The Occupational Course of Study is a diploma pathway. Requirements determined by the state are very specific. Students must have 300 in school work training hours, 240 out of school unpaid work hours (these include, job shadowing, apprenticeships, volunteer training, etc.), and 360 hours of paid employment. This is a life centered career/occupational education program


Occupational Preparation III & IV
We are hoping to get our senior employed soon in a part time job by one of our volunteer site businesses. and include other businesses in our list of prospective employers by the end of 2011! 

Our students in Occ. Prep. IV are working hard updating their  web page for our business:

Think about us for your birthday/anniversary/mother's day/father's day/grandparents day, etc. shopping:

The students are making beautiful , one of a kind, handmade jewelry and knitting gorgeous neckscarves, hats, purses, glasses holders, ipod holders, and doll clothes!

We have added some beautiful feather earrings to our in school sales area!

Stop by our room and take a look or check out our new webpage!

Our  OCS business webpage: (designed and developed by the OCS students):

http://www.wix.com/ezabella_17/one-of-a-kind-website

  OCS juniors will focus 2nd semester on completing their community volunteer hours and applying for jobs. Our objective for them, is to find jobs through use of a variety of media and job search engines and use of VR services by the end of this school year.

Some of our OCS seniors and juniors are working at volunteer jobs in the community after school to earn part of their volunteer hours.

Three of our seniors are working at paid employment to complete their 360 hours of paid employment to graduate.

We always work closely with Vocational Rehabilitation services:  Sabrena Thomas and Jane Shuping are our contacts with VR.  If you need to get in touch with them, their number is:  704-639-7575

New requirement this school year, 2011/2012 :  all students who are working

with us to complete volunteer hours, both inside the school and out with the job coach, must complete a W-9 tax form in order to receive the monthly stipend from VR.  If the forms are not completed and turned in then the students WILL NOT receive the stipend.

Voc. Rehab. is able to continue on with students during the summer and after graduation.

We will continue our quest to help find paid employment for our juniors and seniors until they all have jobs.  But, ultimately this responsibility lies with the students and their parents, since we cannot provide transportation to paid employment.

They are all required to have 360 hours of paid employment to receive their high school diploma.

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Vocational Rehabilitation is helping us look for jobs and will assist by supplying job coaches for students who need them.
Finding jobs continues to be our biggest challenge so far for our Occupational Course of Study students.

We will continue to fill out job surveys online and in class. ( You can find one of the job surveys on the link at the bottom of the page): The Career Key
Other websites that we use for Job Surveys and evaluations are:

www.careeronestop.org

www.onecenter.org

www.acinet.org

www.careervoyages.com

2 great sites for finding jobs in the area are:

   www.snagajob.com

                   &

    www.jobsonline.net

We are making use of the 2 computers in our room on a continual rotation so that our students can complete their Career Portfolios, which are a requirement for the OCS program completion.

Juniors will be using our computers to learn how to design their own websites and learn about data bases that they could use in any business of their own after graduation.

They will learn all aspects of owning and managing your own business by the end of the year in the Occupational classes.

Seniors are also using the computers to search for jobs, fill out job applications for those places who require an online application, and look for job skill areas that can help them.

OCS students also run an in-school business:

 Earth Interprizes

 The students make their own items to sell in the classroom store.
Some of the items are:

Hand knitted  purses, IPOD cozies, eyeglass cases, phone cozies, doll clothes, scarves,and hats  for everyone, including those special little dolls that we all love.

New item as listed above: Feather earrings

(the scarves are in a variety of colors and lengths to suit whatever you like)

Macrame necklaces and bracelets, clothe and knitted key chains.

Unique and beautiful jewelry and  wonderful wood working projects such as butterfly houses and birdhouses and feeders.

Please feel free to stop by and "window shop" or  purchase something.

(profits benefit the Occupational Class and help us purchase classroom supplies and take field trips to enhance our learning)

WE REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS & hope you continue supporting us again this school year!
Please let us know if you have any suggestions for products, because we love getting new ideas!

