Ready for the Workforce: Engaging Strategies for Teaching Secondary Learners Employability Skills (A Targeted Instructional Guide for Fostering Confident, Career-Ready Learners)

Foster confident, well-rounded, career-ready students. Written for teachers and administrators, this targeted guide introduces the Youth Employability Skills (YES!) framework, which has been adopted by schools across the United States. Learn how to use this powerful framework in a multitude of courses to ensure students develop the essential attributes and soft skills needed to become thriving members of the global workplace.

Use this resource to foster collaboration and problem solving that will benefit students in the professional realm:

• Consider nine essential employability skills and how to foster each in students.
• Benefit from a comprehensive framework that includes activities, instructional strategies, and resources.
• Align with the mandates of the Every Student Succeeds Act to prepare students to succeed in college and careers.
• Gain an understanding of educators' roles in connecting students to the vast possibilities and opportunities ahead of them.
• Examine real-life examples as well as supporting research and evidence that the YES! framework is effective.

Contents:
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
About the Authors
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Communication
Chapter 2: Teamwork and Collaboration
Chapter 3: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Chapter 4: Workplace Relationship Maintenance
Chapter 5: Resource Management
Chapter 6: Growth Mindset, Resilience, and Grit
Chapter 7: Ethics, Values, and Integrity
Chapter 8: Networking and Interview Know-How
Chapter 9: Career-Pathway Preparation
Epilogue
Appendix
References and Resources
Index

Christi McBride serves as director of Hoosier Hills Career Center in Bloomington, Indiana. She began her career in education as an elementary counselor, then shifted to the high school setting, and finally transitioned into high school administration. Christi has presented in multiple states and offered on-site professional development for local and international leaders, including the Nelson Mandela Fellows. Her focus on working with students, school staff, and community partners to provide positive, productive outcomes led to the Youth Employability Skills, or YES!, curriculum, which she developed with her colleague Brenda Duncan-Davis and a talented group of curriculum specialists dedicated to engaging and empowering students.

Christi is an active member of the Indiana Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) and in 2015 received the Indiana ACTE Administrator of the Year Award. In 2018, the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce honored her with a Women Excel Bloomington Award for her leadership in the educational and business community. Her students and teachers nominated her for the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America's Administrator of the Year, a designation she received in 2020. Christi is also a longtime member of the Indiana Counseling Association (ICA), receiving its Award for Leadership and Service in 1995 as a new counselor. She served on the ICA governing board and conference committee for multiple years.

Christi received her bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana University Bloomington. She received her license in educational leadership from Indiana State University and continues her own professional development with Purdue University's leadership development program, which she has attended and presented at since 2014.

Brenda Duncan-Davis is an educational consultant specializing in bridging education and industry through the facilitation of work-based learning opportunities, registered apprenticeship programs, and professional development in workplace-readiness skills. As a career and technical educator and work-based learning coordinator, she created an internship program, a service-learning course, and education-pathway field experiences. Brenda is an avid grant writer, helping to fund classroom projects, community outreach endeavors, and postgraduation career-development programs. Her background in work-based learning led to the development of the YES! curriculum with her colleague Christi McBride and a wonderful team of curriculum specialists.

Brenda is a member of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS), holding different leadership roles at local and state levels. She was a charter member of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society's Gamma Nu Chapter and served on Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington's Education Advisory Board. She has received the Indiana Department of Education's Learn and Serve Educator Award, as well as recognitions such as the AAFCS's Indiana Affiliate Teacher of the Year, the AAFCS's National Teacher of Merit, and the Indiana Association of Career and Technical Education's Outstanding Teacher of the Year. In 2016, she received the Indiana Association of Career and Technical Education's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Brenda has presented at state and national conferences on service-learning and employability skills. She contributed to the book Shifting Gears: Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow and Ignite magazine--student-produced works that promote safe teen driving. In 2016, she cowrote Capturing Memories: Articles, Interviews, and Timelines of Owen County, Indiana.

Brenda completed her education at Indiana University, receiving a bachelor of science in vocational home economics and a master of arts in teaching with a concentration in vocational education.