"The emphasis in the 8th grade is not that you need to choose a career, but that you need to think about what's out there and where you want to be," says Mary Turella, English and communications teacher at North Royalton Middle School in Ohio. To get that process going among her 8th graders, Turella and two other teachers used Career Choices to come up with quite an ambitious plan.

When working with Chapter 11 of Career Choices, for instance, students were required to conduct an informational interview (p. 255) with someone working in a field of interest to them. The prospect caused some anxiety ("What will I say?"), but Turella and her team walked the class through it by providing work sheets with suggested questions for guidance. Those who came up with additional questions on their own earned extra credit.

Excitement reigned as students came back with success stories. Many were thrilled and surprised by the time and attention the adults so willingly provided-several invited their young admirers to spend a day on the job with them, while others offered to speak to the class. "Several of the girls, particularly, were interested in veterinary medicine and were invited to spend part of their summer working in the hospital," she reports.

Parents also got into the act-very enthusiastically. A number of them made presentations to the class, often bringing along handouts, tapes, slides, and a variety of audio-visual aids. It was great for the students to see how much their parents cared about them and about their own jobs. "They wouldn't say too much when their own parent was in the room," Turella reports, "but they'd be grinning from ear to ear."