Day 2: First Resume in Xello

Lesson Overview


Time	50 minutes
Objectives	Understand resume sections and purpose; complete a first-draft resume in Xello including header, career objective, education, skills, activities, and community service
TEKS	d(7)(A)
Deliverable	Draft resume (v1) saved in Xello Resume Builder
Materials	Chromebooks, Xello accounts, printed Resume Template (backup), CareerOneStop Resume Guide, projector

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: If someone asked you to list every skill, every activity, every accomplishment, every responsibility, and every community service you have ever done, how long would the list be? Try it. Just write the list.

Give students 3 minutes to write. Most students will think they have nothing, then surprise themselves at how long the list gets when they actually try. This is the opening hook for "you have more resume content than you think."

Activity 1: Teacher Resume Modeling (15 min)

Source: Xello Resume Builder + CareerOneStop Resume Guide

Open Xello and project the Resume Builder on the board. Walk through a sample middle school resume LIVE, building it as students watch. Use a fictional student: "Alex Martinez, 7th Grade, Oakview Middle School" (or substitute your own school name).

Walk through each section:

Header (1 min): Name, address (city + state OK, no street for safety), phone, email, school. Make it look professional. No emojis. No nicknames.

Career Objective (3 min): One or two sentences about what the student wants. Show several samples:

"To explore a career in graphic design and contribute creative skills to a school yearbook or design club."
"To gain experience working with younger children through a tutoring or summer camp role."
"Seeking a part-time role using my customer service and communication skills."

Education (2 min): Current school, grade, expected graduation year. Honor roll, GPA (if strong), perfect attendance, anything that shows academic engagement.

Skills (3 min): Push students hard here. Skills include:

Technology: Google Workspace, Canva, basic coding (Scratch, Python intro), TinkerCAD, Adobe Express, Microsoft Office
Languages: English, Spanish, ASL, etc. (Bilingual = HUGE on a resume)
Soft skills: Communication, teamwork, time management, problem-solving, leadership

Activities & Awards (2 min): TSA, athletics, band, choir, theater, robotics, student council, honor roll, perfect attendance, science fair winner, art show, math team

Community Service (2 min): Tutoring, peer mentoring, food bank, church/temple/mosque service, family caregiver responsibilities, helping at school events

References (2 min): Skip this section on a middle school resume OR write "Available upon request"

The key teaching moment is to keep showing students that their lives ARE resume material. Tutoring a younger sibling = childcare experience. Helping at a church festival = event setup + customer service. Babysitting = responsibility + time management.

Facilitation Tip

During modeling, deliberately add something a student would think doesn't count ("helping my grandma with her phone"), then label it: "This shows patience, communication, and tech skills." Repeating this 3-4 times unlocks students' thinking about their own experiences.

Activity 2: Xello Resume Builder (28 min)

Source: Xello Resume Builder lesson (7th-grade task list)

Direct students to log into Xello and open the Resume Builder feature. Xello walks them through each section step-by-step with prompts for what to include.

Students work independently. Teacher circulates with three jobs:

Help students who claim they have nothing: Pull out their actual life: babysitting, tutoring, sports, helping family, school clubs. Push them to write SOMETHING in every section.
Check skills sections: Most students undersell their tech skills. Ask "Have you used Canva? Google Slides? TinkerCAD? Scratch? Photoshop?" If yes, it goes on the resume.
Check career objective quality: Vague objectives ("I want a job") get sent back. Specific objectives ("I want a part-time job working with animals or in a daycare") stay.

Goal for Day 2: Every student leaves with a complete first-draft resume saved in Xello, even if it is rough. Day 3 is for revision and refinement.

Facilitation Tip

Set a visible 5-minute warning before the end of class. Students MUST save their draft in Xello before logging off. The system saves automatically but only if they have entered something in each section.

DOK 2: How would you describe the purpose of a resume? Who reads it and what are they looking for in 10 seconds of skimming?

DELIVERABLE: Resume draft v1 saved in Xello Resume Builder. Visible on the Xello dashboard for the teacher to confirm completion.

Exit Ticket (2 min)

EXIT TICKET (Comparison Matrix) · Printable PDF:

For each of the 6 resume sections, mark whether I filled it in with SPECIFIC content (1 SPECIFIC item) or if it needs more work.

Section	Filled with SPECIFIC content (check YES / NO)	One SPECIFIC item I added (or note "still blank")
Header (name/school/contact)
Career Objective
Education
Skills
Activities & Awards
Community Service

Bottom line: The section that was HARDEST to fill in: _____. In one sentence, why was it hardest?

(d(7)(A))

Differentiation

Support: Provide the printed Resume Template as a fallback for students struggling with Xello. Allow them to fill it out by hand and type it into Xello later. Provide a list of 20 sample skills (technology, language, soft skills) so students can pick from a menu instead of generating from scratch.
Extension: Students who finish early use CareerOneStop Resume Guide to learn about action verbs ("organized," "led," "created," "designed") and rewrite their bullet points using stronger language.
ELL: Pre-teach: Resume = Currículum, Education = Educación, Skills = Habilidades, Experience = Experiencia, Activities = Actividades, References = Referencias. Bilingual middle schoolers should ALWAYS list Spanish (or other home language) as a skill, bilingual is one of the most marketable skills in DFW. Pair ESL students with bilingual peers if needed.