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Researching Careers
  1. Strand PHIL.II Philanthropy and Civil Society
    1. Standard PCS 03. Philanthropy and Economics
      1. Benchmark E.1 Define and give examples of civil society sector corporations.
    2. Standard PCS 07. Skills of Civic Engagement
      1. Benchmark E.4 Analyze information to differentiate fact from opinion based on the investigation of issues related to the common good.
  2. Strand PHIL.III Philanthropy and the Individual
    1. Standard PI 02. Careers In The Nonprofit Sector
      1. Benchmark E.2 Describe a job in the civil-society and for-profit sectors.

To explore in more detail a career of special interest. The students will be looking for historic information, training requirements, profit or nonprofit status, relationship to the state and local needs and resources, and resources required to supply the good or service.

Duration: 
PrintTwo Forty-Five Minute Class Periods
Objectives: 

The learner will:

  • choose a career in either the profit or nonprofit areas.
  • research the career in depth and gather information for a writing assignment related to the career.
Materials: 
  • State careers information handbook or occupational lists (available online or in the high school counselor's office)
  • Career Interest Surveys (available online)
  • Collection of children’s books in which a character’s career is identifiable. Choose books that illustrate both profit and nonprofit careers. (For example, in Patricia Polacco’s book, I Can Hear the Sun, Stephanie Michele is a park keeper.)
Bibliography: 
  • Guidestar Nonprofit Database< www.guidestar.org >
     
  • Polacco, Patricia. I Can Hear the Sun: A Modern Myth. Puffin, 1999 (reprint edition). ISBN: 069811857X
Instructions: 
Print

  1. Anticipatory Set:Play a careers version of charades. Write a career on each of several pieces of paper. Fold the papers and put them in a bag. One student at a time chooses a piece of paper from the bag and acts it out for the members of their team to guess. The actor may not say a word to get the team members to guess the career.

  2. Ask each student to choose a career to research in either a profit or nonprofit organization. Guide the students so about half of them choose a profit organization and half choose a nonprofit organization. You may wish to offer limited choices to expedite the decision-making processes and to assure that no one works alone to create the song in the next lesson.

    • Discuss the difference between natural resources, human capital, and capital equipment. Help students identify examples of these terms that are used in the production of a specific good or service.
    • Give students the assignment of researching their assigned careers. They should look for historic information, training requirements, profit or nonprofit status, relationship to the state and local needs and resources, and resources required to supply the good or service. They should find several specific organizations that employ individuals with the given career. They should identify whether the career is appropriate, given the resources of their state.
    • Allow guided time for looking up information in the resources listed and on the Internet. Encourage them to take notes as they will be using the information in a special writing assignment.
Assessment: 

Students should have collected about 10 to 15 facts about their careers.