Finding Our Path In Life--KTC Uses Career Cruising and the Assessments to Help Students Find their Desired Jobs

Today at KTC, we had the students onto Career Cruising.  Career Cruising is a website that helps the students determine jobs that match their skills and their interests.  After making a profile on Career Cruising, the student will undergo three areas of testing.  The more questions they complete, the better the website will know them and that translates into jobs that really seem to match who they are.

 

First the student will complete the MatchMaker.  The MatchMaker consists of 3 parts and has 116 questions total.  After that, the next week they will complete the learning styles inventory where they pinpoint what type of learner they are.  For our students, this will help them be able to start researching jobs that they would be interested in and the learning style will only help them reinforce why the jobs on their MatchMaker list really fit them or not.

 Reflection:
The students loved seeing what jobs came up on their list while others did not.  Some students tried to have only certain jobs come up by answering the way that they should to make a specific jobs appear on their list.  At the end of the tests, it would generate a report that only a teacher could print out so that their student could see.

This activity helps the students gather the information needed for their end of the year projects where  they researched jobs from their MatchMaker lists.  Each job that is on the list is a link to the information that is listed on Career Cruising for that job.  For example, if you clicked on #1 career suggestion listed on the results above, you would see a screen where it would tell you the yearly salary or hourly wage, education and skills and abilities needed, and core tasks performed at the job.  For all the jobs on this list, it will provide this information in a "At a Glance" form or have separate pages to tell more than what is on this page.  There are also taped interviews where they can listen to someone talk about their experience with doing this job and even search for the specific job in their area.  

Career Cruising was beneficial and we hope to use it even more in the future.  

Know Yourself, Know Your Career--True Colors Personality Test

Students at the Kent Transition started out the year aiming to complete 4 things: Career exploration, self discovery, increased awareness of jobs and careers, and to qualify for a summer job opportunity with Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS).  This week, we were beginning to complete True Colors personality assessment to help them complete our agenda. The students began the day with asking them to describe themselves with a color and why.  The students were unsure but I told them that at the time, there was no right or wrong answer--just their opinion.  After that, we prefaced taking the True Colors assessment so they could pinpoint themselves to be one of three colors and what they would mean.   The students first took the assessment (unmodified but with much explanation of terms by myself.) After we did this with a few classes, I realized that I had to change the assessment to be more in their language, with situations they would know about, and with simplified wording.   Simplified True Colors test After this, the students were able to say what their rank of colors would be and then we broke down what each color group meant with adjectives.  We then had the students pinpoint what their strongest color was and describe themselves with two adjectives from their strongest color group.   Reflection:  The students tended to really like this activity.  To some, it seems like they lit up when they realized that they now knew something about themselves (a trait), there were other people in the class like them, and that they were beginning to be able to describe themselves.  I really liked this activity.  It helped me learn about my students, increased our connection, and helped to begin to know about themselves.  I just can't wait to see what jobs come up for them when they do their next activity.  :-)

Student example of their pre/post-test which also served as an exit ticket! True Colors Information

KTC + MRS = A Partnership for Student Success

The Partnership Between KTC and MRS Grows Stronger

Did you know that KTC and MRS work together?  The Kent Transition Center and the Michigan Rehabilitation Services division of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services have been working together for years (even longer than I have been at KTC) to get students to find employment and keep the job.  

Many people do not know what all MRS does.  With the help of MRS, disability advocates,  and employers they have partnered with, they have "developed a strategic plan to advance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities."(1)   MRS is having an active role with getting our students work for the rest of their lives but also wants to provide them with a paid job in the very near future.  

During summer 2016, we will be offering a paid summer job at specific job sites in Grand Rapids, MI, for students who have completed certain MRS criteria within my classroom, who are well behaved, and who have great attendance. 


 The list of MRS criteria covers everything from determining jobs that match their interests to developing transportation plans in the future.   

Michigan Rehabilitation Services summer program criteria list  

At the Kent Transition Center, we train students, many with disabilities of some kind, to be successful in entry-level jobs by teaching them skills in various areas but also by teaching them soft skills that transfer to any job site.  We hope that through this strengthened partnership with MRS, that the students feel more confident about their abilities, obtain work, and maintain that job for the rest of their lives.

Our coordinator who we are in contact with is a man by the name of Joe Champion.  He has made his presence know at schools such as Ottawa Hills, Lowell, and Union, but we would love to have him become well known at your school as well!  Please contact KTC at (616) 365-2391 if you have any questions or are interested in learning more about our partnership with MRS.

More MRS Information:

Step 1: Introduction to MRS

Step 2: Applying for Services

Step 3:

Step 4: Career Exploration

http: //www.michigan.gov/documents/dhs/BetterOffWorking_474324_7.pdf
http://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-73971_25392_70985---,00.html
http://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-73971_25392_40237---,00.html

Pages cited: 

(1) - http://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-73971_25392_70946---,00.html 

Welcome to KTC ELA--with ELA Credit to Come!

Hello fellow educators and district LEA's,

I am creating this page so that you and others know about what happens here at the Kent Transition Center at Kent ISD.

This page is named ELA Happenings but currently this year, we are not offering English credits while being at KTC.  We have heard that many school districts would love for us to offer English credit and we are still continuing to figure how we will be able to serve the needs of our sending districts.

Currently, myself and the staff of KTC, are working to give your students insight into what jobs they may want to do in the future through the programs and activities on campus but also through my class where they will be making resumes, preparing for interviews, going to Michigan Works and other employment agencies, and going through some of the basics of writing such as revision, final drafts, and more.

We hope and are in the process of investigating what we could do to get your students English credit, but for right now, we are using myself to get work documents ready for our students' use in the future, expose them to real life experiences, and prepare them for the world of work.

We will keep you abreast of information towards us offering ELA credit.  Thank you so much!