Four Ways to Empower Students for Their Futures
As a middle school teacher, I interact with students every day. One of my goals is to get to know my students so I can teach them effectively. One thing I have discovered is that middle school students are still figuring out who they are. This makes “what do you want to be when you grow up?” a challenging question to answer with any accuracy. So, when we talk about career options, I either get answers such as professional athlete or YouTuber, or they say doctor, teacher or marine biologists. It quickly becomes evident that middle school students need guidance when talking about career opportunities.
I do four things to help students think about career opportunities that are realistic but rewarding options.
- Expose them to new opportunities
- Explore possibilities and pathways
- Engage with real-world examples
- Develop employability skills
Exposing students to new opportunities
In my classroom, we had a new career that we focused on every two weeks. It often tied into our content, but not always. Sometimes, it was just interesting and could spark conversation about other related career options. I used the HirePaths website to find careers and get basic data about education requirements, salary and demand in Kansas for that particular job.
Exploring possibilities and pathways
Once you have piqued students’ interest, it is important to give them an opportunity to dig a little deeper into a career pathway. This can be simple online research about how to become an [insert career here]. It can also lead to college research or pathway classes that are available through your local high school. Ideally, by the time students complete middle school, they should have a general idea of one or two career pathways they would like to explore. In our school, the school counselors play a major role in helping students with career exploration.
Engaging with real-world examples
For many students, it is not enough just to read about a career: They want to see it in action or hear about it from a real person. This engagement can be achieved by incorporating guest speakers and Cool Careers episodes from the HirePaths website. I loved using these videos in my classroom. They were perfect for my middle schoolers in length and content. Cool Careers episodes are hosted by a middle school student who interviews or walks through a day on the job with a real Kansan! If a Cool Careers episode is not available for a particular career, Real Success Stories also offer interviews with Kansans who talk about their jobs and how they chose them.
Developing employability skills
The fourth and final way to empower students is not always the favorite of the students, but it just might be the most important. Whenever I introduce a new career opportunity, there is always a short list of soft skills that are important to the job type. Most of the time, with middle school students, these need explanations as well. Examples of soft skills are effective and appropriate communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. As teachers, we often intentionally build these skills into our lessons, but do we talk about them as necessary skills for their future as productive citizens in society? In my classroom, we do! We talk about how important these skills are for all their classes this year and in the years to come. We talk about how they will need these skills when they get their first job. My sixth graders sometimes reply with, “But that’s so far away!” As adults, we know it goes way too fast. The earlier students begin developing these skills and having career-oriented conversations with trusted adults, the more prepared they will be.
So many great opportunities are available to our students. Let’s make sure they know about them and work together to create a bright future for our students — and for Kansas.
Emily Buller was a 2023-2024 Dane G. Hansen Foundation HirePaths Teacher Ambassador. She teaches 6th grade at Hays Middle School.
