Job Shadowing Day
Ready to explore the practice further?
Watch the full video below!
Try It
Shadowing professionals in the workplace is the best place for students to gain hands-on understanding of potential career paths. Creating an experience like this for your students is not difficult! Shadowing Day provides the advice and road map you need to get started. Students research their career interests, map local businesses that fit their interests, conduct interviews with professionals, and arrange to shadow those professionals at their job for a few hours. Afterward, students debrief with each other to learn even more from their classmates. This is a learning experience that frequently leads to additional opportunities for the students. We call that a win!
Discuss It
- What were the biggest challenges for you and your students during the Shadowing Day project? What was most rewarding?
- Did this activity expand your students’ understanding of workplace opportunities?
- What skill sets did your students practice that will assist them in the working world?
- The educators in the video suggest that teachers try a shadowing experience themselves. Did you do this? What were your take-aways?
Go Deeper
- Job shadowing day doesn’t have to be confined to a single school or classroom. Could this become a district-wide activity? How, and why?
- How can a project like this increase equity of opportunity for students? How will you design Job Shadowing Day to ensure all students may benefit?