Career Planning

In the Life Transitions 30 Curriculum there is a unit on career planning. Too many students are graduating from high school with no idea as to what they want to do for a career. Many people change their minds once they are already in a source of post-secondary school and to have more career development for our students would limit this from happening. It is important for schools to see the importance of career development because it is helping students make decisions that will affect their future. I found a great online test that would help students to maybe narrow down their options on what they wanted to be when they were done school.

The website is called Project Career and on this site there is an online test for students to do. You have to sign up but it is free and easy. Once the students have signed up and done the 40 questions it will give you a suitable future job for them. I did this and it came up as I would best fit into the profession of teaching. I would incorporate this into the classroom by having the students first write down on a piece of paper what job they think would best suit them right now. I would then have the students take the online test and see if it matched to what they had written down. I think that many students would be surprised to see what they are actually suitable to be. This would get the students thinking about their future and what they wanted to do. Then we would discuss what they had written down on the paper and what the website gave them for a career. I would ask if they would pick the new profession or stick to the original or maybe they were the same. I have a cousin in this class right now and they did a test similar to this and he said that the students loved it and it really gave them some great ideas as to what they wanted to do when they were finished high school.

I think the students would love this activity and it would give them some possible guidance as to what kind of career to pursue in the future. I know when I was in school I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was done. A fun interactive test like this really could have helped me out with that.

Food Labels

In the grade 6 health curriculum there is a unit on nutrition. In this unit you are to teach the students about food labels. I found a great site that will teach students about everything they will find on the back of the foods they are eating. The Food Label site, teaches students everything such as, serving size, fat and cholesterol, fiber and nutrients. It explains to the students what each fact means, because children at that age usually don't know about or know to look at the food label on what they are eating. Food labels can't tell the students what foods to eat — that's their decision! But they can help them find foods that taste good and treat their body right.

To apply this website to the classroom, I would have the students read about each of the different items about food labels. I would have them specifically look at the mac and cheese food label on the page. If they scroll their mouse of the label it will give them a description of each one and it will let you know just how healthy things like mac and cheese really are. So for example if they put their mouse on the total fat part of the food label, it would explain how much total fat is in a full serving of mac and cheese. To use this in the class, I will have already taught the students a little about food labels, so they will have some understanding of what they are all about. After the students have read over the site and found out some information, I will then have them take the online exam. I will have the students do it but it wouldn't be for marks, just to practice. I would have the students give me the grade that they got and I would put that mark towards a participation mark. I would then put all the different facts (cholesterol and fiber) on a SmartBoard and have the students come up and put up information about that they learnt about that topic.

This site is a fun way to learn about food labels. Things are flying all over the site to keep the children interested and intrigued. I think the students would like it to do a fun test online not for marks. It takes the pressure off them and it allows them to have fun and enjoy learning about the food labels.