Category: Career

Product Review: The Career Game

9/27/2014

Those of you who follow Carol Miller's blog, The Middle School Counselor, you may remember her post about The Career Game. While I may work with a different age group, I think this suits my elementary kiddos as well.

I've tried to expose my students to lessons about career exploration, but sometimes, it's hard to find engaging ways of introducing this topic to students who are so young.

I think that this game is a perfect option for elementary students, particularly 4th-6th graders.

I love the student workbooks! For my students, I think the best way to introduce them would be in a small group. This way, we could work on the pages session by session and spend time discussing each topic. However, I still think the books would lend themselves well to classroom lessons if you have the time to properly teach the material.

An extra feature is each student's web ticket, which allows them to convert their workbook scores into a list of jobs that match their interests. I still need to try that aspect with my students - we've been so engaged with the workbooks, we haven't moved on to the tickets...YET! :)

Additionally, as the school counselor, you can view each of your student's workbook scores online, see which educational goal they chose, and view the jobs that were recommended for them. It's a great way to document the work you are doing with your students. Let's face it - many of us are working in districts that are financially struggling due to lack of funding and a struggling economy. We NEED to advocate for ourselves and the work we do for students so that we are deemed essential, not a fun "extra" in our buildings. Tools like The Career Game can help us teach a domain that may not typically be addressed in elementary school and show students, staff, administration, and parents why school counselors are necessary.

Check it out today! :)

Do you have a product that you would like me to review on my blog? If so, contact me at marissa@elementaryschoolcounseling.org. I'd be happy to check out your work and spread the word to my readers.

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Vehicle Day

3/24/2013

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I interviewed Stephanie Moore, my friend and fellow school counselor, about her wonderful school-wide program. Vehicle Day is a way to help students learn about a variety of careers through the vehicles that the companies use.

To learn more about Vehicle Day and to download helpful documents, check out the official page.

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Pixar Week: BURN-E

1/7/2013

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Day 2 of Pixar Week has begun!

Before we look at the short film of the day, Burn-E, I want to provide you with additional resources that help support its message.

Do you want to speak with your students about college? Check out Pixar's Monsters University website. It looks and feels like an actual university page, but with a cute Monster's Inc. twist. It's perfect for elementary students!

The short film of the day is about Burn-E, an adorable robot that makes spaceship repairs. One day, an exterior light breaks and Burn-E attempts to fix it - the only problem is that a series of unfortunate events make it difficult for this poor robot to do its job.

School counselors can use this movie to introduce careers and responsibilities. Also, it's a great way to talk about what you can and cannot control.

Continue the can vs. can't control discussion using this activity from Pinterest.

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Small Potatoes

12/26/2012

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Self-Esteem

Feelings

In case you haven't noticed, I love using video clips with my students. It's a fun way to grab their attention and transition into a lesson.

I just found one of the most adorable television shows ever...yes, EVER! Small Potatoes is about four singing potatoes who travel the world making music and making friends. Each three-minute episode contains a song about a specific topic and audio clips of children reflecting on that topic.

As described on the Small Potatoes website, the show helps children to:
1. Develop an understanding of how to make friends.
2. Laugh and relax through humor.
3. Develop an appreciation of a variety of music.
4. Process their emotions through music.

You can create your own potato through the Small Potatoes Facebook page. Check out mine (left).

Check out more videos on my YouTube channel or here.

School

Career Exploration

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Video Podcast: "The Color Quiz"

11/28/2012

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You may remember learning about my Career Cafe (right) last month. I spoke about my personality inventory called "The Color Quiz," which is how I organize my students into groups for our guest speakers.

I decided to create another video to focus specifically on the quiz to help explain how it works. For more information, go to this classroom-based counseling link.

Also, this year, my colleagues took the survey during our staff meeting and then met as grade level teams to review the results in greater detail. It's been a fun, but educational way to look at how we function as a team.