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Category: Customer Stories

  • Only Two Weeks Left to Submit to Rubin’s “Great Intern” Contest

    Only Two Weeks Left to Submit to Rubin’s “Great Intern” Contest

    With two weeks remaining in the first-ever America’s Next Great Intern contest, the Rubin team continues to review stellar submissions from CTE students around the country.

    Now through March 3, 2023, students are encouraged to showcase their employability skills in the fun, free competition.

    Educators can register their class or school here. A panel of judges (Rubin team members, industry professionals and staff from the Association for Career and Technical Education) will assess the students across five areas.

    1. Greeting: Video recording of the student engaging in a professional handshake
    2. Phone Skills: Video recording of the student leaving a mock voicemail and answering the phone at a place of business
    3. Team Communication: Email in which the student updates a teacher or employer on the status of classwork or a project at an internship/job
    4. Resiliency & Determination: Written example of a time in which the student demonstrated resiliency in the face of a challenge on a class/club project, volunteer opportunity or task at an internship
    5. Research & Critical Thinking: Questions the student prepares to better explore a company where the student would like to intern

    The instructions are drawn from Rubin’s Emerge curriculum, a broad library of online exercises for employability skills like email/phone etiquette, job interview prep, LinkedIn communication and more. Rubin provides Emerge to CTE programs nationwide.

    Questions! Email support@rubineducation.com

    The clock is ticking — submit today!

    Clock is ticking!

  • Rubin Adds New Ethics Unit to Emerge Curriculum

    Rubin Adds New Ethics Unit to Emerge Curriculum

    In fall 2022, the Rubin team developed a new series focused on ethical discussions as they relate to employability skills.

    As the leader in online resources for employability and work readiness, we built an 11-part series that challenges students to think, “What would I do?” across several real-world scenarios.

    Alexis Kruemcke, an implementation specialist at Rubin and former classroom teacher, led the project.

    All eleven ethical scenarios are now inside our Emerge curriculum, a robust library of activities, videos, readings and assessments for employability skills.

    The ethical scenarios align with existing units in Emerge and are as follows:

    • Email etiquette
    • Phone and video etiquette
    • Networking
    • “Storytelling” cover letters
    • Internships
    • Job interviews
    • Resumes
    • Student leadership
    • Report writing
    • Writing to clients
    • LinkedIn outreach

    See a sample ethical discussion below. Want to view all 11 scenarios and our full Emerge library of 200+ instructional items?

    Request a 30-day free trial today, and our team will be in touch to set up the trial!

    Ethical discussion for resumes: What would you do?

     

    Scenario:

    Over the summer, you were an intern at an environmental non-profit. One of the main projects was a river clean-up outside of the city. Your supervisor was the project manager, but he put you in charge of most aspects of the project.

    Your tasks included:

    • Create a schedule for the clean-up process
    • Assign roles for the project
    • Coordinate with city officials
    • Obtain and manage supplies

    On your resume, you decide to list yourself as the project manager even though the title is technically your supervisor’s role. However, you did most of the work and feel “project manager” title is more appropriate than “intern.”

    Discuss the scenario with your classmates and answer the following question:

    Is it fair and truthful to say you were the project manager because your supervisor put you in charge of the project? Why or why not?

    What would you do?

  • Remote Community in Alaska Teaches Rubin Lessons in One-Room School

    Remote Community in Alaska Teaches Rubin Lessons in One-Room School

    Megan Gatlin is a principal teacher.

    That’s right. She’s the principal. And the teacher.

    The onlyteacher.

    In False Pass, a town of 40 people in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska (200 total during the “busy” summer season), Gatlin has only nine students between grades 1 and 11. Everyone learns in the same room, and most of the students are cousins to each other. Many people in False Pass work in the fishing industry or at the local grocery.

    Originally from Utah, Gatlin and her husband moved to False Pass two years ago to live closer to nature and enjoy the strikingly beautiful terrain.

    At False Pass School, Gatlin teaches, well, everything. Subjects include chemistry, algebra II, language arts, food science, healthy living and whatever else the students would like to explore.

    And in the 2022-2023 academic year, Gatlin will share lessons from our Emerge curriculum for college and career opportunities like how to shake hands, write an email, hold a networking conversation and more.

    “My students may only leave False Pass a couple of times a year and many have never stepped foot out of Alaska,” Gatlin said. “The Rubin lessons will give them real-world practice on how to talk to new people and explore their own talents and interests.”

    Emerge is trusted by middle school, high school and college educators nationwide. The program is a blend of ebooks, self-paced assignments, videos and quizzes that give students age-appropriate instruction on how to write, speak and lead with confidence.

    Instructors and students can log onto a password-protected website or access the career readiness material through single sign-on on any device. Emerge integrates and syncs grades with common LMS like Canvas, Blackboard, D2L, Moodle, Sakai and Schoology. We also provide single sign-on with Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams.

