Accountability

This week, anyone not editing and uploading the interview tutorial will focus on two big projects and then help with Mock Interview Competition.  

On Monday, we’ll read this article and discuss elements of personal accountability, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.  

On Tuesday, we’ll write a 200+ word blog post about what we’ve learned and our discussion in class.  I find this exercise especially helpful when preparing for our future, as managers can always appreciate when employees take ownership of their mistakes and look to learn from them.  

Wednesday, we’ll read a short article about the right way to ask for help in the workplace, focusing on how to seek out answers before asking and the right way to go about making your request.  After this, we’ll write another blog entry and post it online.  

On Thursday, we’ll help prepare for Mock Interview competition by making sure all the preparations are in place (binders, schedule, bring finished binders to library, etc.).  Once finished, we’ll be able to view our YouTube tutorial in class and evaluate our finished product.  

Finally, on Friday, you will all report to the library and assist as needed with Mock Interview Competition. You can help escort students from the waiting area to their interviews, get guests refreshments if they need any, and run completed score sheets to Ms. Kirkland so we can compile our results.  

That’s it for this week.  I look forward to our discussions and making Mock Interview Competition a success!

Last Week Before (Most of) Your Last Spring Break!

 

OK, so I guess I overestimated what we could do in a 25-minute period.  Worry not, I’ve really enjoyed our time discussing employability skills, proper ways to conduct yourself in public, how to handle difficult life situations, and other matters in which adaptability and flexibility really matter in life.  I truly feel we have made the most of our shortened class periods even though we have not completed our project. 

Now that we’ve established our tutorial will be broken down into multiple parts, my editors will need to work together to be as efficient as possible in completing their work.  As I always suggest, you should divide and conquer on this.  Maybe one of you can work on parts 1 & 2, another can work on parts 3 & 5, and both of you can collaborate to complete part 4.  This is just a suggestion, but I feel it will be the best way for you to make the most of your time.  

During this time, the rest of you will get onto our social media sites and discuss some of the things we've learned.  Share your expertise with the world but do it right.  Please show me your posts prior to hitting the "send" button.  Last week the tweet and Google+ posts you sent were wonderful.  Let’s make this week just as productive.  We should send out at least one correspondence/post daily, and by Thursday (Remember, we do not have school on Friday) the video should be ready to load.  

**Please understand these videos take time to load.  You should start loading at the beginning of the period and some of you might need to stay after class to ensure the finished product successfully loads.  This is why I suggest you start uploading tutorials on Wednesday**

Finally, on Thursday, you will write a blog post about what you plan to do with your final high school spring break.  Why am I asking you to blog about this?  I feel as if this will allow you to learn about proper planning, positively broadcast the responsible things you will do, and appreciate the fact that your high school careers are coming to a close.  I expect this entry to be at least 150 words and just break down a few of the things (obviously not everything… that would take a long time to complete) you plan to do.  Here’s an example of how I’d lay mine out:

Over Spring Break, I plan to do a lot of fun things, but in this post, I’ll describe three of the more exciting activities:

Take my kids to St. Bethlehem Park for a day:

Do you remember when you were in Kindergarten and your parents would take you to the park?  Was there anything better than spending a warm Spring day climbing the monkey bars and swinging on the swing set followed by a trip to the ice cream parlor?  Well that’s what I plan to do on the warmest day of my Spring Break…

I think you get the picture of what I’m looking for.  This should be a fun assignment as long as you have fun with it.  I really look forward to hearing what you have to say.  

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I’ll see you Monday!

Tutorial Edit and Reflection

Now that we've finally finished shooting all the parts to our interview tutorial, it's time to edit the project into a polished finished product that is adequate for loading to our YouTube channel and all our social media outlets.

The first task you need to complete is to come to an agreement on whether to split the tutorial into 5 different parts or make one long video.  I have a preference, but you will need to research what the perfect length for a video is and whether a series or one large video.  This will help you arrive at the correct decision for what to do.

After this, our editors will cut, splice, and polish our videos into the best possible video(s) that can be loaded to YouTube.  During this time, the rest of you will get onto our social media sites and discuss some of the things we've learned.  Share your expertise with the world but do it right.  Please show me your posts prior to hitting the "send" button. 

