For over 100 years, the 4-H Youth Development Program has been helping young people become leaders through community engagement.  Now, this will be happening in a new and exciting way as the 4-H Teen Teacher program comes to Fulton County. Through this program, teens will be trained to deliver educational activities to younger students at hosting youth serving sites, such as after school programs and libraries, throughout the area. This intensive training spans three days, and will take place at the SIU Learning Lab in Canton from Nov 1-3, 2019. Here, teens learn about developmentally appropriate behavior, classroom management techniques, the experiential learning process, and more.  They also learn to develop lesson plans based on specific curriculum ranging in topic from STEM to agriculture to financial literacy. The curriculum used is dependent on the interests of the host site.

The young pupils benefit from the novelty of having teens facilitate their education, and look up to the adolescents as role models. Additionally, teens tend to have very different teaching styles than adults, becoming more engaged and involved in the subject matter. Plus, the teens learn valuable life skills, such as planning, communication, time management, and self-reflection. They also contribute to their community in positive ways, and gain volunteer experience to help bolster their résumé and increase their success in college and career. 

Any teen, grade 9-12, who is interested in becoming a 4-H Teen Teacher can learn more at https://extension.illinois.edu/fmpt/teens-teachers-program . Applications can be found at https://go.illinois.edu/TeenTeach.   

Any youth-serving organization who is interested in having 4-H Teen Teachers facilitate activities at their site can contact Emily Schoenfelder, University of Illinois Extension 4-H youth educator serving Fulton, Mason, Peoria and Tazewell Counties, at 309-347-6614 or eschoe@illinois.edu.