Career Day - A Peek Into The Future

During my recent subbing stint with 6^th graders, I was left to create lesson plans for a group who only wanted school to be over. As I always do, I checked my calendar resources. Fortunately the school calendar listed a Career Day involving parent participation. I didn't know any of the parents so I was left with no choice, but to create some activities for the class!

Since the class was comfortable with “morning sheets” I created a matching sheet with job titles listed down the left side and job descriptions on the right side. (There is a sample of the matching sheet attached.) I also stirred things up by rearranging their desks into a double horseshoe so that we could have group discussions. I allowed them to refer to classroom dictionaries and to each other for matches. When they did ask for help, I tried only to give them hints about the jobs. Unfortunately all the dictionaries in the classroom were not of equal quality so a lot of sharing had to occur. When a sufficient amount of time had elapsed, a group discussion of the 24 jobs took place. I tried to get them to understand connections to real life situations. For example, during the discussion for entomologist, I asked them why it would be important to be an expert on insects----bees as pollinators for our food source, bugs as a source of food for pets, etc.

Taped up pages of want ads from the local STAR News at the front of the classroom. Asked them to think about what jobs are available and what skills were needed to perform those jobs. Left this activity up as a free choice activity during lunch and breaks. Class discussions will return to these pages later.

Next I spread out an assortment of magazines---POPULAR MECHANICS, POPULAR SCIENCE, OUR STATE, SOUTHERN LIVING. There were enough magazines so that each student could pick two. The class was given time to peruse the periodicals and look for articles about jobs that might interest them. Next each student was asked to share with the class an occupation of interest found in one of the magazines and tell what they might need to do to get that kind of job. These particular periodicals were great because they had a lot of pictures showing people doing various jobs currently or in the future. Even some of the advertising in the magazines was helpful to illustrate or prompt a student to think about a career choice.

The next activity involved information that I had found online from the Michigan Council of Women in Technology. I shared that Information Technology jobs were good jobs for the future and that not many women are presently working in this field. The premise of this type of work is that “computers are dumb, and they need humans in order to operate!” As soon as 2020, it is believed that there will be 1.4 million IT jobs available. IT jobs are considered more stable and offer better pay. At the present time only 18% of computing and IT science degrees go to women and companies are looking for women with this type expertise.(1) I also pointed out that IT companies are looking for creative people---types who think outside the box! I shared an interview technique used by many companies that tries to determine how creative a thinker an applicant is. A job interviewer will hand an applicant a ballpoint pen and ask him to name or list all the possible uses for the pen. The job interviewer is looking for creative people who are not afraid to “take the pen apart.” I shared the story of the surgeon who saved someone by using the case from a ballpoint pen during an emergency tracheotomy.

After the IT discussion I presented them with a challenge. I asked them to create something from a cardboard box, a pencil, and duct tape. I supplied boxes of various sizes and shapes, they all had pencils and I provided rolls of duct tape to be shared. Each student picked one box. They also had to name their creation and give a little spiel about it to the class. A secret ballot was held for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place and prizes (giant Tootsie Rolls from the Dollar Store) were awarded. The variety of ideas was amazing----very simple to quite complex, very quick to quite time consuming, and very typical to quite unusual. Pictures of the “challenge” creations are attached to this blog.

The last task before going home was to list an occupation of interest that could be illustrated to the class the next day by way of a demonstration, a picture, a story, a prop, etc. The list included vet, gymnast, marine biologist, singer, dancer, basketball player, travel agent, football player, skate crew, engineer, paleontologist, and “velociraptor!” The next day the students brought in basketballs, footballs, Legos, stuffed animals, choreographed skits, songs, skate boards, fossils, and a toy dinosaur robot. The presentations were spread out over the day because of other Career Day activities. The presentations were generally gender typical with the girls being the singers and the dancers and the boys being the ball players and the skate boarders.

