UNIT TITLE: Choosing your Career

Author: Beth Spezia
School: Evergreen Park High School: Evergreen Park, Illinois
School Home Page URL: evergreenpark.org

THEME: Career Development

BROAD CONCEPT: Self Discovery

GRADES: 9-12 grades

INTEGRATED SUBJECTS: Reading, Writing, Business, and Computers

UNIT GOALS AND PURPOSE: In this unit the students will explore the career development process.  They will use the Inspiration program to open their minds and explore their own likes and abilities.  The CIS program or web site will then be used to match their likes and abilities with occupation characteristics to help the students narrow their search for a career.  Using the resources in the LRC as well as the Internet, the students will research their chosen careers.  Once a career is found, the students will continue their career preparation by learning to create a professional looking resume and cover letter as well as learning how to fill out a job application.  They will use the results of this research to investigate schools, military, financial aid, etc. The students will be evaluated on their culminating activities, which will include a report typed on Microsoft Word and a presentation created on PowerPoint.  

TIME FRAME: This unit will take at least 12 days to complete in block format (83 minutes classes).  

OBJECTIVES:

In this lesson, students will:

 

MATERIALS:

 

STATE STANDARDS ADDRESSED BY THIS UNIT:

3.C.4a Write for real or potentially real situations in academic, professional and civic contexts (e.g., college applications, job applications, business letters, petitions).

3.C.5b Write for real or potentially real situations in academic, professional and civic contexts (e.g., applications, job applications, business letters, resume, petitions).

5.A.2a Formulate questions and construct a basic research plan.

5.A.3a Identify appropriate resources to solve problems or answer questions through research

5.A.3b Design a project related to contemporary issues (e.g., real-world math, career development, community service) using multiple sources.

5.A.4b Design and present a project (e.g., research report, scientific study, career/higher education opportunities) using various formats from multiple sources.

 

STUDENT ACTIVITIES WHICH WILL PROMOTE ENGAGED LEARNING:

 

Day 1   Specific physical, emotional, and social abilities are often necessary for success in a chosen career.  Some careers involve a large amount of lifting, walking, or physical exertion.  Others require a good speaking voice or a temperament that allows one to work closely with many people.  Other jobs involve high levels of stress and require calmness, patience, and determination.  The students will use Inspiration to brainstorm personal qualities that are needed in order to be successful at a new career.  This activity is used to urge the students to open their minds and begin to look inside themselves.

            After this discussion, the teacher will explain how the CIS program works.  The students will use the CIS program on the network or the CIS site on the Internet (www.ioicc.state.il.us) if available.  This program will walk the students through a sort, which will help them to narrow down their search for a career.

Day 2   Continue the Career sort.  Once the students have found their chosen career they must fill out the Planning your career form listed at the end of this site.

Day 3   Students will return to the CIS program to work through the School Sort.  This sort will allow the students to decide which characteristics are important and it will match these characteristics with appropriate schools.  Included in this program are colleges, universities, junior colleges, trade schools, as well as the military.  After selecting a school, the students will continue on to the financial aid section of the program.

Day 4   Now that the students have chosen a career and they have future goals, they will begin to collect information for their personal resume and cover letter.  After an introductory discussion about the importance of a resume and cover letter, the students will go to my school web site where I have created a link to an informative page related to the creation of a resume and cover letter.  The students will spend two days collecting information, writing, typing, and correcting their resume and cover letter using Microsoft Word.

Day 5   Continue with resume and cover letters.

Day 6   Throughout this unit the students have had an opportunity to collect materials related to their career goals.  From their list of interesting careers, the students must select one job title from the list and find out as much as they can about that job using the Internet as well as additional materials from the LRC.  The students organize, classify, and assemble these materials in an orderly manner.  The students will have two days to write and type a report using Microsoft Word about the job they have chosen that includes the following information: 

·         Title of job

·         Number of workers in this job in your area

·         Number of workers in this job nationally

·         Average earnings

·         Education and training needed to get a beginning job

·         Education and training needed to advance in this job

·         Extent to which this job involves working with people, data, and/or things

·         Features of this job that appeal to me

·         Features of this job that do not appeal to me

·         Do you think you would like to work in this job?  Yes     No     Unsure

·         Why do you feel this way?

 

Day 7   Continue with the career report.

 

Day 8   The students will begin work on their final activity for this unit.  Using their career report, they will begin work on creating a PowerPoint presentation about their career to be presented to the class. Besides vital information related to their career choice, they must include graphics.  The students can use graphics from our clip art book, the Internet, or they can use the scanner to add photos from other sources.

 

Day 9   Continue work on the PowerPoint presentation.

 

Day 10  Continue work on the PowerPoint presentation.

 

Day 11-12  Students will present their presentations to the class.  Students will be graded using the following rubric:

 

Career Unit Rubric

 

Name:

 

Project Title:

Information

Points

Are the facts and information presented in this project accurate to your knowledge?

+           /10

Is the information thorough and easy to understand?

+           /10

Did the author use his/her own words?

+           /10

Requirements

 

Are all project requirements met?

+           /10

Appearance

 

Is the presentation pleasant to view?  Consider fonts, colors, graphics and other special effects.