Speakers for Occupational Preparation Classes:

We have had or hope to have in the future,   the following people make return visits:

1. Holly Wagoner from RCCC was here in Oct. and we hope to have her back again this spring.

2. Sue Wortman from Carolina Poodle Rescue (came the wk. after Thanksgiving)    Thank you SUE for sharing with us!!!!!

3. Toni Wyatt and Cynthia Hill,  who do reflexology and acupressure hopefully will come back again this year. 

4. Bob Pendergrass, our local wildlife specialist, who brings animals from Dan Nicholas Park is always very informative to have with us each year.

4.  Speakers from Vocational Rehabilitation  to tell the students about what they can offer for assistance during high school and beyond. 

5. Mrs. Merrifield's father, from Dan Nicholas Park's Gem Mine to come and talk to the students about jobs and gems.

6. Marcel Renn from Renn's Bee Farm in Faith coming to talk about Bee Keeping.

7. Barbara Johnson who cards and spins her own wool for knitting has already been here this school year and we hope to have her return again and show the students how to spin the yarn she makes.  She showed them how to card and the different fibers and talked to them about the different fabrics, yarns, fibers, etc.  It was a great presentation!

We will also bring back our speakers from RCCC and Vocational Rehab. to speak with our freshmen and sophomores who do not get to hear them in the spring.

      We are searching the community, and trying to find speakers with a variety of community service areas for next school year. We bring in speakers from businesses and volunteers to talk about pursuits for adult life.  If you know of anyone who would be interested in speaking to our class, please contact us.


**Studying the drivers manual by playing Driver's Ed. Jeopardy is one of our daily adventures that we will continue this school year also!

We hope our students will continue trying to find jobs in the community  with the assistance of  Vocational Rehab. this winter and spring.  With the current economic situation this is difficult, but we will continue to pursue this for our students.

We had several students interview for jobs  last school year, and are hoping that soon they will be going to paid jobs to complete their working hours for their OCS portfolios.

Computer Skills III and IV - Continuing this school year: Researching holidays.... Job hunting skills, creating a budget and a data base and spread sheet, and building a webpage, are all skills that students continue working on through the end of school.

The students also do their career portfolio on the computer. These are a graduation requirement of the OCS program.



Many of our juniors will be diligently working on their portfolios.

All grade levels need to work on portfolios from the time they enter the OCS program as  freshmen.

9.

Lesson Plan/Goals & Objectives for  Month of Feb. 2012:

1. Occupational Science (Biology) 

Occupational Science II      

*Competency Goal :  Learn and discuss: What is Biology and What is Scientific Method
•    Objective 1: Identify biological question and problems that can be answered through scientific investigations.
•    Objective 2:  The learner will develop a basic understanding of plants, animals, and all life.

All Plans for Occupational Prep.Classes:

Occ. Prep. III

Current job sites are Nazareth Thrift Shop, Food Lion, and The Meadows.

Goal: Student will demonstrate the ability to determine future goals for life.

Objectives: Student will be able to discuss information in their OCS Portfolio in an appropriate manner, to be able to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner on the work site and at school, and to be able to follow through correctly when given directions on a job.

Students will work in a variety of jobs in and outside of school with assistants and  the Job Coach, earning School Based and  Community based work required hours for the Occupational Pathway.

Students will learn to work in the P.A.E.S. Lab at school with the assistance of a job coach, assistant or teacher.

Goal:  Students will demonstrate the ability to work with others and respond correctly to instruction and correction.

Objective: Students will complete a job given to them in a given amount of time and correctly without objection.

3. Occupational Preparation III: Students will work at off campus job sites with a job coach.

Goal: Students will demonstrate the ability to complete a one page writing assignment in a variety of subject areas and address people in an appropriate manner.

Job sites are Nazareth Thrift Store and soon the Meadows and Food Lion.

Objective: Students will be able to fill out narrative forms correctly and apply for jobs by telephone, students will demonstrate appropriate interactions at school and job site to be successful at competitive employment.

 4. Occupational Preparation III & IV:

Students will complete work on their OCS Portfolio on the computer

Goal:  Students will demonstrate competency on the computer by building data bases, websites, and goals for a personal business.

Objective:  Students will be able to complete documents correctly and save them on the computer.

