Throughout the semester, I have been preparing my students in the Practical Composition 8 course for education beyond high school and also preparing those who are planning to go directly into the workforce.

    One of the aspects of Practical Composition 8 is to teach students how to apply their writing skills to the "real world".  Part of the curriculum was learning about using communication skills for surviving in daily living.  Students would learn to integrate skills of written communication with those of reading, grammar and spelling in order to increase their competency within the realm of writing. This also included the following: how to fill out detailed applications, how to conduct themselves during an interview, researching and applying for colleges, applying for scholarships, researching future careers, and much more.

    During the final grading period, I arranged to have interviewers from 2 companies (Manpower and the Radisson) to visit East Chicago Central for 2 days to conduct mock interviews.  My seniors and the seniors in a colleague’s classes were part of this project that I put together.  Students were able to apply their skills to research careers they were interested in, create resumes, and fill out an application.  This was done in advance so that students would be prepared for the 2 days of interviews.

    My colleague Pete Bakas and I felt that the project was a success.  Ms. Davis and Mrs. Pagan, the interviewers, were very impressed with how the students handled themselves.  Many students were extremely nervous, but they handled themselves very professionally.  In fact, a couple students were urged to go in for an actual interview with the 2 companies because they did so well.  One student took her resume and went in for an interview at a hospital and was hired on the spot.  She was told that she had impressed the interviewer with her resume and how she handled herself during the interview.  It was definitely a success in my opinion.