Week 3: Computer Science & Networking Careers

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

Lesson Objective

Students continue exploring the IT cluster through the Find Your Future workbook, fixed career evidence, and optional Hats & Ladders exploration. They compare networking and data careers, audit the H&L practice website as a UX designer in "Website Revamp," design and test four mobile-app wireframes in "From Wireframe to Wow," evaluate one emerging or rapidly changing IT occupation, and complete the required Xello Learning Style quiz.

Learning Target: I can compare IT careers, explain how a digital design helps or blocks a user, create four app screens a first-time user can follow, and evaluate evidence about changing IT work.

Success Criteria: I will know I am successful when my four-role comparison names a technical task and transferable skill for each career, my website audit names three strengths and five observable problems with a fix and user benefit for three, my Home/Main Menu/Action/Success screens give a first-time user a clear next action and show two feedback-based revisions, and my emerging-career evidence labels its BLS occupation and exact/proxy status accurately.

Demonstration of Learning

The individual Major 1 packet contains the app plan, four labeled wireframes, written walkthrough feedback, two starred revisions, and the dated emerging-career evidence sheet. The Day 5 pitch is practice; Xello Learning Style completion is verified separately in the Completion Standards report.

TEKS Alignment

• d(1)(C): Identify various career opportunities within one or more career clusters (Days 1-5 through networking/data cards, UX and app-design role work, and emerging-career evidence).
• d(1)(D): Research and evaluate emerging occupations related to career interest areas (Days 4-5).
• d(4)(B): Identify skills that can be transferable among a variety of careers (Day 1 career comparison and Venn evidence).

Materials Needed

• Chromebooks (1 per student)
• Hats & Ladders accounts + Find Your Future workbook, Information Technology chapter (printed pp. 28-33, 38)
• Climber Notes deck for Day 2 (Climber Notes: "Website Revamp", slide 2), which names the practice site students audit
• Dated Networking Career Cards and Emerging IT Career Evidence Guide, which carry current BLS occupation labels, preparation, May 2024 national medians, 2024-34 growth, and direct source links
• Sticky notes for the Day 2 first-impression capture (FYF p. 28) and the Day 3 app brainstorm (FYF p. 30). Plan about 8 per student across the two days, which is roughly one 100-sheet pad per table group of four
• Plain paper for the Day 2 redesign sketch (FYF p. 29), 1 sheet per student, plus the printable wireframe template for students who need it (Printable PDF)
• Pencils for every student, plus one set of colored pencils or markers per table group of four
• Printed Emerging Tech Research Template, 1 per student (Printable PDF)
• App Design Packet and Emerging Career Evidence Rubric for the Day 3 packet and Day 4 research evidence (Printable PDF)
• Xello Learning Style quiz, student accounts rostered through district SSO; licensed My Learning Styles prerequisite guide and Completion Standards report
• Projector

Career Connection

School Wi-Fi, bank apps, and text messages all rely on networks designed and maintained by Network Engineers, Network Architects, and Systems Analysts. Web developers build the sites and web applications those networks carry.

Irving ISD connection: FYF pp. 36-37 carry the district-customized Information Technology program snapshot. Treat that workbook language as the student-facing HQIM. If a current public district page uses a different label, record the difference for coordinator review rather than replacing the workbook wording inside this week's student tasks.

Vocabulary

• Network: A group of connected computers and devices that share information and resources. Your school Wi-Fi is a network.
• Network Architect: A senior IT professional who designs entire networks from scratch (physical layout, hardware, security).
• Web Developer: A professional who builds websites. Splits into Frontend (visual / user-facing) and Backend (server / database).
• Wireframe: A blueprint sketch of a page or screen that shows where elements will go before any code is written. The "From Wireframe to Wow" activity is built around wireframing.
• User Flow: The path a visitor takes through a website (homepage → product page → cart → checkout). Wireframes plan this flow.
• User Experience (UX): The overall feeling a person gets while using a website or an app. Good UX is clear, fast, and easy to follow. Bad UX leaves users lost or annoyed. The "Website Revamp" activity is built around UX.
• Transferable Skill: A skill that applies across many careers, such as communication, problem-solving, attention to detail, and time management.
• Emerging Occupation: A new or rapidly changing occupation connected to new technology, demand, or work tasks. A new-sounding job title by itself is not enough evidence.
• Proxy Occupation: A broader occupation used when a source does not report the selected job title separately. A proxy can provide useful context, but its numbers do not describe the exact title.