               Students will be successful at competitive employment

Objectives:  1.  State the reasons for maintaining high standards for quality and quantity of work and recognize strategies for obtaining these standards:
•    Time on task
•    Self-evaluation of work
•    Performance of repetitive tasks
•    Competitive standards
•    Work evaluations by supervisor

Working on crafts: a. Instruct jewelry making, knitting, and sewing.
                                b. Find supplies in catalogs
                                c. Figure out cost, profit, time, supply & demand, etc.
                                d. Complete self evaluations, task analysis, and peer                                               evaluations

Competency Goal 6: The learner will develop the interpersonal relationship skills needed for success in the workplace.

Objectives: 1.  Determine appropriate attitudinal and behavioral strategies for interacting with a supervisor:
•    Evaluative conference
•    Compliance with instructions and directions
•    Orientation  
•    Problem reporting
•    Requests for assistance
Work on crafts: a. Discuss evaluation procedures
                          a. While working talk about problem reporting and
                                requesting assistance
                          b. Have one student do an orientation with another and
                               evaluate each others work and work ethic


Fri.:  Fill out task analysis and fill out self assessment for current jobs.

Students who have completed all CBI hours will be job searching and filling out applications or leaving campus to work at part time jobs.


OCS ENGLISH  III:   Begin reading and listening to "The Fire Next Time", and 

                              following along in books.

   Goal:  Students will understand character, plot, and learn to discuss how literature relates to real life in a variety of situation.

1.    Objective 1 – Discuss and explain the main theme of the book
2.    Objective 2 – understand the characters
3.    Objective 3 – Summarize the 1st and 2nd chapters of the book

         Activities

The students will complete the book by answering questions about the reading, draw a character, and write a description of the character.
Read aloud about the characters and discuss them.

 OccupationalPreparation III: Students will work at off campus job sites with a job coach.

Goal: Students will demonstrate the ability to complete a one page writing assignment in a variety of subject areas and address people in an appropriate manner. 

Job sites are Nazareth Thrift Store, Granite Parks and Recreation Facilities, and  the Meadows and Food Lion.

Objective: Students will be able to fill out narrative forms correctly and apply for jobs by telephone, students will demonstrate appropriate interactions at school and job site to be successful at competitive employment.

Occupational Preparation III & IV:

Students will complete work on their OCS Portfolio on the computer

Goal:  Students will demonstrate competency on the computer by building datat bases, websites, and goals for a personal business.

Objective:  Students will be able to complete documents correctly and save them on the computer.

               Students will be successful at competitive employment

Objectives:  1.  State the reasons for maintaining high standards for quality and quantity of work and recognize strategies for obtaining these standards:
•    Time on task
•    Self-evaluation of work
•    Performance of repetitive tasks
•    Competitive standards
•    Work evaluations by supervisor

Working on crafts: a. Instruct jewelry making, knitting, and sewing.
                                b. Find supplies in catalogs
                                c. Figure out cost, profit, time, supply & demand, etc.
                                d. Complete self evaluations, task analysis,  and peer                                                    evaluations

Competency Goal 6: The learner will develop the interpersonal relationship skills needed for success in the workplace.

Objectives: 1.  Determine appropriate attitudinal and behavioral strategies for interacting with a supervisor:
•    Evaluative conference
•    Compliance with instructions and directions
•    Orientation   
•    Problem reporting
•    Requests for assistance
Work on crafts: a. Discuss evaluation procedures
                          b. While working talk about problem reporting and
                                requesting assistance
                          c. Have one student do an orientation with another and
                               evaluate each others work and work ethic

Fri.:  Fill out task analysis and fill out self assessment for current jobs.

Students who have completed all CBI hours will be job searching and filling out applications or leaving campus to work at part time jobs.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!  to JEREMY BLEVINS , KEYANA WHITE, and NICOLE PEELER for having competitive employment and getting a great start on their competitive hours.

4 of our OCS seniors are also working hard on a POWER POINT Presentation to accompany their Senior Portfolios!

OCS teacher for  OCS English III, Occupational Prep. III & IV and OCS Biology/Life Skills Science II

Barbara Cassel

Teacher Assistant Matt Belk

Job Coach Christina Cox