On Career Day the 6^th graders did join the 7^th and 8^th graders to complete a packet called CAREER DAY PREPARATION ACTIVITIES from the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation. The students were also visited by a parent who owns her own recording label and performs, a parent who is a chemist and tests water, and a parent who is retired military and works as a warden. Other special activities included watching episodes of DIRTY JOBS hosted by creator, Mike Rowe---collecting alligator eggs (my husband watches SWAMP PEOPLE so I had a little background to share), collecting kelp and feeding it to abalone (I had been to a similar California pier/restaurant where the sea lions perch under the glass top tables), and creating special effects make-up.

Career Day seemed an enjoyable experience considering it was the last in-class activity before the last day of school. The remaining week included an all day Field Trip, Field Day outside, an Awards Ceremony, and Graduation.

(1) According to “How do we get girls to code? Initiatives seek answers” by Hayley Tsukayama at THE WASHINGTON POST, Google is launching an all-star group initiative aimed at getting girls excited about computer science and coding. The initiative, called “Made with Code,” will invite teenage girls to start projects in its “Blockly” visual programming editor. STAR News, Sunday, June 22, 2014

A Classroom Calendar Correlation

During my years in the classroom, I always liked to teach to the calendar-----meaning I preferred to build a unit or present a topic in a timely manner with an actual event, holiday, celebration, season, remembrance, etc. Since a feeling for history is hard to establish for young children, it makes more sense to talk about, for example, the Pilgrims at the actual time of year for harvesting and preparing for winter-----not say in May! If you want children to have an understanding for the direness and gratitude felt by the Pilgrims, then the children need to have some concrete connections to the events. Appropriate seasonal weather conditions have the power to cement concepts read about in books or heard about in stories.

Holding to my belief in following the calendar for the classroom, I used a day subbing with a group of 6^th graders after their EOG's as a way to explore three calendar events---a full moon combined with Friday the 13^th, Flag Day, and Father's Day. Using my efforts to make their time as interesting as possible while waiting for the other classes to finish the Science EOG's, I honed in on the fact that it is the 200^th Anniversary of the STAR SPANGLED BANNER. I found information and an interactive website in the June issue of the SMITHSONIAN, the magazine for smithsonian.com.

Luckily, the school is equipped with Wifi, a laptop, and a projector, so I was able to share the interactive website with the entire class. Since they have an American flag on display in their classroom I started the discussion off with having everyone stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. Next we proceeded to read the information on the interactive website with a game that the class had taught me called “popcorn.” The students take turns reading until they are tired which then calls for the reader to say “popcorn!” Hands then go up for volunteers to be called on to continue the reading. At the end of each section of the informational reading on the website was a question to be answered before they could move on to the next section. It was amazing to see how engaged they were about getting each question correct in order to read more about the history surrounding the song and the flag.

After finishing the website, I presented the class with examples taken from the SMITHSONIAN magazine which showed artworks that were inspired by the flag which had been seen by Francis Scott Key. There were examples by painters, poets, musicians, cartoonists, and weavers. Of course the one to catch the attention of these 6^th graders was the piece done by the team at Ralph Lauren's studio. Next I challenged them to create something red, white, and blue to represent how they felt about the STAR SPANGLED BANNER and that original flag which has been enshrined at the the Smithsonian since 2008. I put out piles of red, white, and blue scraps from many old projects---paper strips, foam punch outs, wire, tissue paper, ribbon, stickers, etc. In the accompanying pictures are some examples of projects that were created by the students.

Since these students are going to be the class to lead the singing of the STAR SPANGLED BANNER at the school graduation ceremony, I asked them to practice the words. Again using the SMITHSONIAN interactive website we heard the music and saw the words. An interesting discussion occurred when they realized that the words for the STAR SPANGLED BANNER were actually piggy-backed on another popular British song. They saw that it was like singing a nursery rhyme. They all knew that the ABC song (which was based on a Mozart tune) which then became the basis for “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” which is the same tune as “Baa, Baa Black Sheep.” After several attempts to sing the STAR SPANGLED BANNER, I realized only one girl in the class knew the words and tune. I am going to have to print off copies for everyone to practice next week.

Happy Flag Day and Happy Birthday to the STAR SPANGLED BANNER!!!