Not many high school or summer jobs include benefits such as insurance, 401k, flex time, tuition reimbursement, paid vacation and sick leave. It seems natural then that students may overlook these items when considering where to apply or accept a position. As a teacher, you know that not only do different districts have different pay scales, but there are also differences in benefits offered. In the corporate world, it varies even more. Check out this quick video on working for Google and you’ll see what I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6h-gm01Fb0
Hold a class discussion on benefits. Share standard benefits to look for and some of the perks available as well. The following site has a nice list to get you started:
http://www.career-resumes.com/blog/category/job-benefits/.
Career Development Tip for October 23, 2008
Consider Benefits
Company Visions Activity
Last week’s posting included a tip on personal branding. It reminded me of a fun activity on visioning we put together for a youth leadership conference. The activity had students match vision statements to familiar companies. It led into a discussion on a vision for their leadership teams. If you’re not familiar with the concept of vision statements, they are essentially a collaboratively developed statement that expresses where an individual, organization or company wants to be within a certain time period.
I think a small version of the activity would be a great bell work activity and/or could be used to tie in your school’s vision, your vision for your classes or to help students develop a vision for the semester/year.
Here's a few to get you started:
Google Docs
Common Craft does an excellent job of explaining Google Docs in less than three minutes. Check it out! Share it with your teams! It’s easy and secure.
I’ve already heard of one team using it to track student discipline issues and parent contacts. When a teacher needs to document a parent or student interaction, they log into the team and create a document with the students name (if it doesn’t already exist) and add a short description of the interaction. This helps everyone on the team stay informed of the student’s progress an
d behavior in other classes and serves as great documentation when meeting with parents.Professional Development Tip for October 23, 2008
Genius Playlist
What’s your brand?
“The tiny, spontaneous, human act has enormous power.” Tom Peters
About ten years ago, Tom Peters lit a fire in the business world around a concept called personal branding. As commonplace as the idea seems today, how do we best prepare our students to be “branded” as they enter the workforce?
Guide your students through an exercise in identifying their brand and then creating an action plan to “be the brand.” To start the conversation, ask them what they know about company brands (Apple, Nike, Toyota, Target, etc.). What does a brand do for a company? Why does a company want to have a great brand? Share the point that, similar to a large company working to make a strong identity in the marketplace, each of us needs to establish a personal brand to help us stand out and get ahead in the workplace. Personal brands don’t involve logos and traditional advertising. Personal brands are all about how you’re perceived – what value do you bring to an employer (or the school, your group of close friends, the activities you’re involved in)?
To help students begin the process of identifying their brand, have them read the following except from Tom Peter’s Fast Company article from the late 1990’s:
“The…important thing to remember about your personal visibility campaign is: it all matters. When you're promoting brand You, everything you do -- and everything you choose not to do -- communicates the value and character of the brand. Everything from the way you handle phone conversations to the email messages you send to the way you conduct business...is part of the larger message you're sending about your brand.”
After they’ve read it and you’ve had a chance to discuss their take on its meaning, have them spend some time answering questions that lead them further down the road to identifying what they want to be known for.
*In terms of my work and ethic, what do I want to be famous for?
*What value to I bring to the groups I’m a part of? Do I follow through on my promises? Do I solve problems as situations arise? Can people count on me to help them? Do I spend money wisely and within my means?
*What have I accomplished that I am very proud of?
*Who do I admire most? What can I learn from that person’s work ethic that I can learn to do in my own life?
Have students condense their thoughts into once or two sentences. What do I want to be known for? This may be a struggle. A few prompts that may help make the process easier:
*I am all about…
*When people work with me, they will be struck by my ability to consistently…
*If someone were to describe my brand, they would say I am…
Finally, have them create an action plan. This can be as formal or informal as you’d like it to be. The whole point is that students are identifying ways they can build their personal brand as they prepare to enter the workforce. Here are a few questions that may help guide the action plan creation process: Out of the ideas you’ve listed, what do you most want to focus on developing? What do you need to be more purposeful about sharing with others? If you are able to be the brand they’ve described, what positive effects will it have on their workplace? On you personally?
Leadership Development Tip for October 20, 2008
The Countdown is On!
Classroom Engagement Tip for October 20, 2008
Tools of the Trade
Get your students’ minds buzzing with opportunities for their futures! Gather tools and instruments (either actual objects or pictures of them) that are used in a wide variety of professions. Possible tools could be a tripod, a hammer, a stethoscope, a utility knife, a scientific calculator, a canvas, a cardboard box and an electronic writing pad. Challenge students to come up with at least two professions that employ the use of that instrument on a routine basis and then describe what the tool is used for. When the list is complete, have them identify which career they are most likely to pursue, which they are curious about and which they are least likely to pursue. If you have the time, they can also detail their reasoning behind those choices.
