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Occupation
Exploration
Teaching Planning Skills to Develop
&
Achieve Career Life Goals
 Tiffany Aguilar, Jazmin Hernandez
Tony Lomeli & Maritza Sanchez
Brandman University
CSPU 617
Submitted to Professor Galvan
December 10th, 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENT PAGE

1. Introduction 3&4

2. Transitional Counseling 4&5

3. Group Session - Not All Superheroes Wear Capes 6 - 10

4. References 11

5. Appendix - 12 - 28

A - Parent Notification Letter 12

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 B - Parental Consent Form 13

C - Teacher Pre-Evaluation 14

D - Teacher Post-Evaluation 15

E - Group Expectations Handout 16

F - The Career of a Community Hero 17

G - Job Picture Activity Sheet 18 - 20

H - Career Path Mini Poster 21

I - Business Path Poster 22

J - Creative Path Poster 23

K - Nature Path Poster 24

L - Fixing, Building and Technology Path Poster 25

M - Helping Path Poster 26

N - Health Path Poster 27

O - Dr. Seuss Quote Poster 28

P - Superhero Pictures 29 & 30

INTRODUCTION

Career awareness is important for students of all ages. Occupation Exploration is a group

counseling program for elementary students that focuses on the development of planning skills

and career awareness. The curriculum for this group includes exploring a variety of career roles,

career based traits identification, individual strengths and weakness evaluation, positive decision

making, and the ability to compare and contrast the academic skill levels needed for different job

roles.

Occupation Exploration is a career based counseling group targeted at third and fourth

graders to provide valuable information and develop skills that will further help students succeed

3
in their future careers. This specific group is formatted with six unique sessions to run over a time

of six weeks during the school day. The counselor(s) running the sessions should set aside forty

minutes per session, although each session runs for thirty-five minutes from start to finish. The

preferred method of delivery for this group is to coordinate with third and/or fourth grade teachers

and administration to come into the classroom directly. Occupation Exploration is created for a

group size of eight to thirty-two students and applicable to all students in a third or fourth grade

classroom. The group is centered around grade level expectations, ASCA mindsets and behavior,

academic content, and life skills that tie directly into the school district's required curriculum.

Occupation Exploration is best hosted in a large room, with a chair and desk for each student,

similar to that of a classroom.

All teachers that choose to invite the counselor(s) into their classroom for Occupation

Exploration will be given a detailed overview that explains the objective, activities, dates/times

the group will occur, counselor role, and teacher expectations of each lesson. The counselor(s) will

then work closely with the teacher to ensure that all parents are notified with an explanatory letter

of the group activity (Appendix A) along with a consent form giving permission for the students to

participate or opt out (Appendix B). After all permission has been granted, Occupation

Exploration will begin. Those students who have opted out of the program will be sent to a

neighboring classroom to work on class related work for the forty minutes in which the sessions

take place.

Prior to the first session, the counselor(s) will provide the teacher with a pre-evaluation

form that gives a baseline of their students’ knowledge in terms of career awareness and

transitional oriented planning skills (Appendix C). This form is confidential and will remain

between the teacher and school counseling team. A second form, post-evaluation, will be given to

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the teacher at the end of the six weeks to compare with the baseline and measure the students’

career development or lack thereof (Appendix D). Overall, Occupation Exploration aims to

provide career awareness and transitional development that encourages students to plan ahead and

set to achieve their career life goals.

TRANSITIONAL COUNSELING

Career readiness at the elementary school level will ensure all students acquire the skills

necessary to succeed in their future endeavors. Transitions are difficult for younger students

especially students entering kindergarten, moving from kindergarten to first grade (half to a full

day), and moving from primary school to middle school. In these situations, students are moving

into more complexing situations than before. It is vital to promote transitions within your

counseling program to help students transition effectively, especially in regards to their academics.

Many changes take place both in and out of the classroom and the demands continually

increase in each grade level. Being proactive and providing support up front is the key to smooth

transitions for families and their children. Having parents, teachers, and counselors involved early

in the process and working alongside them is a strong preventative measure.

It is important to understand the demographics of one’s school, along with the

socioeconomic and academic levels. Students who come from poverty or are struggling

academically will need additional support and guidance as they transition to the next grade level,

especially from elementary to middle school. Many of the career readiness initiatives also apply

to transitioning of the students. Learning important skills like collaboration, conflict resolution,

research techniques, and organization will lead to smooth transitions.

As educators, providing supports such as group guidance, guided tours, and meet and greet

with future teachers are some activities that can support the transitional period. Setting up students

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with mentors at the older grades to provide tours and answer questions can also be helpful for

students. Any activity done before the start of the following year that provides support, guidance,

and clear expectations will help each student, and the school in general, get off to a productive

start.

