My First Resume

I stumbled upon a great resource, Career Activities Book, published by the Texas Workforce Commission.  There are a variety of activities to help students understand the concept of self-knowledge, the development of a basic understanding of interests, likes and dislikes and how to interact with others. The various activities are also designed to raise awareness of the relationship between work and learning, the awareness of how work relates to the needs and functions of society and the interrelationship of life roles. The elementary grades are a good time to introduce the importance of personal responsibility and good work habits and the benefits of educational achievement. 

 
In fourth and fifth grade we completed 2 self-inventories to learn about the "Work Environment" that would be a good fit for us and our current "Work Habits."

Then we used the information from these 2 inventories to create our first resume.  I showed students a copy of mine and how it "brags" about all of my accomplishments.  

 

Here are some student examples: 

COW Day: May 3, 2013

This year our fifth graders will be participating in COW (Careers on Wheels) Day!  COW Day is a static display of 45 vehicles for students to walk around and observe a wide variety of vehicles that represent all U.S. Department of Education Career Clusters.  Students can talk to the drivers and actualy touch and see how these vehicles operate.  Presenters will also discuss related careers tied to a particular vehicle as it relates to a broad industry.

 

Here are some of the highlights from our trip: 

 Recycling, Ambulance...

 Road Safety, Dell Children's...

 Flo from Progressive, Austin Community College...

 Local News Station, Concrete...

 Austin Police Department, Bomb Squad, Firefighters...

 and Helicopters!!!

When I Grow Up...

In Kindergarten we read the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.  In this story, the main character, Vashti, is frustrated because she thinks she isn't a good enough artist.  Her teacher tells her to try something on her paper and all she can muster up is a dot.  She is asked to autograph it and finds it framed in the classroom the next day.  This inspires her to make more dots, even better than her first one, until she creates an entire art show.  She meets a new friend at the end of the story that has a similar problem, and asks him to autograph his work (to start the cycle over again). 

This book really highlights the theme of believing in yourself.  With just a simple dot, you can do anything!  This book was the springboard into our discussion of our futures.  I pulled out my graduation cap and showed them the tassels from my college graduations.  I explained how I wanted to be a ballerina, a teacher, an architect, a fashion designer, and a mom when I was younger...and now I'm a school counselor!  If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.  I had students draw pictures of what they would like to be when they grew up and share them.

Oh, The Places You'll Go in 1st Grade

In first grade we began to brainstorm about our future.  Where would we want to live?  Who do we want to be?  What college do we want to go to?  The list goes on and on!  I explained that there is not just one way to get where you want to go.  There are many different pathways that you can take, and as long as you always try your personal best, you will succeed.  We read Oh, The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss to highlight their own unique journeys they will take in life.  We learned that you'll encounter many choices, ups and downs, and fears and successes as you travel through life.

Then the students illustrated how they wanted their futures to look:

 

College & Career Ready at Lee!

The Austin ISD Office of Academics mission is to develop and systematically support high quality, rigorous curriculum, programs and resources for school communities through collaboratively planning, communicating clearly roles and expectations, and building capacity for professional learning so that each and every student is college, career and life ready for global citizenship.

 

To support this mission, we are bringing awareness to college and careers at Lee Elementary during the month of May.  All guidance lessons will be focused on this topic and staff members will be filling out a survey to share their experiences from high school and on.  I created this bulletin board to showcase our education pathways, photos from graduation, and graphs to learn about what activities we were involved in as well as how we paid for college.

Here is the survey I created based on student's inquiries:

Here is the bulletin board: