Shelby County rolls out career-discovery lab pilot at MCM using 17 modules; middle-school rotation planned
Summary
District staff described a newly purchased set of 17 career-discovery modules to be used at MCM as part of essential-arts rotations; the pilot aims to give middle-school students exposure to health, dental, engineering and technical skills.
Shelby County Schools told the board it has purchased 17 career-discovery modules and is piloting the program at MCM so middle-school students can rotate through hands-on modules that simulate real-world careers.
Program staff said they spent three days in training on the modules and that students will perform activities ranging from health-science and dental tasks to engine repair and other technical modules. “Shelby County has purchased these 17 modules, and you need to focus on, learning those modules. And that's what we did. Like, for 3 days, we spent time doing activities that our students are going to get to do,” the program staff member said.
The MCM offering will be part of the essential-arts rotation. The teacher leading the program said classes are on an A/D schedule with roughly nine-week rotations; each student in a rotation is expected to experience multiple modules in a semester and the district's goal is to rotate most sixth- through eighth-grade students through the course over time. The district also identified MCM as a pilot site for fourth- and fifth-grade career discovery because another school, Patterson, already has a fourth- and fifth-grade program.
Board members and staff praised the equipment as authentic. One participant noted that some of the tools and engines in the lab are the same types used at local colleges and medical labs.
Staff described this as “phase 1” of the program and said the district expects to expand and refine it in future semesters. The district credited Dr. Hicks, Miss Tingle and others for help standing up the labs and named Jessica Phillips as the classroom instructor who will teach the modules at MCM.
