Using the Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan in Youth Employment Placements

1. Using the Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan in Youth Employment Placements

2. Warm-Up Exercise Warm-up: In the five minutes before the workshop begins, answer these questions with others at your table or on your own. Answers will be shared and discussed at the end of the workshop. What was the best summer or after-school job you had as a teen/young adult? What did you learn from this job? What was the most unexciting (or unglamorous) job you have ever had? What did you learn from this job?

3. Using the Work-Based Learning Plan Identify and plan the work experience. Write the Work-Based Learning Plan • Job Description • Skills/Tasks Use the Work-Based Learning Plan as a guide for a formal or informal group or one-on-one orientation Conduct a first review early in the work experience. Provide feedback and set goals. Conduct a second review near the end of the work experience. Provide feedback and brief suggestions for future career development.

4. Sections of the WBLP

5. Sections of the WBLP • Heading (basic information) • Job Description • Section 1: Foundation Skills (skills used in all jobs -- already written) • Section 2: Career and Workplace Specific Skills (list and describe up to seven skills) • Section 3: Performance Review (provide ratings and write goals and comments)

6. WBLP Heading • Completed by program staff. • Contains names of participant, supervisor, program staff and other basic information. • Email addresses are also usernames in the online system and are used to identify who gets to view the WBLP online. Will include screenshot and link here

7. Job Description • Written by program staff and/or employer, in collaboration. • Brief description. • Is important for providing participant with an overview of the job and insight into the workplace. Will include screenshot and link here

8. More About Job Descriptions As hostess in a friendly restaurant, greet customers and seat them as soon as possible. Make them feel comfortable and welcomed. Operate cash register and clear and set tables. • Brief, but with enough information to provide the “flavor” of the job. • Include “who, what, where and why” information in the job description. • The job description can include the job title, a few words describing the organization, a brief list of tasks, and a few words about the customers or goals of the work. See additional real examples of WBLP job descriptions at http://www.skillslibrary.com/wbl/jobdescriptions.asp

9. Job Descriptions: Identifying Tasks As a Summer Parks Intern, assist Parks Department staff in daily park maintenance and special projects. Park maintenance tasks include weeding, watering plants and maintaining walkways. Special projects may include preparing the soil for a new garden and working on a signage project. • Develop jobs that provide both routine daily tasks and opportunities for special projects. • Special projects may be short-term projects with a specific visible outcome (such as preparing a new garden bed) or specific contributions to longer-term organizational projects (such as research for an ongoing signage improvement initiative). Projects may involve skills different from those used in the daily tasks or may involve application of the same skills.

10. Job Descriptions: Sharing Background Work as a landscaping assistant in the XYZ Park, which is a 100-year old park designed by landscape architect Harold Harrison, visited by thousands of city residents each summer. Tasks include maintaining walkways, weeding, and providing water for plants during dry periods of the summer. • Use the job description to reinforce information that might also be shared in an orientation or in formal or informal on-the-job training. • Share brief information about history, goals, customers and other interesting background information about the organization and about the work.

11. Foundation Skills • Already written. • Should be discussed with the participant in a group or one-on-one orientation by program staff or employer. • This orientation can provide specific tips related to the workplace, such as what to wear, attendance policy, or safety information. Will include screenshot and link here

12. Foundation Skills • EXAMPLE: Things to know about health and safety when working outdoors: • Water and hydration • Sun and sunscreen • Avoiding heat stroke • When to seek First Aid • Lifting techniques • Use of tools, rakes, shovels • Handling trash • (Check your organization’s safety policies and add to this list…) • The list of foundation skills provides a guide for orienting students to the workplace and for defining expectations. • Review these foundation skills in a formal orientation session or in one-on-one orientation. • Identify specific expectations of your workplace, including expected clothing, attendance expectations, safety guidelines and more. • Provide both oral and written guidelines where applicable.

13. Workplace and Career Specific Skills • Along with the job description, these may be written by program staff and/or employer, in collaboration. • This section is key to helping the participant make the most of the work experience as an opportunity to learn. Will include screenshot and link here

14. Workplace and Career Specific Skills Food Preparation: Student will plan, prepare and serve healthy and nutritious suppers to children. • Identify skills that are specific to this workplace or career area. The list of skills to be included is flexible. You may list up to seven skills or may focus on just one or two skills. • The list can include: • specific task-oriented skills (weeding, park maintenance, food preparation, filing medical records…); • broad skills (project management, collecting and organizing information, using math, reading, technology…); and • career awareness skills (career development, understanding all aspects of the industry, reading about the industry…) • Project Management:Create a display for the Visitor Center Medical Knowledge (Animal Care) To understand a few common medical problems/complications, in order to learn to monitor hospital patients. (Ex. signs of low blood sugar in a diabetic pet).

