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March/April 2001 | NW REPORT Teens Working: ConnectingLearning With the World of Work By Rich Melo A new publication from NWREL, Teens Working: Turning Earning Into Learning is a toolkit designed to help young people connect what they do at work and what they learn at school. A majority of young people hold jobs at least part of the time during their school years, and the Teens Working toolkit, developed by NWREL's Education, Career, and Community program, provides a set of challenging yet fun activities to help teens succeed both in the classroom and the workplace.
 Classroom teachers, youth employment program staff, and others who are assisting young people in the pursuit of job skills, can use the activities in Teens Working with working and nonworking students who have a wide range of academic and job skills. On one hand, the activities are designed to meet the needs of young people who are struggling to master basic reading, math, writing, or social skills; on the other hand, the activities have much to offer advanced students who want to explore complex topics such as the global economy and the legal rights of workers.The activities themselves employ two work-based education frameworks: SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) and the more holistic All Aspects of the Industry. Through these sets of standards, students gain skills in art, speech and writing, math, reading, and science. In addition, the activities focus upon career-related learning standards such as problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, and learning about various phases of the world of work. Some of the activities also engage the students in abstract thinking through class discussions of ethical dilemmas. The toolkit includes guides for facilitators, students, and parents, as well as a separately bound volume called Critical Workplace Issues. In addition, Teens Working comes with a set of camera-ready originals consisting of unbound copies of the student pages, parent guide, "Question Box" materials, and "Wheel of Careers" game template that teachers and program leaders can photocopy. The "Parent Guide" encourages families to join teachers in challenging young people to get the most out of their work experiences. The "Critical Workplace Issues" volume consists of ready-made lessons for teachers to use with students covering topics such as workplace health and safety, sexual harassment, and cultural competency. The "Question Box" consists of three sets of 101 questions based on the themes of workplace health and safety, critical thinking, and the world of work. Young people draw individual questions from the box and then answer them while practicing their reasoning and decisionmaking skills as well as demonstrating the knowledge they have acquired through their school and work experiences. The "Wheel of Careers" game gives players a chance to match up their "dream jobs" with a set of school- and work-related SCANS skills. Teens Working is part of the Connections series, a comprehensive set of products and services designed to help educators integrate academic and community-based learning. While Teens Working focuses on the application of academics to the workplace, Connections is a multivolume set that addresses distinct aspects of school-to-work, including job shadows, community-based learning, career exploration, and survival skills. For more information and to view samples from the Connections series, visit the Web site, www.nwrel.org/ecc/youthdev/products.html. To order Teens Working, see the NWREL Products Catalog Online.
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