More Knowledgeable Others (MKOs)

Assignment Check-In ■Get into your teams. ■Review the last three lessons on social networks and first impressions. ■Eye contact ■Handshakes ■Attitude ■What is a social contact ■Others? ■Be prepared to report out in your team.

Assignment Check-in #2 ■Stay in your team. ■Have each person report out on: ■What you chose to do for the first impressions lesson (handshake, eye contact, etc.) ■The kinds of people you identified wanting in your network ■Pick the person with the best assignment from last week to share with the class

Expanding Your Network ■How to get more people in your network, and particularly, how to add people who can help you in your growth. ■Why would we want to add people to your network?

Why Add People to Your Network? ■Connections (tell you what its like on college campus or in a training program you are considering) ■Opportunities (help you get interviews for jobs or internships) ■Mentors (people who can help you grow, gain new skills and insights)

Strength of Your Network ■How many people you are connected to ■How many connections your contacts have ■The more connections, generally, the stronger the network ■Quality of your contacts: Are they related to: ■The post-secondary education you want to explore? ■Careers you are interested in or are considering?

Techniques to Grow Your Network ■Talk about your goals and interests with people. Hard to make an introduction if others don’t know what you’re working towards. ■Ask! Ask for introductions. People will introduce you if they know and feel comfortable with the reason you want to meet their contact

What It Takes To Grow Your Network ■Time and trust. If you make a bad introduction, it could mean a loss of trust in you. ■Ways you can communicate that you’re a solid person to connect? ■Work ethic ■Responsibility ■Attentiveness ■Interest ■Good fit ■Serious about what you’re doing

Team Brainstorm ■Talk in your team about strategies you can use to build your network. ■Take out your network map that you created in class. ■Look at all the people in your network. Add on— who do they know? What are their workplaces, families, friends, clubs.

More Knowledgeable Others (MKOs) ■Lev Vygotsky was a Russian educator who created concept of “Zone of Proximal Development” or ZPD: ■Distance between the most difficult task a person can do alone and the most difficult task a person can do with help. ■Best way to learn was: ■Not taking on something way too hard or beyond your current level of skill ■Stay in the ZPD and use “More Knowledgeable Others” (MKOs)-

MKOs ■People who can help you reach the next level of your skill ■Anyone can be a MKO- ■Parents, teachers, peers, you! ■You can have several MKOs for different skills you want to gain

Team Activity ■Identify what skills you’d like to learn that will help you with your future goals? ■Be specific. ■What are things you know that you could help teach other people? ■Did you find someone in your group who could be an MKO for what you are wanting to learn?

Team Activity (optional) ■Have students do a “mini-networking” exercise ■In the next 5 minutes, approach at least 5 people and say something you are hoping to work on and 3 skills you are able to offer. ■See if you can find someone to help you with one of the skills you want to learn. ■See if you can introduce someone in the class to someone who can help them with a skill

Homework assignment ■Keep practicing! ■Be on the lookout for MKOs for yourself and others. ■See how many high quality connections you can make in your network in the next week.