Career, Vocational, and Transition Planning Drake University- Flyr

 For the next 15 minutes, write down the people in your life that have influenced you. Write down your career path and how you came to this point in your life. Was there anyone along the way that helped you reach your goals?

 All of you in this room have experienced success in your life.  Everybody in here has or is getting a college education.  During your life you had role models or people you looked up to.  These people motivated you and helped to build your self-esteem.

 It is a sequence of events that eventually will lead us into a career.  Whether we drop out of school, receive a high school diploma, or finish college, everything we learn in school is for the career or job we will get after graduating from high school.

 Academics- Reading, writing, problem solving, group work, and math  Attendance- Tardies and absences are preparation for the world of work  Schedules- When and where we have to be and some choice to explore our interests  Extra-Curricular- Build self-confidence and work on social skills

 Career Awareness: a. Focus on Work oriented society  Activities:  Interest Inventories and visits to work sites  Activities centered around the importance of work  Strengths and needs that correspond with interests and hobbies

 Career Exploration: a. Exploration of interests and abilities b. Hands-on and community experiences.  Activities:  Self-Evaluations of experiences  Exploration of career as contributing to self esteem, insight, and development

 Career Preparation: a. Appropriate career decision making b. Skill acquisition, based upon specific interests and aptitudes  Activities:  Experiences and opportunities to confirm choice or change  Observational and other assessments that validate a single career choice

 Career Assimilation: a. Movement into training and community settings b. Participation in paid employment opportunities.  Activities:  Certificate or degree level academic and vocational skills development  Career entry, maintenance, retraining, advancement, and exit preparation  Stress management and balancing strategies

 Donald Super came up with Career Development stages  One of his concepts was Career maturity  According to Super, career maturity can be defined as the readiness or ability of the individual to participate in the career decision- making process.

According to Super, all of us go through five stages in our life in reference to our careers. 1. Growth- We start thinking about what interests us 2. Exploration-We start exploring what career we might be interested in 3. Establishment- We start a new career and stick with it 4. Maintenance- We continue to grow in our career and maintain it for a long period of time 5. Decline- Retirement stage

 People with high self esteem, according to Super, have the career maturity to do well in their career paths  People that have high self esteem:  Have clearer perceptions of themselves and their vocational goals.  Are better prepared to identify interests, preferences, values, and abilities.  Can make appropriate career choices based on their skills.

 Limited career exploration  Limited opportunities to develop decision- making abilities  Negative self concept  Unwilling to explore careers, ask questions, and seek out answers  Unwilling to seek out resources and utilize them  Unable to plan for the near and distant future  Unable to accept responsibility for their own lives  Lack an understanding on how to set and attain goals in their lives

 Pair up with a partner or partners from the grade levels you are teaching or hoping to teach.  In the group discuss and share what can be done at those levels to help special education students overcome some of the characteristics we have discussed.  Be prepared to share your answers with the group.