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 GROUP SESSION Commented [1]: https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/
cnsl-curr-cd7-3-unit-1-instructional-activity-5-lesson-
4.pdf
Unit Title: Occupation Exploration –
Teaching Planning Skills to Develop and Achieve Career Life Goals

Lesson Title: Not All Superheroes Wear Capes Lesson Number: 4 of 6

Grade Level: 3rd and 4th Time Required: 35 mins

Domain: ASCA National Standards for Career Development

Standard: Standard A: Students will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work
in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions.
Standard C: Students will understand the relationship between personal
qualities, education, training and the world of work.

Materials Needed: 1. Job Picture Activity Sheet (cut up)

2. Activity Sheet – The Career of a Community Hero
3. Career Path Mini Poster (1 for each student)
4. Career Paths Posters (1 of each path)
5. Group Expectations Contract & Poster Board
6. Whiteboard and Whiteboard Markers
7. Pencils & Markers (class set)
8. Dr. Seuss Quote Handout
9. Dr. Seuss Poster Board
10. Superhero Picture(s)
11. Hello, I Am Name Tags - pre-labeled by the counselor(s) with careers
12. Ball/Stuffed Animal

Lesson Objectives: Students will compare and contrast the academic skills required of two
workers on each of the six Career Paths.

Lesson Formative Assessment: Students will be able to identify, compare and contrast the
academic skills that relate to different jobs/workers, and contributions of community/school
workers as demonstrated by collaborative completion of: “The Career of A Community Hero”.

Academic Content: This lesson supports the development of skills in the following academic
content areas. Academic Content Area(s):

❖ Communication Arts
➢ Reading and evaluating nonfiction works and material
➢ Writing formally and informally

❖ Social Studies
➢ Relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural traditions

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Life Skills: This lesson supports the development of the following life skills:

❖ Problem Solving
❖ Respect
❖ Integrity
❖ Tolerance
❖ Responsibility

_________________________________________________________________________

Opening/Icebreaker:
( 10 minutes)
Opening - Welcome, Expectations, & Confidentiality (3 minutes)

❖ Welcome the students to the session; give a brief overview of what

the group entails and establish the topic of career exploration that we
will be covering along with the session’s objective.
❖ Quickly review the group expectations and confidentiality using the
poster board from session one.
❖ Thank the students for attending another session.

Icebreaker Activity - What Am I? (7 minutes)

❖ Begin by explaining that the group will be doing an activity to get

them conversing with their peers.
❖ The counselor(s) will place a pre-labeled name tag on the upper
back of each student participant.
❖ Once everyone has a nametag on, the students must walk around the
classroom and try to figure out what career they hold by having
other students give clues about their job description. For example,
Student A will be wearing the name tag “Nurse”.
❖ Some careers to consider are: Policeman, Fireman, Baker, Doctor,
Teacher, Football Coach, Garbageman, Singer, Counselor,
Astronaut, Principal, etc.
❖ Remind the students to describe the careers to the best of their
ability without saying the job title.
❖ Once everyone has guessed what they are, or five minutes have
passed, the counselor will bring the group back together and discuss
the importance of good conversation skills and knowledge of
different careers to figure out what they (the student) were. If the
students could not conversate or have knowledge of careers, they
would never know what job title they had on their back.

Instruction:
(10 minutes)

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Follow-Up on Homework Discussion

❖ Have the students discuss reactions to their homework from the

previous week

Transition to the New Lesson

❖ Essential Questions:
➢ How is what you learn useful in a career?

❖ Engagement Hook:
➢ Show a picture of a superhero.
➢ Why is this person a superhero in the cartoons?
➢ Explain that today we are going to talk about heroes in our
community, what makes each one great, and how they
contribute to our school and community.
➢ The counselor(s) will ask the students: “What is a hero?”
➢ The counselor(s) should emphasize that a hero helps to make
things better.
➢ Students will then pair-share with the person next to them of
what they believe a hero does to make things better.
➢ The counselor(s) will ask the students to contribute names of
jobs in our community that would be considered local heroes
(i.e., teachers, doctors, nurses, firefighter, police officers,
electricians).
➢ The counselor will then write the list on the whiteboard.

❖ Lesson Instruction:
➢ The counselor(s) will hand out a Career Path Mini poster to
each student and ask if the know each of the six career paths.
➢ The students are then paired up in groups of two and asked
to explore each path using examples of job titles and/or the
major function of each path.
➢ As the students discuss, the counselor(s) will post the Career
Path Posters on the walls around the classroom for visible
discussion (Health, Business, Helping, Nature, Fixing,
Building and Technology and Creative).
➢ The students will then be asked to share their ideas with the
class as the counselor(s) walks around pointing to the
posters.

