It's coming up to that time of year where your students might be looking at getting work experience, or even looking for real jobs! Either way, they need to ensure their resume/CV (depending on where you are in the world!) is up to date and they have the skills needed to be the best person for the job.

We know competition out there is rife. Students tend to swan about taking everything in their stride assuming that it will all work out in the end, but we know it's not always that easy in the 'Real World'. We need to teach our students that they must be fully equipped with the skills needed to stand out and be the best version of themselves that they can be!

So, here are my top tips to help your students brush up on their skills!
1) Encourage your students to reflect on all the skills that they think employers are looking for. (It is quite an extensive list when you do your research...! Fortunately, I've included loads of them in the resource below to save you lots of time!)
2) Reflect on which of these skills they are already demonstrating and evidence where.
3) Encourage students to think about what skills their chosen career path expects of them.
4) Reflect on which of these skills they currently possess, which they need to brush up on and how they can go about doing that.

The sooner this is done the better, as it will give your students a chance to sharpen any skills where they are lacking while they are still young! For example, if a student's attendance has been an issue recently but they don't see the problem with the odd days off (that mount up!), perhaps this might be the jolt the student needs to realize that actually, that skill is vital to future employers!

If you want an easy to follow PowerPoint presentation with worksheets that correlate perfectly to guide them through identifying and building on their skills, then you should definitely have a look at this resource! (Titled with current teen lingo: "Those skills though!". As I always say, it's important to use resources current to our students' world to keep them enthused and relevant!).

My students gained a great deal from this resource and they found writing their resumes a piece of cake as they were able to easily identify skills they have and evidence them with ease thanks to the written activities. They also obtained a wide variety of skills and vocabulary in their resumes which helps them stand out from the crowd!

Ever been curious about the story behind my name and logo? Today I am linking up with Art with Jenny K. to share my story! 

First of all, I'll explain how my name, "Teachers Resource Force" came about. When I first opened my TpT Store, I wanted to keep it quite flexible and not limit it to subject or grades; I wanted to create a variety of different teaching resources.

I was happy with the "Teachers Resource" bit so I searched for something to rhyme with "resource" that sounded catchy. Once I found "force", I was immediately drawn to as it sounded kind of superhero like to me! Think: 
"Teachers Resource Force to the Rescue" and 
"May the Resource Force be With You"!

Once I had the name, I was ready to work on a logo. Unfortunately, that didn't come as easily and I went through a couple of other very bad designs first...:

I find it hilarious how these are so different and there's no obvious progression between them, is there?! I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted then, but I knew I liked the purple and black theme.

My final design developed once I started making teen clip art in my store. I decided to make my logo reflect the secondary market I teach by using some of my own clip art. I selected images from the following sets:

As I said earlier, I thought 'Teachers Resource Force' sounded quite superhero like, and so it was the teen superhero clip art above that kicked off the new logo as we know it. I liked both the brunette girls as they look the most like me - I ended up going with the pink one as she fit in a circle the best and I really liked the pink and purple together. [NB I have since removed the pink girl from that set and lowered the price, for branding reasons!]. 

The addition of the notebook came soon after, as I wanted to indicate that I create both clip art and teaching resources somewhere on the logo. The open book fit in perfectly, and with the text on top I think everything eventually tied in together well.

Finally, I put a white glow around all the images and text to make everything pop. 

Firstly, you want to start by designing your classroom layout. You can do this the 'old school' way by hand if you want, nothing wrong with that. I do that sometimes when I make a decision in the lesson that something isn't working in the current plan and I need to sketch some ideas. Your other option is to use a computer program. Simply use the shapes and text box tools to design your desk layout and then you can reuse it as many times as you like. I have to teach about 10 different classes during the week, so for me I have a digital version of my plans so I can duplicate and edit with ease. [There is another benefit to computer processing which I will explain later on in this article.]

Next, you will want to decide how you want to arrange your students. Some options you might want to consider, are:

• Friendship groups - are there friendship groups in your class who you think would benefit from being separated from one another? Perhaps those girls who huddle together and giggle behind that boy with the Bieber hair, might benefit from being moved away from the distraction...
  
  
• Behaviour - are there students who need to be kept apart as a behaviour management strategy? Perhaps Amy has been picking on Lauren recently and they need to be separated, or maybe Dave can't stop talking to people at inappropriate times and would benefit from being seated away from everyone else.

Once you have decided on your main focus strategy, start putting the most high profile students on the plan first then work your way down your register. The beauty of doing your plan on a computer programme, is that you can edit and move text boxes around with ease, which is very handy as you try and get the ideal arrangement!

Once you have your students where you want them, the last thing you might want to try, is adding a code to your seating plan. You can use this to identify each individual's needs and ability. See example below:

If you would like a ready made seating plan template with bright visuals and clip art, you can download one here:

You could have the code separate to your seating plan so if the students sneak a peak they won't see the details. You could also use different symbols or letter codes for each Educational Need relevant to your class.

So there you have it, how to create an effective seating plan for your classroom! What ways do you arrange your students? If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below!