Background - Recent Arizona CHOICES© Involvement
The CHOICES© program is the property of the CHOICES Education Group, Seattle, WA. It is offered nation wide to 8th and 9th graders in conjunction with local schools and sponsoring organizations. CHOICES has been supported in Arizona the past eight years by The Boeing Company (previously McDonnell Douglas) for the Mesa Unified School District. Three years ago the Rotary Club of Sun Lakes and Intel Corporation joined Boeing and expanded CHOICES to the Chandler Unified School District. Bashas' joined the CHOICES team and sponsored Chandler for the past year. The past two years The Gilbert Unified School District was added via Intel funding. Annually, approximately 11,000 Arizona ninth graders and 250,000 students nationally receive the CHOICES Message: "Stay in school, graduate, and get yourself qualified for the job of your CHOICE, not the job to which you are academically limited" (Media Day 2001-2002). All East Valley Rotary Clubs have received CHOICES briefings and most are involved. Via District 5510 and 5500 Conference presentations, other Rotary clubs are initiating CHOICES activity (Rotary Club - Show Low) (District 5500 PowerPoint Presentation - 11/2/2002).
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CHOICES
Education Group, Seattle, WA
- 1.800.343.8816
Western Marketing Director: Tiffany Markey: tmarkey@choicesedgroup.org
CHOICES Web
Page: www.choices.org
Prepared By: Rotarian Hal Wochholz, Choices Coordinator
hwoch@wbhsi.net
-
480.895.6705
Rotary Club Sun Lakes, AZ
WHAT IS CHOICES? ("Overview" - CHOICES Web Page):
CHOICES is an interactive classroom seminar that gives middle and high school students a chance to see into the future and recognize the importance of the personal and academic decisions they make today. The program offers the following features:
- Creative, highly participatory exercises facilitated by volunteer presenters from the business community, are utilized to help students learn how to take control of their lives by making wise decisions.
- Students explore time and money management techniques.
- Students are challenged to think about their future career options based on the level of education they decide to achieve, as well as, the impact their choices will have on others and the world around them.
- Self-discipline is encouraged as the key to success in their future endeavors and at the end of the seminar they are given the "Key to Success" as a reminder of the control they have over their choices and their futures.
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES
("Objectives"-
CHOICES Web Page):
Thirteen charts (transparencies) are provided with each presentation kit - one for each of the following areas plus a few additional (to view them contact CHOICES Education Group):
Factors Influencing Who I Am
- Recognize how many factors influence our lives.
- Determine how many factors can be controlled.
- Identify self-discipline as the most important factor.
- Consider what self-discipline means to participants.
The CHOICES Challenge
- Learn that every decision has a consequence.
- Understand that choices made about education have both short and long-term consequences.
Time Management
- Discover how many free time hours they have each week, even after doing 14 hours of homework.
- Consider the benefits of doing homework in light of the free time available to them.
Money Management
- Discover how much money it takes to live on one's own.
- Realize the possible long-term impacts of dropping out of school.
School Decisions & Career Consequences
- Realize the numerous ways a career can be rewarding.
- Make a clear connection between their level
of education and the number and variety of career options available
to them.
Connections Between School And Work
- Identify the five building blocks of success and the reward they can provide; types of classes, grades earned, attendance, free time activities, relationships, and time activities.
- Understand that there is a connection between what is expected at school and what will be expected at work.
Future Impact
- Discover how today's decisions impact many others besides themselves in the future.
- Realize that they can make an enormous difference in the lives of other people.
My Plan To Take Charge Of My Life
- Review the main point in each segment of the CHOICES program.
- Learn a method to set goals and make a plan to achieve them.
- Set one initial goal for their education and plan the steps needed to accomplish it
CHOICES CONTENT
("Content" - CHOICES
Web Page)
Educational opportunities are widely available, yet many students do not take advantage of them. We believe the problem can be traced back to decisions made before students understand the realities of life. We would like to help students discover some of those realities while they still have time to make wise choices.
What Can Students Expect from CHOICES?
For many students, the opportunity to spend time with a person from the business community in a relaxed, friendly, but structured manner will be a first-time experience that will broaden their perception of what to anticipate after graduation.
CHOICES Covers a Wide Range of Topics
Becoming acquainted with the pressures,
influences, expectations and environments affecting "Who I am."
Making thoughtful decisions about my future. Learning about decisions and
their consequences. Exploring time and money management. Relating academic
decisions to career consequences. Increasing options in an uncertain world.
Learning to think beyond myself. Making a plan to take charge of my life.
Obtaining the "Key to Success."
