Career Preparation Curriculum

Transcription

1 Career Preparation Curriculum Teacher s Guide Developed by

2 Maine Career Advantage Connecting Maine Students to Maine Businesses Revised November 2002 Copyright 2002 Center for Career Development 2 Fort Road, SMTC South Portland, ME Telephone (207) Fax (207) The Center for Career Development hereby grants the holder of this document permission to photocopy selections from this document for nonprofit and educational use only. If you believe there are copyrighted works in this document that are not fair use or for which proper attribution is not provided, please notify us immediately. For information on the contents of this document, please write, call, or fax: Wayne Boardman wboardman@ccdme.org The Maine Technical College System does not discriminate and complies with applicable laws prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, national origin or citizenship status, age, disability or veteran status in employment, education, and all other areas of the System. The System provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities, upon request

3 Career Preparation Curriculum Teacher s Guide Table of Contents Preface The Career Portfolio Lesson Plan 1A Handout: Lesson Plan 1B Lesson Plan 2 What Career Might Be Best for Me? What Career Might Be Best for Me? (9 pages) Career Choices: Interests, Values, and Skills O*NET Work Importance Locator package (37 pages) Job Shadowing Career Exploration Next Steps (1 page) Job Shadowing Questions To Ask (2 pages) Developing the Career Portfolio Career Portfolio (14 pages) Career Portfolio Student Checklist (1 page) Career Portfolio Feedback Form (1 page) Lesson Plan 3 Lesson Plan 4 Lesson Plan 5 Lesson Plan 6 Lesson Plan 7 Appendix Letters of Recommendation Who Makes a Good Reference? (1 page) Resume Writing Resume Worksheet (3 pages) Creating the Effective Resume (2 pages) Resume Tips and Suggestions (1 page) Fill in the Blank Resume Form (1 page) Action Verbs to Strengthen Your Resume (1 page) Sample Resume (1 page) Cover Letter/Letter of Introduction Writing Cover Letter Tips and Suggestions (1 page) Cover Letter Guide (1 page) Sample Cover Letter #1 (1 Page) Sample Cover Letter #2 (1 Page) Sample Letter of Introduction (1 Page) Interviewing Skills The 5-Part Interview (2 pages) Interview Questions to Think About (1 page) Mock Interview Evaluation (1 page) Goal Setting SMART Goal Setting (1 page) Career and Intermediate Goals (1 page) SMART GOALS Worksheet (1 page) Internet Resources for Job Searches (1 page) Career Preparation Maine Learning Results (1 page)

4 PREFACE The Career Preparation Curriculum Teacher s Guide presents busy educators with a quick, meaningful way to implement the Career Portfolio. The goal of the Guide is to provide clear objectives, age-appropriate lesson plans, and measurable outcomes. Through a step-by-step process, students will compile important personal, educational, and career information and incorporate this information into the Career Portfolio. A completed portfolio enables students to showcase their acquired learning, increase their chances for quality employment and/or admission to college, and reflect achievement of the Learning Results. In the career development process, the Career Portfolio being only one step, students will explore a variety of career options, identify their interests and abilities, and ultimately make informed decisions regarding postsecondary training and/or educational programs that are necessary to fulfill their career goals. About Us Maine Career Advantage is a program of the Center for Career Development, which is located at Southern Maine Technical College. Since 1993, the Center for Career Development has been helping students prepare for the world of work by combining academics with internships with Maine employers in more than 20 career fields. More recently, the Center has expanded its services to include workforce development (through the Maine Quality Centers), educational consulting, and scholarships. For questions or inquiries about any of our programs, please contact the Center for Career Development at or visit our Web site at

