Why was the Career Choices series designed in a way that requires the student to use both a textbook/workbook and the online My10yearPlan.com? | | Download the PDF. |
How long does it take to complete the curriculum? | It all depends on your goals and how much interdisciplinary academics you want to include.
You can complete a comprehensive version of the curriculum in a nine-week course if you are only using the career and life-planning component of the main textbook. If you want to incorporate Possibilities into the same classroom, you will want to allow for a semester.
If two teachers are team teaching in a two-hour block scheduling situation (for example an English teacher and a home economics or career education teacher), a nine-week segment is adequate.
There are enough expansion ideas included in the Instructor's and Counselor's Guide and projects in Possibilities and Lifestyle Math to make this a complete year-long course. Read more about how the curriculum is being used by educators across the nation. |
Can we skip around and just use certain parts of the curriculum? | One of the strengths of this curriculum is that it teaches a process (and a very important process at that). This process can be used over and over again throughout your students’ lives. Individuals will want to revisit this questioning process (Who am I? What do I want? How do I get it?) many times during their lifetime. The experience will leave your students better able to cope with the challenges of life, changing jobs, losing jobs, choosing careers, changing careers, life planning and strategies, where to live, who to marry, and family planning issues. Therefore, we do not recommend skipping around within the curriculum.
Career Choices is a sequential curriculum, and each new skill and activity builds on previous knowledge gained earlier. It has been carefully designed to include scope and sequence and is best used in its entirety and in order. The average class can complete the course in its basic format (not incorporating the academic components of English and math) within one quarter, a nine-week time frame. |
What if we want to complete half in one grade and half in the next? | | Some schools choose this format because they want to complete the course work but can only devote fewer than nine weeks to teaching the material in each grade. In this case, we suggest that the first segment be the first six chapters and the second segment be the second six chapters. But, this is not the ideal and should be carefully reviewed each year. |
Can we photocopy the Workbook and Portfolio (or any other book)? | | No. It is not permissible to photocopy any of the textbooks. Because of our contracts with both authors and distributors, we have limitations on what we can allow. If you feel that you have special circumstances, please put your request in writing and send or fax it to our Permissions Department. We will respond to your request within 15 working days. Contact us. |
Why do we need a lead teacher? | | Every Career Choices program needs a lead teacher to create buy-in throughout their school for the Freshman Transition effort and conduct periodic trainings for staff members. Research has found that the best professional development is ongoing and constant, and the most cost-effective way for your school to achieve this is if one of your teachers can conduct those trainings for the rest of your staff. |
Does every teacher need an Instructor's Guide or can they share? | | Every teacher needs his or her own Instructor’s Guide and should refer to it daily so that they can conduct classes as effectively as possible. This has consistently proven to be a trait of all the most successful Career Choices programs. The Instructor’s Guide contains lesson plans and discussion ideas for each activity and section of the book, so it makes it infinitely easier to teach the course successfully. |
What should we name the course? | Carefully titling your class can help lessen resistance. We suggest you leave the word “freshman” out of the title because freshmen don’t necessarily want to be identified as such. Use the term “Freshman Transition course” within your administrative circle if you like, but we suggest not titling your course such.
Let’s think about what is important to the consumer. In this case, you have two consumers—students and parents. Let the course title set up their expectations. For the student, what will be the result of taking this class? For the parents, what result do they want for their child?
You may have to convince the administration to change the title of a pre-existing course or a course that has passed the school board, but it’s worth the effort. If you find resistance to a name change, start by brainstorming with the resistant group. Develop a list of words that describe the desired result of the class.
Many schools using Career Choices have incorporated the course title Success 101. This concept would be hard to argue with from both a parent’s and a student’s point of view. While some parents might think their student doesn’t need a “Freshman Experience” class, all parents want their students to have the skills and the attitudes to be successful.
The “101” suggests college or post-secondary and the notion of the beginning or the first step in a series or process. |
