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!

Another Online Source for Career Clusters-based Information

I’m always on the lookout for websites that are simple, easy-to-use and provide quality, current information about career planning. This past week, I found another one worth mentioning here on the Relevant Classroom Tips of the Week: ISEEK.

ISEEK is Minnesota's comprehensive career, education, and job resource. The website is sponsored by a partnership of Minnesota agencies and institutions formed in 1999.

Here’s what I like about the site:

• Objective, data-driven perspective about careers
• Uses the Career Clusters model to organize careers
• Easy navigation
• Up-to-date content
• Clean, simple layout and design

Kudos to the team at ISEEK. Even though the site has components specific to careers in Minnesota, there is a lot of great information that anyone can use.

If you are looking for a free, easy-to-use site for students to explore career possibilities, I’d recommend starting here: http://www.iseek.org/careers/clusters.html.

Career Development Tip for the Week of April 13, 2009

The Ladders – give students perspective

Have you seen the commercials for the jobsite, The Ladders? In the commercials, the announcer proclaims that The Ladders is a premium jobsite for premium talent – those who people who are qualified for $100,000+ per year job. If you were like me, you might have wondered, “What exactly does it take to get one of these ‘premium jobs’?” I logged in this weekend to check out the job listings. (I signed up for the free service-I’m not taking myself too seriously, here)

This is what struck me: most of these jobs are within reach to ‘regular’ people who have worked to get the education and experience needed to qualify. None of the jobs were available to recent college graduates and most required evidence of success in previous jobs.

I think many high school students have one of two huge misperceptions. Misperception #1: they’ll never have a shot at a $100,000+ job. Misperception #2: they’ll get a $100,000+ job right out of college. The problem with Misperception #1 is that the belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy when many students have the skills and work ethic to earn a great job in the future – with guidance and a plan. The problem with Misperception #2 is that students fail to recognize the value of performance outside the classroom. Employers care little about grades after you’re hired. You’ve got to work hard to create success on the job, too.

Take a minute to log in and check out the site. Find a few job openings related to your subject area and share with your students. Use as an opportunity to have a discussion to talk about long-range career plans and the importance of education and work performance.

Career Development Tip for the week of February 23, 2009

GNAP

as shared by Jenison Public Schools Family Consumer Science teachers

Jenison school district requires every junior to take a one semester “Decisions” class. Three weeks of the class are dedicated to career development. They shared a simple tip called GNAP (“guh-nap”).

G - greeting
N - name
A – affiliation
P – purpose

GNAP is an acronym to teach students how to properly introduce themselves. It’s practiced with a smile and a handshake. Here are a few samples:

“Hi, I’m Carrie. I am a junior at Lincoln High School and am here to pick up an application.”

“Hi there, my name is Carrie. I’m a member of the Blaze softball team. I’m here to drop off these flyers for Randy Wilson.”

“Hello, my name is Carrie. I work with Relevant Classroom. I’m looking to print a small catalog and am wondering who I would speak with about a price estimate.”

It may seem small, but it is empowering to have a quick strategy to take charge of an introductory type situation, be it on the phone or in person. Jenison High School teachers model GNAP with their students on a regular basis, rehearse with their students and require students to GNAP them as their “ticket to class” the next day. Hopefully, GNAP will be their “ticket to an interview” or a “ticket to a great career” someday as well.

Career Development Tip for February 6, 2009

Local Economy

I wouldn’t blame you if you read the word “economy” in the title to this post and wondered if you could handle any more depressing economy news at this point; thanks for reading on. I’m actually referring to the makeup of your local economy. What industries keep your area afloat? Another way to ask the question is who are the largest employers in your area? They might be the food processing plant, the hospital, lumber yard, grain co-op, insurance agency or university. Whatever, or whoever they are, it’s worth knowing for at least three good reasons.

1. Many of your students’ parents probably are employed by them.
2. These are the jobs currently available to students who stay in the community.
3. These are the jobs available to you in the area should you leave your current profession.

