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COLLEGE AND CAREER ← Back to All Pages

Larry Dunn

College and Career Course Syllabus

 College and Career

 

COURSE SYLLABUS

 

Instructor:  Larry Dunn

 

2011 – 2012 School Year

 

Program Description:

 

Career Research and Development (CRD) is a Career Technology Education (CTE) program that prepares students with the academic, technical and workplace skills necessary to seek further education and employment in a career field of their interest upon graduating high school. The program contains two in-school course(s), a portfolio development project and a work-based learning experience.

 

The first course, Career Research and Development using the Career Cruising Program, provides students with instruction on Career Development Model and includes self awareness, career awareness and career exploration.  Students taking this course take a variety of career and interest assessments, research careers and begin to develop a portfolio demonstrating workplace and academic readiness. 

 

Following are some activities from the Career Cruising Program:

 

      SCHOOL SUBJECTS AND CAREERS

  • The purpose of this activity is to help students:
    • Learn about the links between subjects studied at school and future career choices.
    • Gain in=depth knowledge of one or more occupations, including education and training requirements.
    • Become familiar with the career information and interviews available in Career Cruising.

      USING SCHOOL SUBJECT IN THE WORKPLACE

  • The purpose of this activity is to show students how the subjects and academic skills they learn in school are important in the workplace.

      USING CAREER MATCHMAKER

  • The purpose of this activity is to show students how to use Career Matchmaker, an interactive career interest inventory. In particular, students will learn how Career matchmaker provides individualized feedback on their career choices.

      YOUR CAREER IDEAS AND CAREER MATCHMAKER

  • The purpose of this activity is to help students understand their interest and how they relate to career choices. It also encourages them to look beyond their preconceptions about careers and investigate alternatives they may not have considered before.
    • Finally students will become familiar with Career Cruising’s main assessment tool, Career Matchmaker and learn how it can provide individualized feedback on their career ideas.
    •  

The second course, Career Development, Preparation, and Transition, continues the self-awareness, career awareness and career exploration process.  However, this course is more focused on career research, career preparation and transition.  Students will learn skills needed for:

 

  • effective career planning
  • career decision-making
  • goal setting
  • financial literacy
  • transition planning

 

Students in this course will learn how to effectively plan for their future incorporating employment, education and training goals, and build financial literacy skills as they begin to manage their career choices and educational choices.

 

The basis for being successful in the working world is to demonstrate, in a variety of ways, competency in the Skills for Success.  These skills include (1) learning; (2) critical thinking; (3) communicating effectively; (4) grasping constantly-changing technologies; and, (5) working effectively with others.  Students participating in the Career Research and Development (CRD) Program have the unique opportunity to practice these skills through employment, portfolio development, and in-class instruction as they focus on continuously improving their skills to move beyond high school into employment and further education.

 

Students continue to have the opportunity to practice and reflect on these skills through a work-place learning opportunity. The workplace component is a mentored, on-the-job, work experience with a written, personalized, work-based learning agreement and plan.  Students participate in developing their WBL plan with assistance from a WBL teacher and workplace mentor. The WBL plan is focused on the student’s interests and based onMaryland’s career clusters/pathways and economic demand.

 

CRD course goals and indicators are based on the Maryland Career Development (MCD) framework.  The MCD framework is based on the National Career Development (NCDA) Guidelines.  The goals of the framework assist in guiding students and adults through the career development process and set the stage for lifelong learning.

 

Course Goals and Indicators

 

Course I:  Career Research and Development (1credit)

Course Description:  The overall goals in the first course are to teach students the process of self-awareness, career awareness, career exploration, and setting academic and career-related goals. 

 

Students will demonstrate an understanding of how accurate, current and unbiased career information is necessary for successful career planning and management usingMaryland’s career clusters and pathways. In addition, students will be introduced to basic concepts of financial literacy to help them manage their personal finances.  Course content will integrate the development of student’s competency in business writing as well as the Skills for Success (communication, learning, interpersonal, technology, and critical thinking). Students will also be required to prepare for and participate in an interview process.

 

Standard 1:    Self-Awareness – Students will acquire and apply self-knowledge in order to develop personal, learning and career goals.

 

Indicator A

Acquire and apply self knowledge to understand one’s abilities, strengths, interests, skills and talents as seen by self and others.

 

Students will:

  1. Assess interests and abilities using self awareness/career interest inventories and integrate a broad range of career interests in a career development plan 
  2. Identify personality type and evaluate how that type is reflected in career decision-making and educational advancement.
  3. Examine how personal interests are reflected in career decision-making and educational advancement.
  4. Define personal learning style and assess how it is reflected in career decision-making and educational advancement.
  5. Evaluate standard-of-living choices and assess the impact of those choices on career decision-making and educational advancement.
  6. Identify abilities and personal strengths and assess how they are reflected in career decision-making and educational advancement.
  7. Examine personal characteristics and values related to work and assess the impact of these values on career decision-making and educational advancement.

