The Waconia Work-Based Learning Program A Community Effort

T110 Transitions Program The T110 Transitions program is for students in the Waconia School District #110, ages with an active IEP and who demonstrate a need for continuing their educational program. Areas that the transition program work on are: Independent Living, Work Experience, Community Participation, and Post Secondary Education and Training.

What does Work Based Learning Mean? WBL is an educational approach that uses workplaces to structure learning experiences that contribute to the intellectual, social, academic, and career development of students and supplements these with school activities that apply, reinforce, refine, or extend the learning that occurs at a worksite.

The basics of the Work Based Learning program Real World Experiences gained “on the job” Academic and Technical skills Developed in School Curriculum

Spectrum of Work-Based Learning Experiences Internships/ Co- Ops: Students participate in paid work experience with employer, school coordinator and student agreeing to follow training plan. Students take vocational and work related classes at school. Entrepreneurship: Students create an alternate work program, are their own boss, earn money, create a project, run their business, and earn high school credit. Rotations: Students work in a number of different departments or for different employers, to explore different occupations within an industry cluster. Tours: Students take part in tours of worksites. Employer-led tours of site which provides students with information on requirements of different jobs. Job Shadowing: Students make brief worksite visits to spend time with individual workers learning what their jobs entail. Mentoring: Students are paired with “adult peers” from the workplace who provide guidance and encouragement on career-related, interdisciplinary projects. Service Learning: Students unpaid work, geared to the public good, integrated with school learning through projects or similar mechanisms. Youth Apprenticeship: The integration of academic instruction and work-based learning. The student commits to one or two years of paid work experience in a specific trade and is registered as a youth apprentice. Rotations Job Shadowing Mentoring Entrepre- neurship Service Learning Internships /Co-Op Youth Appren- ticeship Tours

 School Based Learning  Work Based Learning  Connecting Activities 1) Career and Labor Market Information 2) Building Relationships with Employers 3) Creating a Liaison between the School, Employer, Student, Teacher and Parent. The Work Based Learning Components of the Coordinator

In School we work on… Career Awareness-Interest Inventories Job Search Skills-practice filling out applications and create a resume Employment Rights and Responsibilities- Work on labor laws Safety in the work place Work place skills (communication, problem solving, decision making, soft skills) Along with several other work place skills

Vocational Experiences Transition students gain work related skills as they participate in a variety of vocational experiences at sites around the community. Participants are able to explore vocational preferences and/or interests through these sites. Transition students interact with supervisors, coworkers and transition staff at each of the vocational sites. Our vocational experience areas have included food service, office work, library services, recycling, laundry, custodial and general cleaning.

Our Goal First for students to gain work place skills and to find their interests and abilities in a setting that works for them Is for students to be able to utilize their skills, abilities, interests and experiences to locate a job in the community.

We need you… As community members, business owners, parents, and school staff we need you to help us continue to grow in our programming.

Benefits to the Employer Better prepared employees who understand workplace expectations. Reduce recruitment and training costs Derive value from student’s work Improve morale and management skills of current workers

How you can help We are always looking for- Job tours- a tour of your worksite Speakers-tell us about the job you have and what you needed to get it Job Shadowing-Students to follow you around in a couple of hours of work Job Trials-give students opportunity to try a job Volunteer opportunities-non-paid job sites where students have an opportunity to work on their work place skills

Contact Information Kelly Jo Raether – Work Experience Coordinator (952) or Jenni Sebora – Teacher (952) or Resources taken from Massachutes Work Based Learning