MIDDLE SCHOOL HANDBOOK

Learning Goals

In Visit 2, students will:

Understand the special skills and talents that make them individually unique
Understand that knowing their values can lead them to their personal best
Understand that knowing oneself is the basis for positive decision-making and begins the career exploration process.

Introduction and Ice Breaker

Enter the classroom with high energy! Greet the students with excitement. As an icebreaker call on the students to state your name, job, role model. See how many facts about you they can remember.

Visit Two is packed with exercises. Based on your discussion with your teacher and the needs of your students, select the best 2-3 exercises to achieve the learning goals.

Remember-- Visit Volunteer Tested Ideas from the Classroom for more ideas!

Exercise 1 - Things I Love To Do

Objective: Students will be able to identify the activities they enjoy doing and determine the characteristics of each activity. The goal of this exercise is for students to look at their everyday lives and identify the things they enjoy doing as a basis for self understanding.

Presentation Suggestions: Begin this exercise with a game of “show and tell”. Bring in objects that represent an interest of yours.

Playing "show and tell" is a great icebreaker as well as a great way to get the students thinking about their skills and talents.
"What are some other things you like to do?" To guide them, write headings on the board for Family, School, Friends, Sports, etc. Brainstorm ideas and write them down below the appropriate heading.
Ask the students to independently complete each statement.
Select students to share their answers. Emphasize that what they wrote down for the things they like to do are the basis for discovering their skills and talents.

Exercise #2: My Talents and Skills: What Makes Me Unique

Objectives: Students will be able to identify the area where their greatest strengths lie. This exercise helps students look at their skills and begin to categorize them as a means of determining a possible career in the future.

Preparation: Identify a personal story that relates to the variety of qualities people have and the importance of working with people that have a mixture of different skills.

Presentation Suggestions: Read the directions thoroughly! This exercise can be confusing.

Define clearly natural abilities and learned abilities.
Ask the students to read down the list and check each statement that applies to them. Share with the students that this list is a way to determine their talents and skills. Once they have completed the checklist, tell them to add up the totals for each category.
Complete the exercise out loud with the class using you as the example.
Designate an area in the classroom for each category. For example: Those with more people skills stand in the north corner, those with more work skills stand in the east corner, etc. Have students that are tied with two different categories walk back and forth to each group.

Once students are standing in their corners, emphasize two things: first, tell the students to look around their corner to see who shares their interests, skills and talents, then ask them to look at the other corners to see other classmates’ strengths. Tell them that these are the people they can look to for help when it comes to doing projects. Share with them that as much as it is fun to work on a project with your friends, often the best teams are those where everyone brings different skills and talents to the table.

Tip: The more senses you use while you teach, the better chance students will absorb your message. For example, when brainstorming for the above exercises, students are listening, watching and writing at the same time; thus, they are increasing their chance of retention.

Exercise #3: My Values

Objective: Students will be able to correctly define positive values. The goal of this exercise is introduce the concept of positive values.

Preparation: Ensure that you can define and identify examples of the words in the exercise.

Presentation Suggestion: Write down the word "compassion" on the board. Ask for a volunteer to read the definition. Ask students for synonyms of compassion and also write those words on the board (define synonym!) As a class, answer the statement, "When the new girl came to class, we showed compassion by..." Then ask the students to independently complete the questions, "Do you value compassion?" and "How have you shown compassion in your life?"

Have the students work in groups of three. Assign each group a value from the word list to complete and present to the class. Each presentation should consist of reading the definition, sharing synonyms, and completing the statement below the definition.

As each group presents their word, give the students a minute or two to reflect on the definition and answer the personal questions below the bolded statement.

Exercise #4: My Personal Best

Objectives: Students will be able to identify their skills, talents and values, and understand that knowing themselves well is the foundation for making positive choices. This exercise pulls visit two together.

Preparation: Identify a personal story that emphasizes the importance of "knowing yourself well" to share with the class.

Presentation Suggestions: Lead a discussion about achieving success and doing your personal best. Emphasize that the road to success is more about doing your personal best and being proud of who you are, than how much money your make or how many “things” you have.

Use the analogy that we are like trees. Our roots are our values, i.e., the things upon which all our decisions should be based. The leaves and branches are all the things that make us unique and special. Our talents and skills are the things we like to do, the way we like to dress, which hand we write with, or our religious faith. Brainstorm other examples of things that make us special and unique. Write the words on the board. Ask students to look back at the exercises they completed today. Have them fill in the roots of the tree with their core values and the leaves and branches of the tree with their interests, skills, talents and anything else that makes them special.

Exercise #5: Hit Single

Objective: Students will be able to represent their lives creatively by selecting a music title and designing a CD cover that tells their life story. This exercise is a great way for you to see how the students perceive themselves. This is an excellent exercise to assign as homework because the students can take extra time to complete it and you can take the assignment home after your next visit.

Preparation: Design a sample CD cover for yourself and show your students. Students can rip the exercise out of the curriculum book to complete.

Presentation Suggestions: Read the directions or have a student read the directions aloud. Have a contest. Let the students decide what the categories for judging will be. Write these categories on the board.

Be sure to work with the teacher to have them collect the homework before your next visit.

Visit Summary

Recap your second visit by asking the students a few questions that reflect their understanding of the visit goals. For example: "What is something that makes you special?", "What do you value?", or "What are some skills you possess?"

Collect the books and identify your expectations of any assigned homework. End the visit by thanking students for their time and letting them know when you will see them again.