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Your Future: Map It!

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elanguzzi

Tier 2
For Schools

Lesson Plan

Your Future: Map It!

Students will identify their personal interests and understand how these interests can relate to various career clusters.

Understanding the link between personal interests and career paths early helps students make more informed academic choices and envision a purposeful future. This lesson sparks self-discovery and broadens perspectives on what's possible.

Audience

7th Grade Students

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion and a reflective activity to connect interests with career clusters.

Materials

Small Group Discussion Guide, Interest-Career Explorer Worksheet, and Warm Up: Dream Job

Prep

Prepare Materials

10 minutes

  • Review the Small Group Discussion Guide to familiarize yourself with the talking points and questions.
    - Print copies of the Interest-Career Explorer Worksheet for each student.
    - Ensure the Warm Up: Dream Job is ready for display.
    - Review the Slide Deck: Your Future, Map It! for presentation.

Step 1

Warm-Up: Dream Job Introduction

5 minutes

  • Begin by displaying the Warm Up: Dream Job question.
    - Ask students to silently think about their 'dream job' and why it appeals to them.
    - Invite a few students to share their dream jobs and the reasons behind their choices, facilitating a brief group discussion.

Step 2

Connecting Interests to Careers

10 minutes

  • Present the Slide Deck: Your Future, Map It! to introduce the concept of connecting interests to career clusters.
    - Use the slides to guide a discussion about various interest areas (e.g., creative, analytical, hands-on, helping others) and give examples of related career fields.
    - Facilitate a brief discussion using prompts from the Small Group Discussion Guide to encourage students to think about their own interests.

Step 3

Interest-Career Explorer Activity

10 minutes

  • Distribute the Interest-Career Explorer Worksheet to each student.
    - Instruct students to complete the worksheet by listing their top interests and then brainstorming potential career clusters that align with those interests.
    - Circulate among students, offering guidance and prompting further thought as they complete the activity.

Step 4

Cool-Down: One Word Reflection

5 minutes

  • Conclude the lesson with a quick cool-down activity.
    - Ask each student to share one word that describes something new they learned or thought about regarding their future career paths. This can be a verbal share or written on a sticky note.
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Slide Deck

Your Future: Map It!

What do you want to be when you grow up? How do your interests lead to a career?

Welcome students and introduce the exciting topic of connecting their current interests to future possibilities. Emphasize that this is about exploration, not making final decisions.

Warm-Up: Dream Job

What is a 'dream job' you have thought about?
Why does it appeal to you?

Present the Warm-Up slide. Give students a moment to think silently, then invite a few to share their thoughts and the reasons behind their choices.

What Are Your Interests?

It's more than just what you like!
It's about what you enjoy doing, learning, and thinking about.

Introduce the idea of interests. Ask students what comes to mind when they hear the word 'interest.' Guide them to think about hobbies, subjects they enjoy, or activities they love.

Interests & Careers: The Connection

Your interests are like clues!
They can point you towards jobs where you'll be happy and successful.
When you do something you love, it often doesn't feel like 'work.'

Explain how interests connect to careers. Give concrete examples (e.g., someone interested in art might be a graphic designer, illustrator, architect).

Career Clusters: Big Families of Jobs

Imagine jobs grouped into 'families' based on what they do.
These are called Career Clusters!

Introduce career clusters broadly. Explain that these are groups of careers that share common skills or themes. Give a couple of diverse examples (e.g., Arts, A/V Technology & Communications, Health Science, Business Management & Administration).

Examples: Interests to Clusters

  • Creative? Maybe Arts, A/V Technology & Communications.
  • Love helping people? Explore Health Science, Human Services.
  • Good with numbers/solving puzzles? Look into STEM, Finance.
  • Enjoy building or fixing things? Consider Architecture & Construction, Manufacturing.

Provide a slide with examples of interest areas and associated career clusters. Encourage students to identify where their interests might fit. Refer to the Small Group Discussion Guide for prompts.

Your Turn: Explore Your Interests!

