Guidance Lesson: Career Planning (9th & 10th Grade)

Guidance Lesson:

Career Planning:

 

^What does it cost?

 

Grade Level:  9 – 10

The Start of Career Planning

By the time students enter high school, they have a general sense of what a career and/or job is. They are also aware that there is a difference in earnings between different occupations. This lesson will build on previous observations/knowledge and will add a more concrete understanding of what different levels of education entail.

The first part of the lesson focuses on different levels of education and their potential earnings, typically. The second part of the lesson is using the board game Life® as a fun way to help cement the idea that education level will have

By using a monthly budget where the student to calculate how much money is left over at the end of the month, students will gain a more tangible understanding of how their occupation, and education level, will impact their future.

Lesson Plan 1: Setting up

Materials Needed: PowerPoint, Handout

For the first part of this lesson plan, we want to bring to their awareness the types of earnings available for different types of education levels. This can be personalized to the needs of the school. For example, if there is a military base nearby, school counselors can add information about earnings for military members.

Lesson Plan 2:

Materials: PowerPoint (to access please click on the link above), Life® board game, monthly budget, occupation handout, “pink slips”

For this part of the lesson, the board game is used to follow through and make the information they learned from part 1 more memorable. The board game is an illustration, using only the spin dial.

To move each student, we hand out each student a random occupation and a monthly budget. The occupation handout includes a job description, the educational level required, and expected salary/wages. The monthly budget includes cost of living information (rent, mortgage, etc) as well as the cost of amenities.

To play the game, students choose the type of live they want: do they drive or ride the bus? Do they rent? Live alone? Do they have internet at home? They will see that they may need to adjust amenities and/or living situation they choose

 

depending on their occupation earnings.

“Pink slips” are cards given to students to show them that life is unpredictable, instead of the game’s cards. (This can be used as a classroom management piece, with disruptive behavior being rewarded with a pink slip.) An example for a pink slip is: There was storm damage to your car. It will cost $2000 to fix. 

This game can be played until a time limit is reached or everyone has a turn.

Closing: Discussion

Once students have filled out their budgets and can see the state of their future finances, given a certain occupation, discuss how educational achievement and occupational training can limit or expand the possibilities for their future.

Emphasize that they can start planning now so that their high school schedule will reflect their future goals.

Tips:

-          Larger classrooms can be broken into smaller groups and brought back together for the closing to discuss the lesson.

-          Personalize this to your school!! Each school has its own needs, and the types of occupations, “pink slips,” cost of living, and available resources can be changed to make them more relevant to the school. E.g. Many students might not have thought how much internet costs on average.

The Day in the Life of a School Counselor

Jackie Kennedy is quoted as saying, “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” We are becoming the next school counselors to serve our community. Counselors know that nothing else matters and nothing is more important than supporting children of all ages through their educational experience.  In retrospect, we are in a sense helping raise them. Certainly, bungling it is not an option!

While walking through the halls of schools and sitting in school counselors’ offices, I observed and heard many things.  Tangible pieces of advice to study up on and what it takes to be a school counselor in this day and age. Additionally, my interview with a 20-year veteran of an elementary school has reinforced my belief that nothing is more important than helping a child feel good about themselves and good about the world around them. You have to care a great deal. No amount of rigorous coursework or exams can teach someone to care. If we care, then our students can hope anything is possible.

School counselors can instill hope in the students they reach.  The counselors we met with talked at length about the many challenges their children face.  All of the counselors expressed the importance of reaching out.  Providing trust and hope in the children we sit and talk with will have lasting value for them.

School counselors work best when collaborating with teachers, other educators inside and outside of their building and with parents. The professionals we met with described their role as a contact person to coordinate services for their students.  This link is vital to the profession and with the struggles that so many children face today, the support and work between the counselor and the community is important for counselors to accomplish.  


Finally, being present and involved with all of the students and teachers shows your leadership and commitment.  The high school counselors stressed that establishing relationships and connections to students is essential.  Just walking the halls, checking in with them at lunch or informally chatting with kids outside of your office should be a daily routine.  Showing enthusiasm with a fist bump, even when their hardships are noticeable, can be the one positive highlight in a student’s day.  Don’t bungle it!             