    Rubin works with large school divisions like Philadelphia and Las Vegas, but we also take pride in delivering lessons to rural or remote communities.

    Everyone deserves the chance to learn important college and career (employability or work readiness) skills, from the bustling avenues of South Street Philly to the rambling roads of False Pass, a city just two miles wide nestled between the Pacific Ocean and Bering Strait.

    Thank you, Principal Teacher Gatlin, for the important work you do.

    9 students between grades 1 and 11

  • Rubin Leads Half-Day Training for Largest School System in North Carolina

    Rubin Leads Half-Day Training for Largest School System in North Carolina

    Usually we train teachers on the Rubin “Emerge” curriculum (email/phone etiquette) through Zoom. The goal is to provide high-quality materials for college and career readiness.

    But on Friday, August 19th we had the opportunity to lead a career and technical education (CTE) group in person.

    Three members of the Rubin team (Founder Danny Rubin and Implementation Specialists Mac Walsh and Alexis Kruemcke) drove from Va Beach, our headquarters, to Raleigh, the largest school system in North Carolina (also know as Wake County), to work with the career development coordinators in each of the city’s high schools.

    During the three-hour training, we guided the group through Rubin resources, which integrate to Canvas for single sign-on, and had everyone develop a lesson plan for implementation at the start of the year. We also sent people back to their classrooms with motivational posters.

    “The Rubin training was one of the best professional development sessions I have ever been a part of,” said Wake County Career Development Coordinator Carla Thomas. “I can’t wait to use it personally, as well as in the classroom.”

    On that note, let the new year begin!

    raleigh cte teachers

    All smiles after our three-hour, in-person training!

     

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    Rubin Implementation Specialist Mac Walsh works with a teacher who added Emerge curriculum items to her Canvas course.

     

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    A fresh poster for the wall!

     

     

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    At Rubin, we believe when you write well, you open doors. This teacher’s students will soon understand that lesson.

     

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    We preach the value of showing people you care through active listening and follow-up questions.

     

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    Another Rubin ambassador!

     

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    Rubin Founder Danny Rubin stands with (from left to right) Wake County School-to-Career Specialists Gail McDougal and Rosalynn Tennie as well as Wake County CTE Director Jo Honeycutt.

    Newfound fans in the state capital of Raleigh.

  • Rubin Goes Overseas, Partners with Business School in Vietnam

    Rubin Goes Overseas, Partners with Business School in Vietnam

    Rubin has gone international through the company’s latest partnership with a top business school in Southeast Asia.

    Starting in fall 2022, Rubin will provide its curriculum tools for business communication to VinUniversity, a private college in Hanoi, Vietnam.

    Led by the dean of the business school, Dr. Sunmee Choi, VinUniversity will incorporate Rubin lessons on email writing, phone skills, networking and others into various business courses through the Canvas LMS.

    The alliance marks the first time Rubin has worked with an educational institution outside of North America. Previously, all customers have operated in the United States and Canada.

    Danny Rubin, founder of Rubin, met Dr. Choi at an international conference of business schools in April 2022 in New Orleans.

    “VinUniversity is an English-speaking school that wants to give its students an advantage as they pursue opportunities abroad,” said Rubin. “We hope our curriculum tools are the perfect addition at Vin and also position our company as a resource for other international programs.”

    An international alliance to begin in fall 2022.

  • GA Student Wins $5,000 in Scholarships Using Rubin “Storytelling” Method

    GA Student Wins $5,000 in Scholarships Using Rubin “Storytelling” Method

    The ultimate goal at Rubin is to provide teachers with high quality resources for college and career readiness they can share with students.

    We have no better example of such a pursuit than Lamar County Schools in Georgia southwest of Atlanta.

    Ms. Sharonda Bostic, a CTAE (career, technical and agriculture education) teacher in Lamar County, employs the Rubin “storytelling” method for cover letters and job interviews.

    In short, the story approach encourages students to share an example of a time they overcame a challenge (ex: school project, part-time job) rather than use words like “hardworking” or “problem solver.”

    Shorter than that, it means: show me, don’t tell me.

    Ms. Bostic went further. She helped her own son use the narrative approach for college scholarship essays.

    Lo and behold, her son won big — to the tune of $5,000 across five different scholarships. He begins college in fall 2022.

    “What better proof do I need?” Bostic said. “Rubin’s techniques win, plain and simple.”

    At Rubin, we want teachers to embrace our methods and share them with students to achieve real-world results.

    All you need to know is $5,000 in scholarship money from a short story about work ethic.

    What’s your student’s story worth?

    Explore our robust Emerge curriculum (which includes our “storytelling” unit) and find out!

