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School-to-Career: When students visit your business
by
This is the third in a series of articles exploring ideas and practical applications in "school-to-career."
In September we looked at ideas that make classroom visits less intimidating and more interactive. This month let's explore ways to organize visits to your business. Site visits can be informative and motivational, but "field trips" as we know them have inherent problems. First, the field trip has an unfortunate reputation as part of the sanctioned repertoire for "getting out of class." Second, with a typical field trip, the business is on display: students shuffle through, receive a presentation in the conference room, and come away with limited (or, more accurately, limiting) understanding of the business. Because of how most field trips are structured, an overall perspective on the business and the roles people play to accomplish work-what it takes to run the business and get the job done-can be opaque to students.
The purpose of the field trip, or site visit, is to reveal the usefulness of what students are learning in school and contribute to their sense of direction in life. Whether the students visiting your company are wide-eyed elementary schoolers or soon-to-graduate seniors, their experience with you and your staff can be the basis for serious intellectual work back in the classroom. When making arrangements with a teacher, discuss how the site visit fits in with the curriculum and what kinds of activities the students will do as a result of the trip. The workplace environment is a rich resource for exploration and analysis in the classroom. How you choose to structure the visit can give the teacher an opportunity to create relevant lessons that build on the visit and extend to broader topics and issues.
Here are some ideas to help you get started:
Before the site visit:
Orient students to the visit. Students should do some preliminary research on your business, if materials are available. If appropriate, have students sign non-disclosure statements. The teacher can have students discuss and write about when they expect to see and hear during the site visit. They can also write questions based on their interests. By documenting expectations, students will be oriented to noticing certain aspects of the work at your site while also having a way to compare expectations with what they actually see and hear. They will come to better understand your work.
During the visit:
Provide a limited overview. Choose one or two key stories about the company, such as its origins and a success story or turning point, and provide a basic structural overview that includes the business model (e.g.: corporation, partnership, etc.). While this is an opportunity to welcome the students, it should be a short prelude to the main reason for the visit: observing real work being done.
Break students into groups. It's very difficult to learn all about a business in one visit, and better if students can divide the responsibility for learning in-depth about various facets of your business. Back in the classroom, the students can report to each other what they learned. Smaller groups also help bring the visit to a more personal scale for the students.
Break students into groups. It's very difficult to learn all about a business in one visit, and better if students can divide the responsibility for learning in-depth about various facets of your business. Back in the classroom, the students can report to each other what they learned. Smaller groups also help bring the visit to a more personal scale for the students.
Arrange for students to observe real work. If possible, have students sit-in on meetings, observe and interact with people on the job, and even express their ideas about a specific problem your staff is working to solve. Observing a team in action-how members talk, gather resources, make decisions, and act-can be far more compelling than a talk on teamwork.
Deal with policies. In addition to having students understand and sign non-disclosure statements, the visit can also demonstrate for students important aspects running the business. In addition to intellectual property, health and safety, insurance, and other workplace environment factors all impact the business, and are topics that students can explore in the classroom.
After the visit:
Exchange reflections. The students will send you a thank-you note, which may include their reflections and insights from the visit; you might also send them a brief note that describes what you learned from them. The teacher may have the students develop a case-study of your business, based on their research and their observations during the visit. Or, they may design solutions to a problem they observed, or even design an entirely new business. You or your staff might respond to their ideas through email, or even by visiting the class and leading a discussion.
Next Month: The Job Shadow
It takes employers, students, and teachers working together to build an effective STC system. The local STC partnerships have the tools to help employers get started; please contact them for more information. If you have your own ideas for getting involved, please contact Ralph Manak at the Bay Area School-to-Career Action Network (BaySCAN).
Contacts:
Camille Madfes, Marin County STC Partnership
415-897-4201 ext 235 |
Helen Ramstad, Sonoma County STC Partnership
707-524-2851 |
Ralph Manak, BaySCAN Multimedia Network
415-507-6233 |
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