Your future begins with YOU and the decisions that you make today...tomorrow and the day after. What classes you choose, what after-school jobs you have, what you do in your spare time---these all shape your future. The choice is YOURS!
There are literally 1,000's of careers
to choose from (and new ones are being created everyday). How
do you figure out which careers you might like to try? It takes
some thought, creativity, and research. Middle school is a time
of great exploration and discovery. In the following exercise
you will have the opportunity to learn about yourself and the
world around you.
The Task
Your task is to learn about yourself. You will also research a career and make a presentation to your class-mates.
To find what work related interests you have, what abilities you have and what's important to you in a job, take two or more career interest surveys.
After analyzing your results, choose one career that you want to learn more about. For this career, find the answers to these questions:
Summarize how the above information relates to you personally:
Do you feel you have the skills needed or could learn them? Is the training/education required consistent with your future plans. Will the salary and work conditions support the kind of life style you envision for yourself (ask your parents about lifestyle and money considerations)?
Career Picture Presentation
Imagine yourself in the career you researched. Get together with 3 or 4 other members of the class whose careers relate to yours. Form a company or association that would encompass all the careers in your group. For example, it could be a hospital or a medical group (e.g. hospital administrator or office manager, physicians, dieticians, therapists, computer operators, emergency medical technicians), a large manufacturing or retail firm (positions could include engineers, lawyers, salespeople, designers, secretaries, advertising writer etc.), a school etc. Prepare a group presentation that will illustrate group member's careers to the class. Include in your presentation what employment trends may affect your business or field. It can include (but is not limited to) imaginary:
Online
Books and Other Resources
One fourth of your grade will be on your use of references. You are required to use a minimum of 3 to 5 different sources of information to do your career research. List the resources you used on a separate piece of paper. Title this sheet of paper "References". The resources used should be listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name. The examples below explain what information is necessary to include on a reference and in what format to put it in.
Magazine or Journal Articles
List the author(s)' last name and initial of their first name. In parentheses put the year the article was published. Next, list the title of the article. The name of the magazine or journal comes and the journal number comes next (this is in italics). This is followed by the page numbers of the article n (example follows).
Benson, D. (1997). Technology training: Meeting teacher's changing needs. Principal, 76, 17-19.
Books
List the author(s) last name and initial of their first name. In parentheses put the year the book was published. This is followed by the name of the book (in italics). Finally, list the city and state where the book was published and the name of the publishing company (example follows).
Cummins, J. & Sayers, D. (1997). Brave New Schools: Challenging Cultural Illiteracy. New York, N.Y., St. Martin's Press.
Web-Sites
List the author(s) last name and first name (Note: if no author is listed, put the name of the organization that sponsors the page such as "University of Misssouri"). Then put the title of the article or webpage. In brackets put the word [Online] followed by the word "Available" and the URL, then list the date you viewed this website (example follows).
DiStefano,Vince. Guidelines for
better writing. [Online] Available http://www.usa.net~vinced/home/better-writing.html, April 5, 1999.
Process
This assignment is worth 5 grades (500 points). Points will be awarded as follows:
100 pts. - interest survey results, analysis and summary
100 pts. -references
100 pts. -career information (did you answer all the questions)
100 pts. -creativity, effort and neatness of presentation
100 pts. -group effort and cooperation
Successful career planning requires knowledge about the many careers that exist in today's world and insight into what your interests, abilities, and work values are. The more you know about the world around you and about world within you (yourself), the easier it will be to make wise choices about your future.
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