Dress For Success In A Math Classroom

Dress For Success In A Math Classroom

My 8th grade students did a one on one job interview last week as their final presentation for the project #MathInMyLife.  What a great experience for the students and me too!  Students were tasked with preparing for a job of their choice and to dress for success in order to make a great first impression.

I try to make connections to the real world in my math class with each unit of study and at the end the students do some type of presentation.  The project that students worked on was answering the essential question, "Is it better to use cash or credit card?"  In the project, the students had to decide on where they would like to work for their first job, research the job, find a job application for it, and decide on a work schedule for the week.  To try and make an even stronger connection to their future I decided that students would sit down with me and do a mock job interview.

What connections do you make with the curriculum and the real world?  How do you get students involved in preparing for their future?  What life skills do you teach your students that goes beyond your curriculum?

All of us do these three things throughout the year - wouldn't it be great to share what we do with our site colleagues and then with other site colleagues so that we can use what others are doing successfully in their classrooms.  

Here is what happened last week: 

Job interview day arrived - students showed up in dresses, button down shirts, dress pants, shirts with ties, and yes students showed up in jeans and a t-shirt.  During the class period, students would come to the back of the room and do their job interview - telling me what job they were applying for, why they would be a good fit for the company, and what special skills they bring to this job.  Students were then asked a question on the spot to see how they would respond to an impromptu question.  I had 100% participation and each student took it seriously enough to listen to suggestions for improvement afterwards.  What was so exciting was to see that students initiated a handshake to start, had some type of greeting, and worked on their eye contact during the interview.  I wish I could capture how students were excited to 'sell' themselves in a positive way.

To bring the project to a close, I had students write a thank you letter.  I believe that this is an important life skill - to show a small amount of gratitude for the time spent during an interview.

"Content without purpose is only trivia"

Steve Revington

My hope is that this experience will be valued by the students at some in their future - not necessarily now but an experience they can draw upon in the future. 

Continue creating those connection opportunities for your students,

Kevin Stott                                                                                          

De Anza Middle School