Transition through Discovery Stage I - Career Awareness - Documentation of Interests and Employment Skills

Sep 22, 2026

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Transition through Discovery Stage I: Career Awareness guides students toward meaningful career exploration by strengthening self-awareness—linking interests, strengths, and confidence to aligned career options. It defines the Discovery Process as an authentic assessment using interviews, work-based assessment, and observations across school, community, and home to identify skills, accommodation needs, and skill gaps. The Life Book supports ongoing documentation, while resources and trainings outline implementation, curriculum integration, and real-world employment skill development.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time1 min

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Transition through Discovery Stage I: Career Awareness

Discovery Process

Trainings

Documentation of Interests and Employment Skills

Real World Application

Connection and Collaboration with Outside Agencies

Transition through Discovery Stage I: Career Awareness Helping students identify their interests and recognize their strengths is a powerful first step in guiding them toward meaningful career paths. By fostering self-awareness, students can begin to see the connection between what they enjoy, what they’re good at, and the wide range of careers available to them. Introducing aligned career options at this stage encourages curiosity, builds confidence, and lays the groundwork for informed exploration and future planning. Discovery Process Discovery is a process that helps teams get to know their students with complex needs and understand their interests, skills, accommodation requirements, and the skill gaps they have, as they support them in successful postsecondary transition. The Discovery Process is also an authentic assessment that identifies the strengths ofthe student as a foundation for postsecondary employment. Structured student and family interviews, work-based assessment, and observation in the school, community, and home are used to collect information. Information gathered can help develop meaningful IEP goals and guide programming decisions. The learning activities can easily align with the Extended Wyoming Content and Performance Standards. Examples of lesson plans that align with the extended standards are included in this resource tool, and there is a template that can help teachers develop their own career awareness standards-focused lessons. The infusion of the Discovery Process into learning activities does not greatly increase the daily workload of the teacher, but rather helps to add meaning and purpose to those benchmarks and standards that the teacher is working on with the student. It serves to increase expectations and improve long-term outcomes. Beginning with the development of the Life Book at Stage I, information is added to and updated in an on-going process. When the student enters the middle grades, the Life Book transitions to the Career Portfolio throughout Stage II and is further developed during Stage III. It provides a living document to capture the strengths and capabilities of who this student is while focusing on the long-range goal of post-secondary transition into meaningful lifelong success. For more detailed information, see the Introduction to Discovery webinar below. Trainings • Introduction to Discovery. Stage I: Career Awareness | 1 Documentation of Interestsand Employment Skills | For elementary school students, a Life Book is developed as a way to document the interests and skills of the student at home and school. Detailed information on the structure of a Life Book and how to create one can be found in the Trainings/Webinars section below.
Trainings
• Stage 1: Life Books.
Resources
• Life Book Template.
• Career Plan Template: Part I.
• Terms and Definitions.
• Expectations for Employment.
• 14 National Career Clusters.
• Model Release-Because photos of the student are used in the Life Book and Career Portfolio, permission should be obtained from the parents. Please use your district-approved required photo/video release(s).
Implementation Plan | | --- | | As a team focuses on implementing Discovery atthe elementary school level, their focus will be on identifying interests and skills, creating opportunities for the student to explore their community, and developing jobs at home and school.
Trainings
• Stage 1: Career Awareness.
Resources
• The Ultimate List of Age-Appropriate Chores for Children and Teens.
• Family Guide.
Instruction and Supports for Vocational Activities | At this stage, teams should be aware of predictors of employment success. Meaningful person-centered planning focused on employment should contain: • Inclusion in the general education classroom and instruction aligned with grade-level standards. • High parental expectations. • Skill development related to self-determin

FAQs

What is the purpose of Stage I Career Awareness?

Stage I helps students identify interests and strengths so they can connect what they enjoy and are good at with career options. It builds curiosity and confidence while laying groundwork for informed exploration and future planning.

How does the Discovery Process collect student information?

It uses structured student and family interviews, work-based assessment, and observation in school, community, and home. The gathered information supports strengths identification and can guide IEP goals and programming decisions.

What is the Life Book, and how is it used during the stages?

At Stage I, teams develop a Life Book to document interests and skills at home and school. Information is added and updated on an ongoing basis, then the Life Book transitions into a Career Portfolio during Stage II and is further developed in Stage III.

Sep 22, 2026

Upload by Bulrr