How It Works

Real Times, Real Life is designed as a journey. Each session represents a step of the journey, and each subsequent step builds on the previous one. The journey is divided into three units: The Changing World of Work; Exploring Modern Times; Discovery: Real Times, Real Life. Some sessions are followed by optional activities and discussion segments.

UNIT ONE
THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORK

There are two core sessions in this unit, which together take about five hours. Participants first receive an introduction and orientation to Real Times, Real Life and they explore the changing world of work. They watch an engaging video (such as Roger and Me, October Sky or Country), and they find parallels between what they see in the video and what they experience in their own life and communities. Through group work, participants embark on a simulated journey through the 20th century during which they take on three separate life/work roles covering the periods 1900-1930, 1930-1950 and 1950-2000. They experience, in a personal, realistic, yet enjoyable way, how evolving technology has changed work roles throughout the century. They lose jobs (such as Telegraph Operator, Miner, Store Clerk) and must apply job search techniques to find and secure new and more interesting ones, always focusing on their transferable skills as the keys to converting adversity to opportunity. They acquire new life/work skills and recognize the value of the skills they already possess. They learn that change is not a phenomenon of the 1990s. Rather, it has directly impacted their parents and grandparents. Moreover, they learn that real opportunities and better days await those who bravely seek to create new niches in the future rather than clinging to the past.

UNIT TWO
EXPLORING MODERN TIMES

There are six core sessions in this unit, which together take about eight hours. Through a series of engaging and stimulating individual and group activities in this unit, participants gradually assume individual life/work roles and experience realities of contemporary working life. Using a range of learning styles and techniques, they explore and experience the relationship between work, education, income, lifestyle, relationships and leisure, gender roles, and job loss and acquisition. They take on jobs, budget time and money to establish lifestyles, balance work and leisure, deal with chance events, decide what they like and don't like about their life/work roles, cope with job loss and secure new work, make budget adjustments and learn about new, non-traditional work patterns. They do all of this in an interactive, experiential manner in which the processes of problem-solving and decision-making (both individual and group) are continuously called upon as key tools in dealing with the complexities of daily life. The results of each participant's choices are reflected on the Activity Charts, a visual display element of Real Times, Real Life that chronicles each participant's journey through the program. These charts are attached to the walls for the purposes of networking, group sharing and discussion, and they help create a simulated community that is the backdrop for participants' life/work exploration. A key to the effectiveness of this unit is that participants are playing interesting and challenging, yet comfortable and safe roles. Their own personal life and egos are not "on the line." In their assumed roles, they willingly share with other participants thoughts and feelings about sensitive issues they may be reluctant to discuss with their spouses, families or even close friends. Thus, accelerated learning occurs in a positive, adventurous and uninhibited environment.

UNIT THREE
DISCOVERY: REAL TIMES, REAL LIFE

Unit Three has nine core sessions that together last about eleven hours. The role-playing aspect of the game ends with Unit Two. From this point on, participants translate what they have experienced in Units One and Two, through a series of personal exploration exercises, into a realistic, achievable action plan. They articulate what they liked and disliked about their fictional work environments and roles through a series of career exploration tools and self-assessment exercises, computer- and Internet-based career exploration programs, guest speakers, a learning styles survey, etc. Participants decide on realistic life/work goals for the immediate future and assess their personal assets in terms of education, experience, skills and personal support. They use their Life/Work Action Planner and completed worksheets from Units One, Two and Three to help them identify what they need to accomplish their goals and plan a course of action. The completed Life/Work Action Planner and the support handouts from all units go into their Real Times, Real Life Portfolio. With a commitment to follow-up penciled into their action plans, participants are ready to take their first steps in building the rest of their life.