Week 2: Code Your Future — Programming Careers in IT

1st Six Weeks | Information Technology Cluster | 5 class periods (50 min each)

Lesson Objective

Students explore the Information Technology cluster through Hats & Ladders and the district-customized Find Your Future workbook, focus on Programming and Software Development, work the "Powerskill: Resilience" bounce-back activity, compare three programming careers with clearly labeled HQIM and external-source evidence, and test a programming concept through one verified tutorial or the supplied no-login trace in the Canvas Student Guide. Day 5 protects the required Xello Personality Style task and uses its result in a private IT pathway decision.

Learning Target: I can describe the four IT programs named in the district workbook, compare the pay, preparation, and outlook of three programming careers, plan how a team bounces back after a failed test, explain one programming concept, and use my Xello Personality Style result in a career-fit decision.

Success Criteria: I will know I am successful when my three-career packet keeps the Day 2 HQIM evidence and Day 3 BLS evidence in their labeled sections, my Flip the Failure chart gives a specific next move for all four problems, I can explain one programming concept, and my final reflection connects a Personality Style trait to an IT fit decision.

Demonstration of Learning

Students demonstrate learning through one five-page packet built across Days 2, 3, and 5, a programming-concept explanation, Xello Personality Style completion, and a final Career Fit Reflection.

TEKS Alignment

• d(1)(B): Explore and describe the CTE career clusters (Day 1).
• d(1)(C): Identify various career opportunities within one or more career clusters (Days 1-5).
• d(2)(A): Research applicable academic, technical, certification, and training requirements (Day 2 HQIM sections on pages 1-3).
• d(5)(A): Analyze labor market trends related to a career of interest (Day 3 BLS job growth).
• d(5)(E): Use resources to compare salaries of at least three careers in the student's interest area (Day 3).
• d(1)(A): Analyze and discuss the initial results of a career assessment (Day 5 Personality Style result and evidence-based reflection).

Materials Needed

• Chromebooks (1 per student) and 1 projector
• Hats & Ladders accounts + Find Your Future workbook, Information Technology chapter (printed pp. 23-38)

• Code.org Hour of Code activities: hourofcode.com

• BLS, Software Developers: bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm

• BLS, Web Developers: bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/web-developers.htm
• BLS, Computer/IT Cluster: bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/home.htm
• Printed five-page IT Salary Comparison packet on Day 2, 1 per student, or 3 sheets per student when duplexed (Printable PDF). Students complete its Day 2 HQIM sections on pages 1-3, add four BLS fields and page 4 on Day 3, then finish page 5 on Day 5. The evidence-label model (Printable PDF), BLS guide (Printable PDF), and bilingual headers (Printable PDF) are point-of-use supports, not additional whole-class packets.
• Web Developer worked example (Printable PDF) only when a student needs help distinguishing a task from a preparation detail. Do not assign the separate six-field research sheet.
• Daily exit tickets, 1 per student plus 2 spares, when the teacher uses the paper route. On Day 3, page 4 of the salary packet is the default DOL; do not require the separate matrix when it would make students copy the same data twice.
• Day 1 and Day 3 optional support prints: Irving ISD IT programs of study and Stop and Jot (Printable PDF) and Flip the Failure chart with row 1 filled in (Printable PDF). Flip the Failure stays in the FYF workbook for the class; the separate chart is not a whole-class print.
• IT Salary Comparison and Career Fit Reflection Rubric for the Day 5 summative (Printable PDF)
• Active Monitoring clipboard roster for Days 4 and 5 (Printable PDF)
• Established CCE notebook route for Day 2's lightweight four-Hat browse: exact title plus one task or reaction; OneNote, physical, Canvas, or teacher-designated paper remain equivalent
• One verified no-login Code.org or Hour of Code tutorial for Day 4, if the teacher uses the live route. The Student Guide's delivery-robot trace is the complete no-site route, so this lesson does not require accounts, section codes, teacher-built block cards, or a second day of vendor completion.
• Headphones on Day 4 only if a class set already exists. Run the tutorial muted rather than making headphones a prerequisite.
• Xello Personality Style teacher resource and Completion Standards report. Matchmaker is the prerequisite. Confirm the roster before Day 5; never create a second student account by hand
• Projector

Career Connection

Information Technology includes software development, networking, cybersecurity, and other work that keeps digital systems running. In DFW, employers include AT&T, Texas Instruments, Toyota, State Farm, technology startups, banks, and insurance companies. The financial sector is the area's largest IT employer.

What is Happening at Irving ISD? The district-customized workbook pages list four IT programs of study, Computer Science, Programming & Software Development, Technology Support, and Cybersecurity; Certified Entry Level Python Programmer and Cybersecurity Fundamentals as related industry-based certifications; TSA and CyberPatriot; and an Artificial Intelligence program at the new CTE Center (FYF pp. 36-37). Teach those details as attributed HQIM content. If a current public district page uses a different label, place that difference in a dated teacher verification note rather than giving students two competing versions. Do not promise that a listed certification by itself guarantees an internship or entry-level job.