Finally, on Friday, you will write a blog reflection about our project.  Discuss your contribution, how efficiently you feel you were in completing the project, and how the finished product came out.  Since we'll have very short periods a majority of the week, this is all we have.

See you on Monday!

Finish the Shoot and Edit the Video

Before you read this blog entry, please watch the following video and ask yourself this question:

In order to finish our videos AND edit the content into a YouTube ready product, EVERYONE in class has to pull his/her weight.  That means we need to:

• Know how we want to shoot each segment
• Complete talking points for the remaining portions of the tutorial
• Shoot the video in the fewest possible takes 
• Edit the tutorial efficiently

This requires you to do some advanced planning.  I'm going to need each of you to contribute in your own way to the best of your abilities.  Sitting and watching the video being recorded is inefficient and will prolong the process.

That said, please work on recording voice-overs this weekend and be prepared on Monday to begin class by hitting the ground running.  I intend to have this video uploaded by end of business Friday.

Let's CHOP! through this week as efficiently as we can!

Time to Shoot Our Tutorial

OK all, this week we will be shooting our tutorial in class.  The scripts are finished, the outline is set, and you are all ready to roll.  Please bring your "on-camera" outfits.  We will begin taping ASAP on Monday.  I'm looking forward to the masterpiece!

Interview Project

I’ve decided you need to work together to create a tutorial on the interview process.  We’ve discussed so much about it throughout the year, and since we have some camera equipment and video-editing software, you’re going to plan, script, and record a series on how to nail an interview.  You will be responsible for coordinating everything, including assigning roles for script-writing, performing, video-taping, etc. 

I don’t know how long this will take (I assume 7 class periods for the writing and taping and 2 to edit the project), so I haven’t broken down this project into days.  Rather, I’ve broken it down into parts.  As a class, you will need to first write a script (or put together talking points for each part), then figure out who will be on camera (I’d like different people on camera for each part), and who will edit the project.  Below is an intro you might want to use (feel free to amend it as you see fit), along with each of the 5 parts of the tutorial.

“So you’ve landed an interview for that entry-level position, but you’re not quite sure how to prepare.  Lucky for you, we’ve put together a 5 part tutorial on how to crush it and land that job!”

Part 1: What to wear – include everything from top to bottom.  Discuss appropriate footwear, proper outfit, grooming, and hair for both males and females

Part 2: Pre-Interview – include information about how to research the organization and the person interviewing you, and discuss when/how to include your work researching the company

Part 3: The Portfolio – explain what a portfolio is, what to include in it, how to discuss your work samples and incorporate them into some (not all) of your answers

Part 4: Common Interview Questions – the title says it all.  Simply go over as many common interview questions as you can and explain what the interviewer is looking for in each answer.  Don’t forget to discuss what kind of questions to have for the interviewer, as this is a common area that most young people forget.  I have books and many other resources that I’ve created to address part 4.  This will likely be the longest part of your series

Part 5: The follow-up – cover the follow-up process (should you send an email or letter? When should you send it?)

When you finish, you should upload the videos to our class YouTube and Weebly page, as well as post the videos from our Twitter and Google+ pages.  Good luck!  I look forward to seeing the finished product.  You will also blog about the experience as a reflection on the entire process.

Friday's Classwork

Since we've been working on creating job openings and other interview related things, and since we only met once last week, I haven't updated the blog over the past couple weeks.  Below I have laid out what we will do in class on Friday, 2/19/16:

Today, you are going to explore what cover letter writing is all about. Please use each of the easy-to-read links below to find out what a cover letter is, what to include, and how to format it.
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CovLetter_w...
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CovLetter_c...
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/BusinessLet...

After reading through the first link, you will know what a cover letter is. After reading the second link, you will have a solid idea of what to include in your cover letter. After reading the third link, using BLOCK FORMAT, you will know how to format a cover letter and see a good example of a BLOCK FORMAT cover letter.

Once finished reading, you will create your first draft of the cover letter. Use the information from the job posting for a data entry clerk and the information from your articles to write a rough draft for your cover letter. Attach your cover letter to this assignment when finished. Your grade will be based on the format (20 points) and content (10 points). NOTICE THAT A MAJORITY OF YOUR GRADE IS BASED ON PROPER FORMATTING OF YOUR COVER LETTER :)

Next week, we will work on revising these into a masterpiece.