Bridge to Theory (Hats & Ladders)

The Find Your Future workbook gives Information Technology printed pages 23-38. This week uses two chapter activities:

• Website Revamp (Day 2): Career Climb activity. Students are a UX Designer hired by a company whose website is so confusing that customers leave before they buy anything. They learn what good and bad UX look like, investigate a practice site the teacher projects, list at least 3 things that work and at least 5 problems, pick 3 problems and write a fix plus a user benefit for each, then sketch a better version of one page (FYF pp. 28-29: "Website Revamp"). The site students audit is named on the teacher's Climber Notes deck (Climber Notes: "Website Revamp", slide 2).
• From Wireframe to Wow (Day 3): Career Climb activity. Students step into the shoes of an app designer at a company building a brand new app. They choose one of three app briefs (Food Connection, Stress-Less, Passion Project), name the app and its target user, list 2-3 features, wireframe four screens (Home, Main Menu, Action, Success), trade designs with a partner for a walkthrough test, then make at least 2 improvements (FYF pp. 30-33: "From Wireframe to Wow").

The chapter does not print a networking pathway list. Day 1 therefore uses a CCE-authored, BLS-grounded four-career card set as the complete evidence route. FYF p. 38 still provides the district HQIM launch into the H&L Information Technology cluster, but H&L browsing, ratings, and exact live titles remain supplemental rather than graded state.

IISD Instructional Strategies

• Think-Pair-Share: Day 3, Activity 2, the partner walkthrough test of the four app screens (FYF p. 33, Step 4). Distinguished: hold a silent 30 second Think while each partner reads the other's screens before anyone talks, then time Partner A for 30 seconds and Partner B for 30 seconds against the workbook's own three questions (does each screen make sense, do you know where to click next, is anything missing), and post two stems at different levels: "On Screen ___ I did not know where to click next" and "Your Success screen tells the user _, but it does not tell them ___." Ask two pairs to share a confusion they found, not a compliment. Listen while pairs talk for who names a missing screen rather than a missing label, and pick your share-out pairs from what you heard rather than from raised hands.
• Stop and Jot: Day 2, Activity 2, the sticky-note capture the workbook calls for while students first look at the practice site (FYF p. 28, Step 2). Distinguished: give 90 seconds before any list-making, one thought per sticky note, with two stems on the board: "The first thing I tried to do was _" and "I got stuck when ___." Read stickies over shoulders while students write. If most stickies name colors and fonts rather than navigation, pull the room back for 30 seconds and re-read the Easy Navigation and Clear Buttons rows from Step 1 before students start the 3-strengths and 5-problems lists.
• Active Monitoring: Day 3, Activity 1, the four wireframe screens. Distinguished: walk a fixed pathway twice, one target per lap (lap 1 at minute 8, Home and Main Menu screens are boxed and labeled; lap 2 at minute 18, Action and Success screens show what the user did and what happened next), and mark a clipboard list of who has cleared each lap. Have feedback ready before class for the two known misconceptions: students who draw art instead of labeled boxes, and Success screens that repeat the Home screen. If more than a handful of students miss the lap 1 target, pivot and reproject the four wireframe symbols (image box, text lines, button, hamburger menu) to the whole room instead of redrawing them desk by desk.
• Chunking: Day 2, Activity 2, the four Website Revamp steps. Distinguished: release one step at a time (investigate, then 3 strengths, then 5 problems, then 3 fixes), say what each step is for before releasing it (you cannot fix what you have not named), and close each step with a fast check before the next one opens, using the strengths list as the check for step 2 and a count of five problems as the check for step 3. Note which step slows the room down. If the 5-problems list is where students stall, the 3-fixes step gets modeled on the projector with one problem from a student's own list before students work alone.
• Time, Voice, Body (TVB): Day 5, Activity 1, the small-group evidence pitches. Post the routine before the first presenter: Voice 0 during the handoff, Voice 3 for the presenter, and Voice 1 for the evidence-based star and question that follow. Run a visible one-minute countdown for each pitch, then give the group up to one minute for the response. Define where the presenter sits or stands and where the research sheets go so the handoff does not consume the pitch. If a group falls behind, keep the star and move the question to the end of the round.

