SMART OPTIONS by Dr. Dan Baran and Phillippa Baran
How Smarts can Lead to Career Possibilities
Smart Options is a career development program designed in 2000 and based on Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) and Thomas Armstrong’s popularization of the (same) concept. Created by Dan and Phillippa Baran for students in grades seven (7) and eight (8), the program gives young people a richer understanding of themselves and shows them how they can use that knowledge to carve out more meaningful lives and careers. Smart Options is available in English and French. It requires between four (4) and six (6) hours of classroom time, although additional time, if available, can be devoted to exercises and activities.
An adult version and an American version of Smart Options is currently (August of 2003) being developed by the authors. Smart Options is organized as four (4) Lesson Plans and includes the following four (4) components:
- A 32-page full color Student’s Resource Book
- A Facilitator's Guide
- A Poster suitable for mounting on a classroom wall
- An Introductory Video
The Student’s Resource Book contains descriptions of each of the eight (8) intelligences (smarts), checklists for understanding your own smarts, exercises that show how your smarts can be applied to career exploration, and suggestions for improving the strength of your smarts. The Facilitator's Guide provides step-by-step directions for leading students through their Resource Books, background information about intelligence and the contributions of people like Gardner and Armstrong, and a brief bibliography. The Poster summarizes the eight types of smarts (People, Self, Logic, Word, Nature, Body, Image, and Music) as well as a sample of occupations requiring particular strength in these smarts.
The complete package is available through the National Life / Work Centre, 488 Central Street, Memramcook, New Brunswick, Canada E4K 3S6, and can be ordered by calling 1-888-533-5683. Their email address is lifework@nbret.nb.ca
The web site address for Smart Options is: http://www.lifework.ca/pr_smart.html
Send comments about this MI application package to Clifford Morris Last updated on Monday, 25 September 2006