Kickstart the School Year with Life Skills and Post-Secondary Transition Activities

It’s that time of year again. The back-to-school ads have started, and the displays of pencils, notebooks, and backpacks have reappeared. While most educators are busy thinking about seating charts and syllabi, I'd like to recommend adding post-secondary transition to your back-to-school planning. After all, every student, regardless of age or grade, is making their way toward adulthood. Integrating activities focused on post-secondary education, employment, and independent living skills into your classroom can be a game-changer. These activities not only align seamlessly with grade-level and content area curricula but can also stand alone as enriching exercises. They offer a valuable shift in pace and help prepare students for real-world challenges. (Check out 15 Ways to Integrate Life Skills Lessons & Postsecondary Transition Activities Into the School Day)

First Day of School

I firmly believe in hitting the ground running. In my classroom, I skip the typical rules overview and syllabus briefing on the first day. Instead, I start the school year with a hands-on, high-interest activity that sets the tone for an engaging and dynamic school year.

The Benefits of Engagement on Day 1

Over the years, I've witnessed numerous benefits from starting the first day with an engaging activity. First, it makes a strong initial impression, signaling to students that "In this class, we will use every minute to learn and grow!” Second, it sets your class apart. High school students often spend the first day in other classes reviewing rules and regulations, so they are eager for something different. Third, engagement is the key to effective classroom management. Keeping students interested and actively participating prevents 99% of behavior issues. Plus, what's more relevant to students than their own future?

Types of Activities

Having taught math, science, and special education, my first-day activities have varied by subject area. From a scientific method lab to a geometry inquiry, my content area activities always lean towards experiential learning. However, when incorporating life skills, I like to start with an assessment. Using a checklist like the one provided below, I gauge what students know, don't know, or are interested in learning. This serves as a menu to refer back to throughout the school year. Then, I introduce an interactive activity that requires student participation and ideally results in a relevant product or artifact. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Basics of Budgeting

Engage students in a hands-on budgeting activity with a sweet twist! Provide each student with a paper paycheck. For instance, if students earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, they would gross about $1,160 per month. I then typically round down to accommodate payroll taxes and to make an easily divisible number. Discuss the elements of the paycheck (date, payee, amount, signature, etc.) and how to endorse it. You may also want to introduce concepts like gross and net income or the challenges of living on minimum wage.

Next, have students "cash" their check at a rate of 1 candy per $100, using individually wrapped candy pieces for clean and safe handling (adjust based on the number of students and candy available). Once they have their "pay," guide students through a budgeting scenario. Have students fold a piece of paper into several boxes (2-8) and label each box with a budget category such as rent, transportation, utilities, cell phone, health, entertainment, food, etc. Present options for each category, such as renting a 1-bed, 1-bath apartment for $900, sharing with a roommate for $500, or two roommates for $300. Use a PowerPoint slide with images and costs to present these choices clearly, and avoid entertaining off-topic questions to maintain focus on the exercise. If, for example, a student chose to get an apartment with one roommate, they would place 5 candies (or $500) in the “rent” box on their organizer.

After students allocate their candy pay across categories, discuss remaining topics like savings, emergencies, prioritizing spending, and managing debt. This activity is rich with learning opportunities and helps students grasp the realities of budgeting. Plus, at the end, they get to enjoy their “pay”!

Driver’s Ed Preview

Driving represents the ultimate freedom for many teens. However, a majority of schools no longer offer driver’s education. You can create a driver’s ed teaser experience to get students thinking about the process of getting their license. Start with an introductory discussion about how students plan to get around—walking, biking, driving, public transit, etc. Emphasize that driving is not the only option, but everyone should consider getting their license even if they don’t plan on owning a car, as a valid state license is required for many jobs.

Next, walk students through an assortment of practice questions from the written permit or license test. (Check out your state’s DMV website for resources.) Depending on the available time, project the state DMV practice test item so all students can see it. Read the question and answer choices aloud, then have students share their guesses on individual whiteboards or using sign language to indicate their letter choice. Typically, I work through about 10 practice questions per session, and sprinkle these sessions throughout the year as warm-up or break activities.

This activity never fails to engage students as they challenge themselves and sometimes each other with driving trivia. It is accessible for students at any experience level: novices can guess since it is multiple choice, while more seasoned drivers can demonstrate their knowledge or brush up on details they may have missed. Using actual released state DMV questions adds relevancy that students appreciate!

Housing Hacks

Another popular topic among teens and young adults is living independently. Start housing activities with an open discussion about various living options, ensuring not to favor any particular choice. Students may opt to live with family, move out on their own, stay local, or even move abroad—there's no one-size-fits-all answer; the goal is to ensure they are aware of all their choices.

An easy early-school-year option is teaching students how to search for rentals. It's quick and easy to get students online, exploring houses and apartments in the local community. I find that they eagerly dive in, and soon the classroom is abuzz as students compare amenities and costs with their peers' findings. Like the budgeting activity, rental searching sparks a variety of related discussions—spinning off into budgeting, leases, personal safety, insurance, and many other relevant topics.

For a comprehensive lesson, consider Home Sweet Home: Everything You Need to Know About Housing (Renter’s Edition). This resource offers activities you can spread over weeks or months, covering budgeting, rental searching, filling out applications, recognizing scams, lease signing, and a home safety quiz. To sample this for your students, you can access the Lease Lingo activity for free.

Budgeting, driver’s ed, and housing are just a few examples of essential adulting topics. However, the array of skills to prepare students for independent living is vast—soft skills, mock interviews, resume writing, understanding credit, career interest assessments, and beyond! Select a topic that meets your students' needs and ignites your teaching passion.

Resources

In addition to the free and premium resources available through Life Beyond High School, there are numerous other valuable sources for transition activity ideas. The Department of Labor offers CareerOneStop, a comprehensive website featuring career assessments, videos, scholarships, job search planning tools, and local resources. Websites like Khan Academy provide free courses on finance, entrepreneurship, and college readiness. Fastweb and Scholarships.com are excellent for finding scholarships, while resources like My Next Move and O*NET Online offer detailed career exploration tools. For financial literacy and life skills, explore Money Smart for Young Adults and Practical Money Skills. These resources can enrich your curriculum and empower students as they navigate their path beyond high school.

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