Description of the Lessons

The three career lessons that follow are aimed at middle school level students (6-8). Each lesson takes approximately 45 minutes. The purpose of the lessons is to encourage students to start becoming aware of their interests, areas of strength/weakness, and preferences (i.e. working alone or with others, leading vs. following, working inside or outside, etc.)…things that will be important to know later on when they start to select high school/college coursework, in order to prepare for a future career in which they are happy.

LESSON 1: “What Am I” (introductory activity)

GOAL: Without looking, just touching…students try to figure out what job a person might hold if they used such an object (i.e. coins might represent a banker, chalk might represent a teacher). Students will need a piece of paper and a pencil. You will need at least 6 paper bags (or boxes with a hole cut out of the top for students’ hands to reach through). Each bag/box should be numbered (for students recording purposes). Each bag/box should have some item in it that represents a career (like examples mentioned above). Ask students to number their paper 1-6 (or higher, if you have more bags/boxes). Tell them they will pass the bags in an ‘organized manner’, around the room. They will have only 10 seconds to reach their hand into the bag/box before they must pass it on (you may want to tell them to wait to pass their bag/box until you say so). After they pass the bag/box on, they should record, under the matching number, what career they think might use the object they felt in the bag (not what the object is). As they wait for the next bag/box, tell them to list, on their same sheet of paper, reasons why people work. Once students have gotten through all of the bags/boxes (or sooner, if your time is running short), reveal the item in the bag, and ask students to share their ideas for what careers may use such an item. Next, have students share their ideas for reasons why people work (i.e. to support family, to be able to buy things you want, etc…hopefully one student will mention…”People work because they enjoy what they do, their work environment, etc.!”…this type of answer can be used as a nice transition into the next lesson).

LESSON 2: “Your Interests” (career analysis)

Remind students that the purpose of the activities is not to have them make a career choice right now…they are only in middle school…their interests may change and their skills will develop in the next few years. Instead, tell them that the purpose is to encourage them to start becoming aware of their interests, areas of strength/weakness, and preferences (i.e. working alone or with others, leading vs. following, working inside or outside)…all things that will be important for them later on when they need to start selecting high school/college coursework, in order to prepare for a future career in which they are happy.

GOAL: To give students an ‘indication’ of what areas they may find career happiness, as well as job areas that they may find unappealing. Students will need a pencil. You will need a copy of the “Your Interests” survey, the “Career Analysis” tally form, and the “Career word find”, for all students (you may want an overhead of each for demonstration purposes). Read the directions and show examples for both the survey and the tallying form. If students finish early, they can work on the career word find. Once all students are finished, share and discuss their results. Stress the fact that this activity just gives them an ‘idea’ about possible career fields they might enjoy, but does not mean that they can’t do something they didn’t score high on, etc.

LESSON 3: “Career Recipe” (culminating activity)

GOAL: Students have the opportunity to explore information related to various careers (i.e. job description, schooling, salary, job outlook, etc.). Students will need a pencil. You will need a copy of the “Career Recipe” worksheet for each student (may want an overhead for demonstration purposes), along with a class set of career books. Demonstrate how to use the career book to find information for the recipe card. If using the career books listed under the references, have students choose just one career listed in their book, not all, to create their recipe for. If students finish early they can either finish the career word find or design their recipe card to represent the career they ‘researched’. Next, have the students share their recipe cards (so that students are exposed to more than one career, even though they ‘researched’ only one). Students will pass their recipe cards in an ‘organized fashion’ around the classroom. When they get a recipe card, they should read the front side first, guess what career they think it is describing, then flip the recipe over to check their answer. If the career sounds interesting to them, on the back of their “Your Interests” worksheet, they should write down the name of the career and what book it was found in. Explain to them that they will not get a chance to see all students’ recipe cards that day, but you will keep a recipe ‘box’ for them to look at later if they want (this box, or folder, could stay in the classroom in which you are presenting). If possible, allow them to keep the career books in their room for a couple more days. Then tell them where they could find the books in the future.

Connections to Related Standards, Competencies and Domains

Lessons 2 and 3 relate to Minnesota Graduation Standard Number 8: Decision-Making. Using the middle-level content standard for Career Exploration, they allow students to explore career and educational options in order to make informed decisions for future life choices by:

1) determining areas of individual interest and ability (lesson 2), 2) determining at least two possibilities for career and educational options that reflect personal interests and ability (lesson 3), and, 3) gathering information for career options from a variety of sources (lesson 3).

In addition to meeting a Minnesota Graduation Standard, lessons 2 and 3 also touch on all three of the Minnesota School Counselors’ Model of Developmental Guidance and Counseling domains. The lessons attach themselves to the Career domain in these three areas: task skills and marketability (what one needs in order to do job well), economic understanding (wages earned…enough to live desired lifestyle?), and work world understanding (what typical day on the job looks like, hours, environment, etc.). The Educational domain is met through its focus on school and world understanding (e.g. what courses are needed in order to be successful at ones chosen career?). Self-understanding is the focus of the Personal/Social domain, being that one’s interests, strengths/weaknesses, preferences (working alone, outside, etc.) are addressed in Lesson 2.

Similar to meeting the 3 domains, the middle school career lesson also meets all three competencies of the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee Standards. Under Self-knowledge, having knowledge of the importance of growth and change is vital. It is important to note that one will grow and change in regards to their interests and skills, thus needing to be aware of how this affects career choices. The lesson meets the Educational and Occupational Exploration competency in several ways. One, students need to have the skills to locate, understand and use career information (lesson 3 – exploring with career books). Two, students need to understand the relationship between work and learning. A person needs to learn the information and skills needed to hold a job down (lesson 3). Finally, the Career Planning competency addresses the need for the skills to make decisions. In lesson 2 students look at their interests, strengths/weaknesses, and preferences in order to be able to make solid career decisions. Looking through the career books, in lesson 3, focused on the need for knowledge of different occupations and changing male/female roles.

References and Resources

If the “Your Interests” survey, “Career Analysis” tally form, “Career Recipe” form, and “Career word find” are not downloaded…please feel free to contact me to obtain these materials via fax, etc.

The career books used, were published by:

NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group

4255 West Touhy Ave.

Lincolnwood (Chicago), IL 60646

(they are called “Careers for _______” (i.e. class clowns, extroverts, animal lovers, etc.))

For Further Information

Kristen Sonju

MSUM Intern 2001-2002

Chaska Middle School East

Chaska, Minnesota

Phone 952-556-7600

Fax 952-556-7609

E-mail sonjuk@chaska.k12.mn.us *Microsoft Word