My First Wiki

Today I created my first wiki.  Due to financial budget cuts in education teaching staff has been decreased.  When the work experience teacher at Mingus Union High School retired, his position was not filled.  Instead the guidance department was assigned the duty of instructing and monitoring work experience students.  Work experience as a class does not have seat time.  We only meet with the students at the beginning of the semester to hand out the assignment packet for the semester.  The high school juniors and seniors are responsible for finding a job, turning in time sheets that reflect that they work at least ten hours per week, and completing a packet that includes assignments on career exploration and personal finance.  As a counselor and work experience coordinator I find this form of instruction a frustrating arrangement.  I want to have more contact with the students and to encourage the students to interact with one another sharing thoughts, concerns and suggestions. 

I have had no training as a work experience coordinator and limited experience with creating a work experience curriculum.  I have relied heavily on what was done in the past and on the few web sites I have taken the time to explore.

The wiki I created today is my first step toward improving our work experience program curriculum.  It is my intent that this wiki be a tool to assist fellow work experience teachers by providing helpful web sites, wikis, and blogs.  I hope colleagues will share the sites that they have created or use.  My desire is for the students to become a part of developing curriculum that addresses the educational needs they are facing in today’s job market.  I also want the students to use technology to create an online portfolio that they can continue to update. 

Please visit my wiki and share your thoughts and suggestions.