To Careers Week and BEYOND! Tosha Todd School Counselor, LPC, Ed.S. Sunny Pointe Elementary Blue Springs, MO ttodd@bssd.net www.kcschoolcounselorchic.blogspot.com

Why Have an Elementary Careers Week? Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Program Content Standards and GLE’s addressed and taught Strand CD – Career Development; Big Ideas 7, 8, and 9 Get’s kids EXCITED about their futures! Concepts: Integration of Self-knowledge into Life and Career Plans Adaptations to world of work changes Respect for all work Career decision making Education and career requirements Personal Skills for Job Success Job Seeking Skills In my building…fulfills a CSIP goal for career education and growth plan goal First and FOREMOST – if you’ve never done anything – START SMALL!!!

When is the best time of year to have Careers Week? Look at building schedule Determine a “less busy” time of year I schedule mine in December – do careers lesson in November

Who participates in Careers Week? At SPE, everyone! Kindergarten – 5th grade Approximately 580 students participate

How is Careers Week Organized? Form a team! You can’t do it alone! Ask for a volunteer from each grade level so they have input. Start small Been doing this 12 years Has grown each year Teachers love it, contribute great ideas, help with planning Collaborative effort

Next Step… Pick a Theme Why? It helps FOCUS the events for the week Ideas! To Careers Week and Beyond STEM You can be ANYTHING College and Career Ready Oh the Places You’ll Go

THEME DAYS! Last year at SPE – we did a careers dress up day for the kids and teachers College t-shirt day This year we will continue with those two days but we are theming it to follow our kids through their school careers so Monday – SPE day (wear spirit wear) Tuesday – PKMS day (wear purple and white) Wednesday – BSHS day (wear purple and gold) Thursday – College day – wear your future college clothing Friday – Career Day – dress like your future career

College Spirit Day!

Organization and Scheduling You can do ALL school participation or only certain grade levels Everything on one day or throughout the week Lean on your team to help you make these decisions START SMALL!!!! How much time do you want to commit to Career Day? (2 hours, 3 hours, etc.) It may look different for each grade level. Do you need to reschedule lunch shifts, recess, special classes? If you are going to do an extended time frame, schedule in restroom breaks for students and guest speakers

Expectations for Careers Week This can look however you want – At SPE this is what we do Each grade level has the expectation of doing a minimum of 2 careers focused activities during the week** Each grade level has the expectation of having a minimum of 3 guest speakers visit them to share about their career A grade level representative will send email report to me outlining ALL activities and speakers a week before so we (office staff, administrators, etc.) know what activities will be going on **This year at SPE, writing prompt all students will participate in November and writings will be displayed in halls during November and careers week

Guest Speakers Send potential guest speakers the first informational letter after you have made an initial contact with them through phone or e-mail. When you have received confirmation, send follow up questionnaire to get more information about them. Also provide them with possible questions, etc. (see attached information) Make sure you have any necessarily technology available to the guest speaker My teachers do this part

Guest Speakers Things to Consider: Guests should be able to speak to children at their level Guests should be able to stay on topic Guests should be able to commit to taking the time off to participate Try to get guest speakers from all six career paths Get speakers from a variety of post-secondary options Again…this is something each grade level arranges Our PTA volunteer form has a spot on it for “career day speaker”. I take these and share them with teachers. I find it is easier for teachers to get guest speakers for their grade level than it is for me to schedule for the whole building (which I have done in the past)

Teacher Preparation Name Tags Class meeting with students regarding behavior expectations on career day, being good listeners, asking “smart” questions, etc. Having chairs and desks moved and classroom arranged and ready for guest speaker Have activities for the week ready

What Does the Counselor Do? At SPE I… Teach my careers lessons in November to support what teachers will do during Careers week in December Provide resources to teachers HELP wherever I need to! Do several bulletin boards Coordinate events throughout building Last year I made posters for the career fair and helped 2nd grade figure out details for that I make bulletin boards and take care of a lot of the little things teachers don’t have time to do

Fun Activities! Mystery Teacher Interactive Bulletin Boards Career Fair – like science fair – have students or classrooms create a science fair type project on a specific career Door decorating contest - local university themed or themed differently Videos Photo booth Mystery Teacher – on announcements each morning read a “mystery” clue of a teacher in your building. Have them write it in a “who am I” format including jobs they had before becoming a teacher. Interactive bulletin boards – see above slide – integrate math questions into the graph “how many more teachers went to MU than to UCM?” etc. You’ve seen the videos we did this past year – this year we are going to seek out Sunny Pointe alumni and find out what jobs they are doing or where they are going to college

Ideas!!!! If you have the space – do a career fair in the gym or cafeteria Have each teacher in a grade level secure a speaker and rotate classes for several hours Make sure you have a variety of careers 2nd grade – explain what they did last year Make sure you represent as many paths as possible – college level careers and technical school, etc. Represent your families across the board

Resources! Where to find GREAT Ideas! Pinterest YouTube Teachers Pay Teachers Counselor Blogs A Good Ole Google Search The Amazing Resource Guide I have for you!!

Now for the FUN STUFF! If you’d like to visit the Facebook Page “School Outfitters” you can see how crazy this blog post of mine took off. It posted on January 13, 2015 and as of today had 22,641 likes and 1,000 comments – NOT ALL POSITIVE – and yes, I know there is a comma splice! This picture was taken 3 years ago!

After the Dust Settles Have students and teachers fill out evaluation forms Send a formal thank you letter from the school to all guest speakers Have students write thank you notes to the guest speakers as well

A list of elementary careers resources is included in your packet

Questions???