Website Activities

Readings, Quizzes, and More

We often post ‘The First Rung’ ancillary activities on our website, such as a new informative story and reinforcing online quiz, so we can continue to be the soft but persistent voice for education and workforce readiness. As appropriate, we ask school leadership to communicate these opportunities to their students in a variety of ways (morning announcements, emails to students/parents, website notifications).

Occasionally, we distribute small prizes to students who have taken advantage of these learning opportunities.

Website Activities2020-03-29T05:22:03+00:00

Getting Our Message to Students

Our G.R.I.T. Curriculum
Step Up to The First Rung

To ensure that eighth graders ‘get’ our message, we have developed proprietary curriculum that helps students understand what employers will expect from them and how knowing about those demands now can ensure that students can be really ready and have a much longer time to get ready.

‘The First Rung’ curriculum emphasizes what students need to do — and should not do — in preparation for high school and the rest of their lives.

We need only five classroom periods to get our message across to the students — modules target different academic classes. Each is 45 minutes long and aimed at Mathematics class (2), English class (2), and History (1).

Getting Our Message to Students2020-04-05T04:28:10+00:00

Competitive Team Event

Now Is Not Too Early Video Commercial

To ensure that the critical messages delivered in our The First Rung curriculum are reinforced and repeated as often as possible, we encourage our participating grade eight students to work in small teams to produce and film a ‘commercial’ that summarizes the important points that all students need to embed in their approach to all things necessary for success.

Students plan, develop, and film a three-minute video commercial and the best commercials (as designated by teacher-driven processes) are submitted to a panel of judges (volunteer business people) who will select the best videos. The top three will be featured in a student assembly during which the producers of the videos will receive small prizes.

Competitive Team Event2020-03-29T05:04:14+00:00

Focus on Your Résumé

Strengthen Your Core | And So It Begins

We show eighth graders how they can strengthen their core — their core competencies, that is. We show them how they can take the hard work they do to maintain or improve their knowledge of key subject matter and turn that work into a statement of accomplishments that will impress both college admissions officials and employers alike.

Most English teachers review résumé writing techniques near the end of high school. However, to have impressive content for that résumé, students in grade eight need to develop and implement a plan that will begin to build those accomplishments throughout their high school years. That content needs to showcase his or her academic (hard skills) knowledge base and the soft (interpersonal) skills employers look for in their hiring processes.

Whether that content is showcased in a one-page document, through a series of essay questions in an online application, or during a personal interview matters not. What matters is that those skills need to be showcased appropriately with measurable improvement over time.

Focus on Your Résumé2020-03-29T04:35:13+00:00
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