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Female high school student smiles and gestures with her hands up in surprise and discovery as other students watch in a classroom.

Prepare Students for Their Future: Develop a Course for Students to Explore Their Purpose

Inflexion February 9, 2021
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People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.

– Dalai Lama XIV

INTRO

Develop a course for students to explore their purpose and gain a better understanding of who they are and what they value.

GO skills and behaviors include elements of student agency– self-awareness, self-knowledge, and an understanding of who you are in the context of the world around you, including your family and your community. This includes leadership skills, advocacy skills, self-care, and healthy habits, as well as skills like kindness and empathy. Many of these skills are necessary to successfully navigate big life transitions such as attending college, enrolling in a vocational program, starting a new job, or even beginning a new personal relationship.

OBJECTIVES

  • Develop a course for students to explore their purpose, gain a better understanding of who they are, and what they value
  • Ensure the course is genuinely student-centered and provides opportunities for students to practice life-ready skills as well as plan and prepare for their actual future

RESOURCES

ACTIVITY

  • Develop a course for students to explore their purpose, gain a better understanding of who they are, and what they value.
  • The course should be authentically student-centered and provide for student agency, autonomy, voice and choice. It should serve as a guide for them to discover and explore themselves and their purpose and futures.
  • Not only are students more likely to engage in the course because it’s directly relevant to them, but future-focused courses provide students with a lower-stakes environment to practice life-ready skills and directly plan and prepare for their actual future (not a hypothetical or generic future).

TIPS

  • Key Moves are efforts that require a bit of planning, such as the activity above, but can be implemented within the next three to six months.
  • Like this activity? Check out Inflexion’s full-page GO document for more ideas.
Categories: Instructional Practices, Organizational Structures
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