Resources for Job Seeking Students

Highly, Highly Recommend

Email account >Learn the Terms Login Username Password
Cell / home phone number>Use your cell phone to practice interviews
A jump/ flash drive >Keep copies of resume in your email and on your person.

English for Work Interactive
Functional Work English instructor Bethany Gustafson combined video field trips and flash interactive activities to create a videos that allows students to not only experience job skills but targeted vocabulary as well. Jobs include housekeeping, dishwasher and laundry worker. The videos are now available for download and on-demand streaming from Minneapolis Adult Basic Education at http://abe.mpls.k12.mn.us/
 Choose Online Activity List>> English for Work Interactive

O*NET Online
While not a job posting site, O*NET OnLine was created for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration, by the National Center for O*NET Development and has detailed descriptions of the world of work for use by job seekers. The site also tags jobs as to a bright outlook or a green job. http://online.onetcenter.org/

Forms Practice
In this day and age more and more businesses only accept online applications. Filling out these forms is a skill that can seem overwhelming, this website allows you to practice filling out forms from simple to complete job applications. http://forms.themlc.org/

Build a Resume
Do your students need to write resumes, but struggle with formatting issues and making their work look professional? Check out www.resumebaking.com for an alternative to laborious word processing! This free online application allows you to enter the necessary information into its online form, and then use templates to construct a professional-looking resume that you can download and print or send by email directly from the website. http://www.resumebaking.com/

Interview Skills
Help your students sharpen their interview skills with The Do’s and Don’ts of Interviewing for a Job. Ric Dwyer worked with a local temp agency to create a DVD good and bad interviews examples. The website is a follow up to the DVD. http://www.ricdwyer.com/ABE/index.html

To request a copy of the DVD contact jbrazier@mnliteracy.org

Iseek
Minnesota’s career, education, and job resource http://www.iseek.org/

Minnesota Works
https://www.minnesotaworks.net/

Links from Fall Kick-off Tutoring Event : Great Websites

Great Websites for Learning and Life

http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
Allows you to download Jing which lets you do screen captures of graphics and videos. It is FREE and extremely easy to use.

http://www.scribblar.com/
This website allows for simple, free online collaboration.
http://www.freerice.com/
Playing this vocabulary game not only increases your knowledge but also donates 10 grains of rice for each correct answer. Get smarter and feed the world at the same time.

http://visual.merriamwebster.com/
A great visual dictionary with lots of diagrams and views. Very helpful !

http://www.visuwords.com/
Enter a word and it becomes a universe. The colors correspond to related words and definitions. Click on an orbiting sphere and it expands as well.

http://inpics.net/
easy-to-follow pictorial lessons on using various versions of Word, Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Open Office and more

Mac Users find help here: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/

http://www.literacyactionnetwork.org/2011_Presentation_Handouts.html
Check out over 50 handouts from the Statewide ABE Conference

http://10minutemail.com/
Create a temporary email account for those times you need to click something to confirm your email but don’t want the baggage that comes with it.

http://maps.google.com/ and http://earth.google.com/
Use the satellite images to learn about the world around you.

http://lifehacker.com/ Cool, interesting and helpful tips on how to make your life better.

Minnesota Literacy Council Website Resources
http://www.themlc.org/techgrants
http://www.themlc.org/library.html
http://www.themlc.org/edweb.html
http://www.themlc.org/techtrainings


http://www.mnpanda.org/ Minnesota ABE Disability Specialsits

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/  Award Winning Daily Posts of websites specifically for Teaching ESL/EFL& ELL

Literacy and Technology in Minnesota http://literacytechmn.blogspot.com/


Volunteer Match http://www.volunteermatch.org/ With this site, organizations can find a great volunteer, or volunteers can find a great organization. Search results can be narrowed to as close as five miles from home or expanded to encompass the volunteer’s state. Opportunities to volunteer include arts and culture, education, homelessness, immigration and many others.

Dropbox Pro for Life Contest

App Sumo ( a daily geek deals website ) is holding a contest to give away ten 50GB Lifetime Dropbox accounts.

If you are already a fan you know how useful Dropbox can be and a Free , Lifetime, Pro account would be awesome !

If you are not familar with Dropbox, it is a handy software program that allows you to store and share data across multiple computers. I use the free version but the Pro version is much larger and normally runs $99 a year.

To enter simply go the the link below and enter your email address.

(Yes, I  do assume this will mean they will send me their newsletter or some other promotional email at some point)

Link: http://appsumo.com/dropbox/

Best of Luck ! Hope you are one of the other 9 winners!

3 Sorts to Lighten Your Email Load

1. Sort by Size, find the biggest email and you will usually discover photos or powerpoint presentations. If you dont need them, ditch them. If you really want to keep them, save them in Dropbox, on a jumpdrive or even on your hard drive. 

Messages sent via email do not need to stay in email.

2. Sort by Date. List your emails from oldest to newest and you will discover that you really do have emails from 2007. Delete the relics. Most people can get by with stuff no older than 6 months.

3. Sort by Sender. I get tons of newsletters that seem like a good thing to read later and they hide amoung the emails I really need. Sorting by sender lets you rid yourself of hidden non-treasures. This sort is also a good way to rediscover those emails from past fellow employees letting you know what their new email address is. Read it, add their info to your contacts, delete the email.

Geek Secret

Many email programs allow to to see how many total (not just new) emails  you have in your Inbox and other email folders. In MS Office you can right click on an email folder > Choose Properties> Check the box for Show Total Number of Items.

  

Fall Tutoring Kickoff

Join other tutors and get some fresh ideas for spring!

This mini-conference will feature a variety of 50-minute

sessions designed to give you practical activities and ideas.

There is no charge for the training.

Saturday, October 15, -- 8:30 am - 1:00 pm

http://www.themlc.org/STR.html

O' Brother Why Art Thou Not Printing ?

While I am someone who lives in the digital age , I still love  paper and loving paper means loving my printer; even when it doesn't love me back.

Often times when we get a printing error, we try things like looking for a paper jam or turning it off and then back on. Both are valid  trouble shooting steps but don't forget to actually look to the printer for help. We currently have a number of Brother printers within our organizaiton and they have stood the test of time very well, but when they don't the first thing I do is look for the flashing led lights  to determine what the problem is. 

Sometimes it is something simple like low toner cartridge.

Other times the problem may be indicated my multiple blinking lights. Either way, the Brother Solution Center has very nice trouble shooting instructions complete with blinking lights to mimic what you might see on your printer.

There are dozens of printer brands out there so if a Brother is not what you have, check your printer manufactor's website for helpful troubleshooting tips.

Epson Support
Lexmark Support
Dell Printer Support


  Now if  I could only fix the jam in my stapler....

50+ Summer Institute 2011 Handouts Available

Once again Summer Institute was a great way for me to network and recharge my training batteries. I presented a session called "Cell Phones in the Classroom" and enjoyed every minute of it. The attendees were eager to participate in activities and engaged in lively and informative debate.

A copy of my presentation handout and the handouts of many of the presenters can be found on the Literacy Action Network's website.

Enjoy!