Monday, October 31, 2011

Transition Planning

     With the majority of senior annual reviews behind us, it is now time to breathe a quick sigh of relief and focus in on annual reviews.  Coming out of senior annual reviews, the most common question that I have come across, as far as transition is concerned, comes when a student is reluctant to give us any guidance as to what their plans are for post high school.  To remedy this, my first suggestion would be to assure the student that they can change their minds in the future. Usually just knowing that they can change their mind is enough to illicit some sort of response. If they are still reluctant to pinpoint anything specific, it important to sit down with the student and have a discussion about what their strengths and weaknesses are. This should help steer us in a certain occupational direction. It also might mean that we have a few students deciding they would like to play professional baseball, and that is ok.  A transition plan is an evolving document that can and should change with time. If we have tried everything and STILL can't get them to be specific, try to get the student to narrow down their occupation to one field in which the student feels comfortable, (working with people, working with animals, working in an office.. ext). Our main goal is to make our post secondary outcomes as specific and as measurable as possible. 


All of this and other topics can be found in the second edition of Transition Talk, found in an email or over on the side bar! Until the next time....