Picture provided by:
http://thinklikeatree.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/you-have-brains-in-your-head-you-have-feet-in-your-shoes-you-can-steer-yourself-in-any-direction-your-choose-dr-suess1.jpg?w=620 

School Counselors - What Do They Do?

We all need advocates. We all need someone to cheer for us and push us to the finish line. No matter what the need might be, school counselors provide students all the resources to become successful academically, personally and socially. The demands students face in schools nowadays are constantly increasing and in addition to that, many students lack positive role mentors. The school counselor’s primary obligation is to the student and to assure the safety of the student. They create the best learning environment possible for the student and mediate between students, the school and parents. It is a career that requires a wide range of qualities that go beyond scheduling and credits tracking to assure students are able to graduate and grow as individuals. The following description helps to get a better picture of this profession.

1) Professional Skills

In order to be effective, school counselors must demonstrate various professional competencies.

•  Counselors must be able to provide counseling through prevention and intervention.
• School counselors must be able to collaborate and network with other professionals. This might mean to make outside referrals or simply to discuss student progress or seek information from other expertise professionals.
• Counselors also need to know how to analyze and interpret data to improve the student’s academic success.
• School counselors need to understand the ASCA ethical and legal standards in order to make difficult decisions concerning the students present and future.

 2) Personal Qualities

In addition to professional abilities, a school counselor’s personal qualities enhance their ability to be effective.
 Creativity - As society changes over time, so will the needs of our students. School counselors need to be able to solve complex problems in an appropriate, ethical, and effective manner.
 Flexibility and Approachability- As no day will ever be the same, school counselors have to be flexible in managing their time and activities. They need to constantly adapt to new situations and respond to many different kinds of people. Students also need to have the feeling that they can approach their school counselor at any time.
Belief- School counselors need to be confident in their work and believe that they can make a difference in the student’s life.
Passion- The love school counselors have for this profession and their students is what keeps them going as they face difficult and complex situations. School counselors need to stay committed and find fulfillment in students becoming successful.

3) Role

The role of a school counselor cannot be described in a few words as they wear many hats in this profession. The primary obligations are:

• To enable students to graduate. School counselors provide whatever it might be the student needs to accomplish this goal. Lindsey, a school counselor in Spokane explains that for one kid, this might be food and for the next one, it means calling CPS to assure the students safety. 
• To solve problems. Students come to school counselors because their seeking extra assistance perhaps their parents, teachers or themselves could not solve.
• To guide their academic process. Scheduling and credit tracking assure that the students have all the qualifications needed to go on to a higher level of education.

4) Most Challenging and Rewarding Aspects

This might vary from one school counselor to another but there will always be challenges and rewarding features in this profession.

• Situations are complex. It is important to remember that people have different backgrounds and ways of handling circumstances. We need to be empathetic and respect students and their parents in their demands.
•  Finding out what the real issue is and where to begin. School counselor need to collect experience in order to know what the proper steps are in the problem solving process.
• According to Lindsey, the most rewarding aspect of her job is when kids overcome problems and find success. She enjoys seeing kids change negative behavior and go to college or even earn scholarships.
• Working with a young generation that is eager to learn and will bring a lot to the future of our society and community.

School counselors have become pivotal to the school system and use their professional and personal qualities to fulfill their role as a student advocate; coinciding with many challenging and rewarding aspects and situations. They provide the resources students need to become successful individuals.

Images courtesy of:

-http://images.clipartpanda.com

-intentblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/passion-to-purpose-to-profession.png 

-http://www.ithaca.edu/depts/i/enhancement_of_professional_skills/50592_photo.jpg

-http://blogs.smus.bc.ca/leadership/files/2012/02/flexibility.jpg 

Guidance Lessons: Careers and the Media (6th grade)

By 6th grade, students should be starting to develop their interest in their future. One way to get them started is by asking them about what careers stick out in the media. This acknowledges that our students are interacting with what they see and what they choose to watch in the media. The goal of the following lesson is to help students think about what they see and what the role of careers plays in the shows and movies they watch. The below lesson also brings in the opportunity to develop research skills and public speaking skills.

Robin Williams has shown us many career options
including President, Wish Granter, and Psychologist!

Guidance Lesson: Careers and the Media

Age level: Grade 6

Grouping:  Seated at desks in classroom in standard format

Objectives: Educate participating 6th grade students on the variety of possibilities in the career world and what a career entails. Students will share information based on guiding questions to further explore careers that they have noticed portrayed by the media.