Week at a Glance

Formative Assessment

• Day 1: Four-role networking/data comparison + Venn exit (Programming vs. Networking skill overlap). d(1)(C), d(4)(B)
• Day 2: UX audit (3 strengths, 5 problems, 3 fixes) + redesign sketch + Mini-Case exit ticket (Rosa's tutoring site). d(1)(C)
• Day 3: Four labeled app screens + partner walkthrough notes + 2 improvements (deliverable-only day, no formal exit ticket). d(1)(C)
• Day 4: Emerging Tech Research Template + Comparison Matrix exit ticket (emerging vs. traditional IT career). d(1)(C), d(1)(D)
• Day 5: One-minute evidence pitch + Xello Learning Style completion + learning-strategy connection. d(1)(C), d(1)(D)

Summative Assessment

"From Wireframe to Wow" App Design Packet + Emerging Career Evidence: Students submit their app plan, four labeled screens, partner walkthrough notes, two starred improvements, and Day 4 emerging-career evidence sheet. The Day 5 pitch is communication practice. Score the individual evidence with the App Design Packet and Emerging Career Evidence Rubric (Printable PDF): App Plan, Screen Design, Response to Feedback, and Emerging Career Evidence, 4 points each and 16 points total. The packet assesses d(1)(C), d(1)(D), and the feedback/transfer work supporting d(4)(B).

This is Major 1 in the 1SW assessment map. The individual packet and emerging-career evidence carry the score; live delivery is practice and may not become a barrier for an absent or speech-supported student.

Differentiation

Scaffolded Learning

• Pre-printed wireframe template with the header bar and screen frame already drawn, plus the four-symbol key on the same sheet, so students fill in only the content boxes (Printable PDF). Print one sheet per screen for students who need it.
• For the Day 2 audit, provide the Website Audit Scaffold (Printable PDF), which carries a worked model plus the first 2 of the 5 problems started, so students see the level of detail expected before finding their own.
• Pre-approved list of emerging careers with the exact BLS page for each (Printable PDF) for students who need direction. It is a printed link sheet, so no browser bookmarks need to be pushed to student profiles.
• Day 1 transferable skills list, 10 skills to circle rather than generate from scratch (Printable PDF).

Extensions

• Advanced students wireframe a fifth screen (settings, profile, or search results) and explain which screen it connects to and why.
• Students explore the H&L "From the Field" interview videos for IT and connect what they hear to their app design choices.
• Compare the IT job market in DFW vs. Austin (Texas's two biggest tech hubs) using BLS data.

ELL Language Support

• Pre-teach: Network = Red, Wireframe = Esquema de página, Web Developer = Desarrollador web, User Experience = Experiencia del usuario, Skill = Habilidad.
• Bilingual wireframe template with Spanish labels (Printable PDF): Header = Encabezado, Footer = Pie de página, Navigation = Navegación, Button = Botón.
• Provide the Day 5 evidence-pitch frames at the point of use and allow an equivalent private audio or written route. A bilingual peer may be chosen as support but is not the student's only access route.