Angela Pardun is a staff member at North Polk High School that is in charge of special education, two resource times, and vocational skills. 

The students who are a part of the vocational skills class work on living, learning, and working skills. Specific skills they work on are “how to work in the kitchens so how to cook, how to prepare things, cleaning, how to store things either in the pantry or in the fridge, and then we also work on some different social skills like how to communicate with people. Then employment skills, customer service skills, how to have the stamina of working a shift, and a work location,” Pardun shared. 

She has a group of eight para educators that help her by working with a variety of students every day. When working with their students, they have to teach differently than other teachers would. Pardun stated, “It’s a lot about breaking down the skill for them. They all do a really great job of fulfilling the task they are assigned, but they need it to be in pieces.” Some ways they break it down are by using verbal directions or charting it out on posters that are hung up so they are able to follow their steps on their own. 

The importance of Pardun’s classes is to help prepare her students for life after high school. They teach them skills in the classroom that the students will transfer into outside of school situations. They work on simple things such as cleaning the dishes and making routines that will help support them as they leave high school. She also teaches her students the difference between using fresh herbs versus dried ingredients because prior to teaching she has a horticulture degree and likes to keep lots of plants in her classroom.  

 A new thing this year Pardun’s class does to help prepare her students is the coffee cart. She shares, “It’s been a really great way for the kids to experience a work-based learning environment on campus. It’s a good way to practice skills that then transfer with them as they go out to their jobs.” The students have three assigned jobs within the community that also help prepare them for life after high school, but to prepare for these jobs they use their experience from the coffee cart.