Bored and annoyed with some old kindergarten career lessons, I hit up Pinterest in search of new and exciting things. I had pinned an image of the book LMNO Peas by Keith Baker with a simple blurb underneath: This book has peas dressed for careers from A-Z. Have kids make green fingerprints and then add details to make careers. SOLD! I got to work with ordering green ink pads and the book. Just an FYI, I'm cheap as all get out, so I did some price comparisons. The best prices were through ebay (N & K Trading Inc for the ink pads and Goodwill Books for LMNO Peas). I also created a worksheet and SmartBoard presentation to go with it. My first trial with this is takes place Friday with some of my kindergarten friends, and I'm pretty stoked.
A few years ago, I was privileged enough to present at the ASCA Conference with the president-elect, Dr. Sharon Sevier, on the topic of Career Exploration and Transitions. Due to the intense nervousness I was experiencing, I barely remember anything other than hearing my own nervous, dry mouth making gross smacking noises when I opened it and the 100 or so heads nodding in approval when I told the crowd that I tell students going to college is not their only option to have a successful future.
I have always felt that, as a counselor, being honest is important. It doesn't mean that I discourage kids from pursuing their dreams to be a football play or a singer; instead, I spend time during my lessons arming them with the facts. I enjoy using the career inventories to start encouraging kids to think about all the options they have, but with my fourth graders, I spend time talking about what it takes to get to the point of working. I highlight jobs falling in to categories of no college, two year colleges, four year colleges, and college + graduate school. We discuss average incomes for these areas (generally, how much a person in that field is paid per hour), and I compare those incomes to what I make in the average week, month, and year. This way, getting paid by the hour is being put in to a context. My favorite part of this lesson is at the very end when I show the kids my favorite work-related website: The Occupational Outlook Handbook (part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics website)! This website is a fact-seekers dream come true. I ask a student to share what s/he wants to do when grown, and as a class, we search that profession on OOH. Up pops a wealth of information, and every updated edition of the handbook is better than the last. The website now provides a basic overview covering areas such as median pay, level of education needed, training, and the job outlook. Should one want to explore more in depth, they can scroll down to find very detailed descriptions of the job, the environment in which they would be working, the education/training needed to do that job, income, the job outlook, related professions, and people to contact should someone want to get more information. I'm excited just thinking about the kids exploring this website! Overall, my message to students is to pursue whatever you want, but know what you're getting in to! It all comes back to the fact that making a well thought out plan is powerful, and preparing a Plan B or C makes someone that much more ready for their future. Ahhhhhh, Career Exploration... Probably my favorite area of focus in Comprehensive Guidance because I get to see kids really start to get excited about their future. I have cultivated my Career Exploration lessons for the last seven years, and it is a program that is super fun and solid. One of the resources I love to use with fifth graders is the "Who Are You?" Inventory. Yes, it can be lengthy for some, but it's so awesome when it comes to giving the results. This inventory not only gives ideas of what a student might enjoy in the professional world, but it also gives personality traits of those in each area. In looking at the "Who Are You" results, you will also notice that the adjectives are both positive and negative. I have the students identify their top two or three areas, and when we go over those areas, I talk about the positive and negative traits of the personality types. After being together in school for a number of years, these kids know each other well, and they get to laughing pretty hard when the adjectives describe a classmate to a T.
A word of advice: Be sure to remind the students over and over and over and over again that this is not a job predictor. It simply brings to light different ideas of what a student might enjoy doing. It's always a fun time to try and talk down a parent who's mad at you for allegedly telling their kid that "s/he is going to be an artist and not a doctor" as the parents have planned for their child... Don't freak out! Help is here! Remember that ASCA article I mentioned I wrote? Here it is!
Every counselor wants to provide their kids with an amazing education on the world of work, but let’s face it; we can’t always have helicopters landing in our school yard! OK, it’s true, this actually happened at one Career Day I held, but that’s neither here nor there. :) The point is that even doing a small Career Day can change the course of a child’s life, and that is what it’s all about. It’s all in how you prepare and plan. If you are like I was in the beginning and feeling a little lost as to what you should do, follow these 10 steps for a successful Career Day. 1) Start preparing early Each Spring I look at the master calendar for the following school year and figure out what days are available for Career Day. I have found that with my staff, mid January is a great time to hold my Career Day. It avoids testing times, holidays, and times of high stress. Before I commit to the date, I ask all teachers whose schedules will be affected if the date works for them. A little bit of consideration goes a long way. I begin actively searching for presenters in September or October. This gives me enough time to scope out some really interesting professionals and enough time to find a back up if a scheduled presenter falls through. It also gives potential presenters enough time to request time off with ample notice and prepare what they are going to discuss and/or show the students. 2) Limit the age group While I teach Career Exploration to all grade levels, I limit Career Day to fourth and fifth grade students. It’s a great age, because they have begun to think about pursuing careers based on their strengths, have a greater understanding of the content shared by the presenters, and sometimes even ask some insightful questions about the careers being discussed. 3) Cover all career areas Making sure that all six of the career areas covered is important. Having kids see only professions that fall in to the Business Path and the Helping Path is limiting. Through Comprehensive Guidance, we teach all six paths, so why not present an occupation from each path? Choosing a profession from each path will also reach more students or spark interest in an area a child had not previously considered. 