| To help her eighth graders at the Sequoyah Middle School in
Edmond, Oklahoma, get a feeling for what their future lives might
be like, English teacher Dana Mayers had each student draw a
"futures scenario" from a hat. They learned that they might be
professionals, skilled tradespeople, or workers with limited
training or education. Students then used newspapers to locate
jobs they might be qualified to apply for, housing they could
afford, and so on. |
After completing research about their "career," including the kind of training needed, where they
might have gone to school, how much money they could expect to earn, etc., students referred to
Chapter 11: "Getting Experience" in Career Choices to prepare resumes and write business letters
requesting interviews with prospective employers. For the "interview" students dressed in business
attire, and were even instructed in the proper way to shake hands and sit in a chair. Mayers inquired
about qualifications and asked them to explain why they should be given the job. "They were so
well-prepared from doing all the activities in Career Choices, almost everyone was `hired,'" Mayers
told us.
The most emotional moment during the nine-week class came when a young woman whose
scenario was to be a single parent and a high school dropout told Mayers tearfully that the night
before, while scoping out "cheap" food at the grocery store, "I saw me!" Whether pricing macaroni or
bologna, she kept running into the same single mother with her unkempt and inappropriately
dressed child. "I could easily have become that person," she said, vowing at the same time that she
never would.
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