Let’s assume number three isn’t relevant at this point. Look at the first two as your ticket to relevant examples to draw from. When we connect and apply concepts to students in their world, we make learning more impactful. Next time you prep to teach a new skill or concept, do a little homework and provide examples of the careers in your area that apply it regularly. You can begin setting up a chart of your local examples similar to Relevant Classroom’s Making the Connection Charts provided in the My Career Kit user’s guides. Challenge yourself to provide at least two local, applied examples in your current units.

Career Development Tip for January 15, 2009

Getting All Students to Think About College

A great resource website is up and running, KnowHow2Go.org, and it effectively and clearly lays out the case for going to college. You should take a few minutes yourself to review some of the facts and tips (especially the ones for mentors).

Teachers often think most students have already had someone talk about preparing for college with them. That may be true for some, but likely there are many others who are under-informed to make good planning decisions.

Remember, it’s not just preparing for a 4-year college or university. Many of today’s most in-demand jobs require degrees from community colleges and technical schools and the preparation for going to these schools is nearly the same.

Here are a few ideas for sharing this website:

1. Use as a discussion following a quiz or test
Take 5-10 minutes during class to project the website using an LCD projector. Explain how your class is helping them prepare for both college and a future career. Encourage students to write down the site address and to ask questions about preparing for college.

2. Post a link with description on your webpage
Many of you have a webpage on your school’s site. On your page add a note about the importance of college for all careers and post a link to the KnowHow2Go website.

3. Add a link to your email signature
Your email signature likely includes your contact information and might include a favorite quote of the school’s mission statement. If you’re allowed (check your IT policies) add a link to the KnowHow2Go website with a statement encouraging everyone to check it out.

4. Include in notes and progress reports home to parents
Use communication to parents as an opportunity to help them prepare their students for life after school, too. Share the website address and tell them about the great resources available on the site.

5. Provide “prizes” to students who look up the site on their own time
For fun, take time to make a virtual scavenger hunt using the site. Challenge students to find all the information on the website. When students have found all the information provide prizes of pencils, stickers, etc.

Resources like this website are excellent ways to help students help themselves in their college and career planning.

Career Development tip for the week of December 15, 2008

It's Up and Running

In April, we released the book Strategies to Integrate NOW, a desktop reference to help career and technical education teachers who want to be more purposeful as they integrate academics in CTE courses. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Simple, effective strategies to approach integration
• Provides ideas for quick, limited use or for full-scale efforts
• Suggests practical ways to Prepare, Plan, Deliver and Assess
• Easy-to-read - great for individual use or with teams/groups/PLCs
• Supplement efforts already underway with additional ideas and strategies

The book and strategies have really caught on and we’ve had great response with our professional development sessions around the country.

We’re happy to announce that the website supplement to the book is now up and running! The site has free customizable templates, excerpts from the book, example integration plans and more. Visit for yourself and tell us what you think!

Career Development Tip for November 10, 2008

High Demand Jobs

Have you ever wondered what jobs are in highest demand in today’s labor market? Afterall we are preparing students for careers and life after school. What opportunities are out there for them after they have a diploma or complete some form of post-secondary training? Career Voyages, a partnership between the Department of Labor and the Department of Education is a unique website designed to help students explore careers in a number of high growth industries.

According to their Web site the following are today’s highest growth industries:

• Advanced Manufacturing
• Aerospace
• Automotive
• Construction
• Education
• Energy
• Health Care
• Homeland Security
• Hospitality
• Information Technology
• Retail
• Transportation

Emerging industries include: Biotechnology, Geospatial Technology and Nanotechnology. If you’re like me you are probably wondering what a couple of those even mean! Check out the Career Voyages Web site it’s well organized and provides a number of resources to help both you and your students understand opportunities in these high growth and emerging industries.

