H5- Honor student potential for roles in greater society

[caption id="attachment_318" align="alignright" width="288"] Representing my college on college day.[/caption]

H5-Honor student potential for roles in greater society. Teacher candidates prepare students to be responsible citizens for an environmentally sustainable, globally interconnected, and diverse society.   Every student has a future ahead of them. Whether that is a full-time job out of high school or college, each life that passes through my classroom is going somewhere. Most of the students where I am doing my internship will go to college to figure out what they will do with their lives. This week I was able to talk to students about my the decision process I went through in picking a school, career, etc. The sophomores and juniors took the PSAT and PLAN tests this week to practice for the real tests they will soon be taking. Because of this, school was on a shortened schedule. Students visited each period for only twenty minutes. Teachers were encouraged to share their "college story" with students. I was so thankful that I got to participate in this day. I was able to emphasize in every class how important it is to find what you love to do and go for it. By participating in conversations about college with my students, I met HOPE standard H5. Each student has the potential to do whatever they can set their minds to and I made this sentiment clear in each period. This experience showed me how nervous students are about what comes next in their lives. They need teachers and other role models to talk with and gain perspective on what is best for them. I have known for awhile that I hope to help students discern where to do go with their lives, but today gave me a glimpse of what that is like. When students feel like their teachers are willing to participate in conversations about their future, a bond is created. Students are able to see how school, education and what we are trying to do as teachers is beneficial to their futures. I would like to find ways to continue this conversation with students as they get closer to deciding where they may want to attend college or get closer to having to make decisions about the next part of their lives. One way I could do this is by working in time during our teaching schedule to communicate about the future. One way to facilitate this communication would be to periodically incorporate questions about the future into warm-up activities.