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Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan for Career Planning (Part I) (lesson title)

School Counselor: Alejandra V. Gonzalez

Target Audience: 11th Grade Students
Mindsets & Behaviors: M 6. Understanding that postsecondary education and lifelong learning are
(limit of three) necessary for long-term success
B-LS 9. Decision-making informed by gathering evidence, getting others’
perspectives, and recognizing personal bias
B-SS 6. Effective collaboration and cooperation skills
Lesson 1 Of 2

Learning Objective(s)/Competency
Students will: Identify and describe essential factors to consider when exploring career options.

Students will: Identify and utilize career exploration techniques.

Materials:
● Computer / Device
● Classroom projector
● “Career Planning” Presentation
● Pre- and post-tests

Procedure: Describe how you will:

Introduce: Slide 1: I will begin the lesson by utilizing a call back that is used in this classroom, to
(8 minutes) ensure that all students are present and paying attention to the presentation. I will
then introduce myself and my role as a school counselor/counseling intern to the
students.

Slide 2: To engage students and capture their interest, I will ask the following
questions:
● Have you ever considered what career you might pursue after high school?
● What information would you need to consider as you explore career
options?
I will choose a few students to share their thoughts and segue into introducing the
presentation topic: Career Exploration.
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Slide 3: I will go over the agenda for the presentation and talk about the different
activities that will take place throughout so that students know what to expect.

Slide 4: I will choose two students to read the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors. After
they have shared, I will quickly describe each mindset/behavior statement.

Slide 5: I will read each lesson objective to the students, reiterating its purpose, why
it is essential, and how we will ensure we meet it.

Slide 6: Students will then take the pre-test.

Teach Content: Slide 7: I will then give a short presentation about Career 101.
(10 minutes) What is a Career? I will quickly go over what a career is and the distinctions between
some careers that may require extensive training and others that may have limited to
no training.
● I will ask students to share some of their interested careers and provide
them with the different training and education needed for these different
careers. For example, there is a difference in training between a doctor and a
nurse.

Slide 8: I will then discuss career considerations students should know. In this
section, I will introduce the importance of considering their interests, values, and
education/training to choose the right career. In each of these sections, I will ask
students to reflect personally and begin to think about answers to some of the
questions. As I go through each of the considerations, I will ask students to share out
loud, allowing me to engage students throughout the presentation. \

● Interests: What kinds of things am I interested in? What do I enjoy doing?

o For students: So what are some interests you all have? I will quickly
talk about how many careers can be directly tied to what we already
love doing. For example, video games > creating video games, etc.

● Values: What will I want in my future job/career?

o Work/Life Balance
o Salary
o Location
o Day-to-Day Responsibilities
o Benefits
o Work Environment
o Typical Hours
o I will ask students to share a few important things regarding these
values. What kind of salary would you all like to make? What type of
environment? Fast-paced, slower-paced, high energy, low energy?

● Education/Training
o What training do I need for this career? Any education? How much
education?
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o How many years would you like to study for? Would you like to
complete your education and training quickly? or are you willing to
put in the time to have an extended training?
I will also emphasize the importance of ensuring they answer the questions honestly
and considering ALL factors.
● For example, a student may want to pursue a career where they will be paid
lots of money, but have they considered what that lifestyle will be like? Will
they be working unpredictable hours?

Slide 9: I will then quickly talk about the process of exploring careers and provide
students with a few pointers:
● career assessments
● get involved:
○ clubs/organizations
○ volunteering
○ summer programs
○ internships
○ jobs
● Talk to your counselor.

Slide 10: I will continue talking about some pointers for exploring careers:
● Networking
○ Informational Interviews
○ Mentorship
● Job shadowing
● Developing tour soft and hard skills
● Online Research
● Career Fairs
● Dual Enrollment / Exploring electives.

Slide 11: I will emphasize that for today’s lesson, we will focus on two career
exploration techniques: career assessments and online research.

Slide 12: I will quickly summarize career assessments and ask students why they
think these may be important.

Slide 13: I will provide students with some search engines that can be used when
researching careers.
Practice Content: Slide 14: Students will begin by taking a Career Test / Assessment (123) for this
(25 minutes) section. This assessment utilizes John Holland’s career and vocational choice theory,
Holland Codes. The six personality types in Holland’s model are
● Realistic: practical, physical, concrete, hands-on, machine, and tool-oriented
● Investigative: analytical, intellectual, scientific, explorative, thinker
● Artistic: creative, original, independent, chaotic, inventive, media, graphics,
and text
● Social: cooperative, supporting, helping, healing/nurturing, teaching
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● Enterprising: competitive environments, leadership, persuading, status
● Conventional: detail-oriented, organizing, clerical
Slide 15: After students have completed their assessment, I will show them what
their results page will look like and how to access the possible jobs based on their
assessment.

Slide 16: I will quickly review the six personality types once students complete their
test. This is where I will ask students to raise their hands if they scored the highest as
I go through each personality type. I will explain them each.

Slide 17: I will divide students based on the six personality types. I will then provide
students with directions for the group activity.

Slide 18: In a group, all students will work together for 10 minutes to:
● Choose ONE career that fits your personality type group.
● Research and investigate that career to find the following information:
o What are the primary responsibilities for this career/job?
o What does the day-to-day look like in this career?
o What type of training and education are needed for this career?
o How much does this career pay on average?
● Type your response on a Google document.

Slide 19: As students begin, I will show a slide reminding them of the websites where
they can find more information about careers and the questions they need to answer
collectively.

Slide 20: Once all groups have responded to these questions, we will go around, and
each group can share their findings.

Summarize: Once all groups have shared, I will briefly summarize the lesson and its purpose,
(5 minutes) reiterating to students that they now have the tools and skills to research on their
own and begin their process of exploring careers.
Close: To close, I will ask students questions about the lesson.
(10 minutes) ● The importance of beginning the career search process
o What is ONE reason why it might be essential to begin the career
process now as 11th graders?
● Considerations when looking into several careers (research, research,
research)
o What is ONE thing we should consider while searching for careers?
● Examples of careers and what it would look like to work in that field every
day
● The importance of utilizing career assessments to help us home in on careers
we are interested in
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Slide 21: I will have students complete the post-test and allow some time for
students to ask any questions.
I will then thank students for their time and reiterate when and how they can contact
me or the school counselor for any more questions or individualized support.
Data Collection Plan – For multiple lessons in a unit this section only needs to be completed once for
multiple lessons in a unit.
Participation Data:
Anticipated 30 – 50 Students
number of
students:
Planned length of 60 minutes
lesson(s):