10 Easy Things You Can Do To Integrate Workplace Basics (SCANS Competencies) Into Your Classroom

The following list suggests ways to incorporate SCANS skills into your daily instruction. The bold-faced type indicates the classroom strategy, and the list below indicates the SCANS skill to which it corresponds.

  1. Start each class with an agenda on the board.
    SCANS:
    • Information: organizing
    • Resources: allocating time
    • Interpersonal: negotiating
  2. Put students in teams and assign teams classroom maintenance jobs. SCANS:
    • Interpersonal: working in teams, taking individual responsibility
    • Personal Qualities: demonstrating sociability
    • Systems: developing system to improve performance
  3. Conclude every lesson by calling attention to the workplace relevance of the lesson and the classroom activities.
    SCANS:
    • Systems: monitoring performance
  4. Teach students how to organize their classroom materials.
    SCANS:
    • Interpersonal: teaching others
    • Systems: monitoring performance
  5. Monitor students’ progress with checklists and weekly tests.
    SCANS:
    • Interpersonal: organizing and maintaining information
    • Systems: monitoring/correcting performance
  6. Pay attention to classroom incidents and conflicts. Develop lessons that teach students how to deal with these issues appropriately.
    SCANS:
    • Interpersonal: working in teams, negotiating
    • Thinking skills: solving problems, making decisions
    • Personal qualities: demonstrating sociability
  7. Model appropriate workplace behavior: arrive on time, come with an organized plan, dress appropriately, and maintain a positive attitude.
    SCANS:
    • Personal qualities: taking responsibility, managing self
    • Systems: understanding systems
  8. Encourage students to use, fix, or make minor adjustments in equipment, such as hole punch, pencil sharpener, overhead projector, etc.
    SCANS:
    • Technology: maintaining and troubleshooting equipment and applying technology to task
  9. Designate student trainers, tutors, or experts who can train new students and assist classmates as needed.
    SCANS:
    • Interpersonal: teaching others
    • Systems: improving or designing systems
  10. Encourage self and peer revision whenever possible. Teach the appropriate language to make revisions.
    SCANS:
    • Systems: monitoring/correcting performance
    • Interpersonal: taking individual responsibility
    • Personal qualities: assessing/managing self

Back to Top