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Your Career Compass

Lesson Plan

Your Career Compass Lesson Plan

Students will identify personal interests and skills and connect them to potential career clusters, understanding that career paths are diverse and evolve.

This lesson helps students envision their future, makes learning relevant, and empowers them to make informed decisions about future studies and work. It encourages self-discovery and broadens their understanding of the working world.

Audience

8th Grade

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion, self-reflection, and exploration of career categories.

Materials

Whiteboard or Projector, Your Career Compass Slide Deck, Warm-Up: Dream Job Blast-Off!, Career Explorer Activity Sheet, and Cool-Down: My Next Step

Prep

Teacher Preparation

10 minutes

Step 1

Introduction & Warm-Up (5 minutes)

5 minutes

Step 2

Discovering Interests & Skills (10 minutes)

10 minutes

  • Use Your Career Compass Slide Deck Slides 3-5 to discuss how interests and skills relate to careers.
    - Guide students through the 'My Interests' and 'My Skills' sections of the Career Explorer Activity Sheet. Encourage them to think broadly.
    - Facilitate a brief partner share about their identified interests and skills.

Step 3

Exploring Career Clusters (10 minutes)

10 minutes

  • Introduce the concept of career clusters using Your Career Compass Slide Deck Slides 6-8.
    - Have students brainstorm potential career clusters that align with their interests and skills on their Career Explorer Activity Sheet.
    - Discuss a few examples as a class, encouraging students to see connections they might not have considered.

Step 4

Wrap-Up & Reflection (5 minutes)

5 minutes

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Slide Deck

Your Career Compass: Navigating Your Future

Let's explore where your interests and skills can take you!

Welcome students and introduce the day's topic: career exploration. Explain that today they'll start thinking about their future paths. Transition to the warm-up activity.

Dream Job Blast-Off!

On a piece of paper, quickly write down:

  1. Your 'dream job' (if you had to pick one right now!)
  2. Why you chose it.

Don't overthink it! Just get your ideas down.

Introduce the Warm-Up activity: 'Dream Job Blast-Off!' Explain that students should quickly write down their dream job and why, without overthinking. This activity is linked in the lesson plan.

What Makes You Tick? Exploring Your Interests

What do you genuinely enjoy doing?

  • Hobbies
  • School Subjects
  • Volunteer Work
  • Things you read about or watch

Think about what excites you!

Lead a discussion on interests. Ask students what hobbies, subjects, or activities they genuinely enjoy. Connect this to how interests can guide career choices. Introduce the 'My Interests' section of the activity sheet.

What Are You Good At? Discovering Your Skills

What talents or abilities do you have?

  • Problem-solving
  • Creativity
  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Technical skills (like using computers)
  • Athletic abilities
  • Musical talents

Skills can be learned and developed!

Shift to discussing skills. Ask students what they are good at, both inside and outside of school. Emphasize that skills can be diverse (e.g., problem-solving, creativity, teamwork). Introduce the 'My Skills' section of the activity sheet.

Interests + Skills = Possibilities!

When your interests and skills work together, they open up exciting career possibilities.

What jobs combine what you love with what you're good at?

Explain that interests and skills often go hand-in-hand. Give a simple example: If you like building (interest) and are good with your hands (skill), construction might be a path. If you like helping people (interest) and are good at listening (skill), social work could be a fit.

What are Career Clusters?

Think of careers like constellations in the sky. Individual stars are jobs, but they are grouped into bigger patterns called 'Career Clusters'.

  • Groups of jobs that share common skills or characteristics.
  • Help organize thousands of careers into manageable categories.
  • There are 16 recognized clusters!

Introduce the concept of career clusters. Explain that these are broad groupings of careers that share common characteristics, helping to organize a vast number of jobs. Give a few simple examples like 'Health Science' or 'Arts, A/V Technology & Communications'.

Examples of Career Clusters

  • Arts, A/V Technology & Communications: Jobs in broadcasting, journalism, graphic design, performing arts.
  • Health Science: Doctors, nurses, therapists, medical researchers.
  • Information Technology: Computer programmers, cybersecurity experts, web developers.
  • Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources: Farmers, conservationists, food scientists.

Which clusters sound interesting to you?

Provide a few more examples of career clusters and briefly describe the types of jobs within them. Emphasize that a single interest or skill might fit into several clusters. Prompt students to think about which clusters might fit their interests/skills for the activity sheet.

Connecting Your Compass to Clusters

Now, let's look at your interests and skills:

  • What career clusters might they fit into?
  • Even if you don't know specific jobs, think about the types of work that match your strengths and passions.
  • There are no right or wrong answers – this is your exploration!

Guide students to now try to map their interests and skills to potential career clusters on their activity sheet. Encourage them to use the examples or brainstorm new ones. Emphasize that there are no wrong answers, it's about exploration.

Your Journey Has Just Begun!

Today was just the first step in exploring the exciting world of careers.

Your interests and skills will grow and change, and so will your career path!

Complete the 'My Next Step' Cool-Down!

Conclude the lesson by having students complete the Cool-Down activity. Reinforce that career exploration is an ongoing journey. Collect cool-downs as an exit ticket.

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Warm Up

Dream Job Blast-Off!

Instructions: On a blank piece of paper, quickly write down your answers to the following questions. Don't overthink it!

  1. If you could have any job in the world right now, what would it be?






  2. Why did you choose that job? What about it appeals to you?











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Activity

Career Explorer Activity Sheet

Instructions: Use this sheet to explore your interests, skills, and how they might connect to different career clusters.

Part 1: My Interests

What are 3-5 things you genuinely enjoy doing, learning about, or experiencing?
















Part 2: My Skills

What are 3-5 skills or abilities that you feel you are good at? (These can be from school, hobbies, or everyday life!)
















Part 3: Possible Career Clusters

Looking at your interests and skills, which career clusters do you think might be a good fit for you? List 2-3 and briefly explain why.

(Examples of Career Clusters: Health Science, Arts, A/V Technology & Communications, Information Technology, Business Management & Administration, Education & Training, Human Services, etc.)

  1. Career Cluster:



    Why it fits:





  2. Career Cluster:



    Why it fits:





  3. Career Cluster:



    Why it fits:





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Cool Down

My Next Step

Instructions: Reflect on today's lesson and answer the following questions.

  1. One new thing I learned about career exploration today is...






  2. One career cluster that interests me is... (or one new career I want to learn more about is...)






  3. One thing I can do this week to learn more about my interests or potential careers is...






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Your Career Compass • Lenny Learning