    One story = 5K

  • Deerfield USD 216 (Kansas) Adopts Rubin Emerge as Employability Curriculum

    Deerfield USD 216 (Kansas) Adopts Rubin Emerge as Employability Curriculum

    Deerfield USD 216 (Deerfield, Kansas) has formally adopted Emerge, to satisfy the postsecondary and college and career readiness component of the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA), the state’s K-12 accrediting model.

    Deerfield, under the direction of teacher Jennifer Wieberg, uses Emerge for grades 6-12 to teach valuable skills like email writing, phone etiquette and conversation techniques.

    See Emerge in action with Deerfield students here.

    “Deerfield’s decision to adopt Emerge is a big step in Kansas and elsewhere to show that Emerge can be a cornerstone resource for how students learn employability skills,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “We want to be a trusted, year over year tool that educators can depend on as we navigate the digital age and ensure our students know how to communicate with professionalism, grace and humility.”

    Want to try Emerge for yourself? Request a 30-day free trial here!

    Indispensable resource.

  • Rubin Team Works with HS Tech Students to Improve Curriculum Layout

    Rubin Team Works with HS Tech Students to Improve Curriculum Layout

    In the photo, Rubin Software Developer Austin Makohon shows Virginia Beach high school students proposed updates to Emerge, our online curriculum, to gain their feedback.

    With every Zoom “raised hand” and comment in the chat, Rubin efforts to strengthen our Emerge employability skills curriculum came into better focus.

    Thanks to feedback on April 6 from high school students within Virginia Beach City Public Schools, the Rubin team gained new ideas for:

    • a smarter, more intuitive site navigational structure
    • simpler instructions for classroom assignments
    • easier way to see what lessons they have already completed

    The Rubin team, alongside a group of software developers based in Serbia, takes the student insights into account as we build “version 2.0” of Emerge to be ready by the start of the 2022-2023 academic year.

    “We are proud of the impact Emerge has on thousands of students nationwide for college and career readiness,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “Still, we are determined to take Emerge to the next level, smooth out user experience issues and make our platform the best it can be.”

    Other planned changed to Emerge include:

    • a fresh design for the log-in screen
    • the addition of QR codes for Emerge digital badges (so people like employers can snap the QR code and find information about the skills obtained through the badge)
    • enhanced middle school curriculum for email etiquette and interview skills

    More to come in the months ahead!

    Listen to the end user.

  • Austin Makohon Joins Rubin as Software Developer

    Austin Makohon Joins Rubin as Software Developer

    We are excited to welcome Austin Makohon to the Rubin team!

    Austin will work on software updates and maintenance to our Emerge curriculum.

    Emerge provides a library of videos, activities and quizzes for business communication skills (ex: email etiquette).

    A native of the Peninsula, Makohon received his bachelor’s degree from Christopher Newport University.

    Makohon had previously worked in IT at the Peninsula Agency on Aging in Newport News.

    “As a provider of a web-based learning curriculum, we often receive excellent feedback from customers on ways to make the program more engaging,” said Danny Rubin, the founder of Rubin. “Austin will play a big role in delivering a stronger product semester over semester to our school partners nationwide.”

    Rubin Emerge integrates into common learning management systems like Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Moodle, Blackboard, D2L and Sakai. Whenever possible, we provide “single sign-on” access so students can work on Emerge lessons without the need for an additional username or password.

    Want to explore Emerge for yourself? Click here for a 30-day free trial!

    Rubin is a leader in online curriculum for business communication. The company provides a robust digital learning platform called “Emerge” to middle schools, high schools, colleges/universities and adult education programs. Emerge teaches in-demand skills like email etiquette, phone etiquette and how to hold meaningful conversations for college and career. Rubin is based in Virginia Beach, VA and, through Emerge, reaches tens of thousands of students in Virginia and 30+ other states. Rubin is founded by Danny Rubin, a former TV news journalist and national news consultant. Our motto: “Write well, open doors!”

    Ready to help your students thrive.

  • Kansas CTE Students in Grades 6-12 Explore Emerge to Learn Life Skills

    Kansas CTE Students in Grades 6-12 Explore Emerge to Learn Life Skills

    At Deerfield USD 216 in southwest Kansas, students in grades 6-12 sit at tables to practice cursive signatures and how to address an envelope — and then pop up to shake hands with classmates with steady eye contact and firm grasps.

    What’s going on?

    Each week, CTE Coordinator Jennifer Wieberg dives into the Rubin Emerge curriculum, an online library of practical lessons for employability, and then delivers each lesson to her students in middle and high school.

    Emerge is designed as a comprehensive resource to help students become stronger writers and speakers as they pursue college and career opportunities.

    “Last year, I was up late many nights scouring Pinterest for career resources and even paying for curricula out of my own pocket,” said Wieberg. “Emerge has everything I need in one place with activities, lesson plans and discussion questions for critical life and career skills. I love it.”

    Check out scenes from Wieberg’s classroom!

    Hands shakes, mailing letters and so much more