Preparing Students for the Workplace and Beyond

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Preparing Students for the Workplace and Beyond
Contextualizing Instruction in Local Programs
Teaching the skills needed for todays jobs
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We should be educating all students according
to a common expectation, one that prepares them
for both postsecondary education and the
workforce. ACT (2006)
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Guiding Principles

• Collaboration
• Accountability
• Responsiveness
• Agility
• Contextualization
• Entrepreneurship
• Alignment

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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
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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?

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

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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

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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

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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

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Its 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?

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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?

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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.

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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?
• ONET
• CareerInfoNet
• Michigan Jobs and Career Portal

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ONET OnLine
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Americas Career InfoNet
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Americas Career InfoNet
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Career InfoNet Videos
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Michigan Jobs and Career Portal
http//www.michigan.gov/careers
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Activity 2
Using Michigans Labor Market Information Whats
happening around the state? Whats happening
within various regions of the state? How can this
information be used in local
programs?
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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

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The American Diploma Project
If they can write, Ill take them. power plant
manager Increasingly, the computer will do the
computation butthinking 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 cant do that
without an understanding of the computation.
manufacturing and distribution executive
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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

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Remember, just because it is blue collar, it
doesnt 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?sectionAboutAGCname
AboutAGC
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.)

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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 learners responsibility.

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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

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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.

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

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Lets 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.

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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
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What Do Employers Want?

• Algebra and algebraic thinking
• Geometry and geometric thinking
• Data representation and statistical thinking
• Problem solving skills

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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?

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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

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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!
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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.

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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

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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?

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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

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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 programs 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.

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Contextualized Instruction in MI Today

• Career Pathways
• Mott Community Colleges 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 ?

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Contextualized Instruction in MI Today

• Functional Context Education (FCE)
• Literacy Center of West Michigan offers 10-12
  week classes on-site at local companies. The
  reading and writing portions of the curriculum
  use real company documents or the work language
  that is specific to the company as study
  materials. Curriculum is in the context of
  employees jobs, providing English or literacy
  skill instruction and work place training
  simultaneously. The Center has had demonstrated
  success with the employers served thus far and is
  continuing to build connections with employers
  and communicate with them on the need for
  investment in their human capital. The Center
  also uses creative funding to support the
  project, including a variety of public and
  private funds.
• Preparing Workers for 21st Century Employment
  Reading and Mathematics is now operational in
  programs throughout the state. The curriculum is
  designed to provide adult basic education
  programs with reading and mathematics materials
  that introduce basic concepts and skills by
  engaging the students in employment related
  topics identify by Michigan employers as critical
  to employee effectiveness.

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Preparing Workers for 21st Century Employment

• Provides a first step for local programs in
  initiating contextualized instruction
• Has shown gains in student achievement in reading
  and mathematics
• Has received positive reviews from students and
  teachers
• Provides teachers with a complete package of
  materials
• Includes a professional development component

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Activity 6
Next Steps What support does your program need
to implement contextualized instruction?
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Michigan Adult Education and Development Project
(MAEPD)
Research and Development Bonnie
Goonen bv73008_at_aol.com Susan K.
Pittman-Shetler skptvs_at_aol.com
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This project was developed by National Human
Resources Development, Inc. (NHRD) in cooperation
with the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and
Economic Growth and funded through a grant under
Section 222(a)(2) State Leadership Activities of
the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act,
Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998,
amended. For more information
visit http//www.maepd.org