By: Katie Pingle, Secondary Education MajorWestern Michigan University

Intended Students: This lesson plan aims to help students grade 11 & 12 in post-secondary planning

Estimated Timeline for Teaching: Included 5 days of 50-60, but full unit could take up to three weeks (some parts are optional, depends on teacher’s choices of projects in final portfolio).

UNIT OVERVIEW:

As students approach graduation, all students ponder… what next? This lesson plan is designed to explore career options which best reflect a student’s interests and abilities. While researching and forming post-secondary goals, students will further develop writing skills. More specifically, students will have the opportunity to use prewriting to begin their exploration, self-reflection for interpreting symbols in writing, drafting, and peer review to grow as writers. Through the detailed portion of this unit, students will find purpose in writing by developing a professional letter to someone in a career they wish to further explore which students will ultimately mail. With completion of the whole unit, students will have experienced writing in a genre practical to their future. In addition, students will leave the classroom having thought about possible career options which can aide them in post-secondary planning.

THEORY TO PRACTICE:

In creating this lesson plan, I have considered “Best Practice” techniques. Zemelman et al (2005) “when students take ownership of their writing, there’s actually much more teaching than before, and it’s focused on higher-level thinking” (88). This assignment allows students the opportunity to make their own posters based on personal reasoning, research careers which interest them, and write letters filled with their own questions to an actual person in the career field they are interested in. “Best Practice” strategies including student reflection of work, using brief mini-lessons to craft writing, portfolio assessments, and real purpose and audience (Zemeleman et al, 2005) are also infused within this lesson. Ideas were also reflective of The English Language Arts Handbook 7th Edition by Tchudi and Tchudi. Tchudi & Tchudi (1999) claim that reading should take place along with writing, and that using the Internet is a source which should be utilized as students enjoy it. As you will notice, this unit does not include the reading of a novel. Yet, reading is involved in a format which students do in their spare time.

And what will I do with my Life? Exploring Career Options for High School Students

Thus, if allowing students to browse the web is what it takes to engage reading in writing, embrace it. After all, student engagement leads to learning (Zemelemen et al, 2005).

Tchudi, Susan and Tchudi, Stephen. (1999). The English Language Arts Handbook, 2nd Edition. Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc: Portsmouth, NH.

Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., Hyde, A. (2005). Best Practice in Writing. Best Practice, Third Edition. (78-105). Heinemann:Portsmouth, NH.

STUDENT OBJECTIVES:1. Students will use symbols to express his/her interests and abilities visually2. Students will enhance self-reflective skills 3. Students will explore the Internet to gain knowledge4. Students will use example texts to guide their own writing5. Students will learn how to incorporate varying sentence structure 6. Students will use peer review to grow as writers7. Students will use the notion of writing as a process in developing as writers8. Students will write in a new genre that is useful for their futures9. Students will reflect over the process in making their portfolios.

MET MICHIGAN CONTENT EXPECTATIONS Day 1Making postersCE 1.2.2 Write, speak, and visually represent to develop self-awareness and insight (e.g., diary, journal writing, portfolio self-assessment)

CE 1.2.3 Write, speak, and create artistic representations to express personal experience and perspective (e.g., personal narrative, poetry, imaginative writing, slam poetry, blogs, webpages)CE 1.5.1 Use writing, speaking, and visual expression to develop powerful, creative and critical messages

Day 2Reading through careercruising.comCE 1.4.7 Recognize the role of research, including student research, as a contribution to collective knowledge, selecting an appropriate method or genre through which research findings will be shared and evaluated, keeping in mind the needs of the prospective audience. (e.g., presentations, online sharing, written productssuch as a research report, a research brief, a multi-genre report, I-Search, literary analysis, news article)CE 2.1.3 Determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, specialized vocabulary, figurative language, idiomatic expressions, and technical meanings of terms through context clues, word roots and affixes, and the use of appropriate resource materials such as print and electronic dictionaries.CE 2.1.7 Demonstrate understanding of written, spoken, or visual information by restating, paraphrasing, summarizing, critiquing, or composing a personal response; distinguish between a summary and a critiqueDay 3

CE 1.3.3 Compose essays with well-crafted and varied sentences demonstrating a precise, flexible, and creative use of language.

