Career Exploration for High School Freshmen: Free Lesson Plan
As education professionals, we understand the complex challenge students face when it comes to choosing a career. To provide effective support in this process, I’m delighted to introduce a comprehensive lesson plan, “Career Exploration for High School Freshmen.”
This invaluable resource aims to promote early career exploration and provide a deeper understanding of various career possibilities. We believe this tool can become a cornerstone of your school counseling curriculum, aiding you in aligning students’ aspirations with their true potential.
This lesson plan focuses on a broad spectrum of competencies, from academic and technical skills to workplace readiness and personal/social development, making it a well-rounded tool to cater to diverse student needs. It aligns with a multitude of Massachusetts state standards that emphasize critical skills like communication, literacy, critical thinking, and self-advocacy.
The lesson plan takes a student-centered approach to career exploration, utilizing the Naviance career search services and the Harrington O’Shea Career Decision Making System. It aims to familiarize freshmen with career aptitude testing and help them embark on their career exploration journey early. In this lesson, students will also participate in a career cluster survey, providing them a valuable opportunity to consider their future career paths and discuss their interests and preferences.
By introducing this lesson to freshmen, we aim to spark their curiosity about different careers and present them with the resources they need for efficient career planning. Furthermore, we seek to lessen the overwhelming pressure students often feel in their senior years when choosing a college or a career path becomes imminent.
The lesson aligns perfectly with the ASCA National Model, focusing on improving student competencies, enabling direct student-counselor interaction, and offering a structured curriculum to foster student development. It serves to empower students, enriching their academic journey with career awareness and preparation.
Our primary objective with this lesson is to help students begin to visualize their post-high school life and understand the essential role of education in achieving their career goals. By providing them an overview of different career options, we hope to engage even the most “at-risk” students and inspire them to invest effort into their academics and extracurricular activities.
In the end, we anticipate that students will not only identify potential career interests but also understand the significance of their high school years in shaping their future. We want them to feel confident and proactive in their career planning and see their counselors as accessible and supportive guides in their journey.
We invite all high school counselors and teachers to utilize this free resource in their curriculum. Together, let’s pave the way for our students to make informed career choices and build a promising future.
Disclaimer
Before we get into it, please consider a few quick DISCLAIMERS.
- This is a free lesson plan created by Lauren McDonagh-Pereira
- This article has NOT been formally reviewed.
- All theories, opinions, and research in this article are the personal opinions of Lauren McDonagh-Pereira. They do not represent the opinions of any organization, school, or professional body.
- This article has been published to provide a free resource to school counselors.
- As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualified purchases.
- Links may lead to my Teachers Pay Teachers resources.
- Review my Privacy Policy here.
Lesson Plan Overview
Time: 45 minutes
Objective: To familiarize Freshmen high school students with career aptitude testing and Naviance career search services.
Materials: Naviance account, computer, projector, the Harrington O’Shea Career Decision Making System, test copies and pencils for each student.
Domain Area Addressed: Academic/Technical, Workplace Readiness, Personal/Social Development
Massachusetts State Standards Addressed:
- A1-3: Skills in locating and using information resources for research (e.g., libraries, Internet)
- A2-1: Communication and literacy skills for self-advocacy and presentation (e.g., college and job interviews)
- A2-4: Critical thinking skills to use and evaluate information (e.g., evaluating credit card offers)
- A3-1: Knowledge of how educational and workplace demands relate to economic and societal needs and functions
- A3-2: Skills in researching and evaluating economic and societal information for career planning and career management
- A4-1: Knowledge of the benefits of education for career and life management
- A4-2: Knowledge of the benefits of education for personal and professional satisfaction
- W3-2: Knowledge of the concepts of career pathway development, labor market demand and job retention
W3-3: Knowledge of risks and rewards of various careers - W3-4: Knowledge and skills necessary for employment, retention and advancement
- W3-5: Knowledge of the transferability skills and its value
- PS1-2: Skills in relating individual learning style, interests, values and aptitudes to one’s concept of self
Lesson Plan
Opening: Explain to students that they are going to learn how to explore careers today. Let them know that they will be introduced to Naviance, and that they will be completing an initial career cluster survey.
Class Engagement: Ask students “Who has started to think about the career they want to have in the future?” Ask which careers and write them on the board. Ask students why they are considering specific careers.
Career Assessment: Briefly explain the Harrington O’Shea Career Decision Making System. Explain how the Harrington O’Shea can help students narrow down clusters of careers that they might find interesting.
Pass out the Harrington O’Shea and allow students twenty minutes to complete the assessment.
Help students score their results.
Class Engagement: Give students the opportunity to discuss the career clusters that the assessment has come up with. Ask them if they are surprised by their results. Ask them if they have previously considered careers within those clusters.
Instruction: Log-in to Naviance. Explain that all students will be given accounts. Show students where to search for more information about career clusters within Naviance.
Summary: Ask students if they have discovered any new careers that they are now thinking about. Write the names of any new careers on the board. Explain that there are lots of careers out there and that career interest assessments and Naviance are a great resource for exploring.
Why is Early Career Exploration Crucial for High School Students?