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Description of Activity & Purpose:
(10 minutes)
Activity

❖ The counselor will group students in an even number of groups; and

give each group two or three pictures from the Job Picture Activity
Sheet.
❖ Three students in the group will volunteer or be selected to do the
following group jobs:
➢ Leader: This person guides the discussion. The Leader
should be strong but not bossy.
➢ Recorder: This person takes notes for the group. The
Recorder should be a good note taker to record the answers
to the questions listed on The Career of a Community Hero.
➢ Reporter: This person reports out information to the class.
The Reporter should be good at sharing information with a
large group.
❖ Group members will consider personal strengths of each group
member to select roles.
❖ Encourage students to volunteer for roles and try new roles in which
they are interested in but have not yet developed the skill.
❖ When the students are finished answering the questions on the
activity sheet for each picture/job, the group will decide on their
favorite hero with the Leader guiding the group to a solid consensus
by comparing and contrasting the academic skills.
❖ The Reporter will then share the picture of the favorite hero and
report their findings of that hero as listed on The Career of a
Community Hero activity sheet.
❖ In conclusion, ask each group to identify one important point they
learned from this activity.

Purpose

❖ The purpose of this activity is for students to acquire the skills to

investigate the world of work and learn to make informed career
decisions. In addition, the activity will give students the opportunity
to understand the relationship between personal qualities, education,
training and the world of work.

Connection/Closing Statement:
(5 minutes)
Connection
❖ Reiterate the session objectives: Students will compare and contrast
the academic skills required of two workers on each of the six
Career Paths.

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 ❖ Go around the room gently tossing a ball/stuffed animal and ask
each student to share one career they find interesting (“cool” in
third/fourth grader) or heroic and why.

Closing
❖ Remind the group participants of the next session date, time, and
locations.
❖ Quickly reiterate confidentiality.
❖ Go about the ending ritual of reciting the Dr. Seuss Direction quote.

Outside Practice:

Homework
❖ Introduce the idea of homework and explain its purpose in helping
to transfer the items discussed in the group to their everyday life.
❖ Emphasize that this “homework” is not mandatory but highly
encourage for the benefit of the participant. There will be no
punishment or consequence if the participants choose to not
complete the homework. There will be no grading of the homework.
❖ Ask the students to go home and talk to their parents/guardians
about a hero they know in the community.
❖ Tell the students to keep the following questions in mind:
➢ What makes this person a hero?
➢ What is this person’s job?
➢ What career path does this job fit? (Creative, Helping,
Business, Health, Nature, or Fixing, Building, and
Technology)
❖ Remind the students to look at their Career Path Mini Poster when
talking to their parents/guardians.

Student Outcomes/Evaluation:

Students are to be evaluated based upon their contributions to the group discussion,
participation in the group activity, and their ability to identify, compare and contrast the academic
skills that relate to different jobs/workers, and contributions of community/school workers as
demonstrated by collaborative completion of: “The Career of A Community Hero”.

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 REFERENCES

American School Counselor Association. (2017). College and Career Readiness in Elementary

School: Beginning with the End in Mind. Retrieved from

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/professional-development/2017-

webinar-series/webinar-learn-more-pages/college-and-career-readiness-in-elementary-

school

Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education. (n.d.) Career Development Lesson

Plan. Retrieved from https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/cnsl-curr-cd7-3-unit-1-

instructional-

activity-5-lesson-4.pdf

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 APPENDIX

Appendix A
Brandman Unified District
Brandman Elementary School
2225 Brandman Lane, Modesto CA 95367
(209) 565-2200
October 2, 2017

Dear Parent/Guardian,

At Brandman Elementary, we strive to create a positive learning environment for all students. This year, we
are offering Occupation Exploration, a group for 3rd through 4th grade students to discuss and enhance
career awareness that will encourage their knowledge.

Our goals with this group are to:

1 Acquire the skills to investigate the world of work
2 Acquire the knowledge of self, to make informed career decisions
3 Understand the contribution of community/school workers
4 Understand the relationship between personal qualities and education
5 Understand the relationship between training and the world of work

We will meet for six weekly sessions starting on November 6, 2017 and end December 11, 2017, during the
regular school day. This will not impact your student’s instructional time, however your student will still be
required to complete all necessary homework from his or her class.

You can be assured that if any member of the group shares information involving harm to self or others, the
proper authorities will be contacted. Brandman Elementary will do everything possible to ensure the safety
of all members. If your student is part of the group, pictures may be taken as part of the activities and will
not be distributed, reproduced, or reused.

We believe every student who participates will be an asset to Occupation Exploration. If you would like
your child to participate or if you would like more information, please fill out the attached consent form
and return to the office by October 23, 2017. You will be notified with further information as the group
begins. If you have any questions please contact, Brandman Elementary’s School Counseling Team at
(209) 565-2200 or Counselors@Brandman.k12.ca.us

Thank you for your consideration,

Brandman Elementary’s School Counseling Team

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14
 Appendix B
Brandman Unified District
Brandman Elementary School
2225 Brandman Lane, Modesto CA 95367
(209) 565-2200

Brandman Elementary School

Parental Consent Form
Your permission is requested for your child to participate in a small group career exploration activity. The
group will meet six times over a two-month period. Each session will run for thirty-five minutes and will
take place during the regular school day.