To put a twist on the activity, have all of the tools you select relate to professions within your academic area. An easy way to draw the connection to how relevant your class actually is to your students’ futures!
Career Development Tip for October 20, 2008
The Strengths Philosophy – What’s Right with You?
DO NOT TRY TO BE SOMEONE ELSE. STRIVE TO BE THE PERSON YOU REALLY ARE – FULLY AND COMPLETELY. THIS IS YOUR BEST AVENUE TO ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE. – Chip Anderson
What would happen if the world focused on what’s right with everyone instead of trying to fix each others’ weaknesses? Can you imagine all the great things that would happen? Dr. Don Clifton started a movement in psychology about 50 years ago called Strengths Psychology. The whole premise of the movement centers on research that proves “we have several times more potential for growth when we invest energy in developing our strengths instead of correcting our deficiencies.”
A great tool that Clifton developed in his quest to help people understand their talents and strengths is an assessment called StrengthsFinder®. Not only is it an interesting experience to learn about what our top talents are (since most of us struggle to identify what we do well!), but there is real application provided so that we learn to recognize what we do well and repeat personal success more often. Instead of being good at what we do, let’s use our talents purposefully to be great!
The assessment can be purchased (yes, it is worth every penny) and taken here.
Once you learn about and embrace the strengths philosophy, you may want the rest of the world to learn about it, too. If you’d like to help others see what’s right with them, check out the StrengthsQuest® website under the “Educator Resources” tab. There’s a ton of information (including research and case studies on why this psychology works) for you to learn more, incorporate the concepts into your classroom or sports team and reform your high school.
Other helpful resources for the education world that incorporate the strengths philosophy:
Teach with your Strengths
How Full is Your Bucket?
Vital Friends
References:
Rath, Tom. StrengthsFinder 2.0. Gallup Press. 2007.
Professional Development Tip for October 20, 2008
Seating Charts Made Simple
(Bless the folks at 3M, especially those who work in the Post-It division. I am a self-proclaimed office supply junkie, but here’s something to try even if you’re not!)
Supplies Needed:
- Colorful Sticky Tabs
- Fine Tip Permanent Marker
- Sheet Protector
- Paper
Directions:
1. Draw or print a map of the desks/tables in your classroom. Make sure desks or tables are larger than the tabs you’ve purchased.
2. Write each student’s name on a tab. (You can even color code here: say pink for girls and green for boys or blue for seniors and orange for juniors. Ohhh…the possibilities!)
3. Place the desk map in the sheet protector and start arranging the tabs.
4. Slip- the finished product in the scanner and you can project your new seating chart on the wall with your LCD projector.
5. Need to make a change? Pull the sticky off and place Sally up front (or in the hall!)
Here’s a sample:
(Will Post Soon!)
Professional Development Tip for October 9, 2008
Well Done, Target!
My younger sister attended her first college career fair this week. We enjoyed looking through the list of participating employers while searching for internships. Target® happened to be one of the companies exhibiting. Being a fan of the brand, I surfed on over to their careers site. Now, I like them even more. You must check it out for yourself and then send your students.
1. Go to www.target.com/careers
2. Click on Explore Careers in the left hand column
3. Choose a college major from the list
4. The site brings up a display of different Target employees. Click on any of them to hear more about what it is they do, how they came to work at Target and they’re description of Target’s culture.
I appreciate that clicking on a major brings up several people with a wide variety of careers and believe it’s useful for students to recognize there are a number of career pathways within each area.
Make it an assignment by having each student or group of students visit the site, choose a major and select the employee with the career they would most like to have.
Career Development Tip for October 9, 2008
Good Sheets
Starbucks partnered with an existing magazine called GOOD to produce a series of GOOD Sheets (the mini-paper I picked up). GOOD Sheets are weekly series breaking down an important issue to help make sense of the world around us. As of today, there are four sheets: CO2 World, Bill of Health, Coming to America and Getting Gas. GOOD Sheets use visual/graphical representations of the issues and create a great centerpiece for conversation. Each sheet is available to view or print on-line.
Here are a few basic questions to get the discussion rolling:
- What surprises you?
- What did you find interesting?
- What did you already know?
- How does this affect your life?
- What other questions do you have about this topic?
Leadership Development Tip for October 9, 2008
Wordle
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
You must visit www.Wordle.net and hit create to see just how easy it is to use. You can view the gallery to see recent “Wordles.” Below are some thoughts on how you might go about incorporating Wordle in the classroom:
- Copy and paste your notes or the pages of a text on your next topic to produce a Wordle. Show it to class and ask them what they think the next chapter might be about based on the words they see.
- Have students create Wordles using articles or text from on-line sources and compare them to the sources their classmates choose. How are they are similar and different?
- Have students create a Wordle using the text from a daily newspaper and use it to discuss current events.
