Katie+Cwikla

Welcome to the Real World of Business: Learning Vital Business Skills through Written and Verbal Communication
 * Name of Assignment **

Katie Cwikla 11-12 (I can particularly see this being used in a business writing classroom, but it can also be adapted to any English classroom as an employability unit)
 * Name of Preparer **
 * Grade Level **

In this 4 week unit students will learn to create “reader-centered” documents. Most 11th and 12th grade level students have experienced creating employability documents in school; this unit aims to make this process more authentic. Students will investigate careers that interest them, select a local business related to their career field, and will then be challenged to create an employability portfolio including a cover letter, a resume, and a thank you letter. Following this, students will be sent out into the community to present their portfolio to local businesses, where they will also be interviewed.
 * Overview **

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 * From Theory to Practice **

Students will: >  **CE 1.5.2**  - Prepare spoken and multimedia presentations that effectively address audiences by careful use of voice, pacing, gestures, eye contact, visual aids, audio and video technology. **CE 4.2.1** - Understand how languages and dialects are used to communicate effectively in different roles, under different circumstances, and among speakers of different speech communities (e.g., ethnic communities, social groups, professional organizations).
 * ACTE (the Association for Career and Technical Education) provides various lessons that relate to career and employability skills.
 * Career and employability skills are vital to upper level (11-12) high school level students whether they plan on going directly into the workforce or are continuing their education and/training
 * Writing for a particular audience (an employer) can be more authentic for students.
 * Interviewing helps promote professional verbal communication.
 * Student Objectives **
 * Write “reader-centered” employability documents - From the outset, identify and assess audience expectations and needs (CE 1.3.5)
 * Speak professionally in real life interviews ( CE 1.5.2 ; CE 4.2.1)
 * Expand technology skills by using the Internet to research careers and create documents using Microsoft Office (CE 1.5.4)
 * Michigan ELA Content Expectations **
 * CE 1.3.5** - From the outset, identify and assess audience expectations and needs; consider the rhetorical effects of style, form, and content based on that assessment; and adapt communication strategies appropriately and effectively.
 * CE 1.5.4** - Use technology tools (e.g, word processing, presentation and multimedia software) to produce polished written and multimedia work (e.g., literary and expository works, proposals, business presentations, advertisements).

=Instructional Plan Components=

__**Resources**__
o Computers o Local Businesses o Paper o Folders *(Number will vary depending on your class size) o Permission slips - permission for the students to leave school grounds on the specified date and time of their interview.
 * Microsoft Office
 * Internet

__**Teacher Preparation**__
o Reference text books, become familiar with the correct format for creating a cover letter, a resume and a thank you letter. o Create examples of good and bad documents for your students to reference. o Get in contact with local business. Generate a list of businesses that are willing to work with your students during the interview process. See if the Business Department has a list of contacts that you may be able to work with. o After businesses are confirmed let them know the dates that students will be contacting them and block off two days for interviewing. o Create worksheets/handouts to coordinate with lessons.

__**Detailed Lesson Plans (Instruction and Activities)**__
//Session One – Pre-writing activity // 1. Write on the board or project onto a screen a prompt that reads: What I want to do with my life? 2. Instruct students to take the first 5 minutes of class to write down a list of things that interest them. 3. In small groups of 2-4 have students share their interest with each other. 4. From their list of interest have students come up with their top three jobs or fields of work that they think they are interested in. 5. For the remainder of the class period allow the students the use the internet to research their top three choices.

//Session Two – Introduce the Portfolio (Assignment Sheet & Rubric )// 1. Hand out assignment sheet 2. Go over requirements 3. Give students the actual grading rubric so they know how they will be assessed 4. Now that the students know they will be working on a real life employability portfolio, for the remaining time allow them continue to research which job they want to apply for.

//Session Three – Summarize Internet Findings (Discussion )// 1. With the information that they have gathered over the past three days, instruct students to type up information for the three jobs they researched, guide them with questions such as: · What is the average income? · What is the required training/schooling after graduation? · How long does this training/schooling generally take? · A fun fact you found out about the job field that you did not know prior to research. 2. Instruct students to select one job from the three that they will focus on for the portfolio. Students will include what lead them to selecting this Job/Field of work. 3. Discussion – Lead a discussion with the students about their field that they picked. Have each student will share which job they will be researching and why with the class as a whole.

//Session Four – Cover Letter Lesson// 1. “An Introduction to You” a. Pass out example of good and bad cover letters. b. Give students 5 minutes to write down characteristics from each letter, what makes the good one good and the bad one bad? c. Have students share what they found in each letter, create class list on the board. d. Give students rubric as to what you specifically what the letter to include (formatting, professional language, ect.) so that students know exactly what to include in their letters. 2. Students work on cover letters.

//Session Five – Cover Letter Lesson// 1. Students continue to work on cover letter lesson from session four.

//Session Six – Cover Letter Peer Review// 1. Give students peer review handout. 2. Have students work in pairs for 10 minutes. 3. Have students switch partners and do a second peer review. 4. Allow time for students to correct cover letters.
 * create a peer review worksheet to guide students on what to look for in each others cover letters.