The group is titled Occupation Exploration. Your child will have the opportunity to acquire the skills to
investigate the world of work and learn to make informed career decisions. In addition, your child will have
the opportunity to understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world
of work. The group will provide an opportunity for all students to learn about career decisions and
opportunities. Please initial by one of the choices below and return this form to the office by October 23,
2017.

________ Yes, I give permission for my student to participate in Occupation Exploration!

________ No, I do not give permission for my student to participate in Occupation Exploration!
________ I would like more information about Occupation Exploration before I decide.

Student Name: ____________________ Grade: ____________________

Thank you,

Brandman Elementary’s School Counseling Team

Parent/Guardian Name (Printed): ____________________

Parent/Guardian Signature: ____________________ Date: ____________________
Parent/Guardian Phone Number: ____________________

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 Appendix C

TEACHER PRE-EVALUATION

To: Mrs. Young Date: October 2, 2017

From: Brandman Elementary School’s Counseling Team
Re: Occupation Exploration - Teaching Planning Skills to Develop & Achieve Career Life Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mrs. Young’s third grade class will participate in a six week counseling group on career
development. Attached is an introduction of what the group entails along with an overview of the
topics that will be covered in each of the sessions. We, as a counseling team, are interested in your
perceptions and opinions in regards to any information on your students’ current attitude,
knowledge, or skills in regards to career awareness. Your answers in this evaluation will NOT be
shared with any students nor will they be used in any form of evaluation in regards to your
personal teaching. They will only be used to help the counseling program set a baseline of the
students’ career knowledge and evaluate the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the program
Occupation Exploration once it is completed.

Using the following scale, from 1 to 5, rate your students, as a whole, in each area.
5 = High average
4 = Average
3 = Low average
2 = Below average
1 = Low
n/a = Have not observed

_______Career Awareness
_______Knowledge of Skills needed for Specific Careers
_______Interest in Career Development
_______Able to Make informed Career Decisions
_______Understand the relationship between personal qualities, education and the world of work

Comments:
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Please return to the Counseling Office by October 23, 2017.

Thank you,

Brandman Elementary’s School Counseling Team

Appendix D

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 TEACHER POST-EVALUATION

To: Mrs. Young Date: December 11, 2017

From: Brandman Elementary School’s Counseling Team
Re: Occupation Exploration - Teaching Planning Skills to Develop & Achieve Career Life Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mrs. Young’s third grade class has just completed a six week counseling group on career
development. Attached is a summary of the topics covered during the six sessions. We, as a
counseling team, are interested in your perceptions and opinions in regards to any information on
your students’ current attitude, knowledge, or skills in regards to career awareness. Your answers
in this evaluation will NOT be shared with any students nor will they be used in any form of
evaluation in regards to your personal teaching. They will only be used to help the counseling
program understand the students’ gained career knowledge and evaluate the effectiveness, or lack
thereof, of the program Occupation Exploration now that it is completed.

Using the following scale, from 1 to 5, rate your students, as a whole, in each area.
5 = High average
4 = Average
3 = Low average
2 = Below average
1 = Low
n/a = Have not observed

_______Career Awareness
_______Knowledge of Skills needed for Specific Careers
_______Interest in Career Development
_______Able to Make informed Career Decisions
_______Understand the relationship between personal qualities, education and the world of work

Comments:
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Please return to the Counseling Office by December 15, 2017.

Thank you,

Brandman Elementary’s School Counseling Team

Appendix E

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 Group Expectations
1. What happens during group, STAYS in group.
2. Be RESPECTFUL of your fellow group members.
3. Always try your best. You will get the most from this group if you
PARTICIPATE!

Contract :
I agree to meet these expectations. If I do not meet one or more of these
expectations, I know that I may be asked to leave the group.

_________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

_________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

_________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

_________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

_________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Appendix F

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 The Career of a Community Hero

Name of Career_________________________________

Answer the questions below about this job.

1. What makes this person a hero in our community?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

2. What school subjects added to the hero’s greatness?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

3. What is this hero’s contribution is to the school/community?

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

4. What Career Path does this job fit? ________________________________________

The Career Paths are:

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 Appendix G

Job Picture Activity Sheet

Job Picture Activity Sheet

20
Job Picture Activity Sheet

21
Appendix H

22
Career Path Mini Poster

Appendix I

23
Appendix J

24
Appendix K

25
Appendix L

26
27
Appendix M

28
Appendix N

29
Appendix O

30
Appendix P

31
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