Have you or your school implemented Career Clusters? Did you host an event or a project that went really well? Please share! The Career Clusters Institute is looking for those programs with success stories to share. See the information above for submitting proposals or email Carrie at cderner@relevantclassroom.com. Additionally, there are some specific slots for green program ideas, so if you've had some success in those arenas we really want to hear from you.

Sink the "Sub"

This game is often played by high school students when there is a substitute teacher in their classroom.

Rules of Play: be as obnoxious as you can be and don’t pay attention.

Outcome of the Game: see who can make the sub give in, make them the most frustrated, and the highest of all rankings: who can make the sub cry.

I imagine the winners getting high fives in the commons.

As a substitute, I have never been totally sunk, but there have been some close calls. Those occasions have usually been accompanied by not-so-informative lesson plans. As a sub, it’s helpful when I can position myself as a supervisor, as someone who can assist and someone to ensure students are on task. I much prefer this than being set up as the “warden” of the class. I am not there to make enemies with the students in your class because when I show up to sub a second day, you can bet my sub is under water before I’ve even begun.

As a teacher you play a large role in keeping subs afloat. Even just a little effort up front goes a long way. My favorite classes to sub for usually have some kind of “Survival Notebook.” Below are few ideas of items that can be collected and placed into one notebook. You need only exchange the handouts and daily lesson plan and it can be used each time you’re gone.

Hint: most of this can be compiled by one of your lovely student assists!

IN THE FRONT OF THE BOOK INCLUDE

• The Bell Schedule



• Seating Charts—can also be under the tabs below (Note: if you have pics of students with names—that is SO useful)



• Classroom Rules and Procedures



• Attendance and Tardy Forms



• Fire alarm info with escape routes



• Map of the School



• Teachers who might be helpful



• Quick phone number reference (office, attendance, helpful teachers, technical support, etc.)
  

CREATE A TAB FOR EACH PERIOD

Under each period include:

• Identify two helpful students in each period



• An outline of the period



• Any handouts



• Something to assign or read if there is extra time

Road Trip Nation—Why Didn’t We Find This Sooner?

(See Annie's comment below!)

Do not be surprised if you see future Tip of the Week with nearly the same title. Why? Because I just stumbled upon their site/project today and I can't get enough of it! As we did deeper I’m sure there will be more gems to share.

First, there has to be well over 100 video interviews with people from all over the country, in all different careers. Now that have your attention, you may be asking, “What the heck is Roadtrip Nation?”

Well, it started with a few college graduates who didn’t know what to do with their lives. They took a road trip across the country, filming and interviewing industry leaders with the purpose of exposing themselves different careers and discovering how others found their passions. Here is their manifesto:

So, what do you want to do with your life?
“You should be a doctor, an accountant, a consultant…..blah, blah, blah.”
Everywhere you go people try to tell you who to be and what to do with your life. We call that THE NOISE. Block it. Shed it. Leave it for the conformists. As a generation, we need to get back to focusing on individuality. Self-construction rather than mass production.
Define your own road in life instead of traveling down someone elses.
Listen to yourself. Your road is the OPEN ROAD. Find it.
Find the Open Road

The project was picked up by PBS and has now been through several seasons. You can watch episodes or individual interviews. Use the project to expose your students to what’s out there! If you teach a careers class or have an advisory, dive into the Roadtrip Nation as a project. If you are just doing your part to expose students to careers in the fields related to your subject matter, pull off a related interview or two.

Enjoy!

Hi Relevant Classroom!My name is Annie and I'm the Director of Education for Roadtrip Naiton.

We were so excited today to see your shout out to us on your blog - and I just wanted to add a few things to your original post to further explain how we fit into the classroom setting.

First of all, you can view our entire Interview Archive at http://www.roadtripnation.com/explore/archives.php?i=archive&view=ALL

Secondly, over the last year and a half, we have been developing a curriculum geared towards secondary school students to help them define their own roads in life.

Our curriculum, The Roadtrip Nation Experience, is made up of 24 Internet-based, multi-media/interactive lessons that essentially sit on top of our Interview Archive. Students participating in The Roadtrip Nation Exprience will receive full access to this online curriculum as well as a supplemental workbook which provides experiential activities that correspond with each online lesson.

Our curriculum is geared towards our end goal in mind - to provide students with the resources they need to 'hit the road' in their own communities and find Leaders who might be able to provide insight about careers and life experiences that the students find interesting and meaningful.

It is our hope that this curriculum enables students to gain the self-confidence they need to create a life based on what matters to them most.

For more information about The Roadtrip Nation Experience, or how you can bring it to your school site, please visit roadtripnation.orgLooking forward to hearing from you.

Cheers!

Annie Mais

Director of Education

RoadtripNation.org

annie@roadtripnation.org

The Wisconsin Careers Conference: One of our Favorites

This may sound like a sales pitch, but I promise we’re not being paid.

For the past two years, we’ve attended the Wisconsin Careers Conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Now, you may think it’s crazy to visit Madison in January, but it’s worth it! The conference is designed for those in the field of career guidance and those who teach students about careers and career planning. It may have started as state show, but word has gotten out and folks from across North America have come to appreciate the quality professional development and opportunities to network that the conference provides.


The Conference runs January 25th – 27th.

Registration information can be found on-line.

We will be there again this January and hope to see you!

Lunchbox Lessons

One of the perks to attending several professional development conferences for teachers is the opportunity to see the latest “good stuff” from others in the field. While in Wyoming this past week, we ran into a company called Lunchbox Lessons. I’ve been checking out their free, on-line resources since, and am impressed! Here’s a little about their company as taken from their Facebook page.

“Lunchbox Lessons is an education company. We engage kids in 21st Century Skills with innovative children’s books, workbooks, lesson plans, DVDs and BrainSnacks for learning at home and in the classroom. Working with top shelf authors like Jean Craighead George, TA Barron and Ken Thomasma and organizations such as the Apple Learning Interchange, NHNZ and NOAA, Lunchbox Lessons brings the best resources available to parents and teachers alike.”

As teachers, you’ll love their “Brainsnack” videos which are 3-5 minutes in length. As opposed to those lovely 80’s videos that our students make fun of, these are up-to-date with great live footage. Additionally, they offer some well-written and age-appropriate lesson plans to accompany the video material. I love that the videos allow students access into the careers of real people.

Lunchbox Lessons is up-and-coming so they’re continually adding new material. Each topic listed below has several different BrainSnack clips to peak your students' interest. Here’s a short list of some of the topics you’ll currently find on their site:
What’s Up in the Universe?
Several Story Tellers
The Making of the Movie Australia

Coming Soon Items:
Broken Circle-Endangered Species
Powering the Web of Life-Energy

Need more reason to check them out? Look at their list of partners for each topic; it's an impressive list!