Travis Nichols – School Program
1. Program Title -- Career Research
2. Introduction/Purpose of Program -- Students will use the Occupational Outlook Handbook
Online (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/) and the O*NET OnLine (http://www.onetonline.org/) to
research a chosen career. Instruction will include the various ways to search (by keyword,
alphabetically, or subject area). Students will create a short report about the career and a visual
(poster, Glogster, PowerPoint) with graphics about the career. 3. TEKS (for school program) Career Development, Middle School. (1) The student explores personal interests and aptitudes as they relate to education and career planning. The student
is expected to: (A) complete, discuss, and analyze the results of personality, career interest, and aptitude assessments; (B) explore the career clusters as defined by the U.S. Department of Education; (C) summarize the career opportunities in a cluster of personal interest; (D) research current and emerging fields related to personal interest areas; (E) determine academic requirements in career fields related to personal interest areas; (F) explore how career choices impact the balance between personal and professional responsibilities; and (G) research educational options and requirements using appropriate technology. (2) The student analyzes personal interests and aptitudes regarding education and career planning. The student is
expected to: (A) create a personal career portfolio; (B) make oral presentations that fulfill specific purposes using appropriate technology; (C) develop and analyze tables, charts, and graphs related to career interests; (D) determine the impact of technology on careers of personal interest; and Technology Applications (2) Communication and collaboration. The student collaborates and communicates both locally and globally to
reinforce and promote learning. The student is expected to: (A) create and manage personal learning networks to collaborate and publish with peers, experts, or others using
digital tools such as blogs, wikis, audio/video communication, or other emerging technologies; (B) communicate effectively with multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats; and (C) create and publish products using technical writing strategies. (3) Research and information fluency. The student acquires, analyzes, and manages content from digital resources.
The student is expected to: (A) create a research plan to guide inquiry; (B) plan, use, and evaluate various search strategies, including keyword(s) and Boolean operators; (C) select and evaluate various types of digital resources for accuracy and validity; and (D) process data and communicate results. (5) Digital citizenship. The student practices safe, responsible, legal, and ethical behavior while using technology
tools and resources. The student is expected to: (A) understand, explain, and practice copyright principles, including current laws, fair use guidelines, creative
commons, open source, and public domain; (B) practice and explain ethical acquisition of information and standard methods for citing sources; English Language Arts and Reading (14) Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing,
and publishing) to compose text. Students are expected to: (A) plan a first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for conveying the intended meaning to an audience,
determining appropriate topics through a range of strategies (e.g., discussion, background reading, personal interests,
interviews), and developing a thesis or controlling idea; (B) develop drafts by choosing an appropriate organizational strategy (e.g., sequence of events, cause-effect,
compare-contrast) and building on ideas to create a focused, organized, and coherent piece of writing; (C) revise drafts to ensure precise word choice and vivid images; consistent point of view; use of simple, compound,
and complex sentences; internal and external coherence; and the use of effective transitions after rethinking how
well questions of purpose, audience, and genre have been addressed; (D) edit drafts for grammar, mechanics, and spelling; and (E) revise final draft in response to feedback from peers and teacher and publish written work for appropriate
audiences. (17) Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related texts to
communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes. Students are expected to: (A) write a multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that: (i) presents effective introductions and concluding paragraphs; (ii) contains a clearly stated purpose or controlling idea; (iii) is logically organized with appropriate facts and details and includes no extraneous information or
inconsistencies; (iv) accurately synthesizes ideas from several sources; and (v) uses a variety of sentence structures, rhetorical devices, and transitions to link paragraphs; (D) produce a multimedia presentation involving text, graphics, images, and sound using available technology. (22) Research/Research Plan. Students ask open-ended research questions and develop a plan for answering them.
