Career Exploration

Students will go through different trials of matching careers to their salaries and education requirements. 

Students will select 2 positions that are currently hiring in their area to compare the job requirements, benefits, and hours. 

This activity will require a standard set of jenga. Optional preparation includes painting each block to correspond with one of the card colors. Students will take turns pulling out a block, selecting the card that matches the color of the block and answering college, career, and skill questions. Some cards are left blank to create your own questions! 

Arrange for a business person from the community who employs teenagers to talk to the students as a guest speaker. Students are provided with a list of questions to ask about the values and restrictions of working as a teenager. 

Students will use occupations and career clusters to identify possible careers. They will recognize the relationship between school-related learning experiences and preparation for future careers and job opportunities.

This lesson is designed to identify career areas that are expanding, research preparation needed for the next generation of jobs, and use the salary of one of these occupations to create a budget.

A mysterious creature has entered your home. Students will make 11 decisions for how they will handle this situation. Their problem solving skills will determine some potential career paths. 

Best suited for 7th-8th grade 

Students can search for different careers using myfuture.com. They will get a look at the projected openings, what personalities and characters are best suited,  and what skills are needed. 

Explore the Career One Stop library to watch short videos about different careers. Students can then read further into the occupations and learn about the projected openings, typical wages, and preferred talents/abilities.