Career & College Planning
ADD NEXTGEN PERSONAL FINANCE CAREER INFO
Learning Goal:
Students will be able to identify career and college options
Students will understand employee benefit options
Students will be able to use a formal decision-making process
Students will be able to identify college or training needs
Students will understand the cost/benefit of career choices
Students will be able to write SMART career goals
Can You Make it as an Uber Driver?
The career you choose has a direct impact on your quality of life. We will complete the interactive activity linked below. Send me your completed document on Classroom.
We'll talk about the reflection questions together as a group.
Success In The New Economy
We will use this document to look at generational changes and success in the new economy.
Careers by Category
Use this document to explore careers in different categories (eg. highest paying).
Career Clusters
Use this document to learn why you should think about careers clusters instead of individual careers. You will complete the CareerCluster Interest Survey Paragraphs.
Virtual Field Trips & Job Shadow
Mini Virtual Trip & Job Shadow
Use the links below to choose career videos that you would be interested in watching. Add a link to the videos on this collaborative page, make sure to include your name.
CareerOneStop - Choose at least two videos
Alberta Alis - Choose at least two videos
Bridges Career Videos - Choose at least one video
Day at Work Videos - ConnectED
All Leaders | Roadtrip Nation
Day in the Life | Vault.com
Day at Work Videos | ConnectEd Studios
We will randomly select people's videos to watch. As we watch the videos, sketchnote (visual note taking) main ideas and takeaways. Use one of the sites found under Sketchnoting & Drawing tools from my Course Resources & Links page. When we are done you will add your sketchnote to the collaborative page above with your name. Here is a good example.
After watching the videos add a reflection to the collaborative page (add name). Which career video was the most interesting to you and why? Did your opinion of a career change after watching the videos?
Employer Benefits and Work-Life Benefits
Use this presentation to learn why you should consider benefits when exploring careers.
Decision Making
As we saw in the Bee Movie, making a career choice can be a tough decision. Luckily, there are resources and procedures a person can use to help make the best choice.
Team up with one person to read this article about strategies that can be used to make career decisions. Each partner will read two sections and share about the sections they didn't read. Both partners should read the middle section. We'll also talk about this article together as a group. We'll practice using a pros and cons list by choosing a situation from this link as a class. With a partner, create a pros and cons list using this collaborative page.
The article we just looked at talks about using a methodical, stepwise approach. One such approach we'll look at is this decision making process. In groups of four or less, you will plan and present a decision making skit showing someone making a major life decision. To help improve our skits, we will look at some guidelines on improv. Use this template to describe each step of the decision making process for the situation you chose (steps 1-5). Put a link to your completed template on the collaborative page above. There will be two parts, the skit (acting) and your breakdown using the decision making process.
The Challenge - Career Decision Making Process 20 pts
It's time to choose. Use this document and the decision making process we covered to choose a career. Meet with me to discuss your finished document before turning it in on Google Classroom.
College or Career Training
You've decided on a career, now what. How will you get the skills needed to enter that profession? Use the MCIS website (Education tab) or another source (good for program options), to research the training or schooling you will need to break into your chosen career.
It's important to consider what we learned from the Know Yourself section when considering education/training. Some specific jobs at specific companies (eg. Apple) may require certain education pathways (eg. ivy league). However, there are many successful people who started at a state school and went on to do amazing things. We'll talk briefly about these two (para. 4 & 5) articles that look at high-end colleges vs state schools. I'm not saying high-end colleges aren't something to aspire to, but just make sure it aligns with your Know Yourself results.
The Challenge - College/Training Visual 17 pts
ADJUST MORE POINTS?? CHANGE CLARIFY
Create a media-rich visual (3 pts, presentation, infographic, poster, etc.) that includes the following:
3 pts - Info about the type of training/schooling/education needed
Specific degrees/programs
Certain colleges
Special training program
Professional license or exam, eg. Bar Exam
4 pts - Two options where you can receive this training
For example, two colleges
Different training programs
Interesting facts about one college or program
1 pts - How long will it take to complete this training/schooling?
1 pts - What will it cost?
3 pts - Choose the best option and reflect on the decision
2 pts - Find the college/training requirements for a specific company that matches your career choice
What are the requirements?
Does your decision from above meet their requirements?
Try to find a job description for the career you choose
Make sure your visual includes enough detail and is visually appealing. Meet with me to discuss your finished document before turning it in on Google Classroom.
Scholarships
You've chosen the best education option for your career. Nice job! How will you pay for it? We'll look at this article that talks about the rising cost of college tuition. Those are some alarming figures but don't give up hope.
We'll use this article to discuss strategies you can use to find funds for your educational journey. Here is another good guide to reference. Here is a link about unclaimed scholarships/grants. You may even be able to bank more than you need (but it is rare).
Some of you will not need to worry about scholarships for your education/training, and that's a good thing. We've talked about good career options that require a two-year degree or less. However, we've also discussed the possibility of a career change. Even if you don't plan to pursue a degree now, you may want to in the future. So regardless of your college plans, use this Scholarship Finder to select a scholarship you could apply for. Ideally, it lines up with the career option you chose or one of the top options you've explored so far. Add the scholarship you found and a reflection on the information we covered to this collaborative page. Be ready to share.
ADD STUDENT LOAN SECTION??
Career Cost/Benefit & Reality Check
The time and money you put into your education or training for a career can be a huge investment. Is it a good investment? Will the investment provide you with the lifestyle you want?
We'll refer back to this info on high paying careers by education level. Consider our know yourself section. We'll talk about some examples (eg. helping people as a sonographer).
Complete the assignment below to find out if your career is a good investment.
The Challenge - Career Cost/Benefit & Reality Check 20 pts
In class, we'll explore how to use the tools below.
- JA Build Your Future CHANGE, SEE TEMPLATE
Use this template to explore the value of your education/training investment. Meet with me to discuss your final results for credit.
Career Goals & Smart Goals
Goals are important. They give you focus and motivation. The same is true with having career goals. In class, we'll look at this article about career goals. We will also look at this link on creating SMART career goals.
Write a SMART career goal and add it to this collaborative page. Write one goal that has all the different parts of SMART (not separate for each part). Partner up with someone and find out why they choose the SMART career goal they did. Add what you discovered to the collaborative page.
Career Fair Project
We'll check out this video on do's and don'ts for job seekers at a career fair. We'll also watch the video on this site about a local career fair.
The Challenge - Career Fair Project (Assessment)
Use this document to participate in our classroom career fair.