School: Platte County High School
Class: ELA
Instructor: Mary Martin
Client: Post-Secondary Advisor Mikyla Murphy and Director of College and Career Readiness
Problem: How can we boost career exploration engagement among underclassmen and K-5 students?
Summary
ELA students collaborated with the post-secondary advisor and the director of college and career readiness to address a real-world challenge: How can we boost career exploration engagement among underclassmen and K–5 students? Students engaged in a five-phase project that culminated in a Shark Tank-style pitch session, where elementary principals selected winning proposals for implementation. Some teams developed career exploration strategies for elementary schools, while others created plans for a high school career fair and summer academy. Selected student teams will partner with school leaders in the second semester to bring their ideas to life, fostering meaningful post-secondary awareness across grade levels.
Takeaways
This project allowed students to grow these essential skills.
- Empathy and active listening: Understanding perspectives through interviews and surveys
- Problem-framing and critical thinking: Analyzing data and defining focused challenges
- Creative ideation and collaboration: Brainstorming innovative ideas in team settings
- Prototyping and presentation skills: Developing mock solutions and pitching effectively
- Adaptability and iterative thinking: Refining ideas based on feedback and real-world testing
Advice
Let students fail. Know your why.
Standards/Learning Targets
11-12.RL.1.A
Draw conclusions, infer, and analyze by citing relevant and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including where the text leaves matters uncertain.
11-12.RL.1.D
Using appropriate text, determine two or more themes in a text, analyze their development throughout the text, and relate the themes to human nature and the world; provide an objective and concise summary of the text.
11-12.W.2
Follow a writing process to produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and voice are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience; self-select and blend (when appropriate) previously learned narrative, expository, and argumentative writing techniques.
11-12.RI.3.B
Synthesize information from two or more texts about similar ideas/topics to articulate the complexity of the issue.
11-12.SL.2.C
Plan and deliver appropriate presentations concisely and logically based on the task, audience, and purpose making strategic use of multimedia in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest