May 2, 2023
Explore Content Search and Student Agency
Our new feature encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning while they discover the life they want to lead.
What does it really mean to do a job?
As a teenager, I remember having vague notions about certain professions. Yet, in reality, I had no idea what it meant to actually ‘do’ or ‘perform’ a job. For example, high marks in biology underscored by a healthy dose of parental pressure pushed me toward the sciences. Then, an excruciatingly boring summer internship in a research lab counting cells through a microscope changed my mind. The problem? I was already halfway through my undergraduate degree. Today, students have a headstart with the internet where they can easily access seemingly ‘valid’ career information. Although, is it all true? Probably not. Easy to understand? Doubtful. Engaging? Unlikely.
Luckily as a teacher using Find Your Grind, you can guide students toward truly understanding the ins and outs of various vocations using the Explore content tab. Rather than lose themselves within the black hole of the internet, students can now search the hundreds of career, mentor, and skill activities available to them. They can also filter by lifestyle, salary, qualifications, and industry and then search within those filters. If they are looking for a mentor, they can even search a keyword that will bring up mentors with relevant job titles.
Students can search, so what?
Encouraging students to review the Find Your Grind Explore content library can help students further take charge of their own learning. In fact, a recent Harvard study revealed that students who were allowed more student agency, or who were given a sense of responsibility to participate in their own learning, were more successful later in life.
Moreover, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) an effective learning environment is built on “co-agency”, i.e. where students, teachers, parents, and the community work together to provide students with the tools they need to realize their potential. Supporting students to search for the lifestyles, careers, and skills that are of interest to them helps students discover the realities of future work possibilities and become agents of change for their own learning.
How might you encourage students to use the new Explore content search feature?
We know that teachers are pressed for time. Thus, below are a few ideas about how you might want to put this new awesome feature into action:
- Tell students to search for three careers related to their interests or filter by their lifestyles. Afterward, students can create a Venn diagram on paper or use Canva to describe the similarities and differences between the three careers.
- Have students search for a mentor using a keyword. Students then pick 2-3 mentors from similar industries. After finishing the badges students present their key takeaways to the class or make a video using FlipGrid.
- Students search for 5-10 skill badges they’d like to include on their resumes. After completing the badges, students write a practice cover letter describing how the skills they’ve learned fit into their desired job.
Do you have other ideas about how to implement the search feature? Share it on your favorite social media avenue and tag #FindYourGrind.
