Career Development Lessons
Career-related discussions in elementary school is vital in showing students that working hard to succeed as students will them reach their future goals. I've heard from several school counselors that it is a challenge to find fun career lessons, so I wanted to share a few of my ideas. :)
Kindergarten Lessons:
First Grade Lessons:
Second Grade Lessons:
Third Grade Lessons:
Fourth Grade Lessons:
Fifth Grade Lessons:
Kindergarten Lessons:
- Career Tool Kit - In this lesson, each student has the opportunity to dig in a pull out a career-related tool from a "Bag O' Jobs," and the class works together to guess what types of jobs use the tool and whether or not they would be interested in the job. They love it!
- Career Egg Hunt - This is another lesson that students love. I filled a bunch of plastic eggs with pictures of career tools. I then hid them around the Kindergarten classrooms, and had the students work in pairs to find them. Once they found the eggs, they took turns sharing the tool they found with the class, and as a whole group, we reviewed the types of jobs that use the tools.
- When I Grow Up - Students love a great story. I found a cute career-related picture book from my local library and read it aloud to the students. I followed up the story by having each student draw a picture of themselves doing the career of their dreams. They students came up with some pretty creative ideas to bring home to show their parents. :)
First Grade Lessons:
- Swat-Away Career Game - In this lesson, students are put into two teams and each team is given a fly swatter. I then projected pictures of various community jobs on the projector screen. Students had to listen for clues about a job and be the first to "swat" the picture of the career that matched the clues. They had a blast with this one!
- Creative Careers Lesson: When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic - I read this amazing book to the first grade students, and they laughed and laughed through the whole story. The character Billy in this story comes up with several creative and silly careers, so keeping with this theme, I asked the students to draw a career they would like to do "in their wildest dreams." A number of students came up with some fun ones like a lion trainer and another student wanted to be a cat cuddler. Hehe. :)
Second Grade Lessons:
- Career Charades - In this lesson, I was able to pull out my "Bag O' Jobs" again, so each student could come to the back of the room and pull out a career tool. They then acted out the job for the class until someone guessed it. I stayed in the back of the room to give "acting tips." :)
- Career Jeopardy - I used Jeopardy Labs to make an interactive Career Jeopardy game to review community careers. With the option of having multiple categories, I also took the opportunity to add questions that would give the students a PBIS booster and review conflict resolution strategies.
Third Grade Lessons:
- Postcards to the Future - To practice making short-term and long-term goals, I had the students make a postcard to their future self. I told them to send one postcard to themselves at the end of the school year and one postcard to their future self after high school. They thought it was funny. The students wrote a goal on the left side of the postcard and one thing they can do to reach their goal on the right side. They then cut out the postcards and drew pictures of themselves achieving their goals on the back. BONUS: The students learned what a postcard is...we just don't send and receive them as much as we used to.
- Team Survival Game - Team-work is an essential job skill. Therefore, I gave the students a survival scenario and had them work together to rank the importance of a list of items by how helpful they might be for their survival. When groups finished, they presented their group decisions and I gave them the list of expert rankings from the U.S. Coast Guard. This is one of my favorite lessons!
Fourth Grade Lessons:
- Career Research Project - Students used mini laptops to search three careers that interest them. They were asked to fill out a digital worksheet where they write a description of the job, note the salary, and indicate the amount of education needed. Once they completed their research, they were asked to choose their favorite and present it to the class. This lesson is done best in two parts.
Fifth Grade Lessons:
- Career Game - Each student was given a copy of the Career Game Explorer and Hot Jobs. This is a simple career interest inventory which matches student interests with jobs. The vocabulary is a little advanced in some parts, so we went through each part together. They students love learning which jobs fit their personality. There are so many great discussions that come out of this activity! :)
Decisions, Decisions!
Decision-making and problem solving are essential skills for our students to learn in order to be successful as students and beyond. When we encourage our students to collaborate with others to make decisions and problem-solve, we are taking these 21st century skills to the next level.
I would like to provide you with short list of a few of my favorite whole class and/or group activities that are FUN and encourage collaborative problem-solving and decision-making. I promise your students will have a blast (and learn a ton about how they work with others).
1. Survival Skills. These types of activities place students in situations (hypothetical) where they need to make decisions as a group to survive. In the Lost at Sea activity, the students are aboard sinking ship and must gather resources to survive. The scenario explains that the students have gathered 15 items and have to rank them based on importance to them as they await rescue. The students first rank the items individually and then in small groups. When the groups are finished, I like to have each of them present their decisions to the whole class so they can learn how the other groups came to different or similar decisions. You might then share the "expert rankings" because the students are going to demand that they know the "answers." :) If your students like this activity, you might also want to challenge them with Moon Landing scenario as well.
2. Maze Challenge. If you have some time to set up a room before, creating a maze for the students to work through collaboratively can be an engaging and effective activity. Using masking tape, create a 10x10 or 5x5 (for younger groups) grid on the floor, making sure each box is large enough for someone to stand in. Label one box "start" and beforehand, create a "correct path" that students must follow to "win" as a group. While each student takes turns individually, the group must work together to determine the correct path. To play, one group member at a time tests the squares, from the start square, to determine the correct path. As the group leader, you indicate if they are standing on the correct path and can continue or have made an incorrect move. If the students make an incorrect move, they must return to the back of the line and cannot go again until all other group members have gone. Ultimately, the group must rely on their communication and problem-solving skills to help each group member successfully through the maze. This is a great interactive and engaging activity. I love activities that create real and in-the-moment frustrations, struggles, and communication gaps. In these moments, we (the educators) can facilitate here-and-now support and strategies for growth and coping rather than just talking about it generically.
3. The Tallest Tower. In this activity, split the classroom into smaller groups and provide each group with a variety of supplies. These supplies might include: scissors, masking tape, popsicle sticks, construction paper, pens or pencils, paper cups, plates or bowls, or anything else you might want to use. Provide each group with a packet of supplies. You could either give each group the same supplies, or you could add a little zing to the activity by giving each group an uneven amount and types of supplies. If you decide to pass the supplies out unevenly to each group, make sure you hide the supplies in paper bags so the groups are initially unaware of what the other groups have to work with. The goal is to build the tallest free standing tower with the supplies given. Pay attention to how the groups work together, and if you decided to give uneven supplies, make note on how the groups react to the "unfairness" of the activity. These observations will make for great processing points to discuss at the conclusion of the activity. The trick to this activity is that in order to build the tallest free standing tower, the groups have to work together and merge all supplies. Since the students were not tole th
I would like to provide you with short list of a few of my favorite whole class and/or group activities that are FUN and encourage collaborative problem-solving and decision-making. I promise your students will have a blast (and learn a ton about how they work with others).
1. Survival Skills. These types of activities place students in situations (hypothetical) where they need to make decisions as a group to survive. In the Lost at Sea activity, the students are aboard sinking ship and must gather resources to survive. The scenario explains that the students have gathered 15 items and have to rank them based on importance to them as they await rescue. The students first rank the items individually and then in small groups. When the groups are finished, I like to have each of them present their decisions to the whole class so they can learn how the other groups came to different or similar decisions. You might then share the "expert rankings" because the students are going to demand that they know the "answers." :) If your students like this activity, you might also want to challenge them with Moon Landing scenario as well.
2. Maze Challenge. If you have some time to set up a room before, creating a maze for the students to work through collaboratively can be an engaging and effective activity. Using masking tape, create a 10x10 or 5x5 (for younger groups) grid on the floor, making sure each box is large enough for someone to stand in. Label one box "start" and beforehand, create a "correct path" that students must follow to "win" as a group. While each student takes turns individually, the group must work together to determine the correct path. To play, one group member at a time tests the squares, from the start square, to determine the correct path. As the group leader, you indicate if they are standing on the correct path and can continue or have made an incorrect move. If the students make an incorrect move, they must return to the back of the line and cannot go again until all other group members have gone. Ultimately, the group must rely on their communication and problem-solving skills to help each group member successfully through the maze. This is a great interactive and engaging activity. I love activities that create real and in-the-moment frustrations, struggles, and communication gaps. In these moments, we (the educators) can facilitate here-and-now support and strategies for growth and coping rather than just talking about it generically.
