Good Morning Parents and Guardians!

Hope you and your student enjoyed the MEA break and found something other to do than rake leaves!

This week in Applying and Preparing for Employment students are finishing the last part of their “Worker Profile” by learning about what environmental demands are in the workplace. In class we will address that while an employee will not be able to control 100% of their work environment it is important for each worker to identify demands that that are tolerable for them.

Students will take an Environmental Demands Rating Survey that will allow them to think about or figure out what they might need in their work environment (noise level, light level, work hours, amount of movement, structure, workplace, etc) to be successful in their position and comfortable on the job site.

Students in Applying and Preparing for Employment are continuing to create their “Worker Profile” which they will use to help identify, evaluate and determine what jobs might be a good personal fit for them.  Students have already identified their work values, their social scene and this week they are taking an online work interest survey.

Students are also learning about what the term  ”job outlook” means and will learn the top 30 jobs in the United States that have the best job outlook in the next 5 years. Students will identify jobs that have a positive job outlook that fit their current “Worker Profile.”

Greeting Parents and Guardians!

It was so great to see many of your faces at conferences last week!

This week in Applying and Preparing for Employment students are finishing the second part of their “social skills” job assessment by identifying jobs and careers that fit their “social scene.” Students are learning that each job will require different levels and amounts of social interaction with both familiar and new people and through their assessment students will be able to know which jobs fit their social skill level, interest and motivation.

At the end of the week students will take a general work interest survey, with results showing additional jobs/careers that are an interest match for each student. Students will determine if there are jobs that match both their social scene and work interests.

This week in Applying and Preparing for Employment, your student will finish answering the question, “Why do I want to work?” Students will be using the personal work values they identified last week to determine job descriptions/openings that appeal to them.

In addition to work values, students will learn the importance of identifying one’s current interests and strengths before looking and applying for specific jobs.  Students will explore the idea that when you can use your strengths in a job, you are more likely to be successful and happy. Students will complete a general work interest quiz and a more specific social interest assessment that will support them in finding jobs that best suits their interests, skills, and abilities.

9/19/2011

Greetings Parents and Guardians!

The past two weeks of class your student has been learning and reviewing the expectations and procedures for transitions class, as we learn both in the classroom and the community this year. Each class has spent time working in groups, becoming familiar with one another and learning the expected behaviors of working in a group and being an effective and respectful team member.  Students have also been exposed to the activities they will be participating.

This week we are starting to jump into the specific content area of each separate transitions class.

Students in Applying and Preparing for Employment are looking at the question, “Why do people work?”Students will learn about the various reasons why people work (outside of getting a paycheck) and will learn what values are, how they apply to employment and how they lead to job satisfaction. Students will then be answering the question, “Why do I want to work?” by identifying what they value and how their values will help determine what jobs and work environments would be most desirable for them.

Activities this week include completing values inventories, matching work values to job descriptions and participating in a values voting and job auction to identify what main values and qualities in jobs are most important to them.