Career Development Tip for 10.31.08

Consider Benefits

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

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

Piecing Together a Career Portfolio

Developing and maintaining a professional portfolio is a useful experience for students as they begin their careers.

A career exploration portfolio is a “beginning” version of the student’s professional portfolio. A career exploration portfolio should help students actively reflect upon their career exploration as it unfolds throughout middle and high school. In addition, a career exploration portfolio should help students practice the same skills associated with the creation and use of a professional portfolio. Here are four easy steps to help you guide students in setting up a career exploration portfolio:

Step 1: Outline the criteria for a career exploration portfolio. Some criteria we suggest:
1. Store your artifacts in a common location. Some places to call "home" include:

• A file folder
• An electronic file folder on the student’s school workspace
• A Web page created by the student to host the files
• A three-ring binder with sheet protectors and dividers

2. Include up to 6 artifacts that show others:

• …your current career interests and,
• …relevant skills you have that will help you be successful in a career.

3. Include a paragraph about each item that summarizes:

• What is the item?
• Why did you select the item for your portfolio?
• How did you improve the item before including it in the portfolio?

Step 2: Help students select artifacts to include in a career exploration portfolio. Some potential artifacts to create and include are:

• Personal Mission Statement
• Presentation about a Career Cluster that interests you
• 6-8 year career and education plan
• Results from a career interest inventory
• A journal entry or reflection on career interest inventory results
• A self-rating sheet showing how you rate yourself on career skills with a paragraph reflecting on how you have grown since you completed the self-rating sheet.
• Picture or map of the local community showing where the 16 career clusters are found locally
• Summary of an interview with an individual who has a career that interests you

Step 3: Have students create the portfolio, evaluate the artifacts and then present it for assessment. For example, you may have students present their portfolio to their parents, a counselor or an adult mentor. Use this as an opportunity to continue the conversation between the student and parents about the student’s interests, desires and plans.

It's that easy! Engage your students in starting a career exploration portfolio today!

Are you looking for more career exploration resources? Our middle school career exploration curriculum, Engage!, offers a project based approach to career exploration. In fact, the project described here is adapted from the detailed plan included in Engage! For more information check out Engage! at www.relevantclassroom.com.

Career Development Tip for 9.25.08

Decoding a Job Description

We often hear that many applicants for jobs aren’t qualified and their applications are thrown out. My best guess tells me that part of those that aren’t qualified are in desperate need of a job and are fishing for an interview. The other side of my guess says that part of that group simply couldn’t decode the job description/announcement so that they could put together a rock star application.

Have your students search online, in a local or major newspaper, at their favorite company, in the local government/university listings, etc. to find a job description that contains details about the duties of the job, minimum qualifications and preferred qualifications. It’s an added bonus if the job description is one they’re interested in applying for in the future. In small groups, have students identify key phrases and words that describe the job and qualities/qualifications the ideal applicant would possess. Once those components are identified, have students create a “translation” of the job description: What are priorities for this position? What skills are necessary? What experience would lend well in applying for this job? What kind of education is required to apply for this position? What qualifications would the company like to see in the applicant, but aren’t absolutely necessary? Talking through advanced job applications like this will be of benefit even as students apply for hourly jobs throughout high school and their post-secondary education.

To extend the learning, challenge students to identify workplace qualifications they already possess. What specifically have they done that shows valuable skill in terms of the job market? For ideas about how to detail qualifications, even from seemingly simple experiences check out Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist blog (specifically the section titled “Every line must quantify success").

Career Development Tip for September 18, 2008

Exploration via Case Studies

It’s fascinating to read about the ways successful companies problem solve, overcome obstacles and impact the marketplace. Your students will be making those solutions happen in the near future. Isn’t that fun to think about? Help them see themselves in those roles by diving into case studies. Check out these free resources (they have great sources for both students and teachers!): CasePlace.org and The Times 100 Business Studies Resources Centre.

