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Career Development and PA Academic Standards

The Ready for the Future event was the culminating event of a five month project on Career Development. This project, during the 2010-2011 school year, engaged the students through their participation in both in-school and after-school programs. The in-school program followed the PA Academic Standards for Career Education & Work.

The special focus of the programs was on Career Awareness and Preparation as well as Career Acquisition (13.1 and 13.2). In the Academic Standards for Career Education and Work, page 3, you read “Pennsylvania’s economic future depends on having a well-educated and skilled workforce. No student should leave secondary education without a solid foundation in Career Education and Work.” Theresa Longstreth, one of Gannondale’s teachers said: “The PA Academic Standards not only guide us, but also inspire us to explore topics in their width and breadth; they still let us design lesson plans according to the unique needs of our students.”

In school the students read about labor union and child labor in regards to how laws have changed to protect workers’ rights. The girls engaged in discussion about non-traditional careers for women, explored conflict resolution skills, and practiced respecting others' opinions / ideas and group decisions if their idea was not selected. The residents participated in business exercises by writing letters to the kitchen manager requesting snacks needed for the classroom. They also researched careers, created resumes, developed budgets and calculated the cost of house payments. In the end, they summarized all their research and learning in a story board that was presented in our Ready for the Future celebration.

Alexis, a Gannondale resident, started her story board presentation at the “Ready for the Future” celebration with:

“Hello, my name is Alexis.
I am here from the Philadelphia police department and I want to tell you about my job and why I chose it. I chose this career because growing up in my neighborhood was very rough…”