Education Roadmap and Career Research Card and Unit 2 Test

Standards

Enduring understanding and essential question

Big idea: There is more than one road after high school, and the fastest road is not always the cheapest and the longest is not always the best. A career decision is a decision like any other: name the choice, list the options, weigh them against what matters.
Essential question: How much school is worth it, and who gets to decide that for you?

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

1. (Low) Given the six paths after high school (a job with on-the-job training, an apprenticeship, a certificate program, a two-year degree, a four-year degree, the military), describe each in one sentence and name one job that usually takes that path.
2. (Mid) Using a career resource, complete a research card for one career from their top three clusters: main tasks, education path, pay range, a day in the life, and the source.
3. (High) Judge whether the researched career fits their top three, their two interest letters, and their values from Topic 2.1, and write a two-sentence verdict that gives a reason for and a reason against.

Vocabulary

Tier 2 (general academic): path, source, verdict, range
Tier 3 (FACS): apprenticeship, certificate, associate degree, bachelor's degree, on-the-job training. See the unit vocabulary list for Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Materials and setup

• Handout, one per student: Handout 02.22 - Career Research Card and Pathways.md (the six paths table on the front, the research card on the back, one worked example)
• A career resource: devices open to the state's career exploration site or the federal occupational outlook site, or a printed one-page career sheet for each of the 24 most-chosen careers [Sal: name the resource the guidance office uses so students see the same tool in high school; print a class set of career sheets for the day the Wi-Fi is down]
• Each student's match sheet from Lesson 2.21 (top three), the two letters from the Lesson 2.2 interest quiz, and the Investor Journal (Handout 02.14 - Investor Journal.md) open to the Round 2 lines
• Devices and today's dispatch for the final Round 2 window block (windows 55 to 60); this is the last window of the Investor Challenge, so the leaderboard freezes at the reset cue
• The Unit 2 Test, one per student: Assessment 02.2 - Unit 2 Test.md; calculators for item 16 only
• Slides: Slides 02.22 - Education Roadmap and Career Research Card and Unit 2 Test
• Timer visible; the test timer is on the screen
• Setup notes: write the do now on the board. Put the six-paths slide up. Print the tests the day before and keep them face down until Step 4. Tell students the day before that the test is today and what it covers (all five topics, 20 items, 15 minutes).

Pre-assessment

The do now asks students to guess the school needed for three jobs. Most guess "college" for all three. The gap between the guess and the six-paths table is the lesson. For the test, the four topic checks (All About Me, the goal plan, the Money Basics Quiz, the Investor Report) already told you which topic each class is weakest in; the review slide at the start of Step 4 hits that topic.

Do now and hook (Time: 2 min)

On the board: "What do you have to do after high school to become (a) a nurse, (b) an electrician, (c) a teacher? Write your best guess for each. One line each."

Debrief: hands up for "college for all three." Then the hook: "One of those three can start earning money the summer after graduation and finish training with no student loans. Today you find out which, and you find the road for one of your own top three."

Procedure

Questions to ask

Monitor understanding:

• Which path pays you while you learn? Which one takes the longest?
• A career sheet says "typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award." Which of the six paths is that?
• What is missing from a card that has pay and education but no "day in the life"?

Deepen learning:

• The electrician starts earning at 18 and the nurse at 22. Who has more money at 30? What would you need to know to answer that?
• Your career fits your two letters but not your values. Which one wins? Is that a five-step decision?
• What would you tell a friend who says "I am going to college" but cannot name a job at the end of it?

Check for understanding

During Step 2, a two-column clipboard check: "chose a career from the top three" and "found the education path on the source (not guessed)." Both yeses means the student is on track for a complete card. A student with a guessed path gets pointed to the line on the career sheet where it is printed.

Closure (Time: 1 min)

Collect the tests. As students pass them forward, one line on a sticky note stuck to the research card: "The thing from this unit I will use first is ___." Read two aloud tomorrow with the Round 2 standings. (The unit's last word is the Round 2 standings and the journal lines in the first 10 minutes of Unit 3 Day 1; see the unit plan.)

