From the December edition of the I-CAR Education eNews:
Educator Jeff Wilson has been using I-CAR curriculum at Kingwood Park High School in Kingwood, TX, for over a half-dozen years, but this is the first year he’s fully implemented Professional Development Program – Education Edition (PDP-EE).
Wilson must work within district restrictions, such as students cannot work with glass in the shop; and he is required to use a state-recommended textbook. And if that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, for the sake of 11 students who expressed interest in welding, he plans to get welding-certified by I-CAR. If you think he’s bitten off more than a high school teacher can chew, the smiling faces in the photo are proof to the contrary.
All 23 of his students completed the Into Series within four weeks and are on track to earn Platinum by no later than March 2017. Four seniors are already Platinum-certified, two of whom have landed internships, and another three seniors should be Platinum soon.
“We’re ecstatic, and the local auto body shops are ecstatic,” Wilson says. “The industry wants entry-level employees to be I-CAR certified.” He asked students if the PDP-EE curriculum was difficult and they told him “no harder than any other core class.”
He says students got off to a good start with the Intro Series, where they could work at their own pace. “The videos repeat and reinforce, and even my students with IEPs had no problem reading the text on the slides,” he says.
Another reason behind his students’ success lies in the structure of Kingwood’s auto collision program. First-year students take an overview of auto collision and mechanics that separates out the achievers.
“There’s a limited number of ‘seats’ open in the second-year program,” Wilson says. “We pick the serious students who’ve shown they will work hard.”
If you want more information on Wilson’s success with high school students, email him at: [email protected]
