• What is the World of Work?

    World of Work is a district-wide program that started over 6 years ago as a way to help expose our students to more careers than just the typical ones. I don't know about you, but when I was a kid I only knew about jobs I saw in my community such as: teacher, doctor, police officer, and the like. With the World of Work, students are exposed to 6 careers per school year. 

    • Level One: Each child explores various careers and industries.

    • Level Two: They get to simulate the workplace that interests them. Students engage in classroom mockups that involve their skills and the workplace values required to work in the jobs.

    • Level Three: They meet professionals and experts. They come to the classroom in person or virtually through WOW’s vendor Nepris. Working with Nepris, students virtually visit with professionals live from anywhere in the world without ever leaving the classroom. Using Nepris technology, students in rural areas can connect to professionals via Skype or other virtual platforms. The professionals show them their workplace, how they get their work done and answer any questions.

    • Level Four: Students practice by demonstrating their new knowledge skills and abilities gained during levels one, two, and three. They explore and apply all they learned from the levels in their classrooms with access to the professionals or experts from Level Three. They know why they are in school, and understand why they want to do well in school. They learn with the workplace integrated into the classroom curriculum.

    The way our district supports our school and teachers is through having an interface where all the careers are housed and broken down by grade level. There are videos and worksheets so that students can at least get 1st level exposure. Further, our district has the interface known as Nepris, where if a teacher wants a professional that students have been learning about to visit virtually, they submit a request and get a professional to present in a class, giving us the level 2 exposure. 

    At Bostonia, our teachers integrate the profession students are learning about throughout their lessons and have students explore the profession. You will see the RIASEC letters sprinkled all over the classrooms we will be visiting. This is because as students learn about different careers they also learn what RIASEC letters best correspond with those professions. Every school year our students take the RIASEC survey to self identify what they relate to the most. By middle school students know themselves well and can pick or co-create X-Factor classes (electives) that they feel passionate about. Throughout our classrooms teachers constantly invite community members to present on their career and what RIASEC letter they most identify with. 

    Students get to practice through RIASEC parties that are hosted by their teachers and where they get to participate in as they practice a career. By the time our students are high schoolers, they have a good idea of what career most interests them and they are placed in mentorships as freshmen to really test it out. Sometimes they change their minds, and sometimes this experience solidifies their love for that career. Whatever the case may be, we see it as a win, since they had the chance to explore their passion and essentially not waste time in college or money pursuing a career that they decide is not aligned with their values, interests and passions. 

    • Family Connections
    • Difference Making
    • Reimagining Post-Secondary Education