BOP Lesson Plan Dawn Shum

Lesson Title: Occupations associated with oyster

Grade Level: 6-8

Subject Areas: ELA and/or Advisory

Duration: 1 or 2 class periods

Setting: Classroom

Skills: Research, making connections, activating prior knowledge, computer, and writing skills

Correlation with NY Core Curriculum Standards/Common Core State Standards:  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.2d Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.2e Establish and maintain a formal style.  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.2f Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.

Vocabulary: Hydrological engineer, environmental scientist, food critic, chef, playwright, writer, oyster farm owner, consultant, marketing executive, biochemist

Charting the Course: Students will identify and research oyster related occupations and write a personal statement on how to pursue the career. It is a practical exercise on exploring personal and professional interests, charting the possible paths to achieve those goals, and constantly revising it when approaching different stages of life.

BOP Connection: This lesson will give the students a brief idea of many oyster related occupations so as to provide them an understanding of the future value of restoring the oyster population in the NY-NJ Harbor.

Learning Target / “I can” statement: I can identify and describe the types of oyster related occupation and I can use one of the occupations as an example to write my personal statement.

Materials Preparation: SmartBoard and/or projector, occupation video, and personal statement sample.

Background:

1 From the other BOP lessons the students might recognize careers in aquaculture and marine biology but will not have an understanding of all of the other related careers – this lesson is valuable because it will extend their understanding beyond science to careers in media, art, and even fashion.

Warm-up/do-now: Students think-pair-share the types of occupations they have dreamed of since their childhood; indicate when, what, and why changes in the course of time.

Procedure/Learning Activity: 1. Teacher shows the Oyster Related Occupations I and/or Oyster Related Occupations II and ask students to name those jobs. (Teacher is recommended to stop, skip, and play whatever sections of the videos he/she thinks is relevant.) 2. Teacher asks students to brainstorm more oyster related jobs. (Guide students to come up with hydrological engineer, environmental scientist, food critic, chef, oyster restaurant owner, playwright, writer, oyster farm owner, consultant, marketing executive, biochemist, to name a few. ) 3. For example, a bio-chemist may be involved in ground up oyster shells. Ground and processed oyster shells are used as calcium supplements both for humans and animals. Agricultural Lime (Oyster Shell) is a natural, non-toxic product derived from oyster shells for use on low calcium and low acid soils. Agricultural Lime increases soil pH and water penetration, improves fertilizer utilization, soil aeration and texture. (Refer to Man and Mollusc site for art, architecture, medicinal, industrial, costumes/fashion, and miscellaneous uses of shells.) 4. Teacher shows students how to use the One Stop Career site to search the occupation profiles with each of the career fields. (See the Occupation Profile for Biochemists which includes the state and national wages and trend, task and activities, as well as knowledge, skills, and activities.) 5. Teacher models to students on how to assimilate the information from the occupation profile to create the “Oyster King’s Personal Statement” sample. Students are expected to use the template and the Career One Stop site to write their own personal statements by changing the content in each of the solid brackets []. (Since there is no food critic in the Career One Stop site, flexibility and creativity should be encouraged when assimilating the information. Teacher is also recommended to create his/her own oyster related personal statement as an alternate illustration.) 6. The project/assignment may pose students some challenges on how to start. Therefore, appropriate and sufficient guiding questions are essential to scaffold the students in need. Also, enough time should also be given for them to put in the details. Some students may claim that they are not interested in any of the occupations mentioned. The teacher should indicate that this is a practical and mandatory exercise to prepare them for the real occupation in the future and their personal statement should be evolving constantly because their interests, skill-set, and personal path will shift. NOTE: Teacher can use http://www.convertfiles.com/ to convert the YouTube videos to flv or wmv file types.

Assessment/work product/exit ticket: Exit ticket will ask students to anticipate any barriers existing and/or going to happen in their pursuit of career goals and how they are going to resolve them in the course of time. They are expected to put the concern in writing and hand it to the teacher before they exit the classroom.

The personal statement assignment will require the students to think through the whole path from their interests, what sort of high school they will apply, any internship and scholarship opportunities they will explore. The grading for the personal statement is either pass/fail with a writing template given.

Wrap up: BOP is a great and value-added project to be involved as a starting point for the students to start/test out their career path and aspirations. It is also a platform that offers many related career fields not just aquaculture or maritime/marine related. The purpose of the lesson is for students to research and get excited about real world work opportunities that can have valuable meaning and positive contribution to the world. The umbrella for all of these careers is that they are good for people and the planet.

Modifications: To reinforce listening and speaking skills or for those who finish their personal statements early, the students can be paired up to role play a mock interview for the internship. The real mock interview can be conducted in a separate lesson where all students will be participating.

Extension: In addition to the personal statement, students can be encouraged to write a resume and a cover letter to apply for internship in the related field.

Graphics + resources: Oyster Related Occupations and Career One Stop Site.

3 [ Oyster King’s ] Personal Statement

Objective: [I am actively seeking a food critic position in the publishing or food industry, eventually I will be invited to be one of the Iron Chef Judges.]

Education: [I am an 8th grader of The NY Harbor Middle School and I will be graduating in July 2014.]

Interests: I have a strong interest in tasting food and drinks and I enjoy cooking by the recipes and creating new ones.

Minimum Requirements:  Academic – [I plan to finish a regular high school education with a diploma in culinary arts from the Institute of Culinary Education or I will attend a technical high school majoring in culinary arts.]  Hands-on Skills – [I have a good knowledge of food. In addition, I possess strong writing skills and sense of critique. I can cook at least twenty dishes including oyster dish.]

Expected Starting Salary: $30,000/year

Type of high school to attend: [I plan to attend a regular high school and a co-op tech in culinary arts, a specialized high school, or a CTE high school majoring in food industry, culinary or hospitality management depending on the admission criteria.]

Pathway  Traditional –[I will follow the traditional path of completing high school and college, then start a career in publishing with a focus in the food industry or enter the field of food industry, become a food expert and a food critic.]  Alternate –[If my traditional path doesn’t work out, I will attend a culinary arts school that I can afford and work in a reputable restaurant as an intern or apprentice while sending out articles to different food magazines for publication.]

Practice and Preparation:[I will prepare a new dish every week following a recipe and improvise it by creating a new dish. ]

Mentor: [Ms. Sue, my homeroom teacher will be my mentor in school to whom I will bring my dish for tasting and feedback, besides my family.]

Internship: [I will apply for an internship position at La Marina Restaurant which is an oyster garden site of BOP while either contributing to a food blog or starting my own.]

Scholarship: [I will apply for the Careers through Culinary Arts Program.] References: [Bird, B. (Director). (2007). Ratatouille[Computer-animated comedy]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.]

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