You know the importance of elementary school. Your students will develop visions of their future and help them to be successful in the workplace. Your students will remain open to new career opportunities and options with your support. Your students will not be pressured to make career decisions or prepare for the future if you are there with them. Elementary school is an opportunity to help students understand the world.
You use career education as a counselor and teacher in elementary schools to encourage self-worth, skills development, and decision making. Your activities aim to help you build relationships with your family, friends, school, community and career. Use age-appropriate materials to match the developmental level of your students. You expose your students to many different careers, information sources and reasons people work.
You can use the National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG) to help you develop age-appropriate products, tests, and tools. The National Career Development Guidelines have domains, goals, indicators. Each domain is a development area. There are specific competencies or goals for each domain. Indicators highlight the knowledge and skills required to reach each goal. You can use the National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG), to create materials that are appropriate for your students.
You create individual portfolios and career plans as a teacher or counselor in elementary schools. Individual career plans (ICP).
Develop self-awareness
Determine your initial career goals and education plans
Increase your employability and decision-making skills
Individual career portfolios are a compilation of career awareness activities and experiences during the school year. You can also use many resources, including individual career plans and portfolios.
Career days
Career fairs
Speakers for the community
Field trips
Information interviewing
Literature
Mentors
Collages, murals
Educational games
Shadowing a job
Dramatic presentations
The career activities and tools all combine academic work with career paths. Future skills are built on the foundations of career activities. You help students make connections between academics as well as real-life situations by being teachers or counselors. Career education activities emphasize the importance of science, math, language arts, and social studies.
Show students that Language Arts can be used in many areas of the workforce.
Reading
Writing
Listening skills
Examples are provided to show how Mathematics can be used to solve problems. There are many types of mathematics:
Additional
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
Social Studies teaches students how to succeed in the global market. Social Studies teaches students about:
Countries
Languages
Cultures
Students learn about the importance of Science and develop skills to solve problems. Your students will see how Science is used in various industries.
Food
Media
Agriculture
Automotive industry
These connections strengthen, develop and expand skills that were previously acquired through academics. As a counselor or teacher in elementary schools, you can help students.
Value yourself and know your worth
Increase self-esteem and confidence
Use the academic material to learn and apply it.
Find your interests and create relationships between school and work
Develop academic, communication, problem solving and social skills
Sensitize the public about future job skills
Learn how to make connections between school, work, academic skills, job-related skills, and career paths
Explore career options
Consider yourself a potential contributor to the workforce.
Receive empowerment
Self-determination is possible
You are counselors or teachers. Your job is to help people develop self-awareness, family awareness and school awareness. Use age-appropriate materials to meet the needs of students. You can use these activities to create individual career plans (ICP), individual portfolios, career days and career fairs, as well as field trips, information interviews, library book reports, and career days.
Your students will be more likely to achieve higher grades, academic achievement and school involvement after completing career education activities. Your students will also be able to take more challenging courses and graduate at a higher rate from high school. Your students will reach their career goals and visions as they get older.