You'll use the Interest-Career Explorer Worksheet to:

  1. List your top interests.
  2. Brainstorm possible career clusters.
  3. Think about jobs within those clusters.

Explain the upcoming worksheet activity. Reiterate that it's a first step in exploration.

Keep Exploring!

Your interests might change, and that's okay!
Learning about yourself and the world of work is a journey.
What's one new thought you have about your future today?

Conclude the lesson by reinforcing the idea of continuous exploration and self-discovery. Facilitate the cool-down activity.

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Warm Up

Warm Up: Dream Job

Think about it: What is a "dream job" you have thought about?


Reflect: Why does it appeal to you? What about it makes it seem like a great fit for you?




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Discussion

Small Group Discussion Guide: Connecting Interests to Careers

This guide provides prompts for facilitating a discussion with a small group of students on the connection between their interests and potential career paths.

Section 1: Introduction to Interests (5 minutes)

  • "We all have things we enjoy doing, learning, or thinking about. These are our interests. Can you share an interest you have, big or small? It could be a hobby, a school subject, a type of game, or something you love to talk about."
  • "How do you think these interests might relate to what people do for work? Do you see a connection already?"

Section 2: Exploring Career Clusters (10 minutes)

  • "We talked about 'Career Clusters' – like big families of jobs. Think about your interests again. If you love solving problems, what kind of job families might that lead to? (e.g., Engineering, Science, IT)"
  • "If you enjoy helping others, what career clusters come to mind? (e.g., Healthcare, Education, Social Services)"
  • "Let's look at a few examples from the slides. If someone is really into music, what career cluster might that fit into? What specific jobs could they do?"
  • "What if someone enjoys working with their hands, building or fixing things? What clusters might be a good fit for them?"

Section 3: Personal Connections (5 minutes)

  • "Now, thinking about your own interests, which career clusters seem most interesting to you right now? There's no right or wrong answer, just what sparks your curiosity."
  • "Why do those specific clusters stand out to you? What about them feels like it could be a good fit?"
  • "What's one new thing you learned about how your interests could lead to a future career?"
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Worksheet

Interest-Career Explorer Worksheet

Name: ____________________________

Date: ____________________________

Part 1: My Top Interests

Think about what you truly enjoy doing, learning, or talking about. List at least 3-5 of your strongest interests. These can be hobbies, school subjects, skills, or anything that sparks your curiosity!

  1. ___________________________________________________________


  2. ___________________________________________________________


  3. ___________________________________________________________


  4. ___________________________________________________________


  5. ___________________________________________________________


Part 2: Connecting Interests to Career Clusters

Now, look at your interests from Part 1. For each interest, brainstorm one or two potential career clusters (big families of jobs) that might connect to it. (Hint: Think about what kinds of jobs use those interests!)

Example:

  • Interest: Drawing comics
  • Potential Career Clusters: Arts, A/V Technology & Communications; Marketing, Sales & Service

Your Turn:

  1. My Interest: _________________________________________
    Potential Career Cluster(s): _________________________________________



  2. My Interest: _________________________________________
    Potential Career Cluster(s): _________________________________________



  3. My Interest: _________________________________________
    Potential Career Cluster(s): _________________________________________



  4. My Interest: _________________________________________
    Potential Career Cluster(s): _________________________________________



  5. My Interest: _________________________________________
    Potential Career Cluster(s): _________________________________________



Part 3: Jobs to Explore

Choose two of the career clusters you listed above that seem most interesting to you. Can you think of one or two specific jobs within each of those clusters? (You don't need to know everything, just brainstorm!)

Career Cluster 1: _________________________________________

  • Possible Job 1: _________________________________________

  • Possible Job 2: _________________________________________


Career Cluster 2: _________________________________________

  • Possible Job 1: _________________________________________

  • Possible Job 2: _________________________________________


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Cool Down

Cool Down: One Word Reflection

Directions: Think about today's lesson on connecting your interests to future careers. In one word, what is something new you learned or thought about regarding your future career paths?


My one word: ___________________________________________________________




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