Vocabulary

• Algorithm: A step-by-step set of instructions for solving a problem or completing a task. Code is one way to write an algorithm.
• Software Developer: A professional who designs, builds, and maintains computer programs and applications.
• Web Developer: A developer specializing in websites and web applications. Wk3 puts students in a UX designer's seat for the workbook's "Website Revamp" audit (FYF pp. 28-29).
• Programming Language: The set of rules and syntax used to write code (Python, JavaScript, Java, C++, HTML/CSS).
• Python: A popular programming language used in web development, data science, AI, and automation. Irving ISD offers Python certification.
• Hour of Code: A free 1-hour beginner coding tutorial offered by Code.org. Students can choose from dozens of activities (Minecraft, Star Wars, Frozen, dance party, etc.).
• Labor Market: The supply of and demand for workers in a specific field or geographic area.
• Demand Indicator: Data showing whether a career is growing, steady, or declining. H&L displays this on Hat profiles.
• Resilience: The ability to bounce back after a setback. Resilient people stop, figure out what went wrong, and ask what to try differently next time (FYF p. 26).
• Industry-Based Certification (IBC): Proof that a person has learned a specific skill. Schools, training programs, and employers read an IBC as evidence a student is ready for the next step (FYF p. 37).

Bridge to Theory (Hats & Ladders)

The Find Your Future workbook gives Information Technology printed pages 23-38. The chapter opener (FYF p. 23: "Exploring the World of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY") frames the cluster as keeping the digital world running, safe, and moving forward, and it names ethical hackers, data specialists, video game designers, and tech support specialists as examples. It puts a "Be the Decision Maker" dilemma in front of students: you have found a serious security problem in a major app that could expose millions of people's personal information, so do you shut the app down right away or quietly fix it first, and do you tell the public. Three Hats sit on the page: DevOps Engineer, Information Security Analyst, and Robot Personality Designer. The chapter does not print a pathway list. Students meet the app's IT pathways through the Pathway Possibilities step on the App Exploration page (FYF p. 38: "App Exploration"), and they meet Irving ISD's four IT programs of study on the district pages (FYF pp. 36-37).

This week uses two sections from the chapter:

• Powerskill: Resilience (Day 3): Students lead a cybersecurity team whose new system failed on test day. They read the four things that went wrong, fill in a "Flip the Failure" chart with a fix and a resilience tip for each, and then compare charts with a partner (FYF pp. 26-27: "Powerskill: Resilience").
• What is Happening at My District? (Days 1 and 5): The district pages name Irving ISD's four IT programs of study, the two industry-based certifications the cluster leads to, the Technology Student Association and CyberPatriot student organizations, the new CTE Center AI program, and the Personal Graduation Plan (FYF pp. 36-37).

The rest of the IT chapter belongs to the later weeks in this block. Wk3 runs the "Website Revamp" UX audit and the "From Wireframe to Wow" app design activity (FYF pp. 28-33). Wk5 runs "Safe or Spoofed?" phishing triage and the "Powerskill: Work Ethic" cybersecurity bootcamp plan (FYF pp. 24-25 and 34-35). Week 2 focuses on the Programming and Software Development program of study specifically.

IISD Instructional Strategies

• Think-Pair-Share: Day 1, Activity 1, the "Be the Decision Maker" prompt on the chapter opener (FYF p. 23), where a security flaw in a major app forces a shut-down-now or fix-it-quietly choice. Distinguished: pose it to the whole group, hold a silent 30 second Think, then time Partner A for 30 seconds and Partner B for 30 seconds, and post two stems at different levels: "I would _ because " and "Shutting the app down costs the company __, but leaving it open costs users _____." Ask two pairs to share, not one. Listen while pairs talk for who names a cost to the users and not only to the company, and pick your share-out pairs from what you heard rather than from raised hands.
• Stop and Jot: Day 1, Activity 2, the two pauses during the IT cluster tour video. Distinguished: name both stop points before the video starts, give 45 seconds per jot with the prompt on screen, and offer stems that carry the vocabulary students need on Days 2 and 3: "One IT career I had never heard of is _", "One question I still have about IT careers is ___." Read jots over shoulders during both pauses and track which careers get named. If most jots say Software Developer only, steer the next day's browse toward other available programming careers so students have real choices for the three-career packet.
• Active Monitoring: Day 4, Activity 2, the 28-minute build-or-trace block. Distinguished: walk a fixed pathway with one target per lap, carrying a clipboard printed from the Active Monitoring Clipboard Roster with this week's three checkpoints written into the headers (current step named, sequence/loop/conditional identified, persistence rather than quitting). Have feedback ready for two likely sticking points: a student who reads the repeated steps one at a time without naming the loop, and a student who has been stuck on the same tutorial level for more than five minutes. If more than a handful of students miss the same concept, pivot to the supplied delivery-robot trace and model that concept for the whole room instead of solving it seat by seat.
• Chunking: Day 3, Activity 2, the four BLS fields added to the Day 2 packet. Distinguished: teach BLS occupation title, national median and year, typical entry education, then outlook percent and projection years one at a time with the evidence-label model beside the packet (Printable PDF). Say what each field is for before showing where it lives, and close each chunk with a quick thumbs check. If outlook draws the most thumbs down, make it the two-minute re-teach before students start their third career. Do not add job counts, openings, employers, or another description.
• Time, Voice, Body (TVB): Day 4, Activity 2, the independent tutorial block. Distinguished: post the three blocks before any Chromebook opens, Voice 0 for tutorial work and Voice 1 for a quick question to the coding buddy, a visible countdown on the projector so students can pace themselves toward the midpoint target, and a stated rule that headphones stay plugged in at the student's own seat and go back in the bin at the five minute warning. Narrate the students who are meeting the expectation rather than correcting the ones who are not. If the room's voice level climbs because several students are stuck, pause the whole class for a 60 second reset instead of walking down the volume student by student.

