Continuing in the skills you learn in school that you need for successful work habits, I pick up from where I left in the previous post.
5. Complete Tasks. While in school your teacher assigns work. This work is to help you in several skills not to mention learning the subject matter that you are studying. This work helps you develop the skill of pacing, the skill of working independently, the skill of working neatly, and the skill of completing a task within the amount of time given. In the workforce you must complete your tasks within a specific time frame. If you don't you will hold others up in their jobs, miss deadlines, and in the end not make a very good impression on your boss. If you complete your tasks on time you develop your reputation as a person who is dependable, responsible, and trustworthy. These things are good.
6. Work Together. In school you will be assigned work where you have to work in groups to complete an assignment. Sometimes you get to choose your groups and other times you are assigned to a group. Group work is important because it teaches you how to get along with your classmates and with those that you may not get along with. Group work teaches you how to divide the work, complete tasks for the benefit of the group and how to combine one's efforts with others to produce a quality project. It also teaches you how to motivate those who may not want to work to benefit the group, how to problem solve, and how to compromise.
7. Get along with others. This goes hand in hand with group work. But it goes further than that in that in school you need to learn how to get along with others. You may be seated behind someone who is taller than you and now you can't see the teacher or the board. You may be seated next to someone who doesn't use deoderant. You may be seated next to someone who sucks on the top of his pen. You may have a bully in the class or in the school who is constantly picking on you. You may have others who like to gossip. These situations are all real in the work environment too. This is a great time to learn how to get along with others even if they drive you crazy or make you angry or even pick on you. Use your school time to learn and practice skills in dealing with others.
8. How to disagree appropriately. Oh, this is a BIG lesson. Learning how to disagree appropriately is a skill everyone needs to learn. School and the classroom is a great place to learn this skill and a perfect time to practice it. Everyone has their own opinion and everyone must respect the opinions of others. This doesn't mean that you have to agree with it. It means that you respect that they think differently than you and that they are ALLOWED to think differently. If you wish to disagree with them the skills for communicating this is important. You must express that you acknowledge that they have their own opinion and that it is not your opinion. You must express that you understand that their opinion and ideas are not necessarily wrong but just different than yours. If you disagree in the workplace particularly with your boss the way of expressing this can mean your job.
More to come in part III.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
From School to Work: Skills you need to know. Part I of III
Each year I teach this lesson to my high school students. So often as teachers we hear, "what is this stuff going to do for us when we graduate?" or "This is going to do nothing for me when I am older and have a real job."
No? Really? Well then, let me tell you how the work you do in my class translates into the incredible work you will be doing in 10 years at your job.
1. Attendance: Every day I take attendance in my class. I also check to see if you are on time. These two skills will help you in your job. Your boss will expect you at work every day AND on time. Being late, even a few minutes late can have a major impact on the company you work for. Let's say your boss has a meeting with a new client and he wants you to come into the meeting and meet the client. This could be your big shot. This client could help your company makes tons of money. This client could cause you to get a huge promotion. So the boss goes to get you in your office and lo and behold you are not there. He checks his watch and you are supposed to be there, but you aren't. So he walks back to his office where this new client is waiting to meet the best guy to help him and your boss has to tell the new client that you aren't here yet. Now how does that look to the client? How does that make you look? How does that make your boss look? How does that make your company look? Because you were late your company just might lose this client and possibly lose a lot of money. Oh, and that big promotion? Yeah, you won't be getting it any time soon.
2. Dress the part: A savvy teen knows what is cool to wear and what is not cool. Sometimes fashion is not appropriate in school and sometimes in the workforce. Know the rules and follow the rules. You may be working for a company that has a specific uniform to wear. You may not like that uniform but to work for the company you have to wear it. Are you going to wear it? School dress code is the same way. What you wear outside of school is your choice but what you wear inside of school is the school's choice. Follow the code.
3. Know who your boss is. In school your teacher is the boss of the class, the principal is the big boss. The teacher is like middle management. They know what is going on with each kid in the class. The teacher writes the recommendations for jobs, for college, for clubs. Know who your boss is. The big boss, the principal, may know some of the kids well but for most of the students, the principal relies on the teachers to tell them which students should be commended for their effort and their grades. Same as for the work force. In the work force you have the big boss and then you have middle management. The middle management is your immediate supervisor. If you don't impress them then you will often be overlooked for promotions, bonuses, and you will be the first for them to suggest for layoffs. So, do your work in class, impress your teacher and you will go far.
4. Ask Questions: School is a perfect spot to learn how to ask questions, ask for help and ask for suggestions. If you don't learn how to ask questions, and be comfortable in asking then when you get to your job you will be in trouble. When your boss assigns you a task, if you don't know what to do or how to do it you will need to ask questions. This doesn't make you less intelligent, it actually makes you look better. If you don't ask you might do the task wrong. Then your boss may get upset because now you have to do it over correctly and at this point it is late. If you asked questions to begin with you would have done it right the first time. It would have been turned in on time and it would have impressed your boss.
There are 12 qualities in this lesson. I will publish parts II and III over the next few days.
No? Really? Well then, let me tell you how the work you do in my class translates into the incredible work you will be doing in 10 years at your job.