//Session Seven – Résumé Lesson// 1. “The Average Employer Looks at Your Resume for 30 Seconds…” a. When students come in, begin class by instructing them to write down as many things as possible about themselves in 5 minutes. b. With their list, tell students to go back and write how they think each think can relate to the job that they have selected to focus on for the project. c. Show students examples of your own personal resume and/or other student resumes on overhead so they can be reminded as to what the document should look like. d. Hand out resume rubric so student know what exactly is expected out of the resume. e. Pick one template from Microsoft Word and instruct all students to begin by writing down how they could include their information into the blank document. 2. Students begin to outline resume.

//Sessions Eight & Nine – Work on Resumes// 1. Allow class periods for students to create resumes on Microsoft Word.

//Session Ten – Peer Review Resumes// 1. Peer Review Resumes – Gallery Walk a. When students come into class instruct them to get one piece of tape from the front of the room, along with 4 blue post-it notes and 4 green post it notes. b. With their piece of tape, instruct students to find a blank area of wall and tape their resume to the wall. c. Now that the resumes are displayed instruct students to take their 4 blue post-it notes and leave 4 __positive comments__ on 4 separate classmates resumes. d. After 5-8 minutes, include students to wrap up their positive comments and retrieve their green post-it notes for their desk. e. With their green post-it notes, students will now leave __4 constructive comments__. Encourage students not be simply point out errors, but leave suggestions on how to improve errors. 2. After students have completed the “Gallery Walk” have them take down their resume, review their comments and use the rest of the time to edit resumes.

//Session Eleven – Turn in Final Resume/Discussion// 1. Hand in final resume. 2. Prompt students with the following questions on the board a. What was most challenging about creating a resume? b. What was the most valuable part of this process for you? c. What is one thing on your resume that you think will catch an employer's eye within 30 seconds? 3. Pass out hand out on business etiquette 4. Instruct students to read handout for homework and come prepared for discussion.

//Session Twelve - Business Etiquette Lesson// 1. Thought starter: a. On the board prompt students to pick one piece of etiquette from the worksheet they received the day before and write a couple of sentences on why they think it is important. 2. With the person sitting next to them, have students share responses. 3. instruct student to take the USAToday business etiquette quiz at their computer station [] 4. Lead a short discussion about what the students results were and if there were any answers they found surprising. 5. Student start to draft a script for setting up their interview, recalling lessons learned from the etiquette worksheet and quiz.

//Session Thirteen - Students Contact Businesses// 1. Hand students a list of local business participating in the interview process. 2. If there is not a business for their career path, students will be interviewed by a small panel of administrators and teachers who will volunteer as potential employers. 3. Employers will be expecting the students phone calls and will be available for interviews on the dates that correspond with sessions 16 and 17 within the unit. Instruct students that they can only make their appointments on the two specified dates. 4. Use remaining class time to research the business you will be visiting. a. Business information to look for: i. When the business was founded. ii. What is their mission statement? iii. What type of services do they provide? iv. If at all, how do they serve the community? Do they participate in any company wide service projects?

//Session Fourteen and Fifteen – Practice Interview Skills/Mock Interviews// 1. Assign students partners. 2. Ask students if they have participated in an interview before and what they thought about it. Were they prepared for the interview? 3. Describe how interviews are used. a. Employers making hiring and promotion decisions. b. Colleges making admission decisions. c. Scholarship committees making financial aid decisions. 4. Stress to students the importance of being a salesperson during an interview. The interviewee’s goal is to convince the interviewer that they should be selected. Good salespeople know their product. Self-knowledge and the ability to express it are the keys to successful interviewing. 5. Break students into pairs. 6. With the list of questions provided by the teacher students will take turns interviewing and assessing each other.

//Session Sixteen and Seventeen – Students Visit Businesses// 1. Students will go to local businesses in community to participate in interviews. 2. Students will only be gone for one day, on the day they are not interviewing they will be preparing for their interview and/or summarizing their experience.

//Session Eighteen – Professional Thank You Letters (Grammar Lesson )// 1. “Give Thanks” Lesson a. To begin class tell students that your're going to begin by looking at how small grammatical changes can change the meaning of an entire sentence. b. display the sentence: Woman without her man is nothing c. instruct students to add punctuation and examine how it can change the meaning. . Example: Ask for volunteers to approach the board and copy the sentence with punctuation. Elicit (or present) the following distinct ways to punctuate the sentence: --Woman, without her man, is nothing. --Woman! Without her, man is nothing. Encourage students to think carefully about the ways that subtle changes in grammar or punctuation can radically change meaning. For instance, how does the addition of commas to the first instance change the meaning of the original sentence included in the prompt? (The use of commas suggests that "without her man" can be removed from the sentence without changing the meaning.) Challenge students to create other sentences that show dramatic changes when punctuated differently. d. With the punctuation concepts fresh in their minds, instruct students to start outlining thank you letters to the business they interviewed at. Students can reference text books to ensure that they are using correct business letter format. 2. Draft thank you letters, have students share with each other and edit.

//Session Nineteen – Student Self – Reflect //ion 1. Have students reflect on their experience: a. Was this process beneficial to you? If not what should I change? If it was, why? b. What was your favorite part of the entire process? 2. Continue thank you letters; finish and mail out.

Session Twenty – Turn in Final Portfolio 1. Turn in all components neatly in a folder: a. Cover Letter b. Resume c. Interview Evaluation d. Copy of Thank You Letter e. Self-reflection