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Day 5: Catch-Up and Your Choice (Flex Day)

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives (Teacher-chosen) Complete any Core CCE work that slipped from earlier in the week; run any optional H&L Ch 1 activities not yet covered; absorb end-of-week campus events
TEKS N/A (flex day; core TEKS demonstrated on Days 2-4)
Deliverable Teacher's choice. If any student missed a Core day, their completed catch-up work is the deliverable.
Materials (as needed for the option chosen) H&L Workbook Ch 1 pp. 4-10, Chromebooks, printed cluster posters, sticky dots, Xello accounts (optional)

This is a flex day. Catch up or choose.

Day 5 is the buffer day for Week 0. If Core Days A, B, or C were disrupted by campus events, SSO issues, or absences, use today to complete missed work. Otherwise, pick from the menu below. The core CCE content (RIASEC, Work Values, Building Blocks, My Career Journey reflection) is already complete if your week ran clean. Zero minutes of this menu is fine.

Option A: Catch-Up on Missed Core Work (Priority)

If any student missed Core Day A (RIASEC), Core Day B (Work Values or Building Blocks), or Core Day C (My Career Journey reflection), today is the day to catch them up. Prioritize:

  1. Missed RIASEC assessment. The student completes H&L Discover My Core at the start of the period. Their top type is the baseline every downstream week references.
  2. Missed Work Values or Building Blocks. The student completes the H&L app entries and records them in the workbook (Ch 1, pp. 11, 14-15).
  3. Missed My Career Journey reflection. The student uses the full period for the reflection handout (Core Day C Activity 2).

Students who completed all Core Days can run one of the options below in parallel while you work 1-on-1 with catch-up students.

Option B: Meet the 14 Career Clusters Rating

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 1, pp. 4-6. "Meet the Career Clusters."

Open the workbook to page 4. The workbook lists 14 career fields with descriptions and an emoji rating system:

  • 😍 You love this field and are very interested in it
  • 🙂 You find this field interesting but you do not love it
  • 🤔 You do not know much about this field but you would look into it
  • 😐 You have absolutely no interest in this field at all

Read through the 14 fields together (Ch 1, pp. 4-5), giving a one-sentence example career for each so students can ground the description. Students rate each field with one of the four emojis directly in the workbook. This is a snapshot of where they are today. They revisit it at 6SW Wk6 Capstone and compare.

After rating, have students count how many "love it" and "interested" ratings they gave.

DOK 2: How would you classify the career clusters into groups based on whether they involve working with people, with data, with things, or with ideas?

This option fits in about 15 minutes.

Option C: Design Thinking Powerskill (Worst Idea Activity)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 1, pp. 9-10. "Powerskill: Design Thinking."

Open the workbook to page 9. Read the introduction together. Design Thinking is a creative process where you intentionally come up with the worst possible ideas to break free from traditional thinking.

Student task (from workbook):

  1. Read the Prompt. Worst Idea Prompt: come up with a new idea for a smartphone.
  2. Brainstorm the Worst Ideas (5 min). In pairs, list as many terrible smartphone ideas as possible. The workbook example: a smartphone that can only be charged at the bottom of the ocean. The crazier, the better.
  3. Share with a Partner (3 min). Pairs decide which idea is the absolute worst. Write it: "Our worst idea is ____."
  4. Class Vote and Discussion (5 min). Each pair shares. Class votes on the absolute worst. Then discuss the workbook prompts:
  5. What did you learn from using design thinking?
  6. How could you use your class's terrible ideas to design a better smartphone?

Facilitation Tip

Students love this activity because there are no wrong answers. The dumber the idea, the better. Encourage absurdity. Then connect the lesson: Design Thinking is a real Powerskill used at companies like Google and IDEO.

This option fits in about 15 minutes.

Post the 14 H&L cluster posters (or printed cluster cards) around the room, one cluster per poster. Give each student 2 to 3 sticky dots. Students place dots under the 2 to 3 clusters they are most curious about. After everyone has placed their dots, lead a quick whole-class discussion:

  • Which clusters got the most dots?
  • Which clusters got the fewest?
  • Does that mean the unpopular clusters are less valuable? No. Many of the highest-paying, most stable careers are in clusters that do not sound exciting at first.

Logistics Tip

Release one table group at a time to avoid crowding. Students place dots at their own pace over 4 minutes rather than all walking together.

This option fits in about 10 minutes.

Option E: Xello Onboarding Quizzes

Source: Xello 7th-grade onboarding tasks (Matchmaker, Personality Style, Skills Lab, Learning Style, Mission Complete).

[VERIFY] Irving ISD Week 0 Xello requirement status. If your district mandates Xello onboarding during Week 0, run this option and have students complete the 5 quizzes in order. If Xello onboarding can land later in the semester, skip this option and use the time for another menu choice or catch-up. Escalate to your CTE coordinator if unclear.

Students log into Xello (district SSO) and complete the 5 quizzes in order: Matchmaker, Personality Style, Skills Lab, Learning Style, Mission Complete.

Common Issue

Xello and H&L logins are usually different SSO providers. If a student cannot log into Xello, check their roster status with the campus tech coordinator before troubleshooting on your own.

This option fills about 25 minutes if all 5 quizzes run.

Option F: Campus Event or Early Release

If your campus has Friday events, early release, or any first-week end-of-week disruption, this is the day to absorb it.

Exit Ticket (Optional)

EXIT TICKET (optional): Name one activity from today that connected to your top RIASEC type or top Work Value from the core days. (d(1)(A))

Differentiation

  • Support: For catch-up students, sit 1-on-1 during the first 15 minutes and walk them through the H&L assessment they missed. Do not let them skip ahead.
  • Extension: Students who finish any option early explore the H&L Hat Finder and favorite their first 3 Hats from any cluster. These become part of their Climber Profile portfolio and feed into the 4SW Wk1 Favorites Audit at mid-year.
  • ELL: Bilingual cluster names for Option B (Agricultura, Arquitectura, Artes, Negocios, Educación, Energía, Ingeniería, Ciencias de la Salud, Hospitalidad, Servicios Humanos, Tecnología de la Información, Ley y Servicio Público, Manufactura, Transporte). Pair ELL students with bilingual peers for discussion-heavy options.