4) Think outside the box I don’t remember my school counselors ever talking about not going to college, but the reality of life is that many kids throughout our country decide to take a path that does not include attending a four year university. Not every person grows up to be a teacher, lawyer, or a doctor yet many career fairs are littered with individuals in these occupations. Kids, even young ones, need to be informed of their post-high school options that include college, technical schools, and training programs. Last year’s Career Day included a presenter who did concrete stamping after laying sidewalks and driveways. I must admit that I was worried as to whether the kids would like it or be remotely interested, but they loved it! It was a job that was out of the ordinary, and it requires employees to have knowledge of science and artistic ability, which the kids ate up. I have had dog trainers, Invisible Fence installers, a Ferrier, real estate agents, artists, musicians, and other careers that don’t require a four year degree. I’ve always felt it’s critical for kids to explore and be exposed to a variety of occupations, and the kids are always most interested in the occupations that are unique. Important points I try to drive home is the fact that every career plays a vital role in our lives and attempt to do away with the stereotype that glamorous, high paying jobs are the most important. 5) Know your audience When choosing presenters, consider your audience! What interests them, and how can you pull in kids who aren’t interested in that profession? It’s not possible to please everyone with every presenter, but if I can excite a child about a career, I’ve done my job. I choose presenters based on at least one of three criterions: a) Is there a large group that would be interested in this profession? b) Would the indifferent student be interested?; c) Would I be interested in watching this presenter? At my school, we have a number of young ladies very interested in fashion and the latest trends, while I have yet to meet a young man who is a budding fashionista. If I went with a clothing designer, it could severely limit the interest, so this is another place to think outside the box. I ended up finding a student’s father who owned a business that designed uniforms for area sports teams. It drew in the fashionistas, the artists, the business-minded kids, and sports fans. If a kid didn’t fall in to any of those categories, he/she was impressed anyway, because they knew the son of the presenter. 6) What to tell the presenters Before I was a school counselor, I taught Language Arts. Every once in a while, I would tell the students to write about anything they wanted, and hands would immediately fly up. “What do I write about?” “Anything you want.” “But, like, what? Like, my dog?” “Does that fall under the description of “anything”?” “Yes, but…” The freedom was way too overwhelming for them, and the concept of “anything” left them clueless. I approach presenters with this in mind, so instead of asking them to tell kids about their job, I’m very specific. I tell them to explain how/why they chose their profession, what schooling or training was necessary for their job, and any academic skills they use in their job (e.g. public speaking, writing, math, etc.). It takes the broad topic and narrows it down for them. They know exactly what I want, and it avoids the “deer in the headlights” moments after they have given a brief description of their job. Kids also like to be involved as much as possible. During my Career Days, students have been able to pet dogs, look at babies and broken bones on a mini ultrasound machine, sing along to songs, dance, and wear various pieces of uniforms. I encourage presenters to get the kids involved, because that is how they truly learn and experience that profession. 7) Make the schedule foolproof for teachers/staff—Less work=Happier teachers My fourth and fifth grade colleagues have started to look forward to Career Day, because I take care of everything. We have always had six presentations but eight classes, so two teachers are “off” each year. I rotate who is relieved of their class, divvy their classes up in to the remaining six classes, and provide them with a list telling them where each child goes. Involved staff members receive a schedule of events at least two weeks ahead of time that covers who is presenting in each room (presenters stay in one classroom), the time of each presentation, and which teacher will be in the teacher’s room should Career Day conflict with Specials (music, art, or PE). The teachers know what to expect, and they get to stay in their classroom while groups of kids rotate through their rooms to see the featured presenter. I even go as far as to give presenters a two minute warning prior to the kids needing to rotate to the next classroom, so the teachers don’t have to worry about watching the clock. Chaos is not fun on days like this, so I avoid it at all costs. 8) Don’t overwhelm the kids I could probably talk about what I do for at least an hour, and that would be just scratching the surface. However, no one, specifically fourth and fifth graders, wants to sit through an endless discourse of my occupation. My first Career Day had six different presentations that were twenty minutes each. By about minute 15 of each presentation, most kids were starting to get that glazed over look and doing that weird slouched body-head laid back-mouth open thing in their chairs. I started making the presentations shorter, limiting them to 15 minutes, and it has helped everyone. More kids stay interested, and it aids in avoiding the possibility of presenters running out of things to say after they’ve covered the highlights of their profession. 9) Expect and prepare for the worst There is nothing worse than having someone call up the day before or the day of Career Day to tell you they can’t present anymore. It’s one of those times where, outwardly, you’re sympathetic and understanding, but, inside, you’re channeling Nancy Kerrigan screaming, “WHY ME?!?!” I have learned to expect the absolute worse, and that has helped me to prepare for a Career Day catastrophe. Last year, I was still three presenters short of the needed six two days before Career Day. I called my mom and my husband who couldn’t present but had colleagues that could, and I went through old e-mails and found a name of a lady who owned a dance studio in town who had been recommended to me by a parent two years earlier. Colleagues also can come through in a bind. Some are married with working spouses or relatives, some have kids who are working, or even they can come through for you. There are so many people who would drop everything in an instant for this opportunity. You just have to knock on the right doors… 10) Reflect and get ready for next year! After each Career Day, I have promptly walked back to my office, plopped down in my chair, and exclaimed, “Holy cow (OK, not “cow”…)!” After I have decompressed from the last few hours of running around like crazy, I start to reflect upon what was awesome and what was not so awesome about Career Day. I talk to the kids and the teachers to gain insight on what the day looked like from their perspective. I make notes and print off e-mails to put in my “Career Day” file for next year, and I then let it go. I don’t dwell on the kid who asked the police officer if she had ever tasered anyone or the one who turned to her friend and said about the male presenter playing the guitar, “He’s hot!” It’s all over with until the Fall when I start planning all over again. Career Day sometimes feels like a huge task, but it can be both easy and fun. It is one of my favorite times during the school year. It has always been worth the stress to see both kids and staff excited about the presenters who have come to speak. Of course, every school is different and needs to have the above tips tweaked to fit their population. If you would like to take a peek at my letters, schedules, and other resources, feel free to contact me! |