Portfolio Content: Career Exploration Intro Writing

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be an Astronaut

As a kid, you were probably asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?” You might reflect today that such a question for a young mind is heavily weighted with expectation, and how could one so young possibly know what he/she wants out of life? You might also reflect that your answer was based mostly on a person or persons whom you admired, which might range from a firefighter to a doctor; however, your answer probably had little to do with considerations such as salary, benefits, vacation, education , and ultimately, your personal happiness. Some of you probably just wanted to wear the cool hat and the suit. So if you were to answer this question today, “What do you want to be when you grow up,” how would your answer differ and for what reasons?

Essential Question

To start our career and education unit, you will address this essential question by writing a one-page response to the prompt below.

  1. Tell a story that describes how you decided “what you want to be when you grow up.”
    1. How does this career reflect your personal interests?  
    2. What appeals to you the most about this career? Why?
    3. Would you be willing to re-locate to find a job in this field or is staying local a higher priority? Explain.
    4. What do you think might be some negatives about this career choice and why would you be willing to overcome them? (this is like a relationship, nothing is perfect)
    5. Do this in Word, save it to your U-Drive as "grow up". Copy and paste it into Google Classroom.

Reflect

Write a ½-page reflection addressing the key questions below:

  1. What did you learn about your career interest that might be different than what you thought or didn’t have any idea about?
  2. What surprised you the most about your career interest?
  3. What type of qualifications and/or training must one have to enter into that particular career field and did any of this information surprise you?
  4. What is the “job outlook” of the career field (is it growing, stagnant, or declining) and why does it have this trend?
  5. What are the earnings potential of this career and does it fit in with the type of lifestyle you want in the future?
  6. Consider why you chose this particular career (re-visit your “What I want to be” response) and reflect on how this article either reinforced your aspirations or made you reconsider. Why?
  7. Save as - career intro