A local business used to have a sign that said, “What do you love to do?  Find someone to pay you to do it and you have the perfect career.”

In February eighth grade students began considering Career options available to them in the future.  The first step in choosing a career was to complete a self-assessment of their interests during Social Studies classes.  Teachers reported that this led to many discussions of the opportunities available to them.  Laura Arnold, Career Development Specialist from the Pankow Center, joined us to help the students develop their Educational Development Plan, or EDP, in the computer lab.  They used a program at the website www.careercruising.com that helped them connect their interests to potential careers.  It gave them the opportunity to move to step two of the process by investigating career options since they could read about the careers and view video clips of people involved in that career.  Students looked at careers from the 6 Career Pathways developed by the state of Michigan.    They learned which high schools courses and activities outside of their academic classes could help them prepare for these careers.   Students can edit their EDP or share it with their parents by accessing the Career Cruising website from any computer with Internet access.  They were instructed to take home the directions paper from Mrs. Arnold so that they could show their family the work they have done on their EDP.  The final step is making a match between interests, abilities, and a career.  While some students might make this decision now, for the most this will be a future event!  The EDP will be printed by Mrs. Arnold and shared with parents at conferences in April. 

More information about the EDP’s and Career Pathways can be found on the L’Anse Creuse website at:
Curriculum/curriculumGuidebook/careerPathways/educationalDevelopmentPlan
.htm
 
This information is adapted from the state of Michigan site: http://www.michigan.gov/mdcd/0,1607,7-122-
1680_2629_2722-28148--,00.html