CULTIVATE OPPORTUNITY - Educator Edition Activities
Below you will find activities that align with the Toolkit. These activities are designed to enhance classroom learning and the interactivity of the materials. Feel free to adjust and adapt to meet the needs of your students. Have fun!
DEVELOP PEER RELATIONSHIPS
People who have friends at work are more likely to be happy and enjoy their job. However, most students do not have an understanding of how to maintain healthy boundaries as they develop relationships with coworkers.
If you want to help ensure students dig into the learning in this action step, implement a brief “each one, teach, one” activity.
Ask individual students or teams of students to review one of the following resources and prepare a 60 second “snapshot” of the resource to share with the class.
Self-awareness = being aware of your own feelings and behaviors.
Practice mindfulness. Check out this infographic.Emotional Intelligence = ability to understand and manage your own emotions.
Respond instead of react. Check out this Medium article.
Develop empathy skills. Need strategies? Read this article.
Healthy Boundaries = boundaries that help you maintain stability and health.
Don’t get involved in drama. (Here’s resource for developing boundaries)
TIP: Encourage students to be creative with their snapshots and go outside the box. Draw, sing, act, even dance out the info. Students learn best when they are having fun and the mood is light--especially around serious topics like relationship boundaries.
CONNECT WITH A MENTOR
Encourage your students to conduct informational interviews as a way to connect with a professional mentor. Have them start by identifying people in their own network, like a family friend or an auntie. Then as they feel more comfortable, encourage them to reach out to people at their workplace.
Indeed resource with step-by-step instructions for informational interviews.
If a student is interested in conducting an informational interview but doesn’t feel like they have the connections in their own life, leverage your network to help them branch out.
WORK ACROSS GENERATIONS
Often intergenerational differences show up as personal conflict. Help your students understand what to expect from different generations of coworkers and supervisors by having them create a generational expectations map of folks in their family.
| Traditionalist (1928-1945) |
Boomers (1946-1964) |
Gen X (1965-1980) |
Millennials (1981-1996) |
Gen Z (1997-2015) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: Great Gran Generational expectations: We have to follow all the family traditions and be high achievers at school |
MANAGE UP
One strategy that some organizations have found successful in helping employees manage relationships with coworkers and supervisors is for all employees to create a “user manual” that can be used as a team playbook.
Use this step-by-step activity from Attlasian to create a classroom playbook that includes user manuals from you and each student. Not only is it fun, it’s enlightening and helps with team projects.
GROW YOUR NETWORK
Networking isn’t always something that comes naturally, but it is one of the most important ways you can grow your career. Help new students gain first hand experience with networking skills and maintaining connections you can:
Host a mock networking event in your classroom. Provide snacks, drinks, business cards, so they can practice.
Connect with the local Young Professional group in your area and ask if they would be willing to host you and a few students at some of their mixers or other events.
