Career Coach
Students and their families have been exposed to people, programs, resources, and connections that can open doors for them, and they are able to navigate and access those opportunities
Introduction
High school represents a bizarre intersection of constantly shifting expectations and support structures. As students approach the end of their secondary education, they have spent a great deal of time learning how to be good students. However, they are rarely taught how to apply the skills they learn outside the academic context. Teenagers are simultaneously shielded from the real world and expected to understand how to navigate it. Part of my mission as a teacher has been to counteract this and realistically prepare my students for what comes after graduation. It isn’t as simple as applying to college or trade school; there is real work that needs to be done to ensure that students can take the next step confidently.
Teach for America, as an Americorps program, helped me connect to other Americorps programs that could help me provide access opportunities to my students. Through this connection, I was made aware of a program not regionally obvious that puts college and career coaches into high schools to serve students in low income communities. I reached out to Landan Hoffman and scheduled a time for him to visit my students.
Table of Contents
school Context
School Context
My school has a fairly robust Career and Technical Education department. Students are already cognizant of the technical fields they can pursue. They’ve been promised that these careers are their tickets to financial success, and I wanted to broaden their view on post-secondary exploration. We have done career explorations in my class before, but they were more abstract and generally focused on careers that require a college degree. My students are knowledgeable about many careers available to them, but they have been told that they need to pursue trades. Careers that require a college degree don't feel viable to them. For example, I have many students interested in nursing, but they aren't well informed about how to begin a career there. I wanted to go deeper than simply thinking about a job that sounds appealing - what does it take to get that job? I worked with a college and career coach to develop a lesson wherein students create resumes and identify the experience they need to get the jobs they want.
Opening Doors
The original plan for this classroom visit was for students to have time to create resumes that prepare them for entry level jobs in the career paths that interested them. Landan Hoffman's presentation and classroom visit exposed students to a new way of thinking about careers while also providing concrete steps for what students can be doing now to open doors for themselves. They can see which careers will be in demand over the next ten years and tailor their experiences to apply to create a resume that prepares them for careers they're interested in. Landan's support in writing professional resumes showed students how to use experience and accomplishments they already have to open doors for themselves. For students without work experience, Landan was able to connect them to opportunities where they could get impactful experience.
Giving students a tangible outcome for conversations about employment is especially important for my students. They lack technological literacy and would not make an effective resume on their own. Some of the careers that students are interested in but don't feel empowered to pursue require a professional resume. The support a career coach can provide is vital for opening these doors for my students, and by extension, their families. Students won't just make a resume, they will learn how to create a resume so that they can help family members take advantage of this opportunity. They will have access to resources and people who can help them get a foot in the door in contract and commercial careers.
For a variety of reasons, we were not able to get to this portion of the lesson during Landan's visit. Students had a lot of questions during his presentation, and I didn't want to stifle them. I misjudged the interest students would have in the topics Landan discussed on his slides, and the presentation took much longer than the 20 minutes we planned. Students took advantage of the access opportunity I provided in the way that benefitted them. I did not want to make the lesson about what I wanted students to learn instead. They were extracting the value they wanted from this connection, but I had to adjust my plans.
This is what I had in mind originally for my students to participate in during this classroom visit. A portion of the lesson was dedicated to student work time so that they could create professional resumes.
Career coach visit
Presentation
Landan Hoffman is a career coach that works with the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority through Americorps. He works with students in Title I high schools to help them create plans for employment and/or enrollment after high school. To the right, he is speaking to my class about a handful of careers and the futures students would have working in them. His presentation covered several topics and he spent a significant amount of time fielding questions from students who needed help navigating the resources.
Landan Hoffman delivering a portion of his presentation
The slides used for the presentation. Landan walked students through the different styles of careers students can explore.
In his presentation, Landan distinguished between Labor, Commercial, and Contract careers. He provided examples of careers in each of these categories and discussed the fastest growing occupations across the country. It was eye-opening for me and my students to hear about how the federal government projects the economy to change over the next ten years. Healthcare and service are going to change dramatically over the next decade, and my students feel like they have inside knowledge on the careers that will be valuable. They were led through real data - this presentation was not abstract at all. Landan was realistic with them and showed them how little value a high school diploma earns them on its own. His presentation created a sense of urgency in my students, but he also provided answers to the anxiety he produced. Learning more about the world outside of high school motivated them to find some clarity in what they wanted to do. Students are better informed about the options before them and can utilize the resources Landan Hoffman provided to make sure they can navigate their post-secondary options.
This is the first chapter of the booklet in PDF format. Other chapters in the physical booklet students were provided include "Financial Aid Planning and Budgeting" and "What is offered in Kentucky."
Students were connected to Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA) resources. They were provided a "Getting In" booklet that gave them college planning support amongst other helpful tips for post high school planning. The booklet answered many of the questions students have about the college application process and open to the door for students to explore for themselves. Every student was able to take one of these booklets home to plan a potential college pathway with their families. Landan scheduled time to revisit with my students this year and early next year as they start the application process to answer more questions. He also gave out his office phone number and email for students to ask questions at any time. This arrangement ensures that my students will be ready to navigate the opportunities before them.
Reflection on Student Engagement
My students were connected to a knowledgeable resource for college and career planning. They were captivated by the distinction that Landan Hoffman made about the different styles of work and reflected on the expectations they had for themselves. Many of my male students expected to work in labor careers, but only for a lack of imagination. They could not imagine working a white collar job simply because they did not know what they look like. Students were more focused on where in the fields they saw themselves fitting and were asking about certifications like solar panel installation. Our school's CTE department has general areas of practice like "construction," but now students are able to articulate the qualifications they need to work in the construction jobs that pay well.
The content of the presentation was largely driven by students after Landan opened the floor to questions. Students were able to ask specific questions about what they need to do in order to become a veterinarian, a registered nurse, or a graphics designer. Students were getting personalized help from a professional, and they were grateful for it. I was uncomfortable with the presentation because it wasn't going how I planned it, but my students thanked me profusely for bringing Landan to the classroom. They gained a great deal from the access opportunity and will continue to take advantage of the resource and connection offered.
Landan's presentation naturally spurred questions about students' specific career interests and how they can pursue that path. His discussion of the nature of certain career paths made some students nervous, and they asked a lot of questions about their intended paths. Their questions included:
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"Is it still worthwhile to become a nurse if they don't get paid well?"
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"Do I need to go to medical school to be a veterinarian?"
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"How do I make money as an artist?"
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"Do I have to know what I want to do when I apply to college?"
Landan provided helpful insight for these nervous students. For students interested in contract fields like graphics design, he pushed them toward finding secure careers that would allow them to pursue their passions on the side. This kind of thinking was entirely new to my students, and they really appreciated the specific feedback he was able to provide for a variety of goals.
Conclusion
My connections through Americorps put me in touch with a college and career coach who opened doors for my students. His classroom visit provided concrete information for students about the world outside of high school. He gave them tangible steps for improving their prospects after graduating. He served as a resource for my students to learn more about the careers they are interested in and connected them to more resources that will help them navigate the opportunities provided to them.