STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:

Professionals are leaders in their field. An amateur may know how to do some of the things a professional does, but if you are looking for high quality, detail-oriented and timely work you should always turn to a professional. Today, the students will be looking at certifications offered at Muncie Central High School and exploring how these can fulfill graduation requirements and be useful in the professional world. To begin with, though, they will be engaging in a twist on the idea of “follow the leader.”

 

Choose one student to step into the hallway. Then, have the rest of the class (including yourself) stand in a circle around the room. Now pick another student to be the “leader” of the class. Tell the rest of the class to subtly watch the “leader” and mirror their actions. If they cross their arms, everybody crosses their arms. If they scratch their ear, everybody scratches their ear.

 

Now, have the student that stepped into the hallway return. Explain to them that there is one “leader” in the classroom and it is their job to find them. Any student that is wrongly guessed should sit down until the true “leader” is identified. You can repeat this process a few times with different students.

DIGGING IN:

Talk to the students about how they were able to identify the leaders in each round. What were the giveaways? How do we identify leaders in our day-to-day life? How about leaders in a specific work field? How do we identify the professionals as opposed to someone who is not a professional?

 

One way that professionals can make themselves stand out in their field of work is earning certifications. Certifications are credentials, kind of like a college degree, that indicate a person has a certain set of skills, ability or knowledge.

 

Just like students had previously learned about Employability Skills, earning a certification can be used to fulfill the last Graduation Pathway requirement: Post-Secondary Skills.

 

You can share this infographic with students again to help visualize the pathways: intoolkit.com/gradpathways

 

There are a number of ways that a student can choose to fulfill the Post-Secondary Skills requirement. Earning either of an honors seal (Enrollment, Employment or Enlistment) will fulfill the requirement. Also there are specific minimum scores for standardized tests that students can earn to fulfill this. (You can ask students if they can give example of different standardized tests that prepare students for what comes after high school.) The tests that can be considered for this requirement are: ACT, SAT, Accuplacer and WorkKeys.

 

Again, earning a certification is another way that students can choose to fulfill this requirement. Certifications are generally earned by taking an exam, and these exams are typically given after a course of study. These courses vary in length and cost, but the exams generally cost between $50-$150 to take.

 

Just like students can earn college credit in high school, high schools often offer a number of courses that prepare students for industry certification exams. These certifications are generally early, introductory certifications, but they are a great way for students to set themselves apart in the career field that they are interested in going into.

 

INTO ACTION:

Make sure that students have access to their high school curriculum guides, and ask direct them to the section that presents certification offerings. This section of the curriculum guide will outline a variety of “classroom to career” programs offered at the high school. Many students will be able to find a program of study to prepare them for their top career choice. Take time to speak about each of the different programs and the types of work involved.

 

Show students how within each of these programs, the curriculum guide lists a wide variety of careers that students can prepare for while in high school, and some of the different classes that they may take. Pass out the “Post-Secondary Readiness - Certifications” sheet to the students. Students will use this form to identify Muncie Central High School career programs that they feel will best prepare them for their top career choice. Additionally, students will identify five industry certifications that they can earn in high school and the career fields that these can prepare a student for.