Over the last several years, I have attended so many conferences where they talk about this fun and engaging ways to teach college and career readiness. They sound so fun… and include the entire school! However, when I started thinking about all the logistics… it seemed very overwhelming.

I know my elementary building is not huge… but we still have about 500 kids. So, the thought of organizing speakers, activities, treats and so on… made me cringe! Mostly, because this would be in addition to my normal teaching and counseling rotation. It was just hard to find the time!

Ways I Have Tried in the Past

In the past, I have done it in different ways trying to find a good fit.

Volunteer Speakers – I would get 20 volunteer speakers from the community to come into each classroom. This way, each classroom had one speaker and the other classes rotate within the grade-level. For example, we had four 2nd Grade classes. So, there would be four speakers and the classes would rotate to hear each one.

College & Career Week – I had a kickoff assembly with a local community college that introduced themselves and played career games with students. Then the teachers were responsible for getting a speaker to come into their class. We had morning announcements around college and career readiness. I contacted several colleges in our state asking for donation items. I received several things… which we did a big bulletin board with and then raffled off the stuff. Also, my 4th Grade students researched careers and did a poster presentation for the younger students.

What I Found That Works

Then, I ran across a lovely school counselor at one of the conferences who teaches Career Cafe! I loved this idea, mostly because I could decorate the “cafe” so cute… but also because, this could be a really fun learning experience for my students. It took me about a year to tweak many parts, just to fit my school and to simplify the process. But, I am here to tell you… it worked! And, with little prep time, it can work for you too!

How to Start

Start out at the beginning of the year by sending home a letter, to parents, explaining what Career Cafe is and how you need their help. I asked for volunteers from parents first… because you have a pool of community careers right at your fingertips! Interested parents could list their occupation and contact information on the form. I received several forms back and was able to narrow it down by career clusters. I didn’t want to have too many careers from one cluster! Once I got all the volunteers in order, I emailed/called each one just to verify and set a date for the week of our Career Cafe. I suggested some talking points and explained that props and handouts are always welcome!

Organizing the students was the next part. I went to all the classrooms and did a career lesson. In the end, I explained to students we were going to take a Career Interest Survey. We went through the survey together and the kids took time to mark their answers. I made sure the students tallied them up before I left the room.

Once all the classes had taken the interest survey, I was able to group them according to their number one career cluster interest.

Next Steps

So, at this point, volunteers and students are grouped with their number one cluster choice. So, it was time to list out the schedule! I went back to my calendar/planner, where I wrote the times for each speaker, and started a list with that date and time and the kids attending for that cluster. By the time each kid was assigned to a speaker, I noticed there were some spots that were weighted really heavy and some that just had a few. At this point, I went back to the student surveys and looked at the second career choice, to even it out. This sounds like a lot of work…. but honestly, sorting and making a schedule only took me about an hour!

Finally, the work is almost done! It was time to let the teachers know the plan! I shared the information and schedule with all the teachers and explained that during Career Cafe, certain students will be called out to attend. We did a bunch of College & Career things that week in our building, such as different morning announcements, classroom guest speakers, and career research. Career Cafe, was just another way to introduce the clusters to the students.

Career Cafe Day

For me, Career Cafe lasted a whole week. But, for the students, Career Cafe was just one day.

I had a room set up like a little cafe with checkered tablecloths, centerpieces with flowers and a little welcome sign. Once the students arrived, I explained the rules and expectations, then handed it over to the speaker. Students got cookies at the end to wrap up career cafe! This whole process took about an hour. For me, that was awesome, because I could get back to my regular schedule by doing lessons and seeing kids!

This was a really fun and simple way to introduce more clusters. If you are interested in doing this at your school, you can find my complete Career Cafe Packet in my TpT Store… this includes the parent letter, schedule maker, career interest survey (color & BW) and printable lanyards!

I am always looking for neat ways to do College & Career Week… how do you do it at your school?

 

Books for Career Week…