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And the Winner Is . . .

Having ideas is something I rarely struggle with.  Being able to decide which ones to follow through on is more difficult, and actually following through even more difficult than that.  In deciding which one to pursue during this course there were three finalists:
  1. Spelling Patterns.  At present it seems like our attempt to teach spelling (at least in English) is to explain to students that they simply need to memorize all the words they'd ever like to be able to spell.  Which is not daunting at all.  What if instead we taught them how to figure out word spellings?
  2. Mapping CMS.  To my knowledge there's not a Content Management System in existence that works as a map (content nodes that connect to other nodes).  And, I'm lucky enough to have access to the code for one.  What if students could teach each other by creating their own content?
  3. Career Exploration Services.  Career exploration is one of those things that seems to be increasingly lost in the shuffle in high schools, partly because it's really nobody's job.  However, it may be one of the most important things we can do for students.  What if we gave students not only wings to fly but a direction in which to do so?
And the winner is . . . career exploration services!  I may and hope to tackle the other two at some point, but this one seems best suited to this course.

Even more importantly, I truly believe creating an organization that provides career exploration services to high school students could be a life-changing experience for many.  It's staggering to imagine how much time, money, and effort I personally could have saved had I had access to such services.  It's also fascinating to imagine how the world could be better if more people were able to find a satisfying career path early on in life.

Wish me luck!

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