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Week 1: My Career Blueprint — Mid-Year Review

4th Six Weeks | Cross-Cluster Planning | 5 class periods (50 min each)

Lesson Objective

Students revisit their RIASEC results from Week 0, audit every career they have favorited across the first three six-weeks blocks, complete the H&L "Iceberg Cartoon" reflection (Ch 16) to surface the hidden skills behind their visible career interests, and use the H&L Career Plan tool to select a top pathway for the second half of the year.

Buffer week: adapt freely for state testing season

The original scope-and-sequence intentionally left this week light (Xello completions + eDynamic supplements, no new cluster) because it lands during STAAR / state testing season when periods get pulled, shortened, or canceled with little notice. The Iceberg Cartoon and pathway selection activities below are load-bearing for 4SW Wk2 and 6SW Wk6 downstream, but the supporting activities (gallery walk, extended discussion, extension research) are deliberately cut-or-condense candidates when a testing day eats a period. Keep: Iceberg Cartoon + Pathway Ranking. Flex: everything else.

Demonstration of Learning

"I can compare my Week 0 RIASEC type to my current favorited careers, complete the H&L Iceberg Cartoon to identify the skills underneath my career goals, and select one preferred Irving ISD pathway with evidence from my exploration history."

TEKS Alignment

  • d(1)(A): Re-analyze and discuss the results of career assessments at mid-year.
  • d(3)(F): Discuss the importance of participating in co-curricular and extracurricular activities (Day 4 names one specific benefit of joining a pathway-matched student organization in 9th grade).
  • d(8)(A): Select a career pathway related to personal interests.
  • d(8)(B): Document high school courses, postsecondary, and training requirements.

Materials Needed

  • Chromebooks with internet access (1 per student)
  • Hats & Ladders student accounts + H&L Workbook (Ch 16: My Next Steps, pp. 263-271)
  • Xello student accounts (Quick Sims: The Real Game)
  • My Career Journey reflection sheet from Week 0 (saved or printed)
  • Printed Iceberg Cartoon template (1 per student): blank iceberg with title line, top section, underwater section
  • Printed RIASEC vs. Favorites comparison worksheet
  • Irving ISD CTE Pathways poster (displayed in room)
  • eDynamic Learning Unit 8.1: Choosing a Career Path
  • Projector for teacher modeling

Career Connection

Students have now spent 18 weeks exploring Manufacturing, IT, Law, Health Science, Agriculture, Hospitality, Human Services, and Business. Every favorite they tagged, every career they researched, every Hat they liked, all of that data lives in their H&L Climber Profile. The H&L Career Plan tool aggregates everything into one personalized roadmap, and students cross-reference it with the actual Irving ISD CTE pathways available at Irving High, MacArthur, Nimitz, Singley Academy, Cardwell Career Preparatory Center, and Ratteree Career Development Center.

Irving ISD Pathways: All pathways across the district. Students narrow to their top 1-2 pathways this week and commit to one in Week 2.

Vocabulary

  • RIASEC (Holland Code): A six-type framework for matching personality to careers: Doer (Realistic), Analyzer (Investigative), Creator (Artistic), Helper (Social), Persuader (Enterprising), Organizer (Conventional).
  • Career Plan: In H&L, the personalized roadmap that aggregates RIASEC, Work Values, Building Blocks, favorited Hats, and pathway recommendations into one place.
  • Iceberg (career exploration metaphor): Visible career outcomes (the tip) sit on top of invisible work: skills practiced, sacrifices made, mentors used, failures recovered from.
  • Pathway Selection: Choosing a sequence of HS courses and experiences that aligns with a career interest.
  • Endorsement: In Texas, one of five HS specialization tracks (STEM, Business, Arts, Public Services, Multidisciplinary).

Bridge to Theory (Hats & Ladders)

H&L Chapter 16: My Next Steps (pp. 263-271) is the planning hub of the entire workbook. This week uses three named Ch 16 activities:

  • "Thinking About My Career Journey" (p. 264): A self-audit checklist where students mark which career-exploration concepts they feel confident about (star = needs more work; check = confident).
  • "Iceberg Cartoon" (pp. 265-267): Students build a personal iceberg showing the visible outcome of their career goal on top and the hidden skills, sacrifices, and steps underneath. The example in the workbook is winning a sports trophy.
  • "Being a Career Thinker" (p. 270): A capstone reflection on how their thinking about careers has evolved.

The H&L app's Career Plan tool reads from the student's Climber Profile (RIASEC, Work Values, Building Blocks, favorited Hats) and generates a personalized pathway recommendation. The Coach Dashboard lets the teacher see every student's plan and message students directly.

