When was the last time you asked your students, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” If you are one of the fine folks serving our youngsters in elementary school, it may have been recently, but for those of us who mentor the students with a few more years under their belts, the question may need some dusting off. I had a chance recently to volunteer in a kindergarten class, and these students were so excited to share with me their ideas about what they would become and the amazing goals they would achieve. Let’s bring some of that excitement back to the secondary classroom, and kick the year off with that inviting question, “What do you want to be?”

Set aside some time the first week of school to pose this question to students. Have students create a small poster (8 ½ x 11” or smaller) on which they can show the world their goals and dreams. I like to leave this as open-ended as possible, to allow for students to share aspirations of all kinds. Students must include their name and a description/illustration of a career they would like to have.  For those of you with multiple class-periods, make the paper small enough so that you can display all of your students’ posters.

Take a digital or Polaroid snapshot of each of your students, and attach it to their poster. Display each student’s poster on the wall, and keep these posters up throughout the year. As you progress through your curriculum you have a visual reference to quickly connect content to what students care about, and who they want to become. Maybe you are covering a science concept – you can quickly look up and see that four of your students are interested in a career connected to science. Point out that this content could help connect them to their career of choice. You can also ask students to make connections between learning and career opportunities.

This is a fun and easy way to get your students thinking about the future and help you connect your lessons to career opportunities available.