Research shows the earlier schools prepare students for employment the better they perform
at their careers. Employers everywhere expect far more than degrees. Young professionals
need to be deeply ingrained with the awareness of soft skills like work ethics,
responsibility, communication, teamwork and creativity.
Soft Skills Middle is an engaging and foundational online program specifically designed to introduce middle schoolers to the concepts of personal and career exploration; to help them begin to identify their strengths, interests, and values; and to prepare for future success in the classroom, in life, and eventually, in the workplace.
Get Ready.
Get Prepped.
Go!
The Soft Skills Middle journey begins with our online
Career & Life Foundations course – an engaging interactive curriculum
designed to help students get ready and become more aware of
themselves and how they interact with others. Guided by our fun
and inspirational Soft Skills Middle Coach, students will begin to
build 8 Basic Soft Skills:
The second stop on the Soft Skills Middle journey is the
WORLD OF WORK. Students will get prepped for the world of work
by virtually exploring the 16 Career Clusters in order to introduce them
to the great big world of career opportunities that await them
in the future. Along the way, students will take part in Self-Assessment
and Career Awareness activities designed to help them begin to see in
which career directions their strengths, interests and values
may one day lead them.
The third and final stop on the Soft Skills Middle journey is GO and Make a Plan. Designed to help students make a successful transition to high school, college, and the world beyond, students will work with their parents, teachers, and our Soft Skills Middle Coach to put together a flexible going forward e-plan that sets future (modifiable) goals and ways to successfully achieve them.
There is widespread agreement that high school is simply too late to begin to expose learners to the variety of high-skill, high-wage and in-demand careers available to them and the foundational skills they will need to be able to access and succeed in those careers. The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) echoes this sentiment by emphasizing career exploration and career development activities in the middle grades and allowing funds to be spent on students as early as fifth grade.
Self-awareness is knowing yourself. Before students can launch themselves confidently and successfully in the outside world, they must first be confident and successful on the inside. Knowing, accepting and liking oneself is essential to achieving success in the classroom, in life, and one day in the workplace. In this lesson, students will take a good look inside to discover who they are and who they want to be one day.
