WSU Backwards Project Planner

Project Title: “What’s Your Path?” Career Interview & Presentations

Teacher(s): Katie Kopp-10th Grade Intro to Business

Planning Backwards (Part 1):

PURPOSE, PRODUCT, & LEARNING GOALS

1. PURPOSE & ENGAGEMENT

Why does this project matter? Why will your kids care? What will make them excited to come to school every day to
tackle this project?
Students will research a career that they are interested in pursuing and interview someone of their choice who currently
works in this profession.

2. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Essential questions are authentic, have no easy answer, stretch students’ intellectual muscles, and ignite students’
imaginations.
Why does this career interest you? Why is the work you’d be doing important? What impact do you want to make on
the world?
Who has influenced your career ideas?
What challenges do I face choosing this career path?
What skills do I already possess that will equip me in this career?
How do I like to spend my time?
What personal qualities do I view as my strengths?
What topics or ideas spark my curiosity?

3. YOUR PRODUCT(S)
What do you want students to do, write, create, perform, or build? List all of the final products.
Power Point Presentation
Visuals
Speech
Documentary
Vlog
Video
Written Interview

Envision the final product(s). What elements would we see in a high-quality final product?
Demonstrate a variety of knowledge of researched career field
Create a presentation to display knowledge for classmates
Show knowledge gained from interviewee working in direct field

Who is the authentic audience for your students’ work?

Classmates, teacher, support staff, interviewee

4. YOUR LEARNING GOALS

What do you want students to learn?

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I want students to be able to discover where they can utilize their strengths and engage their interests. Research should
include preparations to choose that career field, i.e. direct experience, education, referral
Job description and how that may vary depending on the organization that they could be employed by. What part of the
job do the students think they would enjoy? Are there aspects of the job they are not sure they would like? Currently is
there a job market for the career they are looking to pursue? What parts of our economy affect this career choice? What
type of technology is utilized in this career?

Standards/Frameworks: MN Academic Standards, National Business Education Standards

https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/cte/lic/

What ACADEMIC CONTENT do students need to know? How will you know they’ve learned it?
CONTENT GOAL (standards)

National Business Standard

CAREER DEVELOPMENT I. SELF-AWARENESS Achievement Standard: Assess personal skills, abilities, and
aptitudes and personal strengths and weaknesses as they relate to career exploration and development.

National Business Standard

CAREER RESEARCH Achievement Standard: utilize career resources to develop a career information
database that includes international career opportunities. A. CAREER RESOURCES AND RELATED
INFORMATION

ELA 7.9.4.4 Oral Presentations

The student will present claims and findings, respect intellectual properties, emphasizing salient points in a
focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact,
adequate volume, and clear pronunciation

How will this project promote LITERACY? What will students READ? (Identify at least one text that students will
access.)
How will you scaffold the reading to support all readers?
What will students WRITE? How will you scaffold this to support all writers?

Students will need to read articles, trade journals, research accredited websites, or reputable news sources regarding
their career of interest. The students can use their ipads to research their choices.
Students will need to write a list of interview questions for the interviewee of their choice. They can work in groups to
develop questions that would be purposeful and relevant to the career they are researching.
Students will need to demonstrate their knowledge through their career presentation in person in class or they can
choose other formats such as a video, vlog or documentary

Planning Backwards (Part 2):

SCAFFOLDING FOR HIGH-QUALITY WORK & DEEPER LEARNING

If the goal is a truly high-quality final product, what are the indispensable steps in the process that you need to plan for
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intentionally? Prototyping? Drafting? Critique? Refinement? Rehearsal?

Background knowledge
Research
Interview Drafts 1, 2
Publication (presentation, video, vlog, documentary)
Exhibition

MILESTONES. What are the important milestones along the way to the final draft? Think about:
● DELIVERABLES: deadlines for drafts and specific product components
● CRITIQUE: opportunities to receive meaningful feedback (from you, from peers, from an outside audience, from
an adult expert)
● REFLECTION: regular opportunities to reflect on and document their progress
● ASSESSMENT: How will you know students met the content goal?

Week Activities Deliverables Assessment Strategy

Week 1 After students complete their journal entries & Journal Entry-Ask the Think-Pair-Share
Day 1 Think-Pair-Share each student will complete the students to write down Ask students to share
career cluster survey on the Minnesota State website. as many career options their journal entries
Takes approx 5-10 minutes. they are familiar with with their partners.
https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/cluster and interested in. Share details on jobs
Survey?do=0 they are not familiar
Ask for volunteers to brainstorm as many career with.
options as a class. List them on the board for Exit Ticket-Ask
students to see the entire list. students to write down
2-3 of their top choices
to research

Week 1 Research Day Students will receive a Exit Ticket-By the end
Day 2 list of guidelines for of Day 3 or Beginning
topics to research of Day 4 Students need
regarding their career to turn in their top
choices where they can Career Choice they
compare and contrast want to continue to
their top 3 choices. pursue

Week 1 Research Day Students will receive a Exit Ticket-By the end
Day 3 list of guidelines for of Day 3 or Beginning
topics to research of Day 4 Students need
regarding their career to turn in their top
choices where they can Career Choice they
compare and contrast want to continue to
their top 3 choices. pursue
*Note: May have class
discussion so that we
don’t have half of the
class pursuing the
same career choice for
presentation

Week 1 Discuss as a class the purpose and intent of a good Students will be Students will need to
Day 4 interview and open-ended questions. divided into small turn in Draft 1 of their
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 groups to begin interview questions for
compiling a list of 10- their chosen career
15 questions for their choice.
career interviewee.