CasePlace.org is designed for students and teachers in an MBA setting, but has loads of case studies available to read (via great search features) and provides teaching modules for expanded learning. The Times 100 Business Studies Resources Centre has lesson plans and quizzes in addition to the archives of case studies.

One idea to urge students to see themselves in a future career is to have them read one or two case studies of their choice. As they read, have them think about the problem that was overcome or the new way the company was able to influence their market. From there, start a discussion on what types of people or specific jobs were involved in the study. It may open students’ eyes to career possibilities they never knew existed.

Career Development Tip for September 11, 2008

You Must Be Your Own Advisor

As I helped my sister register for classes this fall, I was again reminded of a lesson my high school biology teacher shared. “When you go to college, you must be your own advisor.” He shared that there are good college advisors out there, but in the end, the responsibility to look out for yourself is your own. Not looking out for yourself can easily cost you an extra semester (maybe even two) and big bucks.

Help pass the message onto your upperclassmen. Engage your school counselor in the process by asking him or her to bring in college catalogs. Ask students to choose a major and list the requirements needed. Have them note any prerequisites for each class. Send them to the college or university web-site of their choice to make a mock class schedule for the semester. Share extra tips with your students on registering early and how to ask permission to join a class listed as full.


Career Development Tip for September 4, 2008

Career Cluster Interest Inventory

Looking to expose your students to Career Clusters? Wanting to dig a little deeper than just asking what your students want to be when they grow up?

Check out the Career Cluster Interest Inventory available on CareerClusters.org. It’s a PDF you can print off for each student with the scoring directions and brief information on each cluster. The inventory itself is straightforward and very easy to score. It will help students identify the top three clusters they may be interested in. If you’re planning for students to take the inventory in class, budget at least 20 minutes for the actual assessment and scoring.

Take it one step further by compiling classroom results to help you cater content examples to your students’ interests.


Career Development Tip for August 28, 2008

Add a Trip to the College Bookstore

Recently, I went with my sister-in-law to help her pick up books for her college classes this fall. Not wanting to hover, I started to ramble around the aisles and pick up books that look interesting (and some that didn’t). Somewhere between Computer Science and Horticulture it struck me – there really are a lot of cool careers out there…something for everyone. I never considered mechanical engineering as a field of study, but after spending three minutes flipping through books and seeing the kinds of projects they work on, I kind of wish I had.

How many of your students have never had three minutes to consider a career field?

Schools and parents are great today about having students visit colleges to find out where they might like to go to school. Here’s a suggestion: next time, encourage them to stop by the college bookstore to spend a half hour browsing books of the fields of current interest and those that might inspire interest. The activity can be applied to any type of college and can be accomplished individually or with groups. And…it’s free! No fee to use this “career interest inventory.”

Yes, books are “old school” – you can send them to a college’s online book store to do a similar activity, but it’s not the same. We all have a emotional connection to books from childhood; there’s something about feeling the pages and seeing the words and pictures on paper that speaks to us in ways that screens cannot. And what decision is more emotional than choosing a career field and college?

Career Development tip for the week of August 21, 2008

If You Do Nothing Else

If You Do Nothing Else

My efforts to come up with something crafty and useful for this week’s Career Development Tip haven’t been all that fruitful, but they did lead me to ask myself, “What is it that teachers/counselors/administrators/paraprofessionals/coaches must do to help students do in the career development arena?” I’ve come up with the line “the first step is to start showing we care.” Please don’t be offended—I know you care dearly about your students. By “care” I mean, make it priority, start the conversation with students and follow up. They’ve been asked a number of times what it is they want to be when they grow up, but how many adults have taken a genuine interest in what they’ve said or challenged them to consider careers that fit with their talents and interests? How many adults have asked how they will go about accomplishing their goals?

