Careers

High School Family & Consumer Science Course

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Week 1: April 6-10

Learning Goal: Discover the power of setting goals.

Setting goals is a vital practice that can benefit anyone with a dream or a vision for their future. Young people who are just starting out on the grand journey of life are at a particularly opportune time to start building goal setting skills. Not only will these skills serve them throughout their lives, but building them now will help them mold their future into one that they desire.

  • Student: I can identify what is important to me and begin setting educational, career, and personal goals.

Estimated Time for The Week: 40 minutes

Learn & Practice:

  • Watch: Setting a SMART goal Youtube Video
  • Read: Look up what a goal is. What are some examples of different types of goals? Long term vs. short term.
  • Create: Goal Setting Worksheet
  • Share: Why is it important to share your goals with someone? Does it help keep you accountable? Who are you going to share them with? Friends, family, on Social Media?
  • Reflect: Are you convinced Goal Setting Works? Look back and reflect on when you have set a goal: maybe in a sport, grades, and/ or hobby. Did setting that goal help you stay on task? Was it rewarding?

Week 2: April 13-17

Learning Goal: Career Exploration

Do you want to be a Lifeguard this summer? Explore the career and discover why and how math is also used in the career.

  • Students will gain an understanding how lifeguards use ratios, proportions and percentages in their daily jobs. This is something you can do with family members or use Social Media and “compete” with your friends online.

Estimated Time for The Week: 40 minutes

Learn & Practice:

  • Watch: Lifeguard Training
  • Website: OK College Start
  • Create an account if you have not already done so.
  • Sign-in into your online account site:
    • a. Click Career Planning
    • b. Click Explore Careers, then enter “lifeguard” in the search window and read the associated articles.
  • Create: 2. Divide into groups of three (with friends or family members) and look at the Life-Saver Anyone? Worksheet and Life-Saver Anyone? Student Activity Sheet (Click on the links in #3.)
  • 3. Complete the Worksheet, recording the group’s results on the Student Activity Sheet.
  • Reflect: People who tend to succeed in this type of job are categorized as :
    • Realistic – You are a "doer". You like physical activities and projects. You like to find the answers to problems by doing hands-on work instead of talking about solutions.
    • Social: You are a “helper”. You like being around people and helping them.
      • Does this describe you? Would you make a good Lifeguard?

Week 3: April 20-24

Careers

Learning Goal:

I can take a personal assessment, research career options, explore scholarships available, investigate educational opportunities to prepare for my future.

  • Who employs over 170,00 in the Oklahoma City Metro area?
  • What single employer employs engineers, finance, chaplains, medical and mental health care workers, pilots, law enforcement officers, roboticists, social workers, international intelligence, and pilots?
  • What is a cartographer? A phlebotomist? An ocularist? What other unique careers can you find?
  • Which careers might you be good at?
  • What are the average salaries, employ benefits, and educational requirements of various careers?
  • Where can I find Scholarships that would be good for me? Could this help my family?

Estimated Time for The Week: # hours, # 1 hour, 15 minutes

Learn & Practice:

  • Explore: This website: https://www.tinker.af.mil/ Go to Careers, then click on the “Civilian” option on the right.
  • Watch the videos on this website.
  • Explore: the website, OK College Start Create an account if not already done.
  • Take: at least two assessments by clicking on the Career Planning tab; choose the Learn About Yourself section and then select Interest Profiler.first. Choose another assessment to analyze your strengths. (There are six altogether.) This can assess what career fields would be better for YOU!
  • Discover: what careers pop up!

Are any of the options a surprise? Do you think this is accurate for you?

  • Research - at least three different careers.
  • Explore the website and share with your family. How can this website help my family?
  • Reflect: What did you discover? Was it a surprise or did it confirm what you already know about yourself? What benefits are offered with employment? Insurance? Paid vacation? Educational and training options?
  • Use what you found: Does this give you strength to move forward in your career endeavors and continued education?
  • Share: “fun things I found out.”

Week 4: April 27 - May 1

Career Orientation, Week #4

Learning Goal: Students will be able to discover what Soft Skills are and their importance in the workplace.

Estimated time: 45 minutes

Learn & Practice:

To help remember these skills, let’s use the term the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. principles:

  • Shake hands
  • Posture
  • Eye contact
  • Charm
  • Introduce yourself
  • Ask a question
  • Learn and listen
  • Reflect and Analyze: After watching the video and doing the worksheet what did you learn? Did you realize how important these skills are to your career success? Go through each principle and evaluate why each one is important.
  • Create: a job portfolio tracking the things you learn as you start interviewing for jobs. Whether you get the job or not, what did you learn? What went well? What could you have done better?

Share: Ask your parents or an adult about how they use these Soft Skills in their jobs.

Week 5: May 4-8

Career Orientation, Week #5

Learning Goal: Students will develop an understanding of a good and strong work ethic. They will learn to recognize their own work ethic and realize that it may change or be tested from situation to situation.

Estimated time: 45 minutes

Learn & Practice:

  • Watch: 10 essential Work Ethics
  • Do: ethics 8-11.pdf
  • Website: Additional resources to explore Job Genius
  • Practice: Most employers find a strong work ethic is the best thing an employee can possess. Even if the employee does not have full understanding of his job responsibilities, if he has a strong work ethic, employers usually will be happy to teach and train him.
    • Why do you think this is true?
    • Would it be better to have an employee who had a lot of knowledge about the job, but was unreliable, or an employee who didn’t know very much about the job, but worked extremely hard?
    • Where do you think you would fall?


  • Reflect and Analyze: It may be easy to answer ethical questions when they are listed on paper, as they are on the quiz you took in the link above, but sometimes the circumstances can make these answers much more difficult. Sometimes our work ethic is tested. At these times, we need to learn to focus on ethical decisions and options. To explore this idea further read the case studies about different scenarios, also in the link above.


  • Create: Brainstorm all the different options.
    • Write ideas in your folder.
    • For the first Case study, your possible answers could include:
        • Say “no” to Melissa and follow through with the commitment.
        • Call and cancel – telling Mrs. Stevens the truth.
        • Call in sick. Make up an excuse.

Share: Ask your parents or an adult about how they view Ethics in their jobs. Do they feel they are just as important as other skills?

Week 6: May 11-13

Career Orientation, Week 6

Learning Goal: Job Interviews

I can research effective techniques to use when preparing for job interviews.

Estimated Time for The Week: 1 hours, 30 minutes

Learn & Practice:

(Gentle reminders - do not pull your hair up in a baseball cap to go to a job interview! Men’s ties should touch the top of the belt. Tall men sometimes have to purchase extra long tie lengths, which are available from various vendors.)

  • Check out: the EPS Dashboard for Week 6 in the Fashion and Textiles class to see “How to Tie a Tie.” FYI: Even some females are required at some jobs to wear a tie.
  • Watch: video - How to ask for a job application
  • Create: or update your resume, if you have not already done so.
  • Practice: interviewing for a job by conducting a mock interview. Find an adult friend, parent, or business person to help you with this endeavor. Dress for the interview as if it were really happening. Prepare a resume and portfolio to present to the interviewer. Select a job that you could actually qualify for as a teenager. Look on-line to find an application form, if possible. Video this process so that you may observe and critique your body language and responses. Practicing will help make the process easier.

Try: a Zoom interview. Many companies have already begun using this method, particularly for out-of-state job applicants. Share: the information you have learned with your family. Discuss: What were their job interview experiences?

Was this information helpful? Share with your teacher. What else do you need to do to prepare for a job interview?


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