15. Workplace and Career Specific Skills Animal Care: Intern will reassure orphaned animals thru petting, walking and talking to them. This stimulus helps maintain healthy animals. • Wherever possible, mention the goals of the work, the customer served, or other information that gives the “context” of the work. • Like the job descriptions, the descriptions of the skills and tasks is strongest when they include information about “who, what, where and why.” Administrative Skills: - Assist with organization of client files, copying and faxing. - Take initiative to answer phones and direct calls appropriately. - Provide walk-in clients with appropriate travel brochures. See additional real examples of WBLP skills and tasks at http://www.skillslibrary.com/wbl/skillslist.asp

16. Performance Review and Goal Setting See suggestions for giving feedback and setting goals at http://www.skillslibrary.com/wbl/goalscomments.asp • Provide the first review early in the workplace experience to provide feedback on these skills and set goals. • Provide the second review near the end of the experience. • Use the Work-Based Learning Plan as a tool to open up conversations early in the work experience in order to avoid problems. • When writing goals and comments: • Be brief and clear. • Combine positive and corrective feedback. • Focus on future actions and opportunities to learn and improve. • When giving feedback verbally: • Ask questions to help the participant think about solutions. • Briefly explain your workplace's expectations and point out the reasons for these. • Suggest simple strategies, using "I” statements or "you might try" rather than "you should" or "you shouldn't." • Describe ways that you or other co-workers or staff have solved a similar problem or approached a similar situation.

17. Performance Review • Conduct two performance reviews – one early in the work experience and one near the end of the work experience. • Completed by supervisor in collaboration with the program staff. Will include screenshot and link here

18. Performance Review – Foundation Skills Rubric • You may use the Foundation Skills Rubric as a guide to reviewing the foundation skills. This rubric describes work performance and gives suggested ratings. Will include screenshot and link here

19. Navigating in the Online WBLP

20. Navigating in the Online WBLP • Registering and getting a password • As an employer • As a program staff person • As a participant • Who can see the plans you write? • When can you see the plans someone else writes? • What online database features help you write and manage WBLPs?

21. Registering and getting a password Go to masswbl.org Choose your option (employer, program staff or intern) and click CONTINUE.

22. Registering and getting a password Read the privacy policy and click to continue.

23. Registering and getting a password Fill in your name, email address, region. List the email addresses of up to three people you want to share your work with (optional). (You can also identify people you are sharing specific plans with on the plan itself.) For a staff account, you will also need an access code, available from Jennifer Leonard or from the WIB office. Brockton Area Staffperson@organization.org Anotherperson@organization.org

24. Registering and getting a password When you click the button to Create Account a password will be emailed to you. From now on, you can sign in with your email address and password. Feel free to change your password at any time. Also feel free to use the “Retrieve Password” button at any time if you forget your password. Sign in at masswbl.org

25. Sharing WBLPs with colleagues • Anyone you list when you sign up for a username and password can see all the WBLPs you create. (To change this list, click “My Account” on the main menu.) • You can see WBLPs created by anyone who lists you. 3. On an individual WBLP, if you enter the email address of the participant, supervisor, program staff, and teacher or other contact, and select “Read/Write” or “Read Only” they can view the WBLP if they sign in with that email address.

26. Features to Look For / Database Tour • Use the Main Menu to find and go to records. • Use the buttons along the top of each screen to navigate from screen to screen. • You may also use the “Go To” button at the bottom of each screen to move from one record to another. • The bank of job descriptions and skills/tasks allows you to re-use and adapt previously written job descriptions and skills/tasks. • There is a “Make a Copy” option at the bottom of the WBLP heading screen for making a duplicate copy of a placement (on staff accounts only). • The Reports/Admin Menu provides lists and summaries (on staff accounts only). • Look for the Spell Check button on each screen.

27. What Makes a Great Work Experience? Work Experience Look at your answers to the warm-up exercise. What makes a great work experience?

28. What Makes a Great Work Experience? Sense of accomplishment Interesting challenges (customers, technology, etc.) Formal and informal mentoring conversations Image of the job Work Experience An awareness of what you learned and what you accomplished Co-workers – peers, adults, etc. . Getting a glimpse of what you want (or don’t want) in the future Fun “extras” Feeling like part of a community. Building a resume Some of the elements of a quality work experience

29. Website and For More Information Technical Assistance: Jennifer Leonard781-321-7894jleonard@ skillslibrary.comor SkillsLibr@ aol.com Online WBLP:http:// masswbl.org Downloadable Word Document: http:// skillslibrary.com/ wbl.htm