Developed by:  Aubrey Derryberry

Level:  6-8

Acting Out Your Future

 

 

Standards

 Learning 
Expectations

This activity will help students acquire competencies which relate to the following standards:
6. Knowledge and skills to achieve career goals
The student will:
6.2  Apply listening and teamwork skills in the academic setting and career exploration
6.4  Employ academic and job readiness skills in career-related activities

General Approach

The general approach is that each student will use a variety of on-line resources to create a "role" based on a career of their choice. They will then separate into groups of 3-4 to create a skit in which each member acts out their career-based role. The groups will then perform their skits while class members try to guess which occupation each member is acting out. 

 
 
 

Activity Steps
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

  • Explain that each student will be using web-based resources to discover more about their personalities, interests, and future career options. Tell them to keep in mind that, once they choose a career on which to focus, they will need to take notes on the skills, educational qualifications, interests, and personality traits that distinguish people in that career. This is the information that they will use to create their "roles."
  • Instruct the students to take the Career Key Assessment located at the following address: http://www.ncsu.edu/careerkey. They will take an interest/personality test that will eventually present them with a variety of career options to explore.
  • Have the students also explore occupations at this website which features further career options and a variety of links for each option. The address is www.umanitoba.ca/counselling/careers.html.
  • Divide students into groups of 3-4 and ask them to come up with a 5-6 minute skit based on the roles/characters they created from their web-based explorations. The only rule is that students may NOT say the actual career they are representing. Encourage them to use the educational qualifications, daily activities, and personality traits discovered about their career when acting out their roles.
  • Possible scenarios you may suggest to help the students with skit ideas are to imagine that their characters are: 

  •  
    • stuck in an elevator together
    • at a family reunion
    • playing or competing against each other on a sports team
    • waiting in a doctor's office
    • at a dinner party
  • Have each group perform their skit while the rest of the class tries to guess which occupation each student is representing

Time Required

This activity will probably require a total of 1-1.30 hours. The research aspect will take about 30 minutes with about 15 minutes for groups to come up with a skit. Depending on class size, it will probably take about 20-30 minutes for each group to perform their skit.

 Resources Needed

1.  Access to the Internet
2.  Paper and pencils/pens

Performance 
Indicators
 

Students will be able to :

Use technology and other resources to gather career information
Determine how personal interests relate to career choices
Demonstrate listening and team-building skills
Complete career-related projects by applying listening and team-building skills