CE 1.4.1 Identify, explore, and refine topics and questions appropriate for researchCE 1.4.5 Develop organizational structures appropriate to the purpose and message, and use transitions that produce a sequential or logical flow of ideaDay 4 From Peer ReviewCE 1.1.8 Proofread to check spelling, layout, and font; and prepare selected pieces for a public audience.CE 1.5.3 Select format and tone based on the desired effect and audience, using effective written and spoken language, sound, and/or visual representations (e.g., focus, transitions, facts, detail and evidence to support judgments, skillful use of rhetorical devices, and a coherent conclusionCE 2.1.11 Demonstrate appropriate social skills of audience, group discussion, or work team behavior by listening attentively and with civility to the ideas of others, gaining the floor in respectful ways, posing appropriate questions, and tolerating ambiguity and lack of consensusFrom Grammar lessonCE 1.1.6 Reorganize sentence elements as needed and choose grammatical and stylistic options that provide sentence variety, fluency, and flow.Day 5Email to teacherCE 4.1.1 Use sentence structures and vocabulary effectively within different modes (oral and written, formal informal) and for various rhetorical purposes

RESOURCESTeachers will need to consider the following in completing this unit

Construction Paper, magazines, scissors, glue, tape, markers, colored pencils, pencils, lined paper

Computer lab check out for research days Ability to print Need school subscription to careercruisor.com (or teacher will need

to find new career information website with assessments for students)

Printer for students to useTEACHER PREPARATIONS Teacher will need to make photocopies of all included worksheets specific for students. Teacher will need to consider peer review layout of his/her classroom. Students could be instructed

to rearrange desks, but teacher may wish to assign specific students to work with others depending on the class.

DETAILED LESSON PLAN

Day One: Poster About Me! (Prewriting Activity/ Foundation for Unit)

Instructions for night before: Have students bring in magazines, pictures, favorite quotes, art supplies. Tell them what they will be doing the next day so they can brainstorm.

Bring in colored pencils, markers, large construction paper (as background), scissors, glue, tape

Allow students to use computers to find clipart to print off Students will represent their interests, skills and personalities visually through symbols

(given the whole 60 minutes to work on this) We will work on this in class, but students will take this home to finish for homework if

not complete (but the goal will be to finish in class). Use following sheets for brainstorming this activity and activity handout sheet for

students (next page)

Who Am I????What do I like to do: What am I interested in?

What am I good at? What represents me?

Represent You! Next, be creative! Scan magazines, surf the web, draw pictures.. anything that you can think of to represent yourself visually. Like sports? Glue on some athletic gear. Do you like spending time with kids? Find a picture of a playground. We will be making posters with these representations. Show me who you are!

Day Two: Reflection on Posters

Students will reflect on their posters and explain why they chose specific symbols to represent themselves in written form and to consider which of these traits are most important to them. (10 minutes) This will be done as a journal (see journal entry 1)

Students will be introduced to Careercruisor.com Students will take the “Career Matchmaker” Quiz ( expect 5 to 10 minutes) Students will take the “My Skills” sections Quiz (expect 5 to 10 minutes) Students will print off the list of careers suggested to them Have students explore the website information on their suggested careers (remainder of

class)o Explore sections “at a glance, job description, working condition, earnings,

education” of specific jobs. I will give students a list of information that they should print out and put into a folder

to use later on ( see Careercrusing assignment sheet next page). Send students home to look over information of job interested in, and look up

information on the computer more (optional).

Journal Entry for students:

Journal Entry (10 minutes)----

Great work on your “Who Am I” posters yesterday! I’d like to know more about them from you. Respond to the following questions in your journals for today:

What do the symbols represent? What kinds of things did you discover about yourself? Which of these personality traits/interests/ skills are most important to you in a career? Please provide specific examples from your posters when explaining your answers.

Career Cruising Instructions for Students:

Log on to www.careercruising.com

Enter school given username****** and password ******

Take assessments

1. Career Matchmaker Quiz (print)

2. My skills (print)

Explore: Look around the website and explore the list of suggested careers. Read categories “job description”, “working conditions” “earnings”, “education” “sample career plan”. Also, read the “day in the life of” section of your interests. Print of any information on careers you find interesting.

** We will be using information from today the rest of the week. Please make sure that you have all of the above information printed out from your top career choice(s).

Day Three: What’s a good career for me?

We will use all of the information from the Poster About Me and career interests in crafting a letter to a person in the field.

5 minutes discussion of letter Students given instruction sheet “professional letter” Students given template business letter Students given rubric The remainder of the class time will be devoted to working on the drafts. Students will be instructed to finish drafts at home if they do not complete them in

class.

Profession Letter: It’s a lil diff than textin’ to ya bff !

Assignment: Write a letter to someone in the career field you are exploring about why you are interested in their profession based on your personality traits/interests/ abilities. Your writing should take a tone appropriate to the career you are interested in (you wouldn’t use language like LOL in a letter to a CEO of Pepsi..). The letter should also include information on what you have learned about the profession through the careercruising website, as well as questions you have about their field of work.

