Introduction to Career Development

Setting the Stage

As is the case with most people, students’ perceptions of career development will vary. Whether addressed by a career development/career exploration teacher, counsellor or subject teacher, students should come to realize that career development is a lifelong process. A good starting point to help students identify where they are on their personal career development continuum is to help them visualize their future selves. 

Material 

Introducing Career Development Admit Slip reproducible [Google doc] [Word doc] [PDF] - 1 per student

What to Do

Teachers could begin by asking students to visualize where/what they hope to be when they graduate. Students could form partners to share their goals or the teacher could survey the class for general goals. Students could be asked how they plan to achieve their goals. What are their plans? 

Next teachers could provide students with the Admit Slip to encourage more focused thinking on the questions posed. The questions on this Admit Slip will prompt students to start thinking about their own personal goals and desires. The intent is to help get students thinking about their futures in terms that are more concrete. It also intends to help them make an emotional connection to this topic/issue.

These questions on this Admit Slip address personal goals and issues. As such, it is more appropriate for personal reflection rather than for partner or group discussion. Teachers could hold these Admit Slips and return to students toward the end of the course. Students could then revisit their initial thinking and, using the same questions, expand upon, or refine their initial thinking.

Please refer to the Educators’ section of the Let’s Talk Science website for more information and ideas for using the Admit Slip learning strategy in your classroom.

Teachers could use the statement “Career development is about making a life, not a living” to promote student discussion through a Think-Pair-Share learning strategy or as a whole class discussion.

To conclude this lesson, teachers could lead students to the understanding of the importance of having a plan to achieve one’s goals. When it comes to career development, knowing one’s strengths, interests, areas that need improvement, potential career pathways, and future desires all play an important role.