Posts Tagged ‘career curriculum’

My goodness, you are a talented little  kid!

Do you realize that many of the things you do so well every day are related to skills that you can use when you grow up and get a job?

Building up your career and life skills whenever you can is very smart.

Think about how to connect your talents, skills and interests to a possible job. Find out what training or education you need to be the best you can be at it.  Learn how to connect dots!

This is a fun and valuable exercise for opening your eyes to all the wonderful jobs there are in the world and preparing to enter it.

I’ll get you started. Add to my list.  Have fun!

• Making your bed:   Innkeeper, Housekeeper, Home Decor Photography Stylist

• Getting dressed:  Clothing Designer, Textile Manufacturer, Fashion Show Coordinator

• Making Breakfast:  Nutritionist, Chemist, Organic Farmer, Chef, Foodserver, Veterinarian (to make sure we get milk from happy cows!)

• Babysitting:  Pediatrician, Children’s Playground Equipment Manufacturer, Children’s Book Author, Nanny

• Soccer Practice: Coach, Stadium Designer, Sportswear Distributor, Field Maintenance Supervisor, Physical Therapist

Are you connecting the dots now? Good for you. You’re getting careerwise!

CareerWise™ products are based on the premise that opening kids’ eyes to all the fascinating  jobs there are in the world is the first step to motivating them to stay in school so they can grow up and get a job someday. Visit www.GetCareerWise.com for our award-winning workbook –with Free Teaching Guide-  and  www.GetCareerWise.com/blog4  for more articles.  (Reprints are ok, but please acknowledge us.)  We will be launching a wonderful new product on Sept 1, so stay tuned.

Have you heard about sewing’s revival as a popular hobby? And how the marriage of a time-honored craft and high-technology is attracting a new generation of seamstresses?

It’s pretty cool.

Thanks to fashion-showcasing television shows like “Project Runway,” and the growing number of clothing designer sites and blogs, a new generation is discovering the fun, creativity and savings that can be enjoyed by making their own clothes.

Big retailers like Wal-Mart have reported that they are going to start carrying more cut fabrics, buttons, zippers and other notions again, in response to customer demand.

Sewing machine manufacturers have not only kept up with the times, they’ve lead the way by introducing new features that make sewing easier and more creative.

Some of the latest machines come equipped with USB ports, high resolution touch screens, and automatic threading and decorative stitching capabilities.  New software digitizes embroidery designs, transferring images from laptops to sewing machines.

Smartphone app developers are getting in on the trend too.  One new app helps seamstresses find the thread they need. You upload a photo of your fabric to search through 15,000 commercially available threads for the perfect match.

This revival in sewing and crafting is creating big, lively communities of seamstresses and crafters who enjoy sharing what they’ve learned, discovered or made. The website WeAllSew.com, offering links to blogs and Twitter, reports 95,000 visits since its launch two years ago.

And group sewing events have become very popular-combining the recession-prompted trend towards home and hearth activities, intergenerational bonding and cost-savings resourcefulness.  The Singer Sewing Machine Company hosted 800 sewing parties across the country on Mothers’ Day this year. They had experienced seamstresses host and teach guests how to use their machines.  
 

Sewing isn’t just for girls either. If boys are skeptical, have them look up the careers of iconic males in the fashion industry like Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Ozwald, Boateng, Michael Bastian and others.

What kinds of jobs and/or careers can a love of sewing lead to? Here’s a start:

Sewing Consultant/Instructor (computer skills a plus!)

Blogger (Build a community or help market someone else’s products)

Youth Group Sewing Instructor (After-School Programs & Camps are starting!)

Tailor/Seamstress/Clothing Repair Expert

Quilter (specialize in personalized graduation, new home, baby & wedding gifts)

Fashion Directors

Clothing Designer

Salesperson/Demonstrator (tell a local store you’ll bring in younger customers)

Pattern Makers

Software Engineers

Sewing Party Coordinator

Fabric Designer

Quilt Instructor

Computer Consultant (Help older sewers learn new computerized functions)

Phone App Developer

Sewing Accessories Designer
Sew, it makes one think in a whole new way, doesn’t it?