Classroom Engagement Tip for October 9, 2008
Personal Growth Plan Template
How will you help your students grow the skills necessary for positively leading and influencing others? While conferences and one-time leadership experiences provide a springboard for student growth and development they do not suffice as the only growth experience prepare your students with the skills they need to lead and influence in the 21st century. Meaningful growth and improvement happens over time – not in one or two days!
This post offers a basic personal growth plan template to use with your students. Here’s how to use it effectively:
- Offer students a meaningful leadership experience. This may be achieved through a service-learning event, participating in a workshop/seminar, participation in a student organization, etc.
- After students complete an experience encourage them to reflect and identify areas for growth.
- Provide students with a copy of the personal growth plan template and work with them to complete the template.
- Mentor and meet with the student as they work to achieve the goals stated in their plan.
Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. – Conrad Hilton, Hotel Executive.
Leadership Development Tip for 10.2.08
Free! Career Exploration Resources Web Quest
I recently completed a Web design course. I learned a couple things: a) it’s not as hard as the Webmaster I used to work with made it sound and b) I wish I had learned a little Web design in my preparation to be a teacher! The Web with, in all its media and resource rich glory, is a tremendous resource to help students explore careers.
One of my class projects involved creating a Web Quest. For my project, I married my interests in career development with my new found Web development skills and viola’ I produced my very first Web Quest on Career Exploration Resources. I thought I would share the Web Quest as a free resource for your career development toolbox. The activity may last for a 50 minute class period or you may want to provide this as an ongoing project that is due at the end of a unit. (It’s always nice to have meaningful material to engage students if they finish early on other classroom activities and assignments.) 
The content for the Web Quest was inspired by Relevant Classroom’s very own middle school career exploration curriculum – Engage! During the development our team found a number of great resources to help students in their career exploration efforts. This Web quest and a number of other resources are all included in the Engage! CD-ROM.
If the link above does not work you may access the Web Quest at: http://web.missouri.edu/~dpk392/miniproject3/career_web_quest.html
Career Development Tip for 10.2.08
Read This! Doing School by Denise Clark Pope
As I finished up my masters degree last year I took a class on motivation. It was fascinating how the class influenced my view of student motivation – or why students behave the way they do in the context of school. I went in with a certain view of what a “motivated” student looks like – interested, prepared, always engaged in class conversations, gets good grades, etc. I came away with a different way of looking at motivation in schools. The most important principle I learned – all students are motivated, they simply may not be motivated to do what you expect. 
If you are even the slightest bit interested in what motivates your students I encourage you to read Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students by Denise Clark Pope. (For a quick taste of the book check out this Q and A with the author.) The book tells the stories of five high school students – each with very different motives and approaches to “achievement.” I could see some of the students I’ve worked with over the years in the characters described on the pages of this book. If you read it, I’m guessing you will too. In fact, the students in this book were likely in your class today. I wouldn’t call it just a “good to read” it’s an “essential to read” for educators. This book offers a great reminder about what we we’re called to do – help young people learn – plain and simple. It seems to me that an unbalanced focus on anything else (grades, test outcomes, awards, etc.) creates the potential for the phenomenon Denise Clark Pope calls “doing school.” Find a copy today!
Professional Development Tip for 10.2.08
Priming Students for Learning
Have you ever heard someone say, “Let me give you a little context.” Setting context is something we do on a daily basis as we engage in conversations with others. You tell a little of the background or at least express where you are headed in the conversation. It gives us mental pegs to understand where a conversation is coming from or where it is headed. How do you “set context” to prime students in your classroom? Here are a few tips for setting context effectively:
Setting context in a learning environment means that we put a “frame” around the learning event at hand. Just like a frame around a painting helps to focus our attention on the picture, setting context is a way of focusing student attention on what you want them to notice and/or do during the learning event without giving away the “punch line.” As you set context let students know what they should be thinking, feeling, and/or doing with their body to achieve the desired result. Remember this, if you don’t set context – they will! When they set the context, they may not focus their attention on the same things you hoped they would. The end result? You have to go back and re-explain what they “should have noticed.” Here are some examples of what “setting context” might sound like:
- In this short video you’ll see the photosynthesis process come to life. We’ve studied the process, now let’s see how the process works in the real-world. Grab a pen and your notes on the process. Follow-along in the video and when you notice a step in the process is complete, check if off in your notebook. After we finish the video you will use the examples to answer a few questions on a quick quiz – sit up, lean in and let’s get started.
- As you complete the scenario provided pay close attention to what it takes to be successful.
- Think about a time when you struggled to bring a group of people together to accomplish a goal. Jot that experience down on a sticky-note and keep it nearby. The next few moments will reveal two fail-proof strategies for rallying people around a common goal. As you listen to the strategies think about how you could have employed them in your own situation. Be prepared to respond with your example.
