Social Awareness
Family Resources on Strong Voices
Lesson Topic
Students will consider how to assess skills for inclusion in a resume.
Essential Question
How do activities I have participated in relate to job readiness skills?
Strong Voices – Itoro/Ashley
If this lesson was used in the classroom: Students considered how other high school students took action to solve problems in their communities. In class students discussed the vocational and college preparatory skills they could develop by participating in some of the same activities as the students in the video. In small groups students assessed various scenarios to learn about the vocational skills learned by participating in activities outside the classroom.
Getting Ready for the Conversation
The video for this module features two different students, Itoro and Ashley. Itoro began mentoring younger adolescents at his local Boys and Girls Club after he was mentored by an adult staff member. Ashley participated in a clean-up program for a stream near her school and then recruited others to work with her to help monitor water quality in a wider area of the watershed.
Conversation notes:
Teenagers can have a great impact on others in a variety of ways, whether it is volunteering to help a local watershed, participating in voter registration drives, or teaching younger youth to swim. Discussion can focus both on solving problems in the community and on the opportunities to learn new skills.
DoSomething.org is a non-profit, youth-led organization that promotes causes and taking action by high school aged students:
https://www.dosomething.org/us
Some general ideas for teenage volunteers from MomJunction:
https://www.momjunction.com/articles/teen-volunteer-opportunities-benefits_00718216/
US Government citizen science project opportunities:
https://www.citizenscience.gov/
National Geographic citizen science project opportunities:
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/citizen-science-projects
Constructive Conversation Starters
The first item is for follow-up after viewing the lesson video and participating in class activities.
Choose one of the two main characters and describe what this person has done to make their community better. What is it about this person that you find interesting? What can you learn about yourself from seeing this person? Why do you think so?
Do high school aged students do a good job of working to make their community better? Describe why you believe as you do.
What is a problem you see in the community? Why do you think this is an important issue? What can you (or you and your friends) do to improve the situation you named? How can I/we support you in taking on this problem or issue?
What are some things that we as a family can do to support a cause or solve a problem in our community? Develop a plan and assess the results?
School to Home Resources on Strong Voices
Lesson Plan
Interactive Reflection > Open/Download Complete PDF Lesson
Teen voices are strong
Itoro says, “after you do so much [volunteering] you love it because you see the people’s lives you are changing…people, especially teens, we don’t realize how strong our voice is and we don’t always step up when we need to.’’ What do you think Itoro means? In what ways do both Itoro and Ashley make their voices heard? Why do you think their work is important?
Finding solutions and solving problems
Ashley says, “I think it’s great that you can go out and do something and have results and once you get your results you can say ‘hey look there’s a problem in a certain area, so what can we do to fix it?’” Even though we do not know the exact problem Ashley and the other students uncovered, we do know that she took action. How do you think she organized a group of students to take action? Why do you think these students believed it was important to implement their plan? What value is there for teens to take action and solve problems in their communities?
Giving back
Itoro says, “a lot of people sacrificed time for me to be where I am now, now that I’m in a position to give back it’s probably my time to”. Why do you think Itoro believes he should be involved in volunteer activities? What job skills do you think that Itoro has developed through his volunteer activities with the Boys and Girls Club? How do you assess your participation in activities that could translate to job readiness skills?
Volunteering and a good resume
Here are links with examples of resumes for high school students. You have seen Itoro and Ashley develop skills that should be included on their resumes. Based on what you know about each of them, write a resume entry that you think each should include on their resume. Of the examples provided, which resume example do you think is best? Why?
Additional Reflection Questions > Open/Download PDF
