Month: July 2018

Setting Goals

Learning Objective

To help students understand what a goal is and the criteria for a SMART goal

Materials Needed

Handouts: “About Setting Goals,” “Setting SMART Goals,” and “SMART Goal Worksheet”

Vocabulary

goal, criteria, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely

Competencies

Thinking Skills: Reasoning ; Seeing things in the mind’s eye

Information: Interprets and communicates information

Instructions for Conducting the Activity

In the class as a whole, students read and discuss the “About Goal Setting” handout.

Write three goals on the board, one short-term, one long-term, and one more general. For example:

• “I want to score 95% on my next English test.”
• “I want to complete my class here and go to the community college.”
• “I want to make a better life in the United States.”

Ask the students to identify which are short-term goals and which are long-term goals.

Then distribute the “Setting SMART Goals” handout. Review the vocabulary as needed with the students. Then using the first goal, “I want to score a 95% on my next English test,” review the SMART criteria to establish whether or not it is a SMART goal. Do the same with the other two examples. Have students explain why the first two goals meet the SMART criteria and why the last one does not.

Ask students to reflect back on the goals they set for themselves in the classroom and to write at least two of them down. Then in small groups, students discuss the classroom goals, and help each other evaluate those goals – are they SMART ?

For the ones that are not, ask students to write them again to make them into SMART goals.

Have students revisit these written goals to develop a Career and Education Planning Worksheet.

Extension Activities

1. Have students write a long-term goal and then break it down into 4–5 short-term goals.
2. Have students write about a goal they had set for themselves and met in the past. How did they go about achieving the goal? Was the goal SMART ?

Adapted from “Getting There: A Curriculum for People Moving into Employment,” The Center for Literacy Studies, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1996 and from Office Arrow at www.officearrow.com.

About Setting Goals

What is a goal?

• A goal is something we set for ourselves.
• A goal is something we aim for.
• A goal is important for achieving success.
• A goal can help us measure our progress, to see if what we are doing is moving us closer to or further from our ultimate ambition.
• A goal can be small: “I will wash my car Saturday morning.”
• A goal can be big: “I will become a nurse in the next three years.”
• The big goals can be broken up into smaller ones:

o “I will increase my English by one level by the fall.”

o “I will pass my GED test by this summer.”

o “I will enroll in a CNA program by next spring.”

Tips to help you set goals:

• Keep it simple – just a few sentences for each goal will be plenty.
• Write your goals down! “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” (Lee Iacocca)
• Make a commitment to review your goals regularly.
• Allow your goals to reflect your values. Let your sense of “inner purpose” guide you.
• Visualize achieving your goal. See it, taste it, smell it. Feel your goal before it happens.
• Use motivating, positive language.
• Make your goals emotional. Use words that have an impact on you – energizing, compelling, Inspiring words.
• Share your goals with others and ask for their support.
• Reward yourself along the way. Even small achievements deserve recognition.
• Create goals for different increments of time (one week, one month, three months, one year, five years, ten years, etc.).
• Make sure your goals are yours – not just what others expect of you.
• Be sure to track your progress along the way.

Setting goals is an ongoing process

• You need to practice setting goals to learn how and to get better at it.
• Keep reviewing your goals and the steps you’re taking to reach them.
• Are your actions moving you closer towards your goal or further from it?
• If your actions aren’t moving you closer towards your goal you need to look again at the goal you’ve set and the steps you need to take to get there.

 

Tips written by Chrissy Scivicque. Reprinted with permission from Office Arrow at officearrow.com

http://www.officearrow.com/home/articles/productivity/organization_and_workflow/p2_articleid/78/p14 2_id/78/p142_dis/3.

 

Continue reading “Setting Goals”

Using the Internet to Learn About Occupations

Learning Objective

To help students become familiar with how to find occupational information on the Internet and to know what type of information is helpful in comparing occupational choices

Materials Needed

Handouts: “Career Exploration on the Internet” Versions A, B, or C

Vocabulary

websites, Internet, licensure, certification

Competencies

Basic Skills: Reading

Technology: Applies technology to task

Thinking: Seeing things in the mind’s eye

Instructions for Conducting the Activity

This activity can be conducted by having them write down 2–4 occupations they are interested in learning more about and use that list as the basis for the Internet search.

Websites for career exploration:

• Occupational Outlook Handbook – http://www.bls.gov/oco
• Next Steps (see “Career Profiles”) – http://www.nextsteps.org
• America’s Career InfoNet – http://www.acinet.org
• World-of-Work Map – http://www.act.org/wwm/index.html
• Massachusetts Career Information System – http://www.masscis.intocareers.org
• New York Career Zone – http://www.nycareerzone.org/graphic/assessment/index.jsp

We highly recommended that you review each of the websites listed above to determine which site provides information in the most accessible manner for the students’ language level and familiarity with the Internet. There are three versions of the “Career Exploration on the Internet” handout.

Version A: Pre-GED/GED students

Version B: ESOL students

Version C: College Transition students

Choose the version that best meets students’ needs.

Day of Activity:

Students can do this activity in pairs or by themselves depending on their familiarity with the computer and the Internet.

Tell students that they will be learning more about the occupations they each identified through the CDM. Ask them to choose at least two occupations to research on the Internet. Select and distribute a version of the handout “Career Exploration on the Internet” that is appropriate for your students. Explain that these are common questions that people have when researching occupations. These questions are just a guide. The students should add other questions that are important to them. Review the handout with the students to make sure that everyone understands the questions.

Brainstorm other questions the students might want to have answered.

You can then model how to look for the information on the website that you have chosen ahead of time. Choose an occupation not listed by the students and walk the students through the “Career Exploration on the Internet” on how to find the information.

Note for ESOL classes: We recommend that you select two occupations to use as examples. Using the “Career Exploration on the Internet” handout, one occupation can be completed by you before the lesson. Then to introduce the lesson to the class, the teacher can take the students through the information gathering process using the completed sample handout.

Next, as a class, the students can look for and fill in the information on the second occupation. After this, the students will be better prepared to research information on their own. Then have students log onto the website and find information about their occupations. If possible, have students print out information for review later.

Note for College Transition classes: These students may have already chosen a career and educational pathway. Version C of the “Career Exploration on the Internet” handout allows them to focus on one occupation and educational pathway in more depth.

Extension Activity

This activity can be expanded upon in a follow-up lesson to help students compare the amount of education needed and the expected wage for different occupations. This will encourage students to begin to think realistically about whether a career path is right for them or not.

Have students bring their completed “Career Exploration on the Internet” handouts to class. Post four large sheets of paper around the room with the labels: “High School or GED,” “Certificate Program or Associates Degree,” “Bachelor’s Degree,” and “Graduate Degree.” Ask students to list their career choices under one of the four sheets based on education needed.

Ask them to also mark the wage of the career choice next to it.

Facilitate a discussion based on the following questions:

• Were they surprised by how much or how little education was needed for some jobs? Which ones and why?
• Were they surprised by how much or how little the wage was for some jobs? Which ones and why?
• Is there a relationship between how much education/training a job requires and the wage of the job?

• Why do some jobs require a BA degree but pay less than a job requiring an AA degree ?