Work-Based Learning in the Age of COVID: A website of interest-driven and real-world learning resources, ideas, and examples curated by BPL's Casey Lamb.
Virtual Mentoring: Consider reaching out to mentors and students to see what kind of needs, ideas, or projects the internship site may have. Many schools have facilitated high-quality virtual mentorships before coronavirus related closures. Now could be a time to show support for mentors and internship sites as they may have needs and projects for interns. Some prompts to consider:
How might I help my internship site stay in business at this time?
What skills could I work on to make me better at my internship site?
Might my mentor have work for me to do while I am at home (things to practice, reading, research)?
For an example, visit this blog written by Julie Torres, a senior at Missisquoi Valley Union High School writes about moving her internship to Zoom.
Guests to Virtual Advisory: Advisors have started inviting mentors and/or adult community members as guests to virtual advisory. Consider asking students to invite their mentors and/or ask students if there are folks they'd like to hear from. Their experiences and expertise can enrich the advisory experience and help to connect school and community even more. It is possible that some talented adults are currently finding themselves with more free time. Some ideas:
Start with the students, ask them who they'd like to invite.
Use your school's social media account to ask for what you need.
Encourage people to share your needs with their networks.
Reach out to families and mentors to see if they'd like to join or know somebody who would.
New Interests: Advisors and school leaders have shared observations that new, and even surprising, interests have surfaced in light of our changing context (epidemiology, data analysis, community organizing, the psychology of community messaging, government response and activism). Some schools are revising learning plans, helping students develop interest-based projects, and engaging advisories in community projects such as letter writing and sharing resources. Here are some prompts to seek new interests in young people:
What have you found yourself exploring or doing since school's been out that you find surprising?
How can you help your community? In what ways has your understanding of community changed? What needs do you see?
What questions do you have about what is happening? What have you heard people in your community asking?
Ask young people to document their experience and think about how they might tell the story of what happened this year.
Leaving to Learn in an Age of CoronaVirus: BPL is collecting and sharing stories about how people in our communities are finding ways to pursue their interests through real world and meaningful work. More stories will be added over time.
InquireEd Distance Learning Inquiries: "Each week, we will release a week-long, interdisciplinary inquiry that explores the question: How can we stay together when we're apart?" Also, hosts a weekly teacher's lounge to support problem-solving and stay connected.
My Next Move: O*Net Interest Profiler sponsored by US Department of Labor. Emphasizes careers more than interests but can help surface industry or job-specific competencies and skills. Think of it more as a conversation starter than a deterministic assessment.
Road Trip Nation: Requires a subscription to access all the material but the free version allows users to view many of the video interviews which do a good job of sharing stories as to how adults navigate the world outside of school.
8-12 Week Learning Journeys: From Out of Eden, a free online program that, "groups students of similar ages from diverse geographical and socioeconomic settings together for collective learning experiences."