Tracee McDonald

Leadership in career readiness is about more than just teaching students how to become "the boss." It is more about teaching resilience, critical thinking, and problem-solving

There are a lot of things to consider when thinking about financial literacy.  It is important to discuss some of the less obvious hurdles, like insurance or professional memberships, that may not be discussed elsewhere.  These are also important considerations that need to be included in a budget.

I loved reading about including interactive activities in my classes for students to experience.  It is so important for students to be exposed to these concepts, like in Shady Sam, but gamifying it makes it more interesting and less threatening.

I love the idea of using real-world scenarios to help students think through what they may face one day.  AI is really great for generating scenarios to have students work through.  I also love guest speakers wh can answer questions about what really happens as opposed to what is written in a book.

My husband works in the trades.  He always says he wishes that he knew what options were available to him.  He learned his trade through working for various other people who were willing to teach him.  Knowing that there is actual training available to young people could have saved him a lot of time and money in the long run.  Making sure students know about opportunities is really important.

I was aware of gamification in the classroom.  However, I was not aware of how in-depth it could go.  To turn your entire class into one huge game with levels, quests, boss battles, etc. seems really overwhelming.  I use different games throughout the class, like Blooket or Gimkit, but turning a whole class into this feels very overwhelming.  I can see how it might improve student engagement and motivation, but I am not sure if I could make it work.  I might start small with one class and see how it goes before I build from there.

It is really important to learn to choose the right tool for the task at hand.  Teaching students the different options and how to best evaluate what would work best in each situation is really important.  They also need to understand that soft skills are just as important as hard skills, and they need to work to develop those as well.

Teamwork is crucial in today's workplace. It occurs in most every job on some level.  Students must learn how to communicate and work together in a team for a common goal/purpose.  Most students hate group/team work, but we must continue to implement these types of projects in our classes as it is a real life skill that they must develop and be able to use.

Critical thinking is crucial for students today.  This is a skill that students will use in the workplace as well as in their personal lives. I loved the idea of the silent conversation.  What a great opportunity for quiet students to have the chance to share.