Preparing Students for the Workplace and Beyond

1. Preparing Students for the Workplace and Beyond Contextualizing Instruction in Local Programs ~ Teaching the skills needed for today’s jobs

2. “ We should be educating all students according to a common expectation, one that prepares them for both postsecondary education and the workforce.” ACT (2006)

3. Guiding Principles • Collaboration • Accountability • Responsiveness • Agility • Contextualization • Entrepreneurship • Alignment

4. What Does This Have to Do with Anything? The Pythagorean theorem states that: The sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs of a right triangle ('a' and 'b' in the triangle shown below) is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse ('c'). a2 + b2 = c2

5. Have you ever had to… • Determine if that flat screen television you want to buy will actually fit in the opening in your entertainment center? • Had to move a queen size mattress through a doorway? • Determine the number of bundles of shingles you will need to cover your roof? • Decide if the ladder you own will reach up to the second story window – or if you will have to borrow a ladder from your neighbor? • Determine the distance the second baseman has to throw the ball in order to get the runner out before he slides into home plate? • Determine how big a box you will need to ship gifts to your nephew for his birthday? • Lay the corners of the foundation for a garage or other building? • Construct a ramp so you can roll a cart from your garage to the bed of your truck?

6. Activity 1 Make the Connection How do you use the academic skills that you learned in school?

7. Transforming the System “The core problem is that our education and training systems were built for another era. We can get where we must go only by changing the system itself.” Tough Choices or Tough Times. The report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce. National Center on Education and the Economy (2007)

8. What does Research Tell us aboutthe Learning Process? Most people learn best in a concrete manner that includes personal participation, hands-on activities, and opportunities for personal discovery. Learning is enhanced when concepts are presented in a context that is familiar to the learner. Most learners relate better to concrete examples rather than abstract conceptual models. Most students learn best when they have a opportunity to interact with other students. Rote memorization of isolated skills is relatively inefficient and ineffective for most students. What We Know About the Learning Process, CORD, http://www.cord.org

9. Traditional Adult Education Programs • Are usually open-entry, open-exit (model is changing) • Consist of multi-level classrooms • Provide a “facilitated” approach to learning and place the student in a more passive role • Rely heavily on workbooks, worksheets, and computer assisted instruction (skill and drill) • Emphasize the importance of acquiring academic knowledge but rarely focus on the application of that knowledge in real-life situations • Provide students with rules and facts that must be put on paper as proof of subject mastery • Encourage independent learning rather than large- or small-group instruction • Do not require work from the student outside of the classroom

10. Contextualized instruction is . . . • Providing instruction for the development of skills, knowledge, and attitudes drawn from the context in which they will be used, using real-life materials and situations from that context. Work-based basic skills are an example of a particular context. • An instructional strategy that: • Actively involves the learner in the learning process • Combines content and context • Uses authentic materials

11. Contextualized Teaching & Learning • Strategies to link essential skills & academic or occupational content • Concrete applications • Specific context of interest to the student • Includes: • Design of curricula • integration of essential skills & content • Teaching • use of cases, project‐based learning and other student centered practices • Assessment • examining application of knowledge and the transfer of skills

12. Elements of Contextualized Learning • Broad outreach to underserved populations • Partnerships to leverage public/private resources • Transition programs – bridge to college & career • Basic skills in context of career • Focus on high-wage/high-demand careers within the region • Cohort‐based, learning communities • Intensive support services • Clear transitions to continued education and career pathways

13. It’s All in the Journey • Employers are looking for the most skilled employees; therefore, we need to ask ourselves: • How will our learners set themselves apart from the other applicants? • How can we educate our learners so they will develop the required skills needed for the job? • What skills will our learners bring to high priority occupations?

14. Do We Have . . . • Enough information about what local businesses are looking for in order to adequately prepare our learners for obtaining or retaining employment? • A system in place that supports collaboration and integrates current research-based educational practices? • Instruction that prepares our learners in meeting the demands of the local workplace? • Adequate work-related materials available for creating a curriculum that supports preparing learners for employment?

15. How do we know what skills are needed? • Local Labor Market Information (LMI) • Targeted Industry Clusters • High Priority Occupations • Learner Self-Appraisal • However, high priority occupations and industry clusters are not always where our learners are currently employed or actively seeking employment.

16. Two Questions • How do we stay current regarding the future of the workforce in order to help adult learners be successful? • How do we know what types of skills should be integrated into adult education classrooms? • O*NET • CareerInfoNet • Michigan Jobs and Career Portal

17. O*NET OnLine

18. America’s Career InfoNet

19. America’s Career InfoNet

20. Career InfoNet Videos

21. Michigan Jobs and Career Portal http://www.michigan.gov/careers

22. Activity 2 Using Michigan’s Labor Market Information What’s happening around the state? What’s happening within various regions of the state? How can this information be used in local programs?

