Vocational Jobs: Job Olympics Series Part 2 – Behind the Scenes

Categories: Life Skills

Part 1 introduced the process of starting an Annual Middle School Job Olympics.  Check it out here

Once the event was approved, our team met to plan and divide responsibilities. We created a spreadsheet to keep all the details in one place for this year’s event and future Job Olympics. Tabs that were included within our spreadsheet were:

  • Timeline
  • Judges (Name and Event)
  • Events (Student Participants)
  • Event Supplies (For Each Event)
  • Set-up Day To-do Items
  • Notes for 2024-2025

Securing the location, date, and space the day before to allow time to set up the event and the day of was one of the first items to check off our list.

 

Student Selection Form

The teachers of our two specialized special education programs were sent information about Job Olympics, event judging sheets, and a Google form to complete for each student participating in Job Olympics.  The form contained the following information:

  • Student First and Last Name
  • Event Selection (each student could participate in 4 events)

Once teachers completed the form for each student, we indicated on our spreadsheet which events each participant would be participating in.

Judges

For our event to be able to run and be successful, we needed the help of our special education staff to assist in judging the events.  We created a Google form and sent it out in an email to our special education department (director, coordinators, specialists, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, assistive technology team, behavior team, etc.) to volunteer their time to judge an event.  The form consisted of the following information:

  • First and last name
  • Selecting whether they were available to judge an event

We assigned judges to events and sent an email to each judge with the scoring sheet for the event they would be judging, along with a calendar invite for the day of the Job Olympics.  Within our spreadsheet, we indicated the judge assigned to each event.

Save the Date

Advertising our event by inviting others in our district to showcase our students’ amazing skills to others in the district was another piece of our planning.  Staff members were notified of our upcoming event by sending a “Save the Date” flier through district email.

Other Items

Lastly, we divided the events amongst ourselves to gather the supplies needed for each event.  The other task items that we needed to complete before the set-up and event day included the following:

 

  • Order Medals
  • Participation Certificates
  • Signs for Each Event
  • Thank You Cards for Judges (had each participant sign)
  • Thank You Gifts for Judges
  • Material List (i.e., scissors, packing tape, colored tape, velcro tape, pencils, etc.)
  • Name tags for judges
  • A roster of students and staff attending was sent to the secretary of the building where the event was going to take place
  • Bathroom accommodations
  • Medals with a sticker of the event on the back for each event (places 1st-3rd)
  • PowerPoint with each event and the three medal winners

Check back for details on Set-Up and the Event Day!

4 Comments

  1. Ia there somewhere to buy all the products associated with this?

    Reply
  2. Hi, Is there a place to find the score sheets or what you had the judge’s rate students on at each station?

    Reply
    • Our local community college puts on a similar Job Olympics, and we were able to use the judging sheets from that event. The website is not working to access the judging sheets, but I have included an example of a judging sheet below. All of the judging sheets acknowledged the judge either with any form (basic level) or by shaking hands and using the judge’s name (higher level).

      Sorting silverware scoring sheet:

      Description: The student will sort silverware (10 forks, 10 spoons, 10 knives) within 3 minutes.

      1. Student acknowledges self to judge in any form (face, words, eye contact, etc) – student is given 5 points (yes) or 0 points (no)
      2. Student separates silverware in designated containers (take off 1 point per incorrect item, up to 5 points) – 5 (yes), 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 (no)
      3. The student did the task in under 3 minutes – 5 points (yes) or 0 points (no)
      4. Student works without prompts (take off 1 point per prompt) – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0
      5. Student acknowledges self to judge in any form (face, words, eye contact, etc.) – 5 points (yes) or 0 points (no)

      Time completed in 3 minutes or less. Entered in min:sec (EX 1:55, 2:10) _____:_____

      Judges: All 5 questions and the total time MUST be entered on the scoring sheet.

      Reply

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