To start, make a rough outline of what you will be writing about to organize your thoughts. Once your thoughts are organized, begin drafting your paper.

Rubric for Professional Letter

1 (Not yet, keep trying) 3 (Almost there..) 5 (Exactly!)Does the author introduce the topic by engaging the reader?Is the body of this letter supported with reasonAre personal interests/talents/ skills addressed and supportedIs it evident that the writer has done their research on the career by explaining what they have learned about the career.Are questions asked for the intended reader regarding their field of work?Does the writer provide a logical endingIs this letter appropriate for the audience? Right tone?Does this look like a business letter? Proper heading, letter format (see business letter template page)Are grammatical and spelling errors minimal?

First teacher read through---- Students will be instructed to go back though paper making changes to areas assigned “1” and “3” as well as to the notes I write in the margins. Unless student receives all “5” ratings and no suggestions, everyone will be revising their original drafts (it will be uncommon that some revisions will not occur).

Second teacher read through— All students will be able to edit their work after the second read through, but are not required to do so.

Day Four: Peer review

Students will be given questionnaire for peer review, which focuses on idea development.

Students will follow the review sheet with a partner (20-30 minutes) A mini lesson will be given on “varying sentence beginning” because we want our

readers to be interested in what we are writing. Look for the lesson sheet with this. These will be given to students, read out loud, and then students will look through their own writing to vary sentence structure (20+ minutes).

Students will be given the remainder of time to reread their own papers, comments made by peers, and incorporate varying sentence structures.

Tomorrow edited drafts will be due to teacher for review.

Peer Review “Professional Letter”

1: Students will read through the letters without considering the questions below to get feel of the letters. Then they will discuss with their partner what the main idea of the letter is. 1) What career they

are interested in 2) What skills and interests they have which make them believe they will be good at this career 3)What they know about the career 4) What questions they have about the career.

2: Students will then read though the letter and answer the following questions, making suggestions to areas the author could improve upon.

Questions for Peer Review:

Does the author introduce the topic by engaging the reader?

Is the body of this letter supported with reason?

Are personal interests/talents/ skills addressed and supported?

Is it evident that the writer has done their research on the career by explaining what they have learned about the career?

Are questions asked for the intended reader regarding their field of work?

Does the writer provide a logical ending ?

Is this letter appropriate for the audience? Right tone?

Grammar mini-lesson- varying sentence beginningshttp://intensive-english.blogspot.com/2009/01/25-varying-sentence-beginnings.html

Let’s mix up our sentence structure. Because we want our readers to be engaged in our writing, the following suggestions will help us ensure just that!

1. A prepositional phrase -

Through your help I was able to move on with life.In three to four years, you'll have your money back.

2. An infinitive phrase -

To reach his goals, Justin must practice writing everyday.To love you, I need to love myself first.

3. A participial phrase -

Playing all afternoon, the children are now tired.Ignoring you all day, I now found myself full of regrets.

4. A direct object - The cake, I gave to my boyfriend.The letter, I read it to to you.

5. A dependent clause - Although I love you, I still need to leave.By doing it, Justin is now happy.

Now, you try! Pick a sentence from your business letter draft which can be transformed:

Original Sentence:

Circle which technique would you like to try :

Prepositional phrase infinite phrase participial phrase

Direct object dependent clause

Use this technique with your sentence:

Isn’t that more interesting?? Let’s experiment some more with our own work!

Day Five: Final Project Overview

Discuss final project- which will include a presentation board (the 3-fold 3 feet wide ones). Will include student poster made day 1, journal response to poster from day 1, various sections from the careercruising.com website which students found helpful.

Instruct on beginning of a hypothetical job search, through Monster.com, classified ads, basic web searching.

Have students pay specific attention to the education and skills needed Final projects (2 weeks away) will include post-secondary plans which will lead students

to their desired careers. Write an email/ handwritten note if unable to get to a computer that night to me giving

a brief overview of what job you have found (students will get a couple points for this) Remainder of time, students will be in a circle discussing what career choices they are

exploring. Points given for 2 oral responses: 1 of student discussing what they have researched, 1 for offering suggestions/asking questions to classmate about other student’s discussion point.

FINAL PROJECT OVERVIEW

“About Me” Poster Self-Reflection on “About Me Poster” Careercruising printoffs Draft of professional letter Peer Review sheet of professional letter Final copy of professional letter Reponses from professional letter from business if one is received back Possible additions from other weeks

o Resumeo Cover lettero Future goals/ plan for reaching these goals