Wednesday's class

Good morning everyone! I'm still fighting the World's Worst Cold.

Today and tomorrow, we will be in the computer lab. You have a variety of tasks to accomplish, so please use your time wisely. All these tasks are related to a project that I will be assigning on Thursday.

Task #1: Research your Myers-Briggs type. I did so just by googling my 4-letter type, and found quite a lot of information (often there are links embedded in the pages). Think about what you agree with, and what traits you are proud of.

Task #2: Explore the Career Cruising website. Career Cruising is a rite of passage for all Planning students; even I did it, back in the days when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. The site has a LOT of information about education planning, careers, and personal assessments. You need to log in. Our username is "byrne" and the password is "creek".

Once you log in, you will see a list of options on the left-hand side. One is for Portfolio Login. Please choose "Create a New Portfolio". Please make sure you write down your username/password.

Once you have a portfolio, play around! Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate through Education, Assessments, and Careers. By Thursday I would like everyone to complete the "Career Matchmaker" and "My Skills" assessments, so they might be good places to start. You will be able to save the results in your portfolio.

If you are confused, ask others in the class, or your teacher. Good luck, and enjoy!
See you Thursday, Ms. A.

Monday's class

Hi everyone,

Hope you enjoyed the weekend sunshine. As you can see I'm not in school today - I have laryngitis, and as funny as it would be for you if I came in and made weird croaking noises, I'm going to have a quiet day - literally - and hope to be back with you Tuesday.

You will be completing a Myers-Briggs Types Indicator today. The Myers-Briggs is a well-established personality inventory that is often used by career counsellors, and even sometimes in hiring processes. It's designed to measure differences in ways that people experience the world and make decisions. I will explain it in more detail on Tuesday; for today, you're going to go ahead and do it (well, do a free online version of it).

Once you get to the website, you will see a long list of about 70 statements. You need to read the statement and decide whether it describes you. Don't think too much; go with your first instinct. Your teacher today will take you through and explain the more confusing statements. If you really don't know, you can skip, but try not to skip too many.

Once you're done, submit the results. It will give you a type in the form of a 4-letter acronym. Make sure you write it down. There are a few links below that you can try; make sure you click on the "Identify your Career" option. When you get to this page, choose the "Email this" option, and email it to yourself, so that you will have it saved.

Here is the website:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Again - make sure you write down your type!

Multiple Intelligences

Today we completed an in-class paragraph on values. You also may have started on the Multiple Intelligences inventory. We're going to be completing a variety of inventories and tests in the next week, which you will use for a project.

Please complete your Multiple Intelligences inventory for Monday, including the tallying.

The Pursuit of Happyness

We spent the last 2 days watching the movie The Pursuit of Happyness. We used it today to begin a discussion of work and values, something that we'll continue tomorrow.
Your learning logs are due tomorrow.

Quiz

Today we wrote a goal setting and course planning quiz. It looks like most people were very successful.
We will begin soon to phase into post-secondary planning and career goals in the next week. Please make sure you have all your questions about work experience and course planning answered soon!

Ms. Woo/Ms. Clair

Today you saw Ms. Clair and Ms. Woo talk about course options for next year and the work experience options that are available to you.
Ms. Woo will be back in class tomorrow to clarify a few things, and answer any questions that you may have.

Tomorrow you have a quiz for goal setting and grad requirements. You will need to understand the principles of SMART goal setting and the BC Grad requirements. The quiz is designed to measure how well you understand the principles, not how many tiny facts you've memorized.

Grad Transitions

Today we looked more carefully at the Grad Transitions plan. As you move into course planning, you should make sure you take time to check out academic requirements for any post-secondary program you might be interested in.
Next class is in the Centre for Dialogue, with Ms. Woo.
Tuesday we will have a quiz on Goal Setting and Grad Requirements.

Course Planning and Grad Requirements

Wednesday: we continued with goal setting. You spent time working on your own goals. On Friday, you are handing in a set of 5 goals. I will check them to make sure they fit SMART criteria.

Thursday: we discussed grad requirements and course selection. You did a practice run of your course selection. Lots of questions came up. If you have a post-secondary plan in mind, please take some time to look up its academic requirements. Grade 11 is an important year for course planning - you have more freedom than ever before, and you have more possible responsibilites in considering your future.

Homework: 5 goals, plus complete your "Understanding Yourself" package. I will give you a bit of time tomorrow in case you have questions. On Monday we will meet in the Centre for Dialogue.

Goal Setting

Today we looked at goal setting - the process, and the criteria for what makes a goal good. Powerpoint is available to the side (under the heading "Class Notes").

You will be making your own goals tomorrow - and then we will be synthesizing all of our goals together, into some common class objectives.

The Bucket List

Today we started to look at life planning and goal setting. We spent some time at the beginning of class making our bucket lists - lists of things we want to do, achieve, and experience during our time here on Earth. Hold onto yours! It will be a wonderful thing to encounter down the road.

Tomorrow we will begin a more serious discussion of goal setting - the HOWs. You are working on an "Understanding Yourself" package of values, beliefs, and abilities. It will be due on Friday, and marked for completion.

We began learning logs today. You will be doing these as you come into class every day. Please keep them in a seperate notebook.

Presentations

Thank you to everyone who shared their stories this morning. From where I was, it looked like there were some really beautiful and genuine things that happened. Thank you as well for taking your responsibility as assessors seriously.
On Monday your Pathways to Learning project is due. We will also begin goal setting. Enjoy your weekend!

Work day.

Today we had a work day for the Pathways to Learning assignment.
Presentations (small group, EVERYONE will go tomorrow) are tomorrow. Please be prepared.

A couple of notes for Monday: please come with your assignment ready to hand in. It looked like there were many interesting ideas zipping around the room this morning.

Also, please have a notebook ready to go on Monday. We will begin learning logs.

Communication, and assignment 1

Today we did a couple of activities to explore the verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication. I hope that you came out of class thinking about how you need to use both, to get your message across - and that the non-verbal counts for a lot more than we might give it credit. Just think how confusing those drawings were.

You have received your first assignment for Planning 10. Detailed handout is available on the right, in the Handouts list.
-Show and Tell (thanks to whoever that heckler was) presentation - 3 objects - ready to go Friday
-Learning Pathways assignment, due Monday

Tomorrow (Thursday) will be a work day. Laptop computers will be available, as will limited collaging supplies. Please come with whatever you need to make the period a productive one.

I have changed the comments settings so that you do NOT need an account to comment. They are also no longer invisible. Just click on the number of posts, a box will pop up, and you can type in your comment. Please say hi!

Tuesday February 2

Today we spent time getting to know one another, and went over the class outline. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and look forward to getting to know you better as the semester goes on.

Homework: please have a parent/guardian complete the parent letter, and bring it back to school. Also, please say hello beneath to confirm that you understand how to comment. It looks like you will need to create a Google account. If you already use Gmail or Blogger, you have one; otherwise, go to http://www.google.ca/, click on "Log in" in the top right corner, then click on "Create an account now". It will lead you through a simple process, then, when you're ready to comment, you'll log in with your username and password. If you are confused please ask me and I will help you