Kelly Boyer

Lesson Content Area: Career

Lesson Topic: Interpreting + Using PSAT Results
Lesson Sequence within Unit: Lesson #1
Goals for the Lesson:

A:B1.7 Become a self-directed and independent learner

A:B2.7 Identify post-secondary options consistent with interests, achievement,

aptitude and abilities

Lesson Objective:

Student will be able to use their PSAT results to strengthen their skills of various
areas and learn to navigate College Board to explore interests and colleges that fit
their goals.

Lesson Rationale (all three lessons):

Through school data and research it is evident how important it is to work with
students on post high school planning. Whether this is with a transition from high school
to college or from high school to work, part of a counselors role is to aid in the
exploration of meaningful careers and to help create positive beliefs and behaviors
towards a path they choose (Deemer & Ostrowski, 2010). Creating an awareness of what
options there are after high school is something that has been increasingly important
today, especially because of the quickly changing job world. Each lesson will delve into
study skills for college admissions testing, gather information on various post high school
options, and help to discover what a college admissions team looks at through a mock
decision making process. The mock admissions team will be helpful with problem
solving and critical thinking skills which Deemer and Ostrowski (2010) deemed
important as students must look closely at several crafted students application summaries
and make decisions on whether not these students would be accepted to college. Another

piece of these lessons is having a conversation on connecting students with those who are
already working in the career they are interested in. To ask questions about their path is a
helpful piece to increasing the clarity of what these students would like to do as well as
knowing who has already influenced them in their goals (Mau, Hitchcock & Calvert,
1998). Letting students know that their community service hours should be a place for
them to explore their interests in a way that makes this time meaningful them is a place
for overlap in this discussion as well. Ultimately, research has shown that as educators
preparing students for what happens after high school involves putting work into
decreasing their indecision of career goals and increasing their confidence in what they
wish to do after graduation (Stringer, Kerpelman and Skorikov, 2012).
Materials Needed: General student score sheet, computer/projector and access to
College Board
Lesson Outline:
1. Distribute PSAT scores to specific class.
2. Teach how to read scores and how to translate to SAT score ranges, talk about
what the skills and answers mean for their score sheet.
3. Direct the class to the College Board website and show how to navigate through
personal study plan, college and major matches and interest inventories.
4. Show the ability to compare colleges and where to find relevant information on
schools students search.
5. Talk about the relevancy of the PSAT in relation to the SAT and ACT.

Lesson Topic: Post High School Options

Lesson Sequence within Unit: Lesson #2
Goals for the Lesson:

A:B1.7 Become a self-directed and independent learner

A:B2.7 Identify post-secondary options consistent with interests, achievement,

aptitude and abilities

C:A1.1 Develop skills to locate, evaluate and interpret career information

C:A1.2 Learn about the variety of traditional and nontraditional occupations

Lesson Objective:

Students will learn to pull out relevant information on a post high school option to
explore possible paths for after high school.

Materials Needed: Worksheets with post high school option information.

Lesson Outline:
1. Students will break up into groups of 5 or 6 and read through given worksheet on
4 year colleges, 2 year colleges, technical colleges, apprenticeships or the
military.
2. They will discuss with their groups about pros and cons of their specific post high
school option.
3. A student from each group will share out with the class what they found and
provide the opportunity for questions from other groups.

Lesson Topic: Mock College Admissions

Lesson Sequence within Unit: Lesson #3
Goals for the Lesson:

C:A1.4 Learn how to interact and work cooperatively in teams

C:A1.5 Learn to make decisions

Lesson Objective:

Students will learn to understand what the college admission process looks like
and learn what goes in to making decisions on applicants.

Materials Needed: Mock Admissions Worksheet

Lesson Outline:
1. Students will break up into groups of 5 or 6 and read through a list of 5 applicant
summaries of various backgrounds and situations.
2. They will as a team decide on two applicants to accept, two to decline and one to
waitlist.
3. After each teams decisions are tallied the entire class will debate about why
specific decisions were made within each group.
References
Deemer, S. A., & Ostrowski, M. (2010). STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF A
PROGRAM FOR EXPLORING POSTSECONDARY OPTIONS. American
Secondary Education, 38(3), 79-94.
Mau, W., Hitchcock, R., & Calvert, C. (1998). High school students' career plans: The
influence of others' expectations. Professional School Counseling, 2(2), 161.
Stringer, K., Kerpelman, J., & Skorikov, V. (2012). A Longitudinal Examination of
Career Preparation and Adjustment During the Transition From High School.
Developmental Psychology, 48(5), 1343-1354. doi:10.1037/a0027296