1. Attendance: Every day I take attendance in my class. I also check to see if you are on time. These two skills will help you in your job. Your boss will expect you at work every day AND on time. Being late, even a few minutes late can have a major impact on the company you work for. Let's say your boss has a meeting with a new client and he wants you to come into the meeting and meet the client. This could be your big shot. This client could help your company makes tons of money. This client could cause you to get a huge promotion. So the boss goes to get you in your office and lo and behold you are not there. He checks his watch and you are supposed to be there, but you aren't. So he walks back to his office where this new client is waiting to meet the best guy to help him and your boss has to tell the new client that you aren't here yet. Now how does that look to the client? How does that make you look? How does that make your boss look? How does that make your company look? Because you were late your company just might lose this client and possibly lose a lot of money. Oh, and that big promotion? Yeah, you won't be getting it any time soon.
2. Dress the part: A savvy teen knows what is cool to wear and what is not cool. Sometimes fashion is not appropriate in school and sometimes in the workforce. Know the rules and follow the rules. You may be working for a company that has a specific uniform to wear. You may not like that uniform but to work for the company you have to wear it. Are you going to wear it? School dress code is the same way. What you wear outside of school is your choice but what you wear inside of school is the school's choice. Follow the code.
3. Know who your boss is. In school your teacher is the boss of the class, the principal is the big boss. The teacher is like middle management. They know what is going on with each kid in the class. The teacher writes the recommendations for jobs, for college, for clubs. Know who your boss is. The big boss, the principal, may know some of the kids well but for most of the students, the principal relies on the teachers to tell them which students should be commended for their effort and their grades. Same as for the work force. In the work force you have the big boss and then you have middle management. The middle management is your immediate supervisor. If you don't impress them then you will often be overlooked for promotions, bonuses, and you will be the first for them to suggest for layoffs. So, do your work in class, impress your teacher and you will go far.
4. Ask Questions: School is a perfect spot to learn how to ask questions, ask for help and ask for suggestions. If you don't learn how to ask questions, and be comfortable in asking then when you get to your job you will be in trouble. When your boss assigns you a task, if you don't know what to do or how to do it you will need to ask questions. This doesn't make you less intelligent, it actually makes you look better. If you don't ask you might do the task wrong. Then your boss may get upset because now you have to do it over correctly and at this point it is late. If you asked questions to begin with you would have done it right the first time. It would have been turned in on time and it would have impressed your boss.
There are 12 qualities in this lesson. I will publish parts II and III over the next few days.
Explorers to the New World
So many explorers so little time! For some students it is difficult to remember who did what and when. In Virginia we study the explorers from early elementary school through high school US History. They see the same maps over and over again. Memorize the same paths and dates.
Here are some of the places I go to help them out.
This interactive map is great for learning and watching the paths that many explorers took. One thing I don't like is that they don't include Cortes in this.
I love this "clearing house" for brief summaries and quick maps of so many explorers. Enchanted Learning is a great website for so many topics.
Here is another great site for researching the explorers and looking at the paths they took. And here is the specific area for Cortes.
Here is a list of the explorers that we highlight in my class.
Ponce DeLion
Christopher Columbus
Cartier
De Soto
Pizarro
Hernando Cortes
Henry Hudson
La Salle
Coronado
Cabrillo
Marquette and Joliet
This is an excellent site for those more interested in learning all the political, historical, and scientific information about exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries. There are lots of great interactive maps in there too.
Here are some of the places I go to help them out.
This interactive map is great for learning and watching the paths that many explorers took. One thing I don't like is that they don't include Cortes in this.
I love this "clearing house" for brief summaries and quick maps of so many explorers. Enchanted Learning is a great website for so many topics.
Here is another great site for researching the explorers and looking at the paths they took. And here is the specific area for Cortes.
Here is a list of the explorers that we highlight in my class.
Ponce DeLion
Christopher Columbus
Cartier
De Soto
Pizarro
Hernando Cortes
Henry Hudson
La Salle
Coronado
Cabrillo
Marquette and Joliet
This is an excellent site for those more interested in learning all the political, historical, and scientific information about exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries. There are lots of great interactive maps in there too.
Welcome Back to School
Welcome to History Class! I am excited to have you here with me this year and possibly for many years to come. I hope you will scan my archives to find topics in history of interest to you.
I am Mrs. Sears. I teach history/social studies to middle and high school students. In my classes I have students of high abilities, students with disabilities, and students who are "at risk". I try to have interesting activities and lessons for the kids so that they will begin to develop a life long interest in history and in their world around them.
Here you will find lesson plans, websites of interest, and actual lessons. I will blog about specific topics in world history, US history, Government/Civics, and in geography.
I hope you explore and enjoy. There is much to learn and read for students, teachers and fellow history lovers.
I am Mrs. Sears. I teach history/social studies to middle and high school students. In my classes I have students of high abilities, students with disabilities, and students who are "at risk". I try to have interesting activities and lessons for the kids so that they will begin to develop a life long interest in history and in their world around them.
Here you will find lesson plans, websites of interest, and actual lessons. I will blog about specific topics in world history, US history, Government/Civics, and in geography.
I hope you explore and enjoy. There is much to learn and read for students, teachers and fellow history lovers.
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