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Day 5: Career Plan Write-Up — The d(8)(C) Artifact

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives Synthesize all Week 1-2 work into a written individual Career Plan; finalize the H&L Career Plan in the platform; submit the d(8)(C) summative deliverable for the year
TEKS d(8)(C), d(8)(B), d(3)(D)
Deliverable Submitted Career Plan (printed and digital): the year's d(8)(C) summative artifact
Materials Chromebooks, H&L accounts + Workbook (Ch 16, pp. 267-268), printed Career Plan template, Day 1-4 worksheets from this week and Week 1, projector

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: If someone gave you 90 seconds at a family dinner to explain your entire career plan from now through age 25, what would you say?

Pick 1-2 student volunteers to actually deliver their 90-second pitch in front of the class. Bridge: today you are writing exactly that pitch as a formal Career Plan, the one document that captures everything from the past two weeks and everything you have learned this year.

Activity 1: Gather All the Pieces (7 min)

Students take 10 minutes to lay out every artifact from Week 1 and Week 2 on their desk:

  • Week 1 Day 1: RIASEC vs. Favorites worksheet
  • Week 1 Day 2: Iceberg Cartoon
  • Week 1 Day 3: Real Game decision log
  • Week 1 Day 4: Pathway Ranking Sheet
  • Week 1 Day 5: My Career Journey Mid-Year Update
  • Week 2 Day 1: MS-to-HS Transition worksheet (endorsement, courses, test)
  • Week 2 Day 2: 4-Year Course Map screenshot
  • Week 2 Day 3: Family Career Plan Letter (their copy)
  • Week 2 Day 4: Experience Action Plan

Every Career Plan section pulls from one of these artifacts. If something is missing, students reconstruct it from H&L now.

Facilitation Tip

Walk the room with a checklist. Students who have lost worksheets can pull screenshots from their drive (they should have screenshots from Day 2 Course Planner, Day 1 Iceberg, etc.). The 10-minute prep step is essential, students who skip it will be missing data when they start writing.

Activity 2: Write the Career Plan (25 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 16, pp. 267-268, "My Career and Course Plan" template

Distribute the printed Career Plan template. The template has 8 required sections, each pulls directly from a Week 1-2 artifact:

  1. My Career Goal (1 sentence): From Iceberg + Pathway Ranking
  2. My RIASEC Type and Why It Matches (2-3 sentences): From RIASEC vs. Favorites worksheet
  3. My Chosen Pathway and Campus (1-2 sentences): From Pathway Ranking Sheet
  4. My 4-Year High School Course Map (table, summarized from Day 2 screenshot)
  5. What I Need After High School (sentences): Degree, certification, apprenticeship, military, or industry exam from MS-to-HS worksheet
  6. My Three Action Steps for This School Year: Direct copy from Experience Action Plan
  7. One Professional Organization I Will Join: From Pathway Ranking Sheet
  8. One Family Member I Will Share This With: Connects to the Family Letter

Students write in pen on the printed template. They can use complete sentences or bullet points, both are valid.

The Career Plan is the d(8)(C) summative artifact for the year. This is the deliverable that demonstrates students can write their own career plan, not just answer questions about careers in general.

Facilitation Tip

For students who freeze at the writing task, sit with them for 90 seconds and have them tell you their plan out loud. Write down their first sentence for them. After that they almost always finish the rest themselves.

Activity 3: Finalize H&L Career Plan + Submit (10 min)

Source: H&L App. Career Plan submission

[H&L PLATFORM] Students return to the H&L Career Plan tool one final time. They confirm: (1) RIASEC type is recorded, (2) at least 3 favorited Hats are tagged, (3) the chosen pathway is selected, (4) any coach messaging or notes are filled in. The workbook (Ch 16) treats this as the in-app capstone. Confirm with your H&L district admin whether the Career Plan has a "submit to coach" workflow, if it does, every student should submit so it shows up on your coach dashboard for grading.

After H&L finalization, students submit the printed Career Plan template to the teacher in-tray.

DOK 4: Based on everything you have learned this semester about career planning, what criteria would you use to evaluate whether your plan is strong enough to guide your decisions for the next 4-6 years?

Exit Ticket (3 min)

EXIT TICKET (Concept Map / Connection Diagram) · Printable PDF:

My career goal from my Career Plan: _____

Connect this goal to THREE things:

1. The Irving ISD pathway + campus I selected (from my Career Plan Section 3)

Pathway: ___ at ___. One sentence on why THIS pathway (not a different one) is the strongest match for my goal:

2. My 9th-grade gateway course (from my 4-year course map)

9th-grade course: _____. In one sentence, what happens to my pathway if I DON'T take this course in 9th grade?

3. My first action step THIS MONTH (from my Experience Action Plan)

First action: _____. What ONE small thing will I do THIS WEEK to start it?

(d(8)(B), d(8)(C), d(3)(D))

Submit this on top of your Career Plan.

Differentiation

  • Support: Modified Career Plan template with sentence stems pre-filled for each section: "My career goal is to become a _. I will need to take courses in high school. After high school, I will __. My first action step is _____ this month." Bullet point format is acceptable.
  • Extension: Add a 9th section called "Plan B", what is the backup pathway if the first choice does not work out, and what is the overlap between the two plans?
  • ELL: Bilingual Career Plan template with Spanish sentence stems and bilingual headers. Allow students to write the response side in Spanish if more comfortable. Pre-teach: Career Goal = Meta profesional, Action Step = Paso de acción, Postsecondary = Postsecundaria.