How can you connect this new skill to the student’s priorities? How can you assure ownership by making the development of this skill the student’s goal rather than just your goal for the student?
What are this student’s short-term (and long-term) vocational goals? Does he or she plan to attend a post-secondary institution? Clearly, the application search process should be centered on these goals. For example, a student planning to take advantage of post-secondary education may not initially see the importance of being successful in a part-time job with a restaurant or a retail store. In priming the student, the instructor may need to select specific job-keeping skills (that will be relevant in future jobs) and create a graphic organizer that helps the student see how success in an entry level job can help the student later in landing a job directly related to his interests.
As you approach the teaching of this skill, how will you incorporate (visually, thematically) the student’s unique interests?
Can you make it visually clear to the student who is resistant to change that his assumption is only one way of looking at things? Can your use of graphic organizers and social narratives help get agreement that there is a problem, get agreement on the solution, and create the motivation for change?
Perhaps the student does not see the value in the online search process, or perhaps he finds the process confusing and frustrating. You may need to help him see the relevance of the online search process by developing a graphic organizer that matches his career interests with particular organization / company websites that can offer opportunities. You may need to develop a social narrative (e.g. coping card), to assist him in staying calm, taking a break, and resuming the search after he encounters “dead ends” during the search process.
Priming is a form of negotiation that can reframe and sharpen a student’s assessment of self. Below are the self-assessment tools that align with this intervention topic:
Applying – Locating and Completing Applications
Interspersal is a proven technique involving the presentation of familiar, higher success tasks with the new, more challenging task. When it is appropriate, are you varying the activities to maintain the student’s confidence and focus?
Before the student encounters a situation where he will need to perform this skill, how do you help the student prepare? How do you orient the student to the upcoming situation?
Perhaps you will provide the student with a list of key words (e.g. “career opportunities,” “join our team,” “contact us,” etc.) before he begins the search process. Perhaps you will show the student several examples of online applications before he begins searching, so he has a better sense of what the online application looks like. A set of visual instructions within the student’s to-do list might clarify for the student the key search words he should use, what type of sites he should search, how many sites he should search, what materials (e.g. applications, information about the position) he should print out, etc.