Share My Lesson: Sparking Career Exploration

For more than 60 resources related to career and technical education, check out Share My Lesson’s “Career Exploration” collection. AFT staff member Megan Ortmeyer provides a great overview of the collection, from children learning about STEM careers with Ada Twist, Scientist, to teens creating career portfolios and preparing for apprenticeships. Here, we focus on three resources for secondary students to learn about the endless possibilities before them.

Career Girls

As an SML partner, Career Girls has shared more than 800 resources! What makes its approach to career exploration unique are short, high-quality videos featuring female professionals across a huge range of careers. From engineering to performing arts, finance, molecular biology, the judiciary—pretty much any field you can think of—Career Girls provides an insider’s look. In addition, there are videos discussing related topics like the importance of studying math, overcoming obstacles, and choosing friends who are positive and supportive. Check it out here.

Career Village

As a teenager—and even as an educator—it can be hard to find answers to career questions. “What does a typical day as a food scientist look like?” “Should I become a paralegal before going to law school?” “What are difficulties you face as an architectural manager?” These are a few of the real questions asked—and answered!—on Career Village. Over 130,000 professionals volunteer on Career Village to answer students’ questions, and the whole archive is searchable. This SML resource introduces students to Career Village and gets them started asking questions.

STEM Careers Coalition

The STEM Careers Coalition brings together a variety of industry partners with Discovery Education to introduce students to STEM careers, with a focus on showing that STEM professionals are problem solvers working in exciting fields from bat conservation to welding. While this SML resource shows students what it’s like to be a facilities engineer and a geologist, the STEM Careers Coalition website has dozens more careers to explore.

Do you have resources you’d like to share? SML makes it easy! And if you have ideas or requests, reach out to [email protected].

Republished with permission from American Educator.