Differentiation and supports

• ELL: the six paths on the slide have one picture each (a hard hat, a tool belt, a certificate, a two-year calendar, a four-year calendar, a uniform); the path names and the research card headings are in Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish on the handout (see Vocabulary 02.md); the career resource has a Spanish version [Sal: check whether the state site does]; the test has a word bank on the matching items and reads at grade 6; a bilingual dictionary is allowed on the test.
• IEP and 504 (general): the research card may be completed with a partner on the same career, each writing their own verdict; extended time on the test by finishing it during tomorrow's do now; the test can be read aloud in a small group; fewer items (see the grade 6 note on the key).
• Grade 6 support: the research card asks for two tasks and one "day in the life" line; the verdict is one sentence; the test omits items 16 and 20 (scored out of 44).
• Grade 8 stretch: the research card adds "two other careers on the same path" and "the first step I could take before high school ends"; item 20 on the test asks for two examples with numbers.
• UDL checkpoint used: multiple means of representation (the six paths as words, years, pictures, and three worked answers from the do now) and multiple means of action and expression (research on a device or a printed sheet; a verdict written or dictated).
• No-device alternative: printed career sheets for the research card; the paper trading window from Lesson 2.20 (Handout 02.19 - Paper Ledger.md and the price table).

Assessment

The Unit 2 Test (Step 4) is summative for all five topics; see Assessment 02.2 - Unit 2 Test.md for the item map.

Homework

Finish the research card if it is not done. Due tomorrow at the start of Unit 3.

Connections

Inside the building: the guidance counselor, who issues working papers to students under 18 in New York and will recognize the research card format from the high school career plan; FACS gives guidance a class that has already researched a career, and guidance gives FACS the career resource and a visit on career day. Community: a local apprenticeship program or union training center for a five-minute video call, because the apprenticeship path is the one students have never heard of. [Sal: Long Island has electrical, plumbing, and carpentry apprenticeship programs; if your school is elsewhere, ask guidance who runs them locally.]

Sources

• NYS Middle Level CTE FACS Content Module 01, Individual Growth and Life Readiness (nyctecenter.org, June 2018), lines 5. a) and 3. d). Copy in 02 Standards/NYS Module PDFs/.
• NYS Middle Level CTE Theme Module 01, Career and Community Opportunities, lines 4. a) and 4. b). Same folder.
• NYS Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences (1996), Standard 3, Intermediate, FACS strand, and NYS CDOS Standard 1, Intermediate. Wording per 02 Standards/STANDARDS SOURCES - web research.md.
• National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education 3.0 (LEAD FCS Education, 2018), competencies 1.2.1 and 1.1.6.
• Career research sources students use: the New York State career exploration site the guidance office recommends, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (bls.gov/ooh). Pay figures on the handout example are marked [update] and dated.
• Sal's own materials: the Brentwood packet "Education Roadmap: Paths to Your Dream Career" (Unit 2 Career Exploration, April 2026). The pathways table (duration, example careers, who pays) and Activity 2 (choose a career, name its path, plan a first step) are rebuilt as the six-paths table and the research card. The logic puzzle is dropped.

Teacher notes

• The clock is tight. The order is fixed: careers first, window second, test last, so the room is quiet and cleared when the test starts. If the window runs over by a minute, take it from Step 2, not the test. The test gets its full 15 minutes.
• Common mistake: students pick a career from a poster they liked rather than from their top three clusters. The card asks for the cluster number; check it before they open the resource.
• Common mistake two: students copy the pay figure without the year. Say "no year, no points" once.
• The one review slide before the test should be the class's weakest topic from the four checks, not a full review. A full review is what the last three days of do nows were for. [Sal: your call which topic; for most classes it is the return math from Lesson 2.18.]
• The last trading window closing the leaderboard on a test day is on purpose: nobody argues about standings when a test is in front of them. The Round 2 standings and two or three journal lines read aloud happen in the first 10 minutes of Unit 3 Day 1, as the unit plan and Project 02 lay out.
• Keep the research cards in the FACS folder. Unit 7 (Lesson 7.2) builds the resume objective line from them.