Resources for Career Pathways assignment

Puget Sound Skills Center

South Seattle Community College Professional and Technical Education

Renton Technical College Programs

List of all the majors you can have at the University of Washington - Seattle

All the work we've done so far in class:
Money and Success worksheet
John Wooden's Pyramid of Success word study
Personality/Passion in the job place (Videos of cupcake maker and chocolate making brothers)

Personality type analysis

Go here to read about your type.

Try this personality test

Click here first
More difficult vocabulary.
If it's too hard, try this more kid friendly version

What do you like?/Job Descriptions

Go here first.

You can also get some more information here.

Finally, there are some great statistics here.

Questions to consider today (answer for at least 3 jobs): What workers do on the job? Write an accurate job description. How much do they make? What is the outlook for the job?

Career Pathways assignment

In a short paper, about 2 pages, you will answer 3 questions:
“What do you want to do in life?"
"How will you get there?"
"What will it look like when you get there?”

In the paper you must include:
- An introduction to a job or career you want for your life. And an explanation of why you want it.
- The pathway, or the steps you will take, from high school until you get there. (Do you have to go to college, community college, vocational school, graduate school; what kind of training/certification do you need?)
- A description of the job:
oWhat do people who do this job actually do day-to-day?
oWhere would you work? oHow much do people make doing this job?
oIs there a big demand for this job in the next few years?
oWhat is the job satisfaction like for this job?

Everyone must turn in a paper.

In addition, you must choose one creative outlet that represents your findings and conclusions in some way – A picture collage
A poster
A video
Photography
A mix CD
A skit
OR
ANYTHING ELSE CREATIVE OF YOUR CHOICE, JUST LET ME KNOW

We will talk more details about the creative part.

Money readings

Start here: "Scraping by on $150,000"

Presentation about high school dropouts

Next week, you will present your findings on your essential question. Most likely, the presentations will take place Tuesday or Wednesday. You will use the readings I've given you or the readings you find to answer your essential question.

Your presentation will be:
1) Your essential question.
2) Why you chose this essential question.
3) A summary of your findings.
4) Visuals (posters, multimedia) to explain your points.
5) Your final opinions/thoughts on the question.

You must turn in a dialectic journal with your findings.

You must turn in a bibliography of at least five sources. You must read and use at least five sources. They can be readings Mr. Ko has given you, or readings you've found yourself.

The goal is to come away from this more informed about the high school dropout crisis.

So what are the solutions to the dropout problem?

These articles might help you find some answers, and BE MORE INFORMED!

Preventing future high school dropouts (This is a big document. Focus on Chapters 6 and 7)

10 Strategies to keep students in schools

Should we pay kids for doing well at school?

What are schools doing specifically about Latino students? Here is one answer from Houston.

Latina girls have a higher drop out rate than any other group of girls. What is it about the Hispanic culture that conflicts with education?

Is "Cyber-education" a possible answer?

The state of Washington is working on a plan to help African-American students achieve in school (Focus on Chapter 5)

What about Big Picture Learning schools? They have this thing called Learning Through Internship/Interest. And we have one in the Highline School District.

Is Middle School the Key to the Dropout Crisis?

Students of Color, Expectations and Trayvon Martin

Black, Hispanic and Native American students are dropping out of high school at an alarming rate - almost half of them every year, according to a 2006 report by the Gates Foundation titled "The Silent Epidemic." Why?

One of the answers might lie in the expectations that teachers have for students of color (versus white students).

To further examine this issue, let's look at the case of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Florida boy who was shot and killed Feb. 28 while walking home from a store. He was black. The shooter, George Zimmerman, 28, was 1/2 white and 1/2 Hispanic. Here's a good summary of the case so far:

The shooting of Trayvon Martin

After the shooting, outraged citizens have gone crazy on social media. More than a 1/2 million people have signed a petition on Change.org to demand the arrest of Mr. Zimmerman, who was released after being questioned.

It's interesting to connect this case to education since we're talking about our perceptions here. Zimmerman clearly saw Trayvon as a threat. What kinds of perceptions and expectations do we have of certain groups of people?

Here is a thought-provoking article from a guy who says,

White People, You Will Never Look Suspicious Like Trayvon Martin

Do you agree/disagree with the author, Mr. Skolnik?

Here's another really good article that says it's more complicated than black and white.

What do you think?

What does Trayvon Martin have to do with the high school dropout issue we are studying? Maybe there's a real connection, maybe there isn't. I'm not a social scientist and I don't claim to have the answers. But consider the facts about school discipline in this country:

Minority Students Face More Discipline, Data Shows

What should we make of this data? Why are black and Hispanic students disciplined more than their peers? When teachers enforce the rules, do you think they have different expectations for kids based on their color? Might that be a reason for high dropout rates? Or is this just an excuse?

Finally, read more about the idea of a "Color Blind" approach to education.

Is this the right idea? Should teachers then try to disregard the color and background of their students? What are the consequences?

From these readings, what can you take that might help you become MORE INFORMED about the high school dropout issue in this country?

OBJECTIVE: Inform yourself about the issue of high school dropouts.

Your task today is to skim through the Gates Foundation report on high school dropouts, called “The Silent Epidemic.”

Read the Executive Summary
Read "Consequences of our Nation's Low Graduation Rates" (page 2)
Read "Who is Dropping Out" (page 2-3)

At the end of the period, you will have one essential question that expresses your interest in one area of the dropout problem. For example, it could be:

Why do so many Hispanic and black students drop out of school? or
What can we do about unmotivated students? or
How can we make school more relatable/relevant to students?

Eventually, you will answer your own question. You will find readings that relate to your topic. You will read those readings. Then you will present your findings to the rest of class. The goal is to have an informed opinion about the issue of high school dropouts in the U.S.