Life Skills Archives - Check in with Mrs G

Teaching the Unspoken Rules of Interviewing

Teaching interviewing skills is a tough task. Teaching students in my special education class to transition into the workplace was daunting. There are so many social rules involved in having a successful interview. It is overwhelming to think about the unsaid rules that could be the difference between you landing the job of your dreams or being passed up for another candidate.

Teaching vocational skills in general is my thing (read about it here)! I love preparing my students for life beyond my classroom. But, interviewing in particular comes with its own set of challenges. And, as it turns out, I was not up for the task!

Teaching Fail!

The first time I walked a group of students through the mock interview process it was… humbling. I rallied three of my co-workers and set up an interview panel. The questions were very basic (What is your experience? What are your special skills? etc.). We rehearsed about a million times and my panel of interviewers promised to stick to the script.

When the time came, my students crumbled. They answered questions with silence and a few random stories. Or, in some cases a robotic sentence. It was one of those moments as teacher where you sit back and take notes about your own shortcomings. You let the students teach you exactly where you failed them. Then, you go back to the drawing board.

Two Strategies

For me this meant two things: role play and practice. First, we started including a ten minute interview role play a few times a week. We would start by watching an example video from YouTube. Then, I would ask the students to mimic the interviewers questions from the video. I would practice answering the questions in my own voice and then we would reverse roles. The role reversal allowed the students to practice in front of their peers and strengthen their skill sets.

This took some time to get buy in from all of my students, but we got there! I am happy to report that the next time we had a mock interview panel come in it was much more successful. Please note… not perfect but steps were taken in the right direction!

Resources for Teaching Interview Skills

In an effort to reinforce interviewing skills and vocational skills in general I developed a few resources. They work well in my special education groups and they maybe a good fit for you too.

This interviewing reading comprehension workbook is a culmination of all of my learning about what students need to know before walking into an interview. The topics included are: Getting the Interview, Researching the Company, What to wear?, Shaking Hands, Tell Me About Yourself, Why do you want to work here?, What are your strengths? What is your biggest weakness?, Do you have any questions for us?, and Saying Thank You. Like all of my Life Skills Reading Comprehension workbooks, each topic is broken into five activities to allow for easy scaffolding.

It is a small step towards teaching the things that we all “just know” or more realistically, “discovered” after a few failed attempts at having a successful interview. If you teach job skills, transition skills, or interviewing in a special education setting I would love to hear about your wins with teaching your students to interview!

by admin

Teach Functional Life Skills

I teach functional independent living skills in special education. Have you ever thought about all of the individual steps involves in washing the dishes? How about in vacuuming a floor, doing the laundry, making a bed or cleaning a bathroom? How about in all of the functional life skills that we just, “get”? I have! In great length. In fact, I think of these steps every single time I plan a functional life skills lesson.

Working with students who were learning independent living skills made me realize just how much is involved in taking care of your home and how many steps I have “just picked up” without needed to think them through. Having to explicitly teach the “hows” of taking care of a house can be somewhat overwhelming when you consider everything involved.

Resources for Independent Living Skills

I created a Household Chores Unit to support my students in the process of learning those necessary independent living skills. Specifically, it provides read alouds, classroom discussion questions, writing prompts, math reasoning, sequencing, work work at several ability levels, student flash cards and a word wall. The chores discussed include chores in all parts of the house as well as outdoors, working with animals, and doing laundry. I wanted to include clip art as well as real photos to support students in making the connection to their own lives.

Try it for FREE

I hIf you want to try a FREE sample of the laundry section, click here. A teacher recently contacted me to mention that she used the real photos to create a laminated vocabulary flip chart… amazing idea! If you use this product in creative ways I would love to hear about it.

I love sneaking social skills, transition, and independent living lessons into my daily curriculum. You can read about other resources I use with my students in life skills here!

by admin

Teaching Reading & Life Skills to Older Students

Every time I work with an older student who is reading at an elementary grade level a thought passes through my mind. How would I feel? How would I feel if I were in middle or high school and the only texts I could read on my own were books picture about animals and Legos. My guess is it would probably make me feel isolated from my peers, bored and embarrassed.

Life Skills Through Reading Comprehension

With those students in mind I created my Life Skills Reading Comprehension Workbook series. These reading comprehension workbooks are written at elementary reading levels but the topics are designed to engage older students. I found that my students with Autism in particular have benefited from the content. Each workbook features multiple passages and various levels of reading comprehension questions around the theme. Ideally the workbooks would be used in a small group setting but I with a small group. You can read more about how I run small groups in my special ed room here.

How Does It Work?

The topics of the workbooks in this series were specifically chosen to support students who are transitioning into independent living. These workbooks aim to introduce students to concrete concepts such as community outings, cooking meals, doing chores, jobs for teens, and travel. The workbooks also cover content that is more abstract such as living with a roommate, self care and digital safety. My hope is that these workbooks spark conversation and interest in your students who are looking forward to gaining more independence as adulthood nears… AND of course, that students develop their reading comprehension skills too!

by admin

Vocational Concepts for Special Education

Before I became a Special Ed teacher, I worked at a non-profit with young adults who had cognitive disabilities. These clients were 17-22 years old and were transitioning into their first jobs. The vocational education materials I found were written with academic language. The content was inaccessible for my clients. So, I developed what would become the first draft of my Life Skills Vocational products.

Vocational Education for Special Needs Students

All of the products in my vocational series introduce students to vocabulary and concepts that they will find in the workplace. The Vocational Reading Comprehension Workbooks I & II, teach workplace vocabulary: clocking in, paychecks, job duties, work schedule, interviewing and more. The reading comprehension tasks are broken into five parts to support scaffolding based on individual student need. (You can read about my lesson plan for teaching Vocational Problem Solving here!)

Vocational Interactive Notebook

In the Vocational Interactive Notebook, students walk through each step in looking for a job. It includes searching for a job, applying for a job and interviewing. Students are prompted with meaning making questions such as, “why do people get jobs?” and “what type of job might you want to have?”. Students create their own map for the job application process. I spent four weeks to complete this with my students. You can find the bulletin board visuals here. I love that this notebook sparked so many insightful conversations.

Writing Workbooks & Adapted Books

In the spirit of accessibility and respect, I created a vocational writing workbook for a client with significantly impaired dexterity. His disability meant that he had the most success when using a speech to text program. However, his motivation to do the same work as the rest of our group meant that he wanted to develop his writing with his peers. Unfortunately, what I found were many amazing resources that had pictures and topics appropriate for elementary students.

So, I developed a vocational workbook that has large primary lines and four tasks for each for each vocational vocabulary word: highlight, trace, copy, and complete the sentence. This workbook allowed him to participate in group in a way that was similar to his peers but still met his needs. For extended independent learning, I created Adapted Books.

Want to try job skills resources for FREE?

Life Skills Reading Comprehension Vocational FREEBIE

Vocational Interactive Notebook FREEBIE

FREEBIE Vocational Problem Solving

Looking for vocational education curriculum for special needs?

My favorite thing about teaching special needs is also my biggest challenge. Each student’s needs are uniquely their own. Every student has a completely different ability. Being attentive to the individual’s needs yet respectful of their chronological age is where the magic happens! If you are teaching vocational education for special needs students my Vocational Life Skills Bundle maybe a good fit for you. If you try any of the products in this series, thank you! I would love to hear your feedback!