Approximate Time Needed:
45-90 minutes (Essay may be written as in-class assignment or
for homework).
Lesson Summary:
Students will use their personal experiences and imagination to compose
a narrative essay describing a career in which they were interested when
they were younger.
Lesson Objective:
Students will use the writing process and improve their narrative
writing skills while beginning to think about their possible career
pathways.
Materials and Resources:
N/A
Helpful Hints:
Use the Narrative lesson
to build a
strong foundation for the students. Students enjoy remembering what they were like as "children."
When complete, move on to the Career Comparative
Essay lesson.
Activities:
- Introduce the idea of dreams and imagination.
Discuss how all children dream of what they will be when they "grow up."
To engage the students in the lesson further, teachers may want to share
their own personal childhood "When I grow up" story with the class.
- Students brainstorm for four minutes listing all the careers they wanted to be until the age
of ten. Remind students to write without restraint. No ideas should be
excluded during the brainstorm segment.
- After students have composed a list of careers, ask them to select
their favorite two careers from the list on which to focus the next phase of the
lesson.
- Give the students 8-10 minutes to write all the memories they have
of one of the two
remaining careers. Students should focus on one career at a time. The
free write may be in any format (e.g. list, paragraph, web, etc.). When
finished with the first free write, teacher may wish to give the
students a 2-3 minute "brain break" or, continue immediately with the
second free write.
- Review the writing process and the parts of an
essay.
- Assign an annotated outline of the essay for
homework.
- Continue drafting, revision and peer editing as needed.
Evaluation:
The final essay with brainstorm, free writes, and drafts
attached.
Possible Adaptations:
Depending on the ability level of the students, the lesson may be
expanded into a longer process with rough drafts and a final
paper.