Post #11

11/13/12

I actually really liked how this chapter was laid out…it was very practical and concrete, and it made sense to me. I appreciated the fact that Brown (2012) included sections with tips for elementary school students, middle school students, and high school students. I thought it was also extremely beneficial to include so many sample forms and examples of lesson plans based on career development programs. As a former education major, I had to write countless lesson plans in multiple different academic areas; some of them included activities like those listed in this chapter (particularly in the elementary students section), but never had the opportunity—or even the idea—to do an entire unit on career-themed topics, especially at such a young age. However, as we’ve discussed multiple times in class, the benefits of starting to implement career development programs or, at the very least, instilling career awareness at the elementary level far outweigh the costs of doing so.

I think someone else mentioned this earlier, but I also really appreciated the section about involving community resources in the program, and that same quote came to mind right away: “It takes a village to raise a child.” It obviously really depends on what type of community the school is in, and which types of resources are actually available. Brown (2012) notes that local businesses and industries, service clubs, and labor union representatives and officials are often some of the richest resources a community has to offer. A couple of people mentioned in their blogs that they didn’t get the opportunity to partake in career development or awareness activities and programs in elementary school; when I was in elementary school, I remember several times when various local firefighters, policemen, and business owners in for all sorts of assemblies and programs. These weren’t necessarily programs or assemblies to orient us towards specific careers, but were more for an entertainment/educational purpose to inform the students about what types of things they do at those jobs.

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10^th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.