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LIVELYHOOD Interactive Teacher Guide Episode 6: Carpool to Nirvana
Before Viewing Use these tips to prepare your students to view the program thoughtfully: 1. Read the summary of the show to familiarize yourself with its contents. 2. Ask these questions to begin a discussion of the ideal workplace, and how working conditions could change for the better in the future. • Which businesses in our area seem like great places to work? Why? • Which ones seem not to be great places to work? Why? • What would your ideal workplace be like? • How do people get to and from work in our area? What problems do they experience? 3. Inform students that as they view the program, they will visit some places that are candidates for the ideal workplace; they will also visit some that are not as pleasant but that still offer workers satisfaction. You might suggest that students keep the following questions in mind as they view the episode: • What factors seem to result in a pleasant working environment? • What factors can make a job or workplace unsatisfactory? • What could enable workers to feel satisfaction in a difficult work environment? • How can workers and management join together to make a workplace both pleasant and productive?
While Viewing “Carpool to Nirvana” presents the following segments:
Pause once or twice while viewing to have students reflect on what they’ve seen. Ask: • What kinds of work situations has the program shown so far? • What attitudes do the workers interviewed have toward these situations? • These are positive stories. What other stories might have been told about work situations? • What are some secrets to making a workplace a good place for workers? Ask whether students are confused about anything they’ve seen. Offer them the opportunity to visit the Livelyhood Website and skim the summary of “Carpool to Nirvana” after watching the program. Also encourage students to list terms they’re unfamiliar with, and look them up in the Glossary for People Who Work, or Know Someone Who Does, located in Livelyhood’s Digital Tool Kit.
After Viewing A variety of resources are available for linking the content of the show to particular curriculum areas, and helping students apply the content to real-world situations relevant to their own lives. 1. Follow-up Questions. These encourage students to analyze and think critically about the situations and issues presented in the show. You might begin by having students answer these questions: • What factors seem to result in a pleasant working environment? (Give examples from the program.) • What factors can make a job or workplace unsatisfactory? • What can enable workers to feel satisfaction in difficult work environments? • How can workers and management join together to make a workplace both pleasant and productive? Continue by asking questions that will lead students to relate the content of the program to their own lives: • Do you know anyone in this area who works in a place like one of the ones shown? Where does he or she work? In what ways are the two workplaces similar? • This show profiled a number of workplaces. Which seems closest to ideal to you? Why? • Are there any lessons to be learned from these stories? What are they? Has seeing the program changed what you will look for, when you look for work next time? Explain. To give students opportunities to explore these issues actively and creatively, assign one or more of the cross-curricular activities that follow. 2. Cross-Curricular Activities. These offer a variety of projects for individual students or small groups which extend concepts presented in “Carpool to Nirvana.” Some of these activities utilize other features of the Livelyhood Website, such as the Lively Poll and the Posting Areas. All activities are appropriate for students in grade 9–12. Some are suitable for younger students as well; others are appropriate for adult students. CAREERS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Duplicate and distribute these activities. Students may work independently or cooperatively. Share Views When you picture an ideal workplace, what do you see? Here’s your chance to articulate your vision—and find out how it matches up with those of others. • List five to ten characteristics your ideal workplace would have. • Go to Your Ideal Workplace on Lively Poll. • Enter your ideal workplace characteristics in the text box. • Check out what other viewers have written. Compare their characteristics to yours. Identify similarities and differences. • Complete the rest of the page. You might write a summary of what you learn about people’s workplace preferences and share that information with one or more employers in your area. Debate Commute Solutions How tough is the commute in your area now? How much tougher will it be when you’re ready to join it (or when you make your next job move)? Maybe it’s time to consider some solutions. • Work with a small group to brainstorm possible solutions. These might include encouraging telecommuting, creating safer bike routes, increasing government support of public transportation, or building more freeways. • Write each solution on a slip of paper and place the papers in a hat. • Choose a partner; draw a solution slip from the hat. • Prepare a five-minute argument in favor of your solution. For help finding information on transportation and commute solutions on the Internet, go to the Livelyhood website. • Take turns presenting solutions. • Afterward, vote on which solution seems most appropriate for your area. You might honor the winning pair by having them write a letter to the editor on behalf of the class arguing for the implementation of their commute solution. HEALTH Duplicate or distribute this activity. Students may work independently or cooperatively. Health Considerations The ideal workplace protects the worker’s health. Can it also contribute to the health of others in his or her family? • List the attributes of an ideal workplace. • Discuss what effect each attribute would have on the health of family members, if any. • Create a cause-effect chart to summarize your conclusions. (One item has been entered as an example.)
You might extend this activity by doing research on a local company to determine which of the ideal workplace attributes it has, and then writing a letter to an appropriate person in the form explaining how it could contribute to the health and well-being of its employees’ family members by implementing one or more workplace changes.
MATHEMATICS Duplicate and distribute these activities. Students may work independently or cooperatively. Calculate Your Commute Use your data-gathering skills to develop a composite picture of your class’s commute experiences. • Design a commute survey form, or use the Commute Survey Form provided in Lively Poll. • Distribute it to your classmates, or to people in a group of which you are a member. • Collect the results. Figure out how to use math to make each part of the data quickly understandable to an audience. For example, you might compute the average times of worst-case, typical, and best-case commutes and then compare these by creating a bar graph. You might extend this activity by polling members of other classes or groups and comparing their responses to those of your class or group. Compare Increases In the past ten years, the average pay of chief executive officers in the United States has increased by 48%. During the same period, the minimum wage that must be paid a worker has increased [TK]%, from $[TK] an hour to $[TK] an hour. Using these figures, calculate the following: • the current hourly rate of pay of a CEO who earned $40/hr. ten years ago whose rate of pay has increased at the average rate for all CEOs • the hourly rate of pay this CEO will earn ten years from now, if her or his rate increases at the same rate it did in the prior ten years • The hourly rate of pay of a minimum-wage worker ten years from now, if the minimum wage increases at the same rate it did in the prior ten years • the number of minimum wage workers who could be paid ten years from now on the salary of one CEO (Use the rates you completed above.) You might follow up this activity by debating whether any limitations should be placed on executive salaries, or whether greater increases in the minimum wage should be mandated. (Hint: These are complex issues. To do a good job debating these points, you will need to do research on several topics related to wages in the United States, including the relative importance of top management in determining the success or failure of companies.)
Commute Survey Distance (One Way) ________________________ Mode of Commuting from home to school ________________________ from school to home ________________________ Home to School Typical Time ________________________ Fastest Time ________________________ Slowest Time ________________________ School to Home Typical Time ________________________ Fastest Time ________________________ Slowest Time ________________________ |