Factors Influencing Who I Am
In the first segment each student is given a fortune cookie card containing one factor-attitude, goals, appearance, self-discipline, neighborhood, gender, interests-affecting who and what they are. Students read one "fortune" at a time or offer contributions of their own as the seminar leader lists factors on the board. About thirty factors are discussed and students are asked to distinguish between those which cannot be changed and those which are under their personal control. Students discover that more than half of the factors affecting them are under their individual control, and can be impacted by their thoughtful choices.
The CHOICES Challenge
In this module the discussion leader introduces a series of situations, asking two volunteers to choose their course of action, and pointing out that one can learn to anticipate the consequences of a particular decision before acting. Objectives and goals must be balanced with individual priorities and short and long-term opportunities.
Time Management
After taking the class through a typical school week's time schedule, students discover that about 62 hours, or 35 percent, of a student's time is open to their control. Students are then asked to think about whether two hours a night spent on homework-leaving about 48 hours, or two whole days free-is too much to ask of themselves. A lively debate on the value of homework supports the notion that the students are in control of, and responsible for, their futures.
Money Management
During this exciting exercise, a volunteer student is selected to portray a high school dropout who has just received his/her first paycheck. Classmates are then designated as the IRS, Landlord, Grocer, Utility Person, etc. Appropriate "bills" are then "paid" to demonstrate the realities of what it costs to live. For many students it's their first encounter with what it takes to run a household.
The Time of My Life
The second day begins with a review of Day One, followed by the introduction of a timeline reflecting the number of years students spend in primary and secondary education, compared to the rest of their lives. Students quickly realize that their decisions today will impact them for many years to come.
Strategy For An Uncertain World: Increase Your Options
Another role-play exercise during
this segment of the program illustrates typical careers and incomes that
can be expected to follow from different levels of academic achievement.
Job satisfaction, creativity and freedom are all factors that increase along
with income as the student's level of achievement increases. The discussion
leader demonstrates how education increases life options. He or she adds
that what is expected of students
at school will also be expected of them in the world of work, i.e., performance,
attendance, and positive relationships.
Future Impact
During this exercise students are asked to look beyond themselves. Using a Future Impact worksheet, each student answers the question, "How could increasing my education affect me, my family and my friends, both now and in the future" Students then consider and discuss how their academic decisions today might even impact the community, country or the world.
My Plan to Take Charge of My Life
In this final module the Presenter
reviews the content of the complete seminar, and then introduces a plan
whereby students can put into action the concepts they have learned. Through
this goal-setting exercise students can create their own personalized plan
to take charge of their future, with weekly check-in sessions to assess
their progress. At the end of this segment each student is given a "Key
To Success" as a reminder of the choices they make in their lives daily.
NOTE: In order to be more responsive to the needs of college bound students,
a special "Honors" set of CHOICES materials are being evaluated
at selected locations. To view these materials "Honors".
What About Program Follow-Up?
Program follow-up is an important part of the CHOICES seminar. The primary vehicle for this follow-up is the CHOICES Action Plan, a one-hour classroom session led by the host teacher, preferably on the day after the CHOICES presentation. The lesson takes students through a goal-setting process that helps them plan for their future. It includes a preliminary homework exercise that can be assigned by the teacher at the end of the CHOICES presentation.
How Much Does It Cost?:
Presenters:
CHOICES is delivered by trained volunteer Presenters from the business community. It is typically presented in two class periods-one period each on two consecutive days. It is recommended that all same-grade level students in a school be covered, and that the seminar be presented on consecutive days so that students will share common information for out-of-class discussions. Representative Presentations:
- Hamilton
High School "Honors" Evaluations 12/2-3/2002
- Hamilton High
School
- Chandler High School
11-02-2002
- Chandler 11-6/9-2000
- Gilbert
High School 11-25-02
- Highland High School Page
1 - Page 2
- Mesquite High School
11-11/12-2002
- Rhodes High School 3-20-2001
Comments About CHOICES:
Student Comments About CHOICES
"I have thought a lot about
dropping out, but since you came and talked about how important school is,
I have changed my mind. Thank you." A
student essay on CHOICES. "I had always been avoiding my future
because I didn't know where to start. This presentation helped me find that
place." They do appreciate you - Highland 2002 Page
1 - Page 2.
"I learned that dropping out of school ain't worth it because you won't
have a good job or life."
Sometimes they reward you!
Superintendents/Principals Comments (Evaluations) About CHOICES
Gilbert Unified School District -
2002
- Superintendent
- Gilbert High School
- Highland High School
- Mesquite High School
Chandler Unified School School District - 2002
- Chandler High School
- Hamilton High School
- Principal Honors
Mesa Unified School District - 2001/2002