The ability to connect-the-dots between interesting news reports, popular trends and their own interests is a wonderful skill that will serve kids well throughout their lives.

 It can lead to fascinating career exploration and rewarding employment. And, help them get career wise!
 

  CareerWise™ products are based on the premise that opening kids’ eyes to all the fascinating  jobs there are in the world is the first step to motivating them to stay in school so they can grow up and get a job someday. Visit www.GetCareerWise.com for our award-winning workbook –with Free Teaching Guide- and  www.GetCareerWise.com/blog4  for more articles.  (Reprints are ok, but please acknowledge us.)  We will be launching a wonderful new product later this month, so stay tuned!

Ok, you can read a little tongue-in-cheek attitude into the timing of this question.

It sure seems like there are a lot of different ‘experts’ involved in what’s going on in the financial world, doesn’t it?  

 Everyone is weighing in with opinions and predictions about how to solve our fiscal problems. (Bonus points if you know what ‘fiscal’ means!)

I know kids don’t miss a thing, so let’s put all this up-and-down news to good use.

How many job titles can you list that are associated with the financial decisions, activities and communications that are surrounding us all right now?

I’ll get you started:

• President
• Congressman/Congresswoman
• Senators
• Secretary of the Treasury
• Business News Analyst
• Statistician
• Financial Planners
• Roller Coaster Ride Operator (keep your sense of humor!)

I think you will end up with a long list -there are a lot of very interesting jobs involved in analyzing, facilitating, planning, fixing and reporting activities in this huge vital arena.

Next, think about what new jobs, products or services could be created to avoid these kinds of problems or make the handling of them more efficient in the future.

Any ideas?  

Now, you’re really getting careerwise!

CareerWise is the proud publisher of the award winning Grow Up. Get a Job™. Career Exploration workbook. (with Free Teaching Guide).  Stay tuned for another creative career exploration & preparation resource coming soon! www.GetCareerWise.com

First off, what is a career cluster? In the world of career exploration, they are good to know. So find out what they are by visiting the U.S. Departments of Education or the U.S.  Department of  Labor web sites to find out.

Next, read through the 16 clusters carefully.  Did you ever think about jobs being categorized like that?  It’s interesting, isn’t it?

Do any career clusters interest you more than others?

Are you curious about what jobs are possible in each cluster?

Are you feeling like a detective on the trail of some very interesting information that could affect your educational and career choices?

Yes?  Then congratulations!  You are becoming careerwise!

To find out about our creative, highly relevant and award-winning workbook filled with career exploration activities, information and exercises, visit www.GetCareerWise.com. It comes with a free teaching guide. And stay tuned: we have a fabulous new product launching this month that you are going to love!

There was an interesting segment on National Public Radio this week. It was about what things, people, places, or events influenced various professionals to make the career choices they did.

The interview I heard was with a woman who combined her love of the sciences and her hobby – photography – to choose Tissue Engineering as a career. A big influence was the day she saw beautiful, very colorful photos of magnified cells from the human body in an art book. It prompted her to investigate merging her two interests. She sounded very glad she did.

I had to look up Tissue Engineering when I got home; I was motivated by the woman’s obvious passion for her job. The National Institute of Health provides this general description of the field on their website.

Tissue engineering / regenerative medicine is an emerging multidisciplinary field involving biology, medicine, and engineering that is likely to revolutionize the ways we improve the health and quality of life for millions of people worldwide by restoring, maintaining, or enhancing tissue and organ function.

The field is much more interesting, expansive and highly relevant than this short description implies. And it sounds like one that could offer very rewarding and exciting opportunities in the future.

Kudos to the Tissue Engineer for successfully merging her two passions in life.  And for sharing how she did it.

Go ask an adult you know what influenced his or her career choices.  Search for career-related interviews with professionals from all walks of life to discover what got them on a successful career path.

These real-life stories are fascinating and will open your eyes to some amazing choices you have in front of you. It’s all  part of getting careerwise!

Visit www.GetCareerWise.com or www.GetCareerWise.com/blog4 for more eye-opening ideas.