Identifying Traits That Excel Employment

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Course Title: Building Construction Assistant

  Course Number: BCV0080

  Career Cluster: Architecture and Construction

  CIP Number: 0646041506

  Course Type: Clock Hour- certificate

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Retaining and Advancing Your Employment.” See CPALMS resource ID#221965.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson will help students understand durable skills and how they are important in attaining and keeping a job. This lesson should provide the student with a perspective of how durable skills apply to both the interviewer and the interviewee. Students will practice the durable skills of verbal and written communication and fortitude.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Identify traits important for workplace placement and retention.
  • Role-play an interview situation with evidence from the case study as reasons for being accepted for the position.
  • Write a formal thank you letter using grade-level appropriate grammar and conventions.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Recognize a list of durable skills provided with the lesson.
  • Or the teacher should use the attached list to go over durable skills.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How can durable skills benefit you in a job setting?
  • What traits are beneficial across many different job fields?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. Introduce the lesson by reviewing the terms "employment" and "retention." This should be in the form of a class discussion. Ask students to describe how the terms are similar and different. For example, displaying effective communication can help with finding initial employment and also retaining or keeping that position. Assess the students by their participation in the discussion.

  2. Review the interview process and clarify the roles of the interviewer and the interviewee. Create a T chart with the title, “Interview.” The left column should be the “interviewer” and the right should be the “interviewee.” Have students use the T chart to make notes about the interview process, including questions that the interviewer might ask on the “interviewer” side and traits of a quality interviewee on the “interviewee” side. This should be in the form of a class discussion. Assess the students by their participation in the discussion.

  3. Place students in pairs to role play a mock interview process using the student ideas on the T chart. One student will practice being the interviewer and the other will be the interviewee. Students should take turns role playing each side. After each round of practice, have students use sticky notes to share additional ideas for before the interview and during the interview.

  4. Provide students with the case study, “Retaining and Advancing Your Employment,” (see CPALMS Resource ID #221965) and let them read it individually.

  5. After the students have read the case study, the teacher should hand out the attached list of Durable Skills. Conduct a brief discussion about the listed durable skills to ensure student understanding. Have students write down a synonym or example of each durable skill. For example, creativity could be, “imagination,” and fortitude might be “perseverance.”

  6. Facilitate a class discussion on the case study using the following questions:

  Which durable skill do you believe is the most important for Ava to represent?

  What are the qualities of the employer that might attract employees?

  If you were Kelly what question would you ask a prospective employee?

  7. Last, the students should write a thank you note to the interviewer. The thank you note will be a courtesy of thanking them for their time and consideration. The note should be succinct but could elaborate something from the interview. Students should check their thank you letters for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Remind students to keep in mind how a thank you note would be different if you were just meeting the interviewer for the first time, as compared to working with them for a summer during an internship or apprenticeship.

  8. To close the lesson, ask the students to reflect on the following future of work questions.

  • What will you do to prepare for your next interview after doing this lesson?
  • Based on this lesson, how might you better self-advocate for yourself in the workplace? For example, will you ask for a raise when you feel it is warranted?

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Encourage the students to embrace the role-playing aspect of the exercise. They should think outside the box. This is not their personal traits that are being expressed in the lesson.