Week at a Glance

Formative Assessment

• Day 1: Stop and Jot notes + Venn Diagram exit ticket (Programming & Software Development vs. Cybersecurity). d(1)(B), d(1)(C)
• Day 2: Lightweight four-Hat notes + Day 2 HQIM sections on pages 1-3 + Mini-Case exit ticket. d(1)(C), d(2)(A)
• Day 3: Flip the Failure chart + pages 1-4 of the IT Salary Comparison packet. The separate Comparison Matrix is optional when it adds useful evidence rather than duplicate copying. d(1)(C), d(5)(A), d(5)(E)
• Day 4: Working or correctly traced programming example + Short Constructed Response exit ticket (programming concept + career + job task). d(1)(C)
• Day 5: Xello Personality Style completion + one trait/example + IT Pathway Decision using the salary comparison. d(1)(A), d(1)(C), d(5)(A), d(5)(E)

Summative Assessment

IT Salary Comparison + Career Fit Reflection (Day 5): Students submit the five-page packet (Printable PDF): three career evidence records, one comparison page, and one Career Fit Reflection page. Each record keeps the Day 2 HQIM career title, platform/geography/measure/figure/date, task, and common preparation separate from the Day 3 BLS occupation title, national median/year, entry education, and outlook percent/years. Page 5 connects one Xello Personality Style result to the student's current IT decision. Score the packet with the IT Salary Comparison and Career Fit Reflection Rubric (Printable PDF), four criteria at 5 points each, 20 raw points total. Code.org completion is supplemental and is not a rubric criterion. Aligned to d(1)(A), d(1)(C), d(5)(A), d(5)(E).

This is Minor 2 in the 1SW assessment map. Code.org completion is supplemental and does not affect the score. Convert the 20-point rubric total to its published percentage and enter it as a score out of 100 in the Canvas Minor group.

Differentiation

Scaffolded Learning

• Evidence-label model showing how to preserve career title, geography, measure, source, and date without supplying a possibly outdated number (Printable PDF).
• Pre-printed Flip the Failure chart with the first row ("The alert system was too slow") already filled in, so students complete the remaining three (Printable PDF).
• BLS data extraction guide naming exactly which Quick Facts rows to copy and which to skip (Printable PDF).
• Adjacent coding-buddy option for Day 4 questions. Each student still produces an individual concept explanation.
• Name one verified tutorial before class rather than asking students to browse a large picker. The supplied trace is the equal route when the site or language load becomes a barrier.
• Pre-printed Irving ISD IT programs of study with one example career each, plus Stop and Jot stems, for Day 1 (Printable PDF).
• Web Developer worked model for point-of-use Day 2 support, not a second required worksheet (Printable PDF).

Extensions

• Students research the Python certification pathway and create a 4-year HS plan to earn it (9th grade through 12th grade course sequence).
• Compare DFW IT salaries to Silicon Valley salaries using BLS data and discuss cost of living adjustment.
• Students who finish the Day 4 concept evidence early try a second tutorial or annotate where a second concept appears in the supplied trace.

ELL Language Support

• Pre-teach: Algorithm = Algoritmo, Software Developer = Desarrollador de software, Code = Código, Debugging = Depuración, Programming Language = Lenguaje de programación.
• Bilingual IT Salary Comparison worksheet with Spanish row and column headers (Printable PDF).
• Code.org Hour of Code is available in Spanish. Direct ELL students to the Spanish tutorial selector.
• Pair ELL students with bilingual peers for the Day 5 Pathway Possibilities discussion.
• The workbook reads well above grade level, so read the Resilience scenario paragraphs aloud on Day 3 and encourage browser translation for any independent reading.