Verbs of the Workplace: Turning Classroom Learning Into Career Readiness

Teachers make hundreds of decisions about learning every week.

• What should students know?
• What standards need to be addressed?
• What activity will help students understand the content?
• How will learning be assessed?

Those questions matter. But if we want students to leave school prepared not only to graduate, but also to navigate careers, workplaces, technology, and an increasingly AI driven world, there is another question worth adding to the planning process:

How might we design this learning experience so students practice the skills they will need beyond the classroom?

That small shift can make a significant difference.

Career Readiness Is Already in the Classroom

Career readiness does not require every teacher to become a career counselor or add an entirely new curriculum.

Much of career readiness is already happening every day.

Students analyze information. They solve problems. They communicate. They collaborate. They create. They present. They evaluate evidence. They defend ideas.

These are not simply classroom activities. They are also the verbs of the workplace.

The opportunity is to become more intentional about how students experience them.

Consider a social studies learning target:

Students will analyze the causes of the American Revolution.

The content is clear. But now look at what students could be asked to do with that content:

Analyze. Debate. Defend. Collaborate. Evaluate. Present.

Those verbs change the possibilities for the lesson.

Instead of immediately asking, “What activity should I use?” an educator might ask:

• How might we have students defend a position to an audience?
• How might we require students to collaborate instead of completing the work independently?
• How might we have students evaluate conflicting sources and determine which evidence is most credible?
• How might we ask students to communicate their conclusions professionally?

The standard has not changed.

The content has not disappeared.

What has changed is the design of the learning experience.

Why “How Might We?” Matters

The phrase “How might we?” is commonly associated with design thinking because it opens possibilities rather than prescribing one solution.

That same mindset can be powerful in education.

“How might we?” invites educators to become designers of experiences rather than simply deliverers of content.

It encourages curiosity.

It creates room for innovation.

And perhaps most importantly, it helps educators think intentionally about what students are actually practicing while they learn.

There is a significant difference between knowing what collaboration means and having to collaborate with a team to solve a problem.

There is a difference between learning about communication and presenting an idea to an audience that can ask questions.

There is a difference between completing an assignment and creating something that has a purpose beyond earning a grade.

Those differences are where relevance begins.

Preparing Students for an AI Enabled World

This kind of lesson design becomes even more important as artificial intelligence changes how work gets done.

Students will absolutely need to understand how to use emerging technologies. But their future success will also depend heavily on abilities that require human judgment and interaction.

• Critical thinking.
• Discernment.
• Curiosity.
• Leadership.
• Creativity.
• Communication.
• Relationship building.

The goal should not simply be to ask, “Can AI complete this assignment?”

A more useful question may be:

What should the student still be responsible for thinking, deciding, creating, explaining, or defending?

When educators intentionally design opportunities for students to practice those abilities, classrooms become environments where students are preparing for both academic success and future work.

Help Students See the Evidence

There is one more question educators can ask that may completely change how students understand the value of their learning:

If this were a work experience, what could the student honestly say they accomplished?

Imagine a student completing a project involving historical research, teamwork, source evaluation, and a presentation.

Instead of seeing the experience only as “an American Revolution assignment,” the student might eventually be able to describe the work this way:

Collaborated with a team to evaluate multiple sources, develop an evidence based recommendation, and present findings to an audience.

That sounds different.

The learning did not change.

The student's understanding of the learning did.

When students can recognize the abilities they are developing, they begin building the language they will eventually need in résumés, portfolios, interviews, college applications, apprenticeships, and workplace conversations.

Five Questions That Can Add Career Relevance to Any Lesson

Educators do not necessarily need another complicated planning tool. They may simply need a different set of questions.

When designing learning, consider asking:

1. Know: What standards, concepts, or content do students need to understand?
2. Do: What career ready verbs will students practice?
3. Design: How might we create an authentic opportunity for students to practice those verbs?
4. Grow: What human abilities are students strengthening through the experience?
5. Evidence: What could students point to as evidence that they have practiced those abilities?

These questions can work in virtually every content area and at every grade level.

• A science teacher might ask students to analyze data and defend a recommendation.
• An English teacher might have students create messaging for a real audience.
• A math teacher might ask students to collaborate on a solution and explain the reasoning behind it.
• A music teacher might have students lead, critique, revise, and perform.
• A physical education teacher might intentionally develop communication, goal setting, teamwork, and leadership.

Career readiness does not belong in one department.

It belongs everywhere students are learning.

The Shift Is From Activities to Experiences

For years, lesson planning has often centered on an understandable question:

What activity should students do?

There is nothing wrong with that question.

But adding one more can make learning considerably more powerful:

How might we design this experience so students leave better prepared for what comes next?

That is where academic learning and career readiness begin to intersect.

And when students can see not only what they are learning, but also why it matters and how they may use it someday, relevance becomes part of the learning itself.