MISSOURI CONNECTIONS

• Students at Valley Park Middle will develop and maintain a Personal Portfolio and experience Career Exploration through a computer-based program called Missouri Connections Junior.
  In preparation to assist in developing each student’s Personal Portfolio the counseling department will teach classroom guidance lessons and work individually with students. Classroom lessons will consist of career and self-exploration activities. 

• Career exploration includes the following:

  1. Completion of the Career Cluster Inventory (CIS) survey.

  2. Completion of various lessons related to career development.

  3. Researching results from their CIS to discover an occupation of interest

• Self exploration includes the following:

  1. Discovering interests to help with the question of “Who am I?”

  2. Creating a 6 year plan to answer the question of “Where am I going?”

  3. Gathering information to prepare for “How do I get there?”

• Missouri Connections is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and provides students (grades 6-12), their parents, counselors, and educators with educational and career planning information and resources at no charge.
  The comprehensive internet-based system, customized specifically for Missouri, offers the following services:

  1. Career Path, Career Cluster, and Career Pathway Exploration

  2. Career Assessment and Direction

  3. Educational and Occupational Planning

  4. Job Preparation and Management

  5. Portfolio and Resume Building

• For more information you can visit www.missouriconnections.org. Each student has a username and password. Please ask your child to share this information with you to access their career exploration progress.
  Thank you for your continued support in the success of your child’s academic success. For questions or concerns please contact Mrs. Steinkamp.
  
  Missouri Connections Outline

• 6th grade: Who Am I?

1. Create Portfolio

2. Things I like to do

3. Career Cluster activity and show video

4. Career cluster inventory & portfolio 

5. Getting to know my school & Should I Join (Do together, 1st in August) 

6. Qualities for Success

7. My Accomplishments 

8. My Ideal Community 

9. My Network

• 7th grade: Where Am I Going?

  1. Occupations scavenger hunt 

  2. Career cluster poster

  3. If I became…

  4. Make a change (use with report card & Michael Jackson song)

  5. Learn a new skill

• 8th grade: How Do I Get There?

  1. Classroom performance review

  2. Career cluster inventory

  3. Reality check/Occupation match**

  4. Words for high school

  5. My high school course plan

  6. Portfolio- start building resume (end of year)

• **High school version - will work with the HS Counselor to continue