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Day 5: 1st Six Weeks Capstone — Reflection, Gallery Walk, IT Wrap-Up

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives Finish remaining Glowforge cuts; participate in the Gallery Walk; update the Wk0 My Career Journey reflection with new data; favorite final IT careers in H&L; complete Xello Save Careers
TEKS d(1)(C), d(3)(A)
Deliverable Updated My Career Journey reflection (turned in) + completed Glowforge logo (physical artifact) + 2 final IT favorites in H&L
Materials Glowforge laser cutter, remaining cutting material, Wk0 My Career Journey reflection handouts (return to students), H&L accounts, Xello accounts, projector, gallery display surface

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: Complete this sentence: "Five weeks ago, I thought IT was _. Now I know IT is ___."

Quick share. Listen for growth: "I thought IT was just programming, now I know it's tech support, networking, web design, AND cybersecurity." Bridge: "Today is the wrap-up day for the entire 1st Six Weeks. Time to look back."

Glowforge cuts (10 min): The remaining students from Day 4 send their logos to the Glowforge. Stagger them so the cutter is constantly running. Students who finish their cut early help others or move to the reflection.

Gallery Walk (5 min): When all logos are cut, display them on a long table or wall. Students do a brief gallery walk to see each other's postsecondary goals. Each student stops at 3 logos that are NOT their own and writes a sticky note: "I like that you chose _____." (positive only).

Facilitation Tip

The Gallery Walk is a moment of community celebration. These logos represent students committing, even tentatively, to a future direction. Treat it with respect. Take photos for your bulletin board (with parent permission).

Activity 2: 1st Six Weeks Reflection Update (20 min)

Return students' Wk0 My Career Journey reflection handouts. Tell them: "Five weeks ago you wrote down what you knew about yourself. Today you add a SECOND section showing how much you've learned."

The reflection update. Students add a new section to the bottom of their Wk0 handout (or use a fresh page):

  1. What clusters have I explored? _____ (Manufacturing + IT, list all 5 sub-pathways within IT)
  2. What careers did I favorite? _____ (List all 6+ favorited Hats from the Climber Profile)
  3. What surprised me? _____ (1-2 sentences)
  4. What do I want to explore next? _____ (Looking ahead to 2SW: Law, Public Service, Health Science)
  5. What is my postsecondary goal? _____ (The college / trade school / cert / career your Glowforge logo represents)
  6. What Powerskills did I practice? _____ (Communication, Problem-Solving, Integrity, Time Management, pick 2-3)
  7. One question I still have _____

Students compare this update to their Day 1 self. Walk the room and ask: "What is the biggest change between Wk0 and now?"

This reflection is the major summative assessment for the Wk5 capstone. Collect all reflections at end of class.

DOK 4: Based on everything you have learned about yourself and about IT/Manufacturing careers over the past 5 weeks, what criteria would you use to decide which career cluster to explore deeply next? Rank your top 2 criteria and explain why.

Activity 3: Final H&L Favorites + Xello Save Careers (10 min)

[H&L PLATFORM] Direct students to their H&L Climber Profile. They should now have favorites from Manufacturing (Wk1, 2 careers) AND IT (Wks 2-5, 4-6 careers). Verify each student has at least 6 total favorited Hats. Students who have fewer should add 1-2 more from any IT or Manufacturing pathway. The Climber Profile becomes the foundation for the Career Plan students build later in the year (4SW Wk1-2 + 6SW Wk6).

Xello Save Careers (final 5 min): Students log into Xello and complete the Save Careers activity. They save 2-3 careers from the Xello career library that interest them. This builds the Xello-side dataset that parallels their H&L favorites.

Tell students: "Both platforms now know what you like. The next 30 weeks add more data, more careers, more clusters. By the time you finish 6SW, you'll have a portfolio of 20-30 favorited careers across 14 clusters."

Exit Ticket (Deliverable-only day, no formal ticket)

Day 5 is the 1SW capstone day. The updated My Career Journey reflection IS the week's summative mastery probe — a multi-part structured reflection already covers synthesis across all five weeks. No additional 3-min exit ticket.

Final Submission: Students turn in (1) their updated My Career Journey reflection, (2) their completed Glowforge logo (taken home or stored), and (3) confirmation of 2 IT favorites + Xello Save Careers.

Mastery evidence: Reflection Q1 (clusters explored) + Q2 (favorited careers) demonstrate d(1)(C). Reflection Q5 (postsecondary goal) paired with the physical Glowforge artifact demonstrates d(3)(A). (d(1)(C), d(3)(A))

Differentiation

  • Support: Provide a simplified reflection update template with fill-in-the-blank prompts for each of the 7 questions. Students complete the template in 15 minutes instead of writing freeform.
  • Extension: Students who finish early start the NOVA Cybersecurity Lab game (PBS): pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/cyber/. Or they can write a 1-paragraph "letter to my Wk0 self" describing what they would tell themselves 5 weeks ago.
  • ELL: Bilingual reflection template with Spanish sentence stems for the 7 questions. Pair ELL students with bilingual peers for the Gallery Walk so they can talk through their cluster interests aloud.