Rationale: Your school’s counseling staff desires to encourage the exploration of careers in order to foster a culture of achievement and aspiration in students. By learning to recognize and evaluate potential careers and by learning to identify careers of interest, the 6th grade participants can actively pursue additional knowledge on the subject area.

 

ASCA Standards Met:

C:A1.3 - Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interests, and motivations.

C:A1.2 - Learn about the variety of traditional and nontraditional occupation.

C:B1.4 - Know the various ways in which occupations can be classified.

C:B1.5 - Use research and information resources to obtain career information.

C:B1.6 - Learn to use the internet to access career planning information.

C:B1.7 - Describe traditional and non-traditional occupations and how these relate to career choice.

C:B2.1 - Demonstrate awareness of the education and training needed to achieve career goals.

C:B2.5 - Maintain a career planning portfolio.

C:C1.1 - Understand the relationship between educational achievement and career success.

C:C2.3 - Learn to work cooperatively with others as a team member.

Materials Needed:

“Careers ‘n’ Stuff” PowerPoint (Get it here!)

Computer Access for students and presenter and availability of the following two websites:

http://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/ExploreCareers.aspx

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/explore-careers/careers

Class whiteboard to use at will (e.g. brainstorming career list)

Guiding questions worksheet (Get the worksheet here)

Room set up - Student’s normal classroom or computer room

Lesson (30 to 35+ minutes):

Introduction:

Introduce self and purpose of the day’s lesson: Today we are exploring careers we notice portrayed in the media. After brainstorming what careers are out there, we will have the opportunity to research a bit more into the details within those careers. At the end, we will share either an interesting fact about the career or one way the reality of the career differs from how the media portrays that career.

                                                                            ∑ 1 to 3 minutes

Primary Content:

To start with, invite students to activate previous knowledge through the following prompts:

What actors/actresses do our students enjoy? What careers/jobs do they portray in their films or tv shows? What are careers are found in your favorite movies or tv shows?

While students brainstorm careers, add them to a list. This list will guide what students may research in the next section. [8 minutes]

The Mindy Project shows us a different insight into doctors!

Transition into the research activity (e.g. ground rules for computer use, hand out worksheet).

“Now that we have a list of careers we have noticed, let’s look more closely at what goes into those careers...” [2 minutes]

Discuss the guiding questions (presented on the ppt and worksheet)

• What category does your chosen career fit into?
• What level of education do you need to enter into your specific career?
• What is the expected salary of this career?
• What is one difference between the information you found and how the media portrays the specific career?
• What is one interesting fact about your career?

Discuss categories of occupations - Each career can be described by one of these categories. Ask for examples of what careers come to mind for a couple of the categories.

Allow students time to find answers to the guiding questions for one of the careers that was suggested during the brainstorm activity. Provide examples of websites that may be helpful and circulate to better answer questions (two examples are already in the powerpoint). [12 minutes]

                                                                         ∑ 22 to 26 minutes

Examples of careers that can be found in 
“The Game Stands Tall” are teachers, coaches, and 
even potential football players!

Wrap-up:

Bring attention back to the class. Have students share either an interesting fact about the career they researched or one way it differs from how the media portrays that career.

Conclusion: “We have spent the last half hour discussing different career possibilities. You have shown that you can research careers and that you can identify how they may differ from their portrayal in the media. Before you leave, hand in your worksheets for your career planning portfolio. If you would like to meet with one of the counselors at another point to discuss career and/or planning options, you can schedule an appointment before you leave.” (If they want to schedule an appointment, distribute sign-up slips)

                                                                ∑ 30 to 35 minutes

Bill Murray also provides many career examples

Helpful Hints:

• For a printable version of the lesson plan use this link
• The list of Occupational Categories was found HERE! The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides more details about each category as well.
• Going around the classroom and having students share about what they learned will alter depending on the size of the class. This lesson may potentially take up to a full class period.
• To fill unused time in the class period, consider extending the allotted research time. Be sure to not allow so much time that the students become distracted or disinterested.
• Some students may need some extra time or assistance to develop their research skills. Be sure to check for progress with all students.
• If there is even more extra time, the facilitator of the lesson can encourage students to talk with adults they know about careers and job experience.
• If you want to further explore and discuss the differences between how media portrayals differ from the reality of any specific career an additional resource is the following article: http://career-advice.monster.com/job-search/company-industry-research/how-does-hollywood-see-your-career-hot-jobs/article.aspx
• And remember, it’s all about the kids. You got this!

