WEBQUEST

FIND A CAREER THAT Y0U LOVE AND YOU WILL NEVER HAVE TO WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE

Brainerd High School

Grades 9 - 12

Career Management for Success

Developed by Jay R. (Bob) Hudson

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

March 31, 2003

Education 575 Educational Technology

Presented to:  Dr. Deborah McAllister

In Partial fulfillment of Master of Education

Introduction/Purpose/Reminder of Preceding and Ensuing Events | Quest(ions) and the Task | Process | Resources | Evaluation | Conclusion | References | Teacher Information

Introduction/Purpose/Reminder of Preceding and Ensuing Events

Each student has successfully completed the unit and activities involved in determining anticipated costs of and developing a budget for a desired lifestyle.  Now that you know a beginning level of how much money you need to earn to reach and maintain that lifestyle, it is time to explore careers. 

Have you thought about the work you want to do? If you had to make a career choice now, how would you approach the task? 

Quest(ions) and the Task

Working in a team of four, you are going to evaluate your interests and skills, and use this information to determine your personality type.  With this information each team member will:  

·        Make a list of 10 careers, which would best suit your  personality type.

·        Remember, your teammates need to find employment, also. 

·        From a list of fastest growing occupations, mark which occupations on your list are among the fastest growing occupations.

·        Pick two occupations from your list and research the careers.  One of the careers should require no more schooling than a high school diploma and the other career should require post-secondary education coursework or training.

·        Evaluate the careers and select the one for which you and your teammates have reached consensus, are best suited, and find most desirable.  Your team will develop a presentation/report for the class explaining and justifying your selected career choices.                                      

Process

Step 1. Complete the Career Interests Test

ü      Go to http://www.careerkey.org/english/you/ to take the Career Interests Test to determine your career interests.

ü     Go back to http://www.careerkey.org/english/you/ to take the Jobs That Fit Your Holland Personality Type, then use Career Interests Game  to determine your personality type.  The first part of this activity can be done with a printed version of this page.  However, to find a career to match your type, you must click on the titles above the colored blocks on this page.  

Step 2.  Make and evaluate a list of careers that fit your personality

ü      Go back to the game page, click on your first choice, and make a list of 10 careers from the list.

ü     From the list of Fastest Growing Occupations, find which careers on your list match this list.  Each person in the group is to write a one- page report agreeing or disagreeing with the following statement:  “The most important consideration in choosing a career is whether the career is a fast growing career.”  

Step 3.   Choose a career to investigate

ü     From your list of 10 career choices, select 2 careers to investigate.  Each person on the team must select different careers.  One career choice must require a high school diploma as the highest schooling requirement.  The other career choice must require post-secondary education or training.  Use may use the following links for investigative purposes: 

     JobWeb

     America's Career InfoNet

    Work and Career from UsNews.com

    Careers OnLine Virtual Careers Show

Step 4.  Investigate the career

Collect information to prepare your part of the team’s presentation/report.  Your presentation/report should include information on the following topics: 

ü     Training or education required for the two career choices;

ü     Prospects for the future in this career;

ü     Expected salary range;

ü     Unexpected positive or negative aspects of the career.

In addition, each teammate should indicate their personality type and how the careers they investigated would suit their personality type. 

Step 5.  Make a group report

The team may present their information to the class using PowerPoint, HyperStudio, or some other software.  The report must include information about each teammate.  Tell about the chosen careers and explain why the team members reached consensus career choices are appropriate for each team member.

Resources

Other resources that may be used to complete the tasks may include:

Evaluation

To be the CEO (grade of A)

·         Each person on your team referred to information found on the Internet to support the choice expressed in their two page written report from step 2.

·         Each person on the team presented some portion of the multimedia report.

·         Careers for two job hunters were presented with justification for why the career fit or did not fit each person.

·         The PowerPoint or HyperStudio presentation included more than one image from the Internet and more than one direct quote from the Internet.

To be a Vice President (grade of B)

·         Every team member wrote a report, but not everyone used information found on the Internet to support the choice expressed in their two page written report.

·         Each person on the team presented some portion of the multimedia report.

·         Careers for two job hunters were presented without justification for why the each career fit each person.

·         The PowerPoint or HyperStudio presentation included one image from the Internet and one direct quote from the Internet.

To be a Middle Manager (grade of C)

·         Every team member wrote a report, but no one used information found on the Internet to support the choice expressed in their two page written report.

·         More than one person presented some portion of the multimedia report.

·         Careers for both job hunters were presented.

·         The PowerPoint or HyperStudio presentation included one image from the Internet, or one direct quote from the Internet.

To be an Intern Trainee (grade of D)

·         Some of the team members did not write the written report assigned in step 2.

·         One person presented all of the multimedia report.

·         Career for only one person was presented.

·         The PowerPoint or HyperStudio presentation did not include an image from the Internet or a direct quote from the Internet.

To be out of work (grade of F)

·         No one in the group wrote the report assigned in step 2.

·         No multimedia report was presented.

·         No careers were presented.

Conclusion

These activities were designed to give you a feel of how to use the Internet to research a career.  Few people will work for the same employer for their entire working career, and almost no one will work the same job until retirement.  Remember that it is true, that “If you choose a career you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”  While that may not be true every day, or every minute of your career, but for the most part, if you enjoy your job, it really does not feel like work. 

Some fortunate and lucky employers really cannot believe that they get paid to do things they enjoy so much.  Samuel Clemmons, alias the famous author, Mark Twain (of Huckleberry Finn fame), summarizes the belief that it is important to “choose a vocation that is likened to a vacation.”   For that reason, the skills you started to develop in these exercises will be important to you as you plan a career.  Some useful career sources to remember or revisit are: 

If you want to do a deeper investigation into your basic personality type there are other places to find information about yourself on the Internet.  One of those is the Keirsey Temperament Sorter.  Good luck!  I hope each of your careers is challenging, rewarding, and a good fit with your personality, and, of course, I hope you never have to “work” a day in your life!

References

Bingham, M., Stryker, S., Friedman, & Light, L.  (2000).  Instructor’s and counselor’s guide for career choices.  California: Academic Innovations.   

Bureau of Labor Statistics.   Retrieved March 29, 2003, from http://www.adin.org/lmi/usafast.htm

Byles, B.  (2002).  Butcher, baker, candlestick maker…what will my next career be?  Retrieved March 27, 2003, from  http://www.internet4classrooms.com/career.htm

Career.missiouri.edu.   (2000).  The career interests game.  Retrieved March 29, 2003, from  http://career.missouri.edu/article.php?sid=146

Jones, L. K.  (2003).  Your choices.  Retrieved March 27, 2003, from http://www.careerkey.org/english/you/

Keirsey, D. M.  (2002).  Temperament: Different drums, different drummers.  Retrieved March 29, 2003, from http://keirsey.com/

Tennessee Department of Education.   Retrieved March 29, 2003, from http://www.state.tn.us/education/ veticarmngmntsuccstand.pdf

Tennessee Department of Education.  Retrieved March 29, 2003, from http://www.k-12.state.tn.us/voced/vetestandards.html

U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Retrieved March 29, 2003, from http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocoiab.htm

Teacher Information

Debriefing

This product should help improve learning as it incorporates sound, research- based methods that promote learning.  The methods included involve cooperative learning, a variety of Howard Gardner’s research based learning styles (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, math, language, inter and intra personal). 

How This Activity Might Be Improved/Expanded

The time and effort involved in planning these activities should result in achievement of the objectives in order to for the students to master the standards.  The models and examples used as references are excellent.  In order to determine how this activity might be improved or expanded, it would have to be actually be used and critiqued by those for its intended use – high school students.