Each group will need

to share their questions
with the entire class.
Students should note
additional questions
they did not include on
their list.

Week 1 Return interview questions with feedback. Discuss as Students need to Ask students to turn in
Day 5 a class proper procedure and etiquette for contacting develop a list of a copy of their contacts
individuals and setting up interviews. possible interview and note if they need
candidates and their help finding additional
Allow students to research for 5 additional questions contact information. persons in their desired
for their career interview and brainstorm or set up field.
connections on who they wish to interview. It would
be best to schedule 2-3 interviews at different
organizations within the field or different positions
within the career choice if applicable.

Week 2 Check in with students on progress of interviews Students need to turn

Day 1-5 scheduled. Need to have interviews completing by in final draft of
the end of week 3. Additional research on available interview questions
jobs in our area related to their career choice. with scheduled info on
Present criteria for Career presentations, continued interview time(s).
research and time to schedule and complete
interviews.

Week 3 Presentation Creation Share models of

Day 1-5 exemplar presentations
Invites and promotion for those attending Career for students to see
presentations

Week 4 Presentations Scheduled

Day 1-5

LEARNING FROM MODELS

What models of excellent work can students study to inspire their own work of excellence? Models created by
professionals? By you? By past students?
[Other resources: HTH Project Archive, UnBoxed Project Cards, EL Education Models of Excellence]

When applicable, share models of past exemplar presentations with students to understand caliber of a professional
presentation.

LEARNING FROM ADULTS IN THE COMMUNITY

What adult professionals could you bring in as guest speakers or give feedback during your critique process?
a. Local HR professionals
b. School Counselor

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 c. HS Principal
d. Interviewees interested in attending

What fieldwork experiences could you design for the students? Other opportunities for adult-world connection?
Connect with available businesses & organizations willing to allow students to come visit for shadowing experiences.
Connect with individuals who would be willing and available to be interviewed by students about their profession.
Schedule individuals to come into our classroom and give presentations on their career choice & background entering that
career field.

LEARNING FROM GROUP WORK

[Resources: Designing Groupwork (Cohen & Lotan), Improving Groupwork (Jacobsen)]
How will groups be formed? How will group work be structured?

Groups will be formed at random to help encourage students to share info on the interview questions they have compiled.

How will tasks be delegated to support every member of the group’s active engagement in the project work?

Each student will need to share questions to contribute to the list of 10-15 interview questions.

Planning Backwards (Part 3):

SCAFFOLDING FOR EQUITY: Who’s in the Game?

Identify a few students whose needs you’d like to be intentional about the meeting. How will you differentiate for students
with special needs? Consider both access and challenge.
Student Task Scaffold /Support / Challenge

Special Needs / IEP: Researching careers Reading articles to research information regarding
careers may take longer for individuals needing
reading help. Videos might be a good option to gather
information. Additional assistance in help recording
research to further presentation. The group project
will help students who have a tough time coming up
with interview questions on their own. Those with any
specifics in their IEPs can be noted and
accommodations made.
Final Product
Students are given a choice on the delivery of their
presentations. If they are more comfortable producing
a recording and then sharing that with the class
instead of delivering a live presentation there are
options.

English learner: Researching careers Understanding some terms in regards to specific

career choices may be difficult to comprehend. The

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 option to further research at home with help or with
assistance in the classroom is possible. Online
research can often be translated into different
languages for help with comprehension as well.

If listening to information is easier to comprehend

then reading videos for research may be an option to
gather research on different career choices. The
interview portion will be helpful and students may
want to conduct additional interviews to aid in their
research.

Ready for a challenge: Students should be challenged through this project

and the choices to personalize their career choice and
interviewees allows those who want more of a
challenge to dig in further. Networking with more
individuals in the industry of their choice will help
enhance their skills and acquire additional knowledge.

Backward Planning (Part 4):

THE LAUNCH & THE EXHIBITION
1. THE LAUNCH
How will you launch the project? What classroom activities or field experiences will build excitement, curiosity, and
background knowledge?
The State of Minnesota has a site dedicated to explore career clusters. It links information for over 500 career options
and a survey that students could take. I would start off with some brainstorming sessions with the students on jobs they
might be interested in first and then turn them loose on the websites to research their interests.
If timing worked out it would be great to bring in additional speakers on their current careers. I’d like to wait until after
students have researched some of their own choices so that they are biased by the speakers I line up.

2. THE EXHIBITION
Where will students exhibit their work? When? Who is their audience?
In partnership with one of the local businesses to have students do their presentations or play their presentations in a
conference room to hold them in a professional setting.

3. CURATION
Where will the work live on (physically or digitally)? What materials will you need to curate the work in a physical
space? How will you engage students in the curation of the project?
Students presentations can be uploaded to our class website for family, friends, and community members to view.
Sharing their presentations with a wide audience in hopes to encourage them to take the extra steps to have a
professional presentation for others to view.

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The project should do one of these things:
Raise Awareness
Solve a Problem
Publish a Work
Advocate for an Issue