 

 

Standard 2:    Career Awareness – Students will use the Career Cruising Career Clusters and pathways in order to understand their relationship to educational achievement and life-long learning.

 

Indicator A

Analyze/compare the industries represented in Career Cruising Career Clusters and how they relate to the needs and functions of the economy and society. 

 

Students will:

  1. Compose personal and professional goals based on career assessment results.
  2. Explore and research career clusters and identify career pathways of interest.
  3. Relate career assessment results to available local pathway options.
  4. Describe the implications for workers as a result of technological advances in the workplace.

 

Indicator C

Understand how accurate current and unbiased career information is necessary for successful career planning and management using career clusters.

 

Students will:

  1. Analyze several ways to classify occupations and assess which occupational classification system is most helpful in career exploration.
  2. Research different types of career information resources to find information on careers that relate to personal self knowledge and traits.
  3. Apply career information to job search and education planning.

 

 

Standard 3:    Career Exploration – Students will assess Career Cluster choices and related pathways in order to develop an academic and career plan.

 

Indicator A

Prepare an educational and career plan based on high school graduation requirements,

a sequence of career pathway courses, related academics and postsecondary options.

 

Students will:

  1. Review academic/career plan to inform modifications to high school plan on a regular basis.
  2. Effectively transfer knowledge and skills from one learning level to the next.
  3. Apply cluster content standards to specific work-based learning experiences and high school plan.
  4. Select postsecondary options and set goals for achieving postsecondary goals (i.e. dual enrollment, articulated credit, advanced placement, certification, two-year colleges, four-year colleges, apprenticeships, and technical schools).

 

 

Standard 5:    Job-Seeking and Advancement – Students will demonstrate skills to secure, maintain and advance in their chosen or related career cluster.

 

Indicator A

Understand how academic, technical, cross cluster and employability skills are needed to obtain or create, maintain and advance in one’s career.

 

Students will:

  1. Demonstrate skills to seek employment, (write a resume and cover letter, complete a job application, interview for a job, find and pursue employment leads and market oneself in the workplace).
  2. Demonstrate positive strategies to work with others in a diverse workplace.
  3. Develop effective business writing and communication skills.
  4. Develop personal responsibility characteristics regarding workplace situations involving workplace safety, sexual harassment, and personal ethics.
  1. Practice workplace readiness skills including Skills For Success in the classroom and employment setting.
  2. Demonstrate proficiency in workplace readiness skills by refining and upgrading portfolio materials and including exhibits of proficiency.
  1. Establish and monitor personal, financial, and professional goals.
  2. Develop a career portfolio to demonstrate academic and technical preparation leading to employment and postsecondary education.

 

Standard 6:    Career Satisfaction and Transition – Individuals will demonstrate how the ongoing attainment of knowledge and skills enhances one’s ability to function and transition effectively in a diverse and changing economy.

 

Indicator B

Evaluate the impact of lifelong learning on one’s ability to function effectively in a diverse and changing economy.

 

Students will:

  1. Identify the components of the financial planning process.
  2. Apply financial literacy skills to managing personal finances and consumer credit.
  3. Develop financial goals.
  4. Practice the principles of saving and investing.
  5. Analyze the benefits and the risks associated with consumer credit and its association to financial planning.
  6. Evaluate and revise financial goal statements.
  7. Evaluate personal, financial and professional goal statements that apply to further education and/or technical training.
  8. Develop one-year and five-year education and employment plans and monitor progress toward meeting the goals of each plan.

 

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

 

In addition to the above I will have five or seven week course thru the Junior Achievement program in during each semester.

 

I will have guest speakers from the Navy, Air Force, Air National Guard, Marines, various college campuses and local businesses to come into the classroom.

 

The first couple of weeks will be dedicated to students completing college applications online and speaking with the school counselor on plans for attending college or going into various branches of military services.

 

I will also schedule several field trips in cooperation with Mrs. White my business counterpart to Scott AFB, Illinois, The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and possibly the Wentzville Automotive Plant in Wentzville, Mo.

 

 

GRADING PLAN

 

  1. Classroom Participation                      35%
  2. Projects and Quizzes                                       25%
  3. Teamwork                                                                   20%
  4. Attendance                                                                 10%
  5. Final Exam                                                                  10%

                                                                                    ___      ___      ___                 

                                                                        35% + 25% + 40% = 100%

CLASSROOM EXPECTATIONS

 

    1. Enter room quietly and begin working on your classroom/homework assignments.
    2. Respect fellow classmates at all times.
    3. No name calling or insulting classmates
    4. Ask permission to get out of seat.
    5. Raise hand to be acknowledged.
    6. No headphones, mp3’s or iPods’.
    7. Bring textbook, pencils, pens and notepaper to class every day.
    8. Clean up space around your desk or work area before you leave the room.
    9. Log off computers before leaving classroom and return to storage area.