A. PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Students will be knowledgeable about the world of work, explore career options, and relate personal skills, aptitudes, and abilities to future career decisions. To interact successfully with people and organizations students need to adapt to the changing nature of the workplace. Strong interpersonal, teamwork, leadership, and negotiation skills are essential for this success. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Develop effective ways to interact with others during school and after-school activities.
2. Identify strengths and interests required in a job, at home, at school, or in the community.
3. Identify local career opportunities.
4. Demonstrate workplace behaviors such as punctuality, flexibility, teamwork, and perseverance.
EXAMPLES
Resolve playground conflict using negotiation skills.
Identify favorite school subjects and special talents and relate them to jobs.
Volunteer for specific roles in cooperative learning situations.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Demonstrate how positive and negative attitudes affect one's ability to work with others.
2. Use communication and listening skills that result in successful interactions with others.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the connections between locally-generated products and services and the efforts required to create those products and services.
4. Explain the value of work to the individual and to society in general.
5. Demonstrate awareness of their own interests, aptitudes, and abilities.
EXAMPLES
Students are interviewed for a school newspaper to identify personal information which is used to develop a class profile.
Select a career and role play a scenario depicting why people do this work and how it benefits others.
B. EDUCATION/CAREER PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
Guided by self-assessment and personal career interests, students will integrate school- and work-based experiences to develop their career goals. Once career goals have been determined, students will evaluate continuously their progress and make necessary modifications. Students' success in the competitive world will depend on their ability to manage their own careers using job seeking, retention, and advancement skills. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Explore reasons why people work.
2. Identify preparation necessary for a career of interest.
3. Identify personal strengths and interests.
EXAMPLES
As a classroom, create a bar graph to classify hobbies, favorite school subjects, interests, and special talents and their relationship to working with people, information, or things.
Brainstorm possible questions to ask invited guest speakers who represent different careers.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Use a variety of resources to learn about a personally interesting career topic.
2. Gather data and information about personal interests, abilities, and aptitudes and project likely career options.
3. Identify job-hunting strategies and the skills necessary to hold a job.
EXAMPLE
Develop a personal career plan after interviewing family, relatives, or friends to determine the requirements for a career choice.
C. INTEGRATED AND APPLIED LEARNING
Students will demonstrate how academic knowledge and skills are applied in the workplace and other settings. Students will select and apply appropriate technological resources and problem-solving strategies to real life situations using problem-solving strategies in purposeful ways. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Identify examples of technology being applied at home, school, or work.
2. Demonstrate the effects of technology on where people choose to live, how they communicate, how they travel, and how they acquire goods and services.
3. Use academic skills to solve real life problems.
EXAMPLES
Relate a story about how a school cafeteria employee uses math and English language arts skills on the job.
Make a diorama showing a person applying technology while at work.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Illustrate how products evolve as a result of technological systems.
2. Identify technological system (input, process, output, feedback) and cite examples in the school and/or community.
3. Identify academic knowledge and skills required in specific careers.
EXAMPLES
Prepare a presentation on a career of your choice and explain how academic skills are important to success.
Illustrate graphically the evolution of the wheel.
Identify the major components of the school's water supply system.
D. BALANCING RESPONSIBILITIES
Students will acquire and apply skills/concepts required to balance personal, family, community, and work responsibilities. The skills to manage work, family, and community responsibilities for the well-being of themselves and others are critical for personal success. Students will be able to:
ELEMENTARY GRADES Pre-K-2
1. Identify different roles they play.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of saving.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of the conservation of resources.
EXAMPLES
Create a classroom recycling project.
With their pictures in the center of a planning web, students will depict six roles they play.
ELEMENTARY GRADES 3-4
1. Exhibit, during the school day, the personal qualities that lead to responsible behavior.
2. Develop time management strategies for school and after-school activities.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of earning, spending, and saving in relation to personal security and the economic stability of the family.
EXAMPLES
Use computer technology to create a week-long schedule for school and after-school activities.
Explain why arriving at school and completing assignments on time would be important to an employer.
Create a family nutrition plan that includes basic budgeting and family menus.