Self-Discovery

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Self-Discovery webpage banner includes four interlocking circles including the steps in self-discovery. First is self-discovery asking who am I? Second is career exploration asking what do I want to be? Third is success planning asking how will I get there? And fourth is post-secondary preparation asking will I be successful?

Self-Discovery

The Self-Discovery process includes:

  • Increased self-awareness
  • Identifying skills, interests, and values to further explore best-fit careers
  • Encourage the reflection of interested academics, extra-curricular activities and opportunity for career experiences/exposure

School counselors and educators deliver career curriculum yearly through grade-level self-discovery enrichment activities. PWCS students use VA Wizard and Naviance as the analytical tools, usually referred to as "inventories," to assist in this process.

Elementary Years

In addition to self-discovery activities through VA Wizard, elementary school students begin personalized exploration and project-based artifact creation . Students engage in this platform by exploring recorded videos and student self-reflection enrichment activities. Activities include the creation of word clouds and self-discovery inventories on interests, values, and skills.

Students access VA Wizard utilizing their PWCS Office 365 login through the Clever app. Families are encouraged to log in with their student for further reflection.

 

Virginia Education Wizard logo

"With over 100 career exploration tools and activities, the Wizard meets students where they are by giving them age-appropriate, VDOE approved opportunities to explore the world of careers."

~ VA Wizard ~

 

Middle & High School Years

Students access VA Wizard utilizing their PWCS Office 365 login through the Clever app. Families are encouraged to log in with their student for further reflection. In middle and high school, students utilize Naviance to build upon those concepts to learn more about themselves and further develop their evolving post-secondary goals with intrinsic self-reflection. The career exploration activities and self-discovery inventory assessments provide students with personalized feedback for reflection. Students can retake any inventory assessment as they continue to grow. The only exception is the Strength Explorer, which is completed in eighth grade.

 

Naviance Logo

""Self-awareness is one of the key themes within the Naviance College Career and Life Readiness Framework. These assessments are designed to aid students in identifying and understanding their own strengths, interests, skills, and challenges. Your child has used this knowledge to create goals, make future plans, and develop perseverance strategies for lifelong success."

~ Naviance ~

 

Naviance Self-Discovery Assessments

This personalized self-discovery data builds with the student to formulate their personalized academic & career plan (ACP), updated yearly in grades 6-12.. The student's Naviance account is accessible while enrolled in any PWCS school. The ACP is compiled within Naviance as the "Student Readiness Report, " and is updated as a PDF at the end of the year. This PDF can be found under the "About Me" tab within Naviance.

The Naviance platform translates into 75 native languages. To translate within Naviance after logging in through Clever, click the globe icon in the top right navigation menu, then select from over 75 languages. 

Reminders on how to access Naviance, please follow this link. Parents/guardians are encouraged to login with their child so that together they can explore and strengthen the student's plan.

Families are encouraged to log in to Naviance with their student to explore and strengthen the student's plan together.

Screenshot of the Naviance screen with a red arrow pointing to the self-discovery tab in the top drop-down menu

AchieveWorks Intelligences®

AchieveWorks Intelligences® is embedded in the sixth grade counseling curriculum. This tool helps students uncover their different intelligences and learn how to leverage them. In the results, students discover how to deal with information, solve problems, and create things, as well as learn how to use their strengths in school, work, and other activities.

Career Cluster Finder®

The Career Cluster Finder® is embedded in the seventh grade counseling curriculum. This tool helps students indicate activities and school subjects that they like or dislike and personal qualities they possess. In the results, students learn how well each of the 16 National Career Clusters fits their current interest and qualities.

StrengthsExplorer®

StrengthsExplorer® is embedded in the eighth grade counseling curriculum. This tool help students uncover their talents and reveals their potential strengths. This is the only assessment tool that can only be taken once. Assessment results provide explanations of students' top three themes, strategies on how to capitalize on their success, and a list of action items so students can continue building on their strengths. Results also include a list of best fit career pathways.

AchieveWorks Learning and Productivity®

AchieveWorks Learning and Productivity® is embedded in the ninth grade counseling curriculum. This tool helps students identify their sensory and mindset preferences to help them develop study practices. Students will find out how they learn the best and how they can be most productive. The results include tips for making studying easier and more effective and strategies for how students can be more comfortable and successful in class.

Career Interest Profiler®

The Career Interest Profiler® is embedded in the tenth grade counseling curriculum. This tool captures students' interests to help identify their personality traits and suggests careers based on the U.S. Department of Labor's data. The results include students' personality traits according to the Holland Code and information about how their personality traits will help with career exploration and planning. Students also see career recommendations based on their personality traits.

AchieveWorks Personality®

AchieveWorks Personality® is embedded in the eleventh grade counseling curriculum. This tool helps students identify their personality type by asking them to choose scenarios that best represent how they behave in real life. Results include students' personality type and provide tips to achieve success, as well as best-fit career options.

AchieveWorks Skills®

AchieveWorks Skills® helps students identify and develop their skills and connects their skills to careers that might be of interest. The results include the student's current skill profile and recommendations for developing those skills.

Career Key®

The Career Key® helps students identify their traits, best-match work environments, and related careers by asking questions about their interests. Student assessment results include an explanation of their personality traits according to the Holland Code and information on how those traits help with career exploration and planning.