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How to Teach Career Awareness in an Elementary School

Kids who learn career awareness in elementary school have a head start on knowing what they want to be when they grow up. Career awareness helps kids conceptualize the ideas of going to work, paying bills and handling adult responsibilities; kids also learn early on that their natural talents and abilities can go a long way toward paying for the life they want. If you're trying to figure out how to teach career awareness, start with yourself. Explain why you became a teacher and what the job entails.

Instructions

    • 1

      Ask students to discuss their skills, talents and preferences in relation to career options. For example, if a child in your class loves to debate, explain the duties and career requirements of a lawyer. If a child loves to draw, discuss the possibilities of painting, drawing comic strips or graphic design. Help children understand the importance of education in relation to their career choice so that they'll realize most careers are a combination of talent, discipline and hard work.

    • 2

      Keep visual aids posted so that students can look at various careers in action -- perhaps a posters that show people in uniform performing their job functions. Suggestions include a fireman on his truck, a policeman flashing his badge, a professional ballerina lacing her shoes, a basketball player dunking the winning shot, a lawyer arguing in court or a doctor with his stethoscope.

    • 3

      Ask students about what their parents do at work. Help them understand the relationship between what their parents do all day and how that money is used to pay for the students' homes, the clothes they wear and the food they eat. If their parents don't work outside the home, discuss the housekeeping work their parents perform. Talk about how some are paid for their work and how some adults aren't paid for their work.

    • 4

      Discuss how careers affect the kids' own lives. Point out people all around them involved in career performance, like the crossing guard who helps them cross the street, the bus driver who gets them to school on time, the school nurse who calls parents for children feeling ill, the cafeteria workers who prepare their food, the teachers who educate them, etc. Ask children to pay attention to different careers while they're outside of school, and discuss their findings in class. For example, a boy who went to the movies during the weekend might mention the person who runs the projector, or a girl who saw a play with her parents might discuss professional actors.

    • 5

      Provide costumes and have students dress up for the day and act out the career they choose. Make a rule that students can't wear the same costume two sessions in a row; this gives everyone an opportunity to figure out which careers they like and which ones they don't like.

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