IISD Instructional Strategies

  • Stop and Jot: Used during the cluster history audit on Day 1. Students pause every 3 minutes to write what surprised them about their own pattern of favorites.
  • Think-Pair-Share: RIASEC growth discussion on Day 1, Career Plan share on Day 2.
  • Sentence Stems: Iceberg reflection, "On top of my iceberg, people see _. Underneath my iceberg, the hidden work is ___."
  • Active Monitoring: During Career Plan navigation on Day 2, teacher circulates with a checklist verifying each student located the Plan, confirmed RIASEC type, and recorded their top 3 favorited Hats.

Week at a Glance

Day Focus Key Activities Deliverable
1 RIASEC Revisit + Favorites Audit "Thinking About My Career Journey" self-check (Ch 16) + RIASEC vs. Favorites worksheet Completed audit worksheet listing top 3 clusters by favorite count
2 H&L Career Plan + Iceberg Iceberg Cartoon activity (Ch 16) + Career Plan tool deep-dive Completed Iceberg Cartoon + Career Plan screenshot
3 Xello Quick Sims: The Real Game Xello Real Game simulation + lifestyle vs. salary debrief Completed Real Game decision log
4 eDynamic 8.1: Choosing a Career Path eDynamic Unit 8.1 + Pathway Cross-Reference activity eDynamic completion + pathway ranking sheet
5 Mid-Year Reflection + Gallery Walk "Being a Career Thinker" reflection + dot-vote pathway gallery walk Updated My Career Journey reflection sheet

Formative Assessment

  • "Thinking About My Career Journey" self-check + RIASEC vs. Favorites worksheet + Comparison Matrix exit ticket (Wk 0 vs. mid-year). Day 1, d(1)(A)
  • Iceberg Cartoon + Career Plan screenshot + Concept Map exit ticket (Iceberg hidden item + H&L recommendation + Irving ISD pathway). Day 2, d(1)(A), d(8)(A)
  • Real Game decision log + Trade-off Dilemma exit ticket (cheap vs. expensive lifestyle given same salary; quality pick). Day 3, d(5)(D), d(8)(A)
  • eDynamic 8.1 + Pathway Ranking Sheet + Ranked Justification exit ticket (top 3 pathways + campuses + orgs + one specific benefit of joining the Rank 1 org in 9th grade + Day 2 H&L match). Day 4, d(3)(F), d(8)(A), d(8)(B)
  • Mid-Year Update reflection + Gallery Walk + 3-2-1 Reflective exit ticket (3 understandings + 2 questions + 1 pathway). Day 5, d(1)(A), d(8)(A), d(8)(B)

Summative Assessment

Mid-Year Reflection (Day 5): Students submit their updated My Career Journey reflection sheet showing growth from Week 0 to mid-year. The reflection must include: (1) RIASEC type comparison (Week 0 vs. now), (2) top 3 favorited careers with rationale, (3) selected Irving ISD pathway with the campus where it is offered, (4) one specific insight from the Iceberg Cartoon about the hidden work behind their goal. Scored on evidence of self-awareness growth (d(1)(A)), pathway selection with rationale (d(8)(A)), and connection between assessment data and career choice (d(8)(B)).

Differentiation

Scaffolded Learning

  • Pre-printed sentence stems for the mid-year reflection: "My RIASEC type is _. The clusters I explored most are . My top pathway is __ because _____."
  • Simplified Career Plan navigation guide with screenshots
  • Pre-built Iceberg template with the underwater section divided into labeled zones (Skills, Sacrifices, Practice, People Who Helped) so students know what to put where
  • Allow students to use Irving ISD pathways poster as a visual reference during pathway selection
  • Reduced Real Game decision log: track 3 decisions instead of all 8

Extensions

  • Compare H&L Career Plan recommendations to MyNextMove Interest Profiler results. Do they agree?
  • Build a 4-year HS course sketch using Texas OnCourse for the selected pathway (this previews Wk 2)
  • Research dual-credit options at the chosen Irving ISD high school

ELL Language Support

  • Pre-teach: Career Plan = Plan de carrera, Iceberg = Iceberg, Pathway = Trayectoria profesional, Endorsement = Especialización
  • Bilingual mid-year reflection template with Spanish sentence stems
  • The Iceberg activity is highly visual. Students can draw or paste images instead of writing
  • Pair ESL students with bilingual peers during the Gallery Walk discussion
  • Xello Quick Sims include visual decision interfaces accessible across language levels