The Learning Activities Have Been Written As Stand-Alone Lesson Plans

The learning activities have been written as stand-alone lesson plans. If you are teaching a career development class, you may want to use selected units in an order that supports the educational planning process. Below we have suggested a sequence of activities that will accomplish many of the learning objectives of a career education class. In some cases, we have listed options. The red highlights indicate the focus you will want to use in presenting the unit to create a smooth transition. Suggested Activities for an 18-week Career Class (approximately 54 class sessions of 50 minutes) Self Knowledge 1 Learning about Ourselves Students identify their own and one another's unique and shared characteristics. They give and receive positive peer feedback. 1 session Sets tone for course - self-exploration, involvement, individualized 2 A Piece of the Puzzle Students put together a puzzle containing words that relate to career self-knowledge, such as interests, values, and skills. When 1 session the puzzle is completed, they discuss reasons for considering all these factors when making career and educational choices. Following this, they take the IDEAS (TM) Assessment. Introduces career assessment, particularly formal instruments. If your site does not license IDEAS, skip those steps and/or use an instrument you have. 3 The Party Students participate in interview groups to determine one another's three-letter Holland codes. 2 sessions Introduces informal career assessment, in this case a tool that acquaints students with the Holland codes. 4 Skills Match Students complete the SKILLS self-assessment worksheet and enter their results into the SKILLS self-assessment in CIS. They 3 sessions print copies of their SKILLS information. Completes the initial self knowledge activities with the SKILLS component of CIS. Research 5 Rainbow of Roles Students use career concepts, interviews, and CIS Occupations information to understand that career development is a continuous 2 sessions process that is unique to each person's lifestyle and life role. Introduces some tools of research while stressing the individual nature of career planning. 6 Occupations for Terry Students demonstrate attitudes, behaviors, and skills that may contribute to gender bias and stereotyping by reviewing a fictional 1 session student's profile and recommending occupations. Asks students to look at their own possible gender barriers before researching occupational categories for themselves. 7 Comparing Resources Students will research occupations of choice using different career information resources. Students will complete worksheets analyzing OR how well the resources met their criteria. Students will "sell" their resource to the rest of the class, and the class will select their "resource of choice." Television Jobs Match Students complete an activity matching television characters with their occupations. They then list some of a selected character’s 3 sessions duties and responsibilities, based on what they see on television. Following this, students use CIS Occupations, CIS Military Employment, and other resources to obtain current and accurate occupation descriptions. They write a brief paper comparing and contrasting the information obtained from different sources. Introduces students to the types of resources and topics of information available to them. 8 Experts Tell All Students research occupational information and make group presentations using media-style interviews, panel presentations or 5 sessions another format specified by the teacher. Provides opportunity for broad exploration of a variety of fields through the class presentations. Could be done in conjunction with informational interviews or job shadows. Decision-Making 9 Work, Family, and Lifestyle Students learn about different theories (models) of work, family and lifestyles. Working groups, formed around each of the three models, 3 sessions research and defend their model. Class discussions focus on how individual perspectives on the roles of work and family affect lifestyles, thus learning that careers influence lifestyles. Opens the decision-making units with a view of some of the important influences in one's career choices. 10 Bobilator 2 Students rank six occupation titles (fictional titles; real occupations) having no information about the occupation. They discuss the need OR for additional data. Pieces of information are given, and the students rank the titles again with each new information set. After learning the actual occupation titles and discussing the impact of current decisions on future choices, students complete an analysis of what they learned from the activity. 11 Getting What I Want Students use Career Focus to determine which labor market characteristics are important to them and to learn how their career OR preferences are influenced by the nature of an occupation. Introducing Career Focus Students use Career Focus to determine which labor market characteristics are important to them and learn how characteristics 1 - 2 sessions influence career goals.