Lesson Plan 01: Identifying Potential Career Interests

Title of the Lesson: Identifying Potential Career Interests

Intended Grade Level: Middle School (6th-8th grade)
Standards this lesson corresponds to: CCSS.LA.6.W.6.7,
Student Learning Objectives:

Identify personal interests and potential career interest areas

Learn about and describe three potential careers

Evaluate potential fit and interest in selected careers

Materials Needed:

An computer or tablet device with an Internet connection for each student or small group

Pencils or pens and copies of the attached worksheet for writing and taking notes

Description of What Students Will Do:

In this lesson students will start to explore their career interests by taking the O*Net
Interest Profiler which is a free online assessment tool as well as review selected interviews from
the Career Girls site. Students will write a reflection about their results and which career sounds
most interesting.
To introduce this lesson play the following Career Girls video clip of a role model talking
about why she became an astronaut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za8WuxNjRF0

Ask students to make a list of 10 things they love to dothese could be hobbies,
extracurricular activities, or school-related. Have students volunteer some of their interests to
write on the board. Discuss how these interests might or might not apply to future careers and
study.
Introduce the O*Net profiler and have students access the following website:
http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip. Explain that questions should be answered from the
basis of interests only and do not take into account skill or knowledge to do the work. The
assessment should take no more than 10-15 minutes for each student to complete.
The results of the assessment show the areas where students score higher between careers
that are:

Realistic

Social

Investigative

Enterprising

Artistic

Conventional

Have students note their top 3 interest categories in the attached worksheet and a brief
description of what those categories mean. Next, have students click to the Careers section of
the O*Net results and explore their career results. Have them review the results for all 5 jobs

zonesfrom those jobs requiring little preparation to those requiring the most preparation. Have
each student identify 3 careers from job zones 3-5 that they are interested in learning more about.
Next have students go the Career Girls website (www.careergirls.org) and find the three
careers they selected from the pull-down menu on the home page. Students may need help
finding related careers if the exact job title is not on that list.

Have them review the What I do and Great Part video clips for their three career
choices. There are multiple interviews for each career. Depending on the time available
students can review multiple interviews for each career and make notes about what these careers
entail and the elements that interest them.
Debrief with a discussion about students experience with the O*Net Profiler and what
they found. How clear our students ideas about what careers interest them? Was there
anything they found surprising about the results or information in the video interviews?
The following Career Girls video clip is a good way to wrap up the exercise and
encourage students to continue exploring and reassure them that they dont have to have a clear
idea yet, but that they should continue to explore:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnAJ7xT_W68

Final Reflection
Have students write a reflection or journal entry answering some or all of the following
questions:

How did the O*Net Interest Profiler results compare to the careers and interests
you identified on your own? Do you think this assessment was accurate in
identifying your interest areas? Why or why not?

Of all of the careers you reviewed, which one sounds most interesting? What does
a person in that career do?

Is this a career that you have thought about pursuing before? If not, why not?

Are there other careers that were not the Career Girls site or in your O*Net
Interest Profiler results that you would also be interested in exploring? List those
careers and why they interest you.

Student Assessment Strategy:

Students will complete the attached worksheet and produce a written reflection about the
results of their research on three potential careers. A sample rubric for grading the written
reflection is attached.

Additional Interest Inventories & Resources

If students are interested in exploring other interest and skill inventories here are some
links to other resources that are available:

iSEEK Skills Assessment: This is another free interest inventory that looks at skills in
multiple areas.

CliftonYouth Strengths Explorer ($7.95): A version of Gallups StrengthsFinder for

adults, this test is specifically geared for students aged 10-14 and identifies 10 possible
talent themes.

ACT test & Career Planning: The ACT test includes a comprehensive interest inventory
as part of the test, although that inventory is not available separately.

Interest Assessment Worksheet

10 things I love to do:

Top 3 Interest areas from

the O*Net Assessment:

Which means I like:

1._______________________

______________________________

2._______________________

______________________________

3._______________________

______________________________

Career Option #1: ______________________________________________

What do they do?

Career Option #2: ______________________________________________

What do they do?

Career Option #3: ______________________________________________

What do they do?

SAMPLE GRADING RUBRIC

4

Excellent

Very Good

Fair

Poor

The student
writes three or
more complete
sentences to
answer
questions.
Demonstrates a
thorough
understanding of
writing prompts
and answers
them completely.
Grammar and Very few, if any,
convention
grammatical or
spelling errors.

The student
writes complete
sentences to
answer
questions. Most
questions are
answered
thoroughly.

Answers are
brief and could
be elaborated on
more fully.

Incomplete work
or answers. Does
not demonstrate
understanding of
the writing
prompt or
assignment.
.

Few grammar
and spelling
errors.

Some grammar
and spelling
errors.

Numerous
grammar and
spelling errors.

Clarity &
Organization

Student uses
language that is
precise and
engaging. The
students
experiences and
opinions are
clear. Student
presents ideas in
a logical
progression.

Student uses
language that is
mostly clear.
Student presents
ideas in a logical
progression

Students writing
could be more
clear.
Organization of
thoughts and
ideas needs some
work.

Organization of
thoughts and
information is
difficult to
follow. Language
and writing is
unclear.

Style and
vocabulary

Student uses a
variety of
sentence lengths,
words, and
transitions.
No run-on
sentences or
fragments

Student uses a
good variety of
sentences and
words, but there
is some
repetition.

Student writing
lacks variety, but
there are no
sentence
fragments or run
on sentences.

Writing and
word choices
lack variety.
Writing may
include sentence
fragments and
run on sentences.

Criteria
Elaboration