As you’re settling into the routine of school again, make it a habit to show you care about their future careers. If it feels like too much, focus on two or three students who could use guidance and encouragement.
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Career Development Tip for August 14, 2008

Sales Skills

Whether a person’s job title includes the word “sales” or not, chances are, we will all sell something during our time in our respective careers. While we may not all sell products, we’ll have to sell employers or co-workers on an idea of some sort. As an educator, who taught you how to “sell” (or really communicate) your ideas for changes and improvements? Maybe no one did. So give your students a jump start and a little practice in the safety of your classroom.
1. Complete a short lesson on basic sales tips. Use the following resources for your students to look at or for you to gather information:
a. http://marketing.about.com/od/salestipsandadvice/Sales_Tips_and_Advice.htm
b. Here are five steps found at: http://communication.howstuffworks.com/sales-technique1.htm for generating a sale:
i. Attention: You have to get the attention of your prospect through some advertising or prospecting method.
ii. Interest: Build their interest by using an emotional appeal such as how good they will look to their boss when they make this deal that will save the company thousands of dollars!
iii. Desire: Build their desire for your product by showing them its features and letting them sample or test-drive it.
iv. Conviction: Increase their desire for your product by statistically proving the worth of your product. Compare it to its competitors. Use testimonials from happy customers.
v. Action: Encourage the prospect to act. This is your closing. Ask for the order. If they object, address their objections. There are then many variations of closing techniques that can help get the business.
c. You might even look for a few useful videos on www.youtube.com and have your students watch them.
d. http://sales.quickanddirtytips.com/
2. Ask your students to choose an object or idea they might work with in a future career.
3. Guiding students with the information and resources you’ve given them, have your students develop a “pitch” for the product or idea they’ve chosen.
4. Have the salespeople deliver their pitch in front of the entire class or act with a few people at the front of the room as though they are making a house call.
5. Celebrate your students’ success and encourage them to look for ways they “sell” ideas each day.

Career Development Tip for July 31, 2008

Exploring Career Options

Careers:

What if there was a way that your students could virtually learn about and explore career options? Believe it or not, if you visit www.CareerTours.com, that’s exactly what you’ll find! The site is a recruiting platform that allows job seekers to "experience" their next career through video. Sometimes lauded as the “YouTube” of careers, CarreerTours.com has 2,300 career videos and nearly 150,000 job postings in five countries.

Their mission includes changing the way on-line recruiting happens through career videos, innovative technology and out-of-the-box marketing strategies for clients and candidates with the objective of increasing their quality of life.

Direct your students to www.CareerTours.com and encourage them to really experience a career of choice!

20 Questions About Careers

Young people are curious about everything. Whether they ask a million questions or sit quietly in your class, they’re all curious about something. Our hope is that they’re really curious about what they might do beyond high school. You can help develop the attitude of an eager learner by creating a spin on the game “20 Questions” with your students. Here’s how:
1. Go to www.bls.gov. Click on Occupational Outlook Handbook. Click the link for A-Z Index. Click on a letter to find careers or do a search for careers. It contains pertinent data and information about many careers that currently exist. Print off one different career summary for each student in your classroom. Select careers that vary in educational requirements, salary range, working conditions, etcetera. And of course, promote your specialty by printing a few careers that have some connection to what you teach.
2. Instruct students to select a career summary and allow them two minutes to review the information. Instruct them not to share the paper with anyone.
3. Announce, “In a moment, you’ll be asking questions about a career another person in the room holds. The catch is, you may only ask 20 questions and they must be able to be answered with “yes” or “no”. When I say “go”, you have one minute to jot down a few questions you might ask. GO! (You might provide a couple sample questions to get your students started.)
4. Say, “When I say, ‘career,’ find a partner, select one person to ask questions first and begin. The object is to see if you can identify the career your partner is holding. You have three minutes for each person to get through their 20 questions.”
When both students have completed their 20 questions, ask how many students were able to guess their new career. Depending on the time available, have students share their career with the entire class or in small groups and state how that career uses the content from your classroom.
Enjoy providing relevance around the questions that your students ask!


Career Development Tip for July 10, 2008