+           /10

TOTAL GRADE

+           /50

 

SHARE YOUR IDEAS:

At the conclusion of the unit each student will present their PowerPoint presentation to the rest of the class using a computer and an overhead projector with a LCD display.

STUDENT AND TEACHER ROLES:

The teacher’s role in the project will be that of facilitator.  The teacher’s job will be to guide the students in their search for a career through their use of the Internet as well as the various pieced of software and hardware needed to complete the project.  The teacher will also act as instructor while presenting information related to resume, cover letter, and job applications.  The student’s main role will be that of a researcher, gathering information related to their individual needs.

 
ADDITIONAL REFERENCE PRINT RESOURCES STUDENTS MAY USE :

Any Encyclopedia, book or magazine, or Internet article can be used, as long as the source can be validated.

 
THE FOLLOWING BOOKS CONTAIN INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TOPIC:

Kent, George E.  How to get hired today.  Lincolnwood, IL USA:  VGM Career Horizons, 1991.

Weinstein, Bob.  Jobs for the 21st Century.  New York:  Collier Books, 1983.

The Complete Guide for Occupational Exploration.  Indianapolis JIST, 1983.

Oakes, Elizabeth H.  Career Exploration on the Internet.  Chicago:  Ferguson, 1998.

Farr, Michael.  America’s 50 Fasting Growing Jobs.  Indianapolis JIST, 1994.

 
FOR ADDITIONAL ONLINE INFORMATION AND MEDIA PERTAINING TO THIS UNIT, TEACHERS MAY WANT TO USE THE FOLLOWING INTERNET ARTICLES: 

Title1: The Wall Street Journal

URL1: http://www.careerjournal.com/

Description1: This site contains articles on all aspects of career development.   
 

Title2: Steps to Career/Life Planning Success

URL2: http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infocecs/CRC/manual-home.html

Description2: This article addresses many of the important issues relevant to the changing nature of the workplace.
   

Title3: Federal Government Student Aid

URL3: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/Students/sfa.html

Description3: This article includes great explanations of financial aid programs. 
 
 
Title4: Illinois Student Assistance Commission

URL4: http://isac1.org

Description4: This site is the home page for our own state financial aid agency.  It contains many links and good explanations and articles regarding financial aid.

 
Title5: Scholarship Scams

URL5: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/scholarship/index.html

Description5: This site has some great information about scholarship scams and what to look for.
 

Title6: College Board

URL6: http://www.collegeboard.com

Description6: This site has an excellent section on financial aid and understanding aid.

 

RELEVANT INFORMATION, STUDENTS WILL VISIT THE FOLLOWING WEB SITES:

 

Title1: Career Planner.com

URL1: http://career-planning.com/

Description1: Students can access online career planning and career counseling as well as career testing and placement.
 

Title2: Embark

URL2: http://www.embark.com/

Description2: Advice is given to help in the important decision of where, how, and when to apply for college.  Topics covered include:  applying to college, choose the right school, financing your education, and the transition to college life.
   

Title3: Prepare Your Child for College

URL3: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Prepare/pt1.html

Description3: The following topics are covered:  Why attend college?  and What types of colleges exist? 
 
 
Title4: Careers.org - Career Resource Center

URL4: http://careers.org/

Description4: Links to 11,000 career sites.

 
Title5: Occupational Outlook Handbook

URL5: http://www.bls.gov/oco/

Description5: The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives.  Students can search for a specific occupation or browse through listings using the occupational cluster sort.
 

Title6: Personality: Character and Temperament

URL6: http://keirsey.com/

Description6: This site is an online personality questionnaire, which uses the Myers Briggs 16 types of personalities.  The tests come in 11 languages.

Name: ________________________

 

 

PLANNING YOUR CAREER

 

The activities that follow will conclude your present career planning effort.  As you complete your career project, be on the alert for newspaper clippings, booklets, pictures, and other items relating to your occupation.  Collect and use these materials in this project.

 

PERSONAL QUALITIES IMPORTANT FOR SUCCESS IN MY OCCUPATION

Specific physical, emotional, and social abilities are often necessary for success in a chosen career.  Some careers involve a large amount of lifting, walking, or physical exertion.  Others require a good speaking voice or a temperament that allows one to work closely with many people.  Other jobs involve high levels of stress and require calmness, patience, and determination.

 

Think of personal qualities that are needed in order to be successful at the career you have chosen and list them in the first column below.  Then indicate whether you possess that quality or need to improve by checking the appropriate column at the right.

 

PERSONAL QUALITIES OF IMPORTANCE

(Check one column for each quality)

 

IN THE OCCUPATION OF                        I AM STRONG          I NEED TO IMPROVE

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 

SELF-IMPROVEMENT IN PERSONAL QUALITIES

Identify below by number the qualities from the section above in which you consider yourself to be weak.  After reach number, write one or more ways in which you can seek improvement.  Be specific.

 

NUMBER FROM                 SUCCESTIONS FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT

      ABOVE                                                    IN EACH QUALITY                        

 

 

 

 

 

PREPARATION NEEDED FOR MY OCCUPATION

You are ready to investigate special training you may need and educational requirements you must fulfill in preparation for your career.  Outline the specific preparation needed.  Use additional sheets if necessary.  Also consider where it may be obtained:  in your high school, in a junior college, in a college, in a technical school or an area vocational school, by apprenticeship, or on the job.