5 The Career Portfolio Maine Career Advantage acknowledges the need to better prepare our high school students for future employment. In response to this critical need, we have developed the Career Preparation Curriculum Teacher s Guide and the accompanying Career Portfolio as a tool for educators to help students through the career exploration and planning process. By working through the exercises and procedures in this guide, students will compile important personal, educational, and job-related data and incorporate this information into the Career Portfolio. A completed portfolio enables students to showcase their acquired learning, increase their chances for quality employment and/or admission to college, and reflect achievement of the Maine Learning Results. The Career Portfolio is only one part of a process in which students will identify their interests and abilities, explore a variety of career options, and ultimately make wise decisions regarding postsecondary training and/or educational programs that are necessary to fulfill their career goals. Why Career Portfolios for high school students? Career Portfolios help prepare students for employment directly out of high school and admission to one-, two-, or four-year college programs. Career Portfolios provide a real-world opportunity for students to utilize many of the English skills they have developed. Career Portfolios enable students of all abilities to showcase their academic learning, personal interests, and skills. Career Portfolios serve as a presentation tool for graduates, increasing their marketability. Career Portfolios support attainment of Maine s Learning Results in Career Preparation and English Language Arts. What does a Career Portfolio contain? Letter of Introduction Resume Letters of Recommendation Samples of work High School Transcript Other documents pertaining to personal interests and achievements Delivery Format The Career Portfolio can be tailored to a school s particular needs, but we make the following suggestions: It will be beneficial for all Juniors and Seniors to complete a Career Portfolio that can be expanded and revised over time. Instruction and guidance with portfolios might best occur in your school s English, history, or other classes that are common to Juniors and Seniors. We suggest that for completing the Career Portfolio, students receive a grade which is commensurate with the project s duration and complexity.

6 Career Portfolios might best be completed during your school s second or third quarter, in order for them to be useful for student application to colleges, summer jobs, or full-time positions after graduation. Our experience shows that students may take from three to six weeks to complete the Career Portfolio, depending on how much in-class vs. out-of-class work that you incorporate in your assignments. Classroom Delivery The outline below provides a suggested delivery option for the Career Preparation Curriculum. The length of the program depends on which portions are used and how thoroughly the topics are covered. A. Introduction to the Career Portfolio Introduce the concept of Career Portfolios: the growth in the use of career portfolios among jobseekers and college applicants, how employers and colleges might use/view a student s portfolio, what is contained in a good portfolio, what you would not include in a portfolio, the idea of lifelong learning, and the intended growth of a portfolio over a student s academic and professional career. Give students your particular timeline for this project. B. Self-Assessment and Career Exploration Before working on the Career Portfolios, it is beneficial for students to spend time gathering information about themselves, such as values, interests, skill areas, subject strengths, and career interests. There are many tools to help students as they explore and assess their career options. Results from these tools may be included in the Career Portfolio at their discretion. Samples of career exploration and assessment tools (See your guidance office): What Career Might Be Best For Me? (included in Lesson Plan 1A) O*NET OnLine Self-Directed Search (SDS) interest inventory Harrington/O Shea Career Decision-Making Booklet interest inventory Michigan Occupational Information System Self-Assessment Career Survey The Princeton Review Career Quiz Choices or GIS career exploration software packages Get A Life Portfolio career exploration exercises and personal portfolio Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test (ASVAB) A job tour or job shadow experience A career fair or conference Included in this Teacher s Guide are two suggested lesson plans outlining instruction and exercises for exploring interests and potential career choices. Depending on the time and resources available, either Lesson Plan 1A or Lesson Plan 1B could be used but not both. Although the goals of the two lessons are similar, Lesson Plan 1A will take slightly less time, and all of the materials are included in this guide. Lesson Plan 1B may take a little longer and makes use of some of the O*NET Career Exploration Tools created by the U. S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA). These materials are available at no cost (other than reproduction costs) for career exploration and counseling purposes and can be accessed at the National O*NET Consortium web site at

7 As part of the career exploration section, Lesson Plan 2 offers a framework to guide students through a job shadowing experience. C. Job-Seeking Skills Each of the lessons in this section (Lesson Plans 3, 4, 5, and 6) can be used as stand-alone activities or in conjunction with the creation of individual student Career Portfolios. The lessons cover soliciting letters of recommendation, resume writing, cover letters, and interviewing skills. D. Career management and personal development The final section covers goal setting (Lesson Plan 7) and can be helpful for all students, whether they are planning to pursue post-secondary education, military service, or immediate employment directly after high school graduation. Important Notes: This Teacher s Guide contains both instructions for teachers and handouts for students. In an effort to eliminate confusion, all student handouts are set in an Arial or sans-serif font and all teacher-only documents are set in a Times New Roman or serif font (with the exception of the page headings). This entire document will be posted on the Center for Career Development web site at Please forward any suggestions for improving our curriculum or any resources that you have found useful. (Use the address listed on the web site.) We will post any revisions as they are made.