of the day, but they always say how rewarding and fun the experience was.”
Among the many skills the students gain by participating in the program are time management, organization, problem-solving and communication, according to DeLury.
“It also really gives them insight into the profession. After the experience many heroes know they definitely want to be teachers, or work with children. Some think maybe not elementary, but secondary; even a few have said ‘I can’t do that every day.’ Either way, it is a great experience to help them consider their future career options,” DeLury said.
High School sophomore Gabrielle Hartman said that working with the students was a “fulfilling experience that taught her a lot about the average day of a teacher and what it takes to prepare a lesson.”
High School senior Danielle Kertzak, who participated in the program since 10th grade, said she gained more experience learning how to work with little kids and more confidence to speak in front of others.
“Next year I’m going to college to major in psychology and the High School Heroes program helped me make this decision,” she said.
For more information on the program and how to apply, contact the School-to-Career Office at 516-308-5961 or visit www.msd.k12.ny.us/STC and click on the link on the left menu for High School Heroes.