23. Top Ten Skills for the Future • Work ethic, including self-motivation and time management • Physical skills, e.g., maintaining one's health and good appearance • Verbal (oral) communication, including one-on-one and in a group • Written communication, including editing and proofing one's work • Working directly with people, relationship building, and team work • Influencing people, including effective salesmanship and leadership • Gathering information through various media and keeping it organized • Using quantitative tools, e.g., statistics, graphs, or spreadsheets • Asking and answering the right questions, evaluating information, and applying knowledge • Solving problems, including identifying problems, developing possible solutions, and launching solutions Bill Coplin. Ten things employers want [young people] to learn in college. The Futurist Update (Vol. 5, No. 2).

24. The American Diploma Project “If they can write, I’ll take them.” …power plant manager “Increasingly, the computer will do the computation …[but]thinking about the problem, developing the problem, understanding the problem, looking at it from all sides, deciding what important information is relevant to the problem … is the harder part. You can’t do that without an understanding of the computation.” … manufacturing and distribution executive

25. The American Diploma Project • The English benchmarks are organized into eight strands: • Language • Communication • Writing • Research • Logic • Informational Text • Media • Literature • The mathematics benchmarks are organized into four strands: • Number Sense and Numerical Operations • Algebra • Geometry • Data Interpretation, Statistics and Probability

26. Remember, just because it is blue collar, it doesn’t mean it is low skill! • Requirements for electricians: • Recommended high school courses include Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Physics. • Requirements for sheet metal workers: • Four or five years of apprenticeship • Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and technical reading • Requirements for draftsmen: • Recommended high school courses include Geometry and Trigonometry. • Draftsmen may wish to seek additional study in mathematics and computer-aided design to keep up with technological progress within the industry. Sources: American Diploma Project, 2002; The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) http://www.agc.org/page.ww?section=About+AGC&name=About+AGC

27. Characteristics of Contextualized Learning • CL is application oriented. • CL is learner centered. • CL is time flexible. • CL goals and purpose are explicit from the beginning of instruction.

28. Approaches to Contextualization • Contextualization involves identifying specific skills students need to learn and relating them to their personal or occupational goals/experiences. • There are several approaches to contextualization. • Successfully complete x college course; • Pass y standardized test; • Attain z job; • Advance in a career ladder; and • Function successfully in the daily life, outside of work.

29. Career Pathways • A career pathway • Is a framework for connecting a series of education programs with integrated work experience and support services • Enables students and workers to combine school and work • Allows learners to advance over time to better jobs and higher levels of education and training • At the secondary level, career and technical education (CTE) serves as the launch pad for students in their transition to postsecondary education and enhanced training opportunities.

30. Adult Career Pathways • Adult Career Pathways programs focus on the implementation of proven strategies for • identifying needs, • developing curricula, • recruiting participants, • implementing meaningful work experience, and • integrating the personal and academic services needed to transform the unemployed and underemployed into the skilled workforce America needs to compete in the world economy. • Adult Career Pathways (ACP) is defined as the guidance, remediation, curricula, and other support elements required to enable career limited adults to enter the workforce and progress in rewarding careers.

31. Adult Career Pathways Adult Career Pathways: Providing a Second Chance in Public Education. Hinckley and Hull

32. Functional Context Education (FCE) • Functional Context Education (FCE) is an instructional strategy that integrates the teaching of literacy skills and job content to move learners more successfully and quickly toward their educational and employment goals. • Programs that use the FCE model are more effective than traditional programs that teach basic skills and job skills in sequence because this innovative approach teaches literacy and basic skills in the context in which the learner will use them. • Students see clearly the role literacy skills play in moving them toward their goals. • This strategy promotes better retention, encourages lifelong learning and supports the intergenerational transfer of knowledge.

33. Benefits to the Learner • The purpose of the learning is explicit. (Why & how are discussed.) • Learners share previous knowledge. (Learner is actively learning.) • Learners discuss how they apply information to their roles as parent, worker and community member. (Learning impacts real life.) • Learners solve problems. (Learner uses skills that can be used outside the lesson.) • Learners control their learning process by their rate of participation. (Learner is responsible for learning.) • Transference of knowledge is explicit and immediately recognizable. (Learner maximizes use of knowledge.)

34. Benefits to the Instructor • Knowledge retention increases. • Student motivation increases. • Tutor guides the learning process. • Learning is a team effort between the tutor and learner, encouraging student persistence. • Learning is the learner’s responsibility.

