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:
Completion of the Career Cluster Inventory (CIS) survey.
Completion of various lessons related to career development.
Researching results from their CIS to discover an occupation of interest
Self exploration includes the following:
Discovering interests to help with the question of “Who am I?”
Creating a 6 year plan to answer the question of “Where am I going?”
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:
Career Path, Career Cluster, and Career Pathway Exploration
Career Assessment and Direction
Educational and Occupational Planning
Job Preparation and Management
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?
Create Portfolio
Things I like to do
Career Cluster activity and show video
Career cluster inventory & portfolio
Getting to know my school & Should I Join (Do together, 1st in August)
Qualities for Success
My Accomplishments
My Ideal Community
My Network
7th grade: Where Am I Going?
Occupations scavenger hunt
Career cluster poster
If I became…
Make a change (use with report card & Michael Jackson song)
Learn a new skill
8th grade: How Do I Get There?
Classroom performance review
Career cluster inventory
Reality check/Occupation match**
Words for high school
My high school course plan
Portfolio- start building resume (end of year)
**High school version - will work with the HS Counselor to continue