Junior and Senior students often complain that they have no idea where they want to go to college, because they have no idea what they want to study.
In less financially stable communities, students view college as a massive financial burden that they are not willing to undertake unless they know that it will lead to a financially comfortable career.
This lesson aims to introduce students to career exploration during their Freshmen year of high school.
It aims to plant a seed of curiosity about careers, and to introduce students to the career search tools available within Naviance.
The hope is that, by encouraging early career search activities, students will not suddenly feel like they need to pick a college, career, and life during the Fall of senior year. .
How Does Naviance Enhance Career Planning Among Students?
Naviance is a robust career and college website that many districts have and offer to their students.
Students are supposed to be accessing Naviance throughout their high school career to complete career and college searches.
Unfortunately, I have encountered many Senior students who come to the school counseling department to ask how to search for colleges, seem surprised that Naviance exists, and then need help either creating or reviving their Naviance accounts.
By doing a lesson on career exploration for Freshmen students, we hope to encourage them to start exploring options with Naviance.
Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors should be familiar with Naviance because it is one of many great resources offered by schools to help students prepare for higher education and careers.
Aligning Career Exploration Lessons with ASCA National Standards
This lesson is aligned with the ASCA National Model in three key ways.
First, the model focuses on improving “Student Competencies” as one of the core foundations of a school counseling practice. Under the heading of “Student Competencies”, school counselors are supposed to help students with academic, career and social and emotional development. This lesson explicitly helps students with career development by encouraging them to start exploring their interests and introducing them to some of the career search resources available to them.
Second, the ASCA National Model recommends that counselors spend 80% of their time working directly or indirectly with students. This lesson puts the school counselor in front of a classroom of students, which will both directly assist the students on the day of the lesson, and help familiarize freshmen students with the school counselors and the services that they provide at the school.
Third, the ASCA National Model asks that school counselors have a core curriculum of structured lessons to aid student development. This lesson on career interests and career searches is a developmentally appropriate lesson that can be added to a high school guidance curriculum.
Setting Goals and Objectives for Career Guidance Lessons
The main objective of this lesson is to familiarize high school freshmen with career aptitude testing and Naviance career search services.
As counselors, we typically think of career education and preparation for older students, but we believe that introducing aptitude testing and career exploration to freshmen can only help students begin to think about life post high school.
Our number one goal is to get students thinking about their career interests early on in their high school careers, so that they may put in as much effort as possible to their grades and extracurricular activities.
What Strategies Optimize Career Exploration Lessons?
This lesson uses Naviance, the Harrington-O’Shea Career Decision Making System, and career clusters inventory to expose freshmen students to the different career choices and college majors that are available.
In doing so, we hope to start the post secondary conversations early and target more “at risk” students who will require extra attention and assistance throughout the next four years.
Key Takeaways: How Career Exploration Influences High School Students' Future Paths
Through this lesson, students will identify a career that they may be interested in, and will then start to explore the different post secondary options pertaining to that career, whether it be on the job training, apprenticeships, two year colleges or a four year degree.
I hope that Freshmen walk away understanding the importance of putting effort towards their classes, achieving the best grades possible, pursuing a rigorous academic schedule, and engaging in extra curricular activities.
With the rising enrollment rates in colleges and universities, we want our students to be competitive applicants.
Furthermore, we hope that our students find their counselors to be accessible and feel comfortable making appointments to check in and discuss issues relating to social, academic or career needs.
Conclusion
In closing, the “Career Exploration for High School Freshmen” lesson plan provides an innovative and effective tool for career exploration in high school.
This comprehensive lesson plan aligns with Massachusetts’s state standards and the ASCA National Model, making it an indispensable part of the school curriculum. By leveraging resources like the Naviance career search services and the Harrington O’Shea Career Decision Making System, it aims to nurture the academic, personal, and social development students, preparing them for a future of successful career planning.
This career guidance lesson takes a proactive approach, sparking students’ curiosity about different career options from an early stage. It encourages high school freshmen to reflect on their interests and aptitudes, and engage in insightful discussions about their future career paths.
This method not only eases the overwhelming pressure of career decision-making in later years but also inspires students to invest effort into their academic and extracurricular pursuits, making them competitive for the rising enrollment rates in colleges and universities.
In essence, this lesson plan is more than just a career guidance tool. It’s a stepping stone to personal and professional satisfaction, fostering career readiness among high school students.
I believe that with the early introduction of career exploration, students are more likely to understand the benefits of education, identify potential career interests, and make informed decisions about their future.
By integrating this free resource into their curriculum, teachers and counselors can provide a meaningful head start for their students’ career journeys. And as educators, our ultimate goal is to help students feel empowered, confident, and excited about the multitude of career opportunities that await them in the future.
The “Career Exploration for High School Freshmen” lesson plan is not just a lesson, it’s a path to a promising and fulfilling career.
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Lauren McDonagh-Pereira is a photographer, school counselor, and mom from Massachusetts, USA. She captures the beauty of the world around her, favoring Nikon cameras and lenses. She is drawn to shooting landscapes, wildlife, nature, and people authentically enjoying life.