35. Ways to Approach Contextualized Instruction • Use of authentic materials and examples to illustrate concepts • Develop themes based on the workplace or real-world experiences • Involve students in the planning process so that their needs and interests provide ideas for appropriate contexts for teaching and learning

36. Authentic Tasks • Authentic materials are print, video, and audio materials students encounter in their daily lives. • Authentic materials are not created specifically to be used in the classroom, but they make excellent learning tools for students precisely because they are authentic.

37. Activity 3 You May Be More Contextualized Than You Think . . .

38. You Can Provide More Contextualized Instruction If You . . . • Ask what the learner would like to learn • Target learner needs • Transportation • Housing • Job • Use authentic materials • Maps, bus schedules • Receipts, coupons, ads • Memos, pay stubs, benefits information

39. Let’s See How It Works! • Shopping for Groceries in the Real World! • What skills do you use to accomplish this task? Does it require reading? Writing? Math? • Does this task require you to solve problems? Make decisions? Communicate? • Would any of these skills be considered useful elsewhere in your life (e.g., the workplace)? • On your worksheet, make some notes about contextualizing instruction. Then list some areas of study, topics, themes, or problems that might provide strong contexts for teachers to use in their classrooms.

40. Mathematics “Mathematics is the key to opportunity. No longer just the language of science, mathematics now contributes in direct and fundamental ways to business, finance, health, and defense. For students, it opens doors to careers. For citizens, it enables informed decisions. For nations, it provides knowledge to compete in a technological community. To participate fully in the world of the future, America must tap the power of mathematics”. National Research Council, 1989

41. What Do Employers Want? • Algebra and algebraic thinking • Geometry and geometric thinking • Data representation and statistical thinking • Problem solving skills

42. Activity 4 • Pros and Cons Scale • What Job Should She Take? • What math, reading, and writing skills would a student need to respond to this problem? Other skills? • Is this a situation that some of your students might encounter if they were looking for a job?

43. What can teachers do to incorporate math contextually? • Use authentic tasks • Start lessons with workplace situations • Teach and apply problem-solving skills • Use graphic organizers • Use project based learning

44. Have you ever overheard a student say…? After I pass the GED Test, I am never going to write an essay again! After I pass the GED Test, I am never going to write again!

45. What can your teachers do to incorporate writing contextually? • Send students on a “treasure hunt” to find grammatical structures or grammatical errors. • Have learners rewrite headlines in the form of complete sentences, using proper capitalization and punctuation. • Choose a photo in the newspaper and ask learners to write a few lines about the photo. • Write a letter to the editor regarding an issue of importance to the community taking a pro or con stance. • Write a letter of application for a job that is listed in the want-ads. • Create a shopping list based on a store advertisement.

46. What Do Employers Want? • They want their employees to have the ability to read, understand, and follow: • Directions • Memos or letters • Proposals • Graphic information such as charts, tables, graphs, and spreadsheets • Presentation materials • Newsletters • Meeting minutes • Reports • Surveys • Procedural manuals or guides and policies • Press releases • Contracts, proposal, and grants

47. Activity 5 • Take a few minutes to review the sample contextualized lessons. • Is this something your teachers could do in their classrooms? • Is this something your students would understand?

48. More Questions • What are programs doing now? • Career Pathways • Functional Context Education (FCE) • How can local programs begin to implement contextualized instruction? • Resources • Technical Support • Professional Development

49. Contextualized Instruction in MI Today • Career Pathways • Novi Community School District has fostered a relationship with local hospitals (Providence, Beaumont, Botsford, and Henry Ford) to create a healthcare pathway for adult learners. Students are able to dual enroll in Oakland Community College and Novi Adult Basic Education to acquire basic skills in the context of studying healthcare related fields. • Macomb Community College committed resources and worked with area employers and the Macomb/St. Clair Workforce Development Board to create an entry-level program to address the needs of healthcare employers. The program’s curriculum addresses the needs of adult learners and combines classroom instruction with hands-on lab practice, and supervised clinical training. Certified students are qualified to get/keep an entry-level position and to articulate that training to other career programs for future career advancement.

50. Contextualized Instruction in MI Today • Career Pathways • Mott Community College’s Workforce Education Center (MCC) has developed career pathways for students through the national Breaking Through Initiative. Career pathway programs are seamless to students in that each phase builds upon the skills, credentials, and/or certificates earned in the previous phase, from basic skills attainment to technical certifications. There are multiple points of entry and exit for students. MCC also accelerates basic skills attainment in phase one, and has some accelerated vocational options within the pathways. Currently, there are pathways available to students in Healthcare, Business Management, Engineering/Manufacturing/Industrial Technologies, and Human Services and Public Administration. • Other Programs… ?