3. The Tallest Tower. In this activity, split the classroom into smaller groups and provide each group with a variety of supplies. These supplies might include: scissors, masking tape, popsicle sticks, construction paper, pens or pencils, paper cups, plates or bowls, or anything else you might want to use. Provide each group with a packet of supplies. You could either give each group the same supplies, or you could add a little zing to the activity by giving each group an uneven amount and types of supplies. If you decide to pass the supplies out unevenly to each group, make sure you hide the supplies in paper bags so the groups are initially unaware of what the other groups have to work with. The goal is to build the tallest free standing tower with the supplies given. Pay attention to how the groups work together, and if you decided to give uneven supplies, make note on how the groups react to the "unfairness" of the activity. These observations will make for great processing points to discuss at the conclusion of the activity. The trick to this activity is that in order to build the tallest free standing tower, the groups have to work together and merge all supplies. Since the students were not tole th
Angry Birds, Anger Management
One of my favorite aspects of school counseling is engaging students in the classroom. I will admit that I may spend way too much time searching for ideas for guidance lessons, but I truly love challenging myself to create an educational experience that will be both meaningful and fun for a my students. A goal of mine throughout my internship experiences is to nurture my creative side, and thanks to so many great tools on the internet, I am getting some great ideas.
The results of a needs assessment survey distributed to middle school students and teachers indicated a need for classroom lessons on the topics of anger management and social skills development. Adapted from an idea in an elementary school blog called The Home Teacher, I created a middle school lesson called "Angry Birds, Anger Management." Using some visual effects through a program called Sliderocket, the students and I developed a connection between the story and characters of the popular game Angry Birds with their personal understanding, behaviors, triggers and coping strategies related to anger. To begin the lesson, I asked the students to describe the story behind the game Angry Birds and tell me a little about each character. In a sense, I had the students teach me about the game while, in response, I shared with them how I see the connection to how we experience anger and cope with anger. Beginning the lesson this way helped break the ice and engage the students in what turned out to be a deep and meaningful discussion of what triggers their anger, how they can recognize anger in others, how they cope with anger, and how they might empathize when others are angry. Overall, this very simple lesson is an example of how making efforts to engage students at their level can help them feel more connected with the material and the school as a whole.
**Below is the video I used to introduce the topic. In the video, the birds explode with anger over a tiny little incident. As they focus all their attention and energy into acting on their anger, they lose track of their surroundings and what really matters to them (the safety of their eggs). The bird's decision to let their anger get the best of them created an opportunity for the pigs to steal their eggs. Following the video, I led the students in a discussion of instances where they let their anger take over and how that may have made their situation worse. I then challenged them to come up with a more positive approach to how they might address the issue if it came up again.
The results of a needs assessment survey distributed to middle school students and teachers indicated a need for classroom lessons on the topics of anger management and social skills development. Adapted from an idea in an elementary school blog called The Home Teacher, I created a middle school lesson called "Angry Birds, Anger Management." Using some visual effects through a program called Sliderocket, the students and I developed a connection between the story and characters of the popular game Angry Birds with their personal understanding, behaviors, triggers and coping strategies related to anger. To begin the lesson, I asked the students to describe the story behind the game Angry Birds and tell me a little about each character. In a sense, I had the students teach me about the game while, in response, I shared with them how I see the connection to how we experience anger and cope with anger. Beginning the lesson this way helped break the ice and engage the students in what turned out to be a deep and meaningful discussion of what triggers their anger, how they can recognize anger in others, how they cope with anger, and how they might empathize when others are angry. Overall, this very simple lesson is an example of how making efforts to engage students at their level can help them feel more connected with the material and the school as a whole.
**Below is the video I used to introduce the topic. In the video, the birds explode with anger over a tiny little incident. As they focus all their attention and energy into acting on their anger, they lose track of their surroundings and what really matters to them (the safety of their eggs). The bird's decision to let their anger get the best of them created an opportunity for the pigs to steal their eggs. Following the video, I led the students in a discussion of instances where they let their anger take over and how that may have made their situation worse. I then challenged them to come up with a more positive approach to how they might address the issue if it came up again.