Students are expected to: (A) brainstorm, consult with others, decide upon a topic, and formulate a major research question to address the
major research topic; and (B) apply steps for obtaining and evaluating information from a wide variety of sources and create a written plan
after preliminary research in reference works and additional text searches. (23) Research/Gathering Sources. Students determine, locate, and explore the full range of relevant sources
addressing a research question and systematically record the information they gather. Students are expected to: (A) follow the research plan to gather information from a range of relevant print and electronic sources using
advanced search strategies; (B) categorize information thematically in order to see the larger constructs inherent in the information; (C) record bibliographic information (e.g., author, title, page number) for all notes and sources according to a
standard format; and (D) differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism and identify the importance of using valid and reliable
sources. (24) Research/Synthesizing Information. Students clarify research questions and evaluate and synthesize collected
information. Students are expected to: (A) narrow or broaden the major research question, if necessary, based on further research and investigation; and (B) utilize elements that demonstrate the reliability and validity of the sources used (e.g., publication date, coverage,
language, point of view) and explain why one source is more useful and relevant than another. (25) Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas. Students organize and present their ideas and information
according to the purpose of the research and their audience. Students are expected to synthesize the research into a
written or an oral presentation that: (A) draws conclusions and summarizes or paraphrases the findings in a systematic way; (B) marshals evidence to explain the topic and gives relevant reasons for conclusions; (C) presents the findings in a meaningful format; and (D) follows accepted formats for integrating quotations and citations into the written text to maintain a flow of ideas. 4. Detailed Description of the Program Day 1: Students will need access to the Internet. Each student will have a copy of the Online Career Research handout. Introduce students to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. The OOH is based on the most
popular careers in the US - the careers that most people have. The information is updated every
two years and is based on government statistics (especially wage info). Demonstrate the ways the
OOH can be searched - by occupational group/cluster, by alphabet, by keyword, or other options.
This would be a great time to talk about search strategies, especially how to narrow or widen a
search by choosing different words (physician vs doctor) and the importance of spelling in a
search. Students will complete the first page of the handout using the OOH. After students have finished the first page, direct students to the O*Net Online. O*Net is also
managed by the US Bureau of Labor. It lists over 900 careers but is not updated as
regularly. "My Next Move" is a more streamlined version of the information presented in the
main O*Net search. This may be useful for students who need modifications. Demonstrate the
ways the O*Net can be searched - by keyword, by career cluster, by job family, or by interests or
skills. Students will complete the second page of the handout using the O*Net. Day 2 and 3: Students will choose a career to research. They will gather information on the career from both
resources and fill in the chart on the 3rd page of the handout. Students may need some
instruction on the different phrasing used for each category. At the end of the handout is a place
for students to state which resource they preferred and why. When students have finished comparing the resources, introduce the Research Project. Students
will create a visual report about their career. Graphics must be included (with citations for all
graphics and research). Options for the project include: folder collage, Glogster, PowerPoint. Once the project has been introduced, students can continue their research using the "Career
Research Outline.” Time will be needed to gather information, download graphics, and create
project. 5. Program Related Books to Display or Book Talk Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen Born to Rock by Gordon Korman Planet Tad by Tim Carvell Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger The Big Game of Everything by Chris Lynch 6. List of Supplies Computers or devices with Internet Access 7. Incentives These projects could lead to a career fair where students display their work and talk with other
students about the careers they researched. 8. Resources Electronic: Occupational Outlook Handbook Online http://www.bls.gov/ooh/ O*NET OnLine http://www.onetonline.org/ Career One Stop http://www.careeronestop.org Bridges Transitions, Inc http://www.bridges.com Many districts subscribe to Bridges to help students plan their coursework for high school and beyond. Military Careers http://www.todaysmilitary.com K-12 US Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/k12/ Texas Reality Check - Create a budget and job choices based on your spending needs http://www.texasrealitycheck.com/ Ferguson's Career Guidance Center (subscription database) http://www.infobasepublishing.com/OnlineProductDetail.aspx?ISBN=0816043809 Achieve Texas http://www.achievetexas.org/ Career Investigation - Texas online newspaper for middle school students http://www.lmci.state.tx.us/shared/careerinvestigation.asp Texas Cares Online (Career Alternative Resource Evaluation System) http://www.texascaresonline.com/ Education Planner http://www.educationplanner.org/students/career-­‐planning/find-­‐careers/index.shtml 9. Professional Resources (for librarian and teacher use) Achieve Texas http://www.achievetexas.org/Resources1.htm Check the Live Binders for Career Planning & Development Resources and for Career Clusters. 10. Program Flyers, Posters, Advertisements, Bulletin Board Ideas, Templates, Rubrics,
etc. Bulletin Board Idea - Career Pathways Clusters - http://www.texascaresonline.com/clusters/clusters.asp Online Career Research Handout Research Project Rubric