ACES Resources
Developing Future Pathway
Developing a future pathway builds the aptitude to more fully understand one’s own skills, interests and talents and how these are transferable to a successful career or success in one’s family or larger community.
Activities include using a variety of data and research methods to identify and choose a potential pathway, goal setting, and learning about the culture of being a professional in the United States. Teaching the skills in this category will help learners to be more self-actualized and purposeful in the choices that they make about their future.
Sample Lessons – Developing a Future Pathway (DFP)
These lessons were created using a newly designed TIF lesson plan template. They include ideas for incorporating important topics like DEI (Diversity/Equity/Inclusion) and SEL (Social Emotional Learning), as well as strategies for adapting the lessons to a variety of delivery models.
TIF-Lens Series: “Zoom In” on Developing a Future Pathway (DFP)
TIF-Lens Webinars and Workshops provide hands-on practice using the A-C-E-S process to integrate TIF (Transitions Integration Framework) skills from the targeted category.
Career Connections
This series of videos provides learners with the opportunity to hear a firsthand account of what it's like to be working in 100 different career fields. The videos could be used to embed career awareness into every day ABE and ESL lessons or to bring a particular career pathway to life for a stand-alone course.
Career Conversations from the American School Counselor Association
There are several Career Conversations toolkits, each with a specific focus. Each toolkit is organized around various mind sets and behaviors that are strikingly similar to the categories in the TIF. Learning strategies, self-management skills, and social skills (similar to effective communication) are all represented, and there are questions that align to each area. The toolkit questions are rich and engaging, and they could be used in myriad ways with adult learners.
Career Foundations Curriculum and Bridge Program Lesson Plans
The Career Foundations Curriculum, written for students who read at a 4th grade level or above, focuses on career exploration and goal setting. The Bridge Program lesson plans help students prepare for careers in healthcare, early childhood education, or transportation, delivery and logistics (TDL).
Integrating Career Awareness Curriculum Guide
This downloadable curriculum guide, including adaptable handouts, focuses on integrating career awareness skills into ABE/ESL classrooms. The curriculum is divided into four sections: The Cultural Context for Career Awareness, The Self-Exploration Process, Occupational Exploration, and Career Planning Skills.
Minnesota Career Information System (MCIS)
This Adult Education version of the Minnesota Career Information System (MCIS) provides tools and resources on a variety of skill and interest assessments, detailed information on over 500 careers, a resume creator tool, and tips for conducting a successful job search. MCIS is a very powerful and useful tool for programs doing Adult Diploma and for anyone wanting to build career awareness with adult learners.
NYSED/CUNY CareerKit Project
The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit Project is a library of hundreds of contextualized high-quality lessons that instructors can pick and choose from to suit the needs of their learners and program. The kits were developed to introduce learners to careers in ten different sectors, while also building core reading, writing, research and math skills.
Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers
The Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers website helps learners explore the field of healthcare. The website contains 175 readings, including pre-reading questions, target vocabulary, a text-dependent question set, and two prompts for writing practice.
Skills Commons
Skills Commons is a collection of Workforce Training-related open educational resources (OERs). The website is fully searchable, enabling users to look for materials by material type, institution, credential type, industry or occupation.
Work Readiness Curriculum
A curriculum designed for use with low-level adult ESL learners (CASAS range 153-210), specifically adults with interrupted formal education. It has a speaking/listening and vocabulary-building focus.