Images retrieved from:

http://cponline.thecanadianpress.com/graphics/2014/static/cp-RobinWilliams-roles.jpg

http://www.everydayinfographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/the-many-careers-of-bill-murray_50290a8dcf60a.jpeg

http://www.dollzindubai.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/The-Mindy-Project-poster.jpg

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/whenthegamestandstall/assets/images/onesheet.jpg

Guidance Lesson: Resume Building (11th & 12th grade)

The purpose of this lesson is to explain what a resume is, its purpose and importance, and how to create one for a specific opportunity. When creating a resume, the most important thing to remember is context – why am I creating/using this resume? What am I trying to convey to my readers? Helping students get clear and specific on these points will not only create stronger resumes, it will foster a strength-based conversation of self-awareness and future planning that incorporates an awareness of others’ values and perspectives. All students have marketable traits, skills, talents, and experiences; the best thing a counselor can do for a student is help him/her see this for himself/herself.

This activity satisfies many ASCA standards, key among them are:

C:A1.3 Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interests, and motivations.

C:A2.6 Learn how to write a resume.

PS:A2.2 Respect alternative points of view.

What is a resume?

•      A resume is a brief representation of your personal, academic, and professional qualifications.

•      To effectively create a resume you must first take a personal inventory of your characteristics, skills, and achievements.

Activity 1 – Brainstorm

This will generate some content from which students may begin their resume later. Students will write down their ideas during this section.

·         Create a list of five of each:

·         Personality Traits and Strengths

o   Quick learner, personable

·         Interests

o   Sports, Debate, ASB

·         Skills

o   Microsoft Office, making copies

·         Experiences/Achievements

o   Previous employment, Teaching Assistant

What do you enjoy? Choose up to three or come up with your own.

Students should think about what they like, not just what they think that they “should” be doing.

• Working with your hands
• Playing sports
• Working with children
• Helping sick people
• Serving others
• Mathematics
• Reading
• Filing/Organizing
• Cooking
• Cleaning
• Working independently
• Learning
• Teaching
• Writing
• Arts

Choose a career field either from our list or one of your own. You are not bound to this choice; we will simply be using it to guide our activities today.

Ideally, the previous lists will help inform this choice so that students have sufficient content and interest to proceed.

• Government
• Health Care
• Service
• Non-profit
• Construction
• Landscaping
• Information Technology
• Sales/Retail
• Research
• Business
• Legal
• Education
• Hospitality

Activity 2 – Learning about resumes

This is the most passive part of the lesson, asking questions to the class will help keep students engaged.

What information is on a resume?

Resumes include a lot of information:

·         Contact Information

o   Name, Address, E-mail, Phone Number

·         Education

o   School, Grade Level, GPA, any degrees

·         Experience

o   Previous employment, Volunteer, Clubs/Teams

·         Leadership

·         Skills

·         Additional sector/content specific relevant details

Why is a resume so important?

•      Your resume may be the first and only impression to employers/admissions.

•      This is your opportunity to present yourself how you want to be perceived.

Remember your audience!

•      Tailor the resume to the specific employer

•      Edit, edit, edit

•      Include most recent and most relevant experiences

•      Adjust phrasing and emphasis

•      Be prepared to provide a contact to verify experiences.

Activity 3 – Resume writing

If computers are available, creating a flexible, updateable document is most useful and applicable for students.

Your turn!

·         Start by inputting your contact information

·         Choose your headings based on the role for which you are applying. What is most important for this position?

o   Education, Work Experience, Volunteer Experience, Skills, Leadership

·         Fill in the sections you chose.

Review your work – let students share what they have done and their rationale.

•      What did you include? What did you exclude?

•      How would you tailor your resume differently if you were looking for different position?

What’s next?

·         Always be updating your resume

·         Be sure to get background knowledge on the company before applying

o   Do they have any specific requirements or guidelines? Do they need an academic transcript? References? Recommendations? A cover letter?

·         Be on the lookout for new experiences!

·         There are many resume and career resources online – share from your local school district

·         Come to the Counseling office if you have any questions or want extra help. Our doors are always open!