Welcome to the Real World WebQuest Page 1

Welcome to the Real WorldIntroduction—Task—Process—Conclusion

IntroductionYour future begins with YOU and the decisions that you make today, tomorrow, and the day after. What classes you choose, what after-school jobs you have, what you do in your spare time—these all shape your future. The choice is YOURS!There are literally 1,000s of careers to choose from—and new ones are being created every day. How do you figure out which careers you might like to try? It takes some thought, creativity, and research. High school is a time of great exploration and discovery. In the following project, you will have the opportunity to learn about yourself and the world around you.

The TaskMany of us enter the workforce not clearly understanding what our chosen career will be like. We have some notions because of what we have experienced, but our knowledge often falls short on a few details. The goal of this WebQuest will be for you to develop a better understanding of your selected career—the good parts, the bad parts, and all those in-between. Your task is to learn about yourself by researching a career and making a presentation to your classmates.

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Welcome to the Real World WebQuest Page 2

Process1. To find what work-related interests you have, what abilities you have,

and what's important to you in a job, take two or more career interest surveys, using resources from the following list. Be sure to maintain an ongoing resource list of the web sites used. (Use your school’s recommended style manual when citing resources.) On-line Career Assessment Tools

•Career Interests Game: http://career.missouri.edu/students/explore/thecareerinterestsgame.php

•Princeton Review Career Quiz: http://www.princetonreview.com/Login3-GWO1.aspx?RDN=1

•Myers-Briggs Personality Type: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

•BBC Personality Questionnaire: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/personality/index_1.shtml?age=&gender=&ethnicity=&education

•eCareer Counselor (sponsored by U.S. Department of Labor): http://www.ecareercounselor.org/?source=Google&K=career%20tests&gclid=CIGwuIyK_ZoCFZpM5QodampTdA

2. Analyze the results and summarize by answering the following questions. What general career clusters predominated (i.e. scientific, social

services, management, clerical, etc.)?

What skills or abilities were suggested?

What did the surveys tell you about your personality traits and work values?

How are the results different or similar to how you perceive yourself?

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3. After analyzing the results from the interest inventories, choose one career that you want to learn more about, using 3-5 different resources from the following list: Princeton Review Career Profiles - http://www.princetonreview.com/Careers.aspx Career Onestop -

http://www.acinet.org/Occupations/select_occupation.aspx?next=occ_rep&level=&optstatus=111111111&id=1&nodeid=2&soccode=&stfips=&jobfam=

Occupational Outlook Handbook - http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm Occupational Outlook Handbook State Sources - http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco20024.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics Career Guide to Industries -

http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgindex.htm

4. For this career, find the answers to these questions: What do you do in this job?

What is a typical day like?

What skills are necessary?

What training and/or education are required?

What kinds of job opportunities exist? What is the employment outlook?

What is the average salary? How much can you expect to earn?

Describe the work conditions (indoor/outdoor, travel required, work with people or machines, etc.).

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5. Watch a video about the selected job/occupation at the following site: http://web1.dol.state.nj.us/coei/CareerVideos/careervideos_list.html

6. Answer the following questions about the video you watched: What one aspect of the job/occupation that was shown in the video

made the biggest impression on you? Why?

What aspect of the job/occupation surprised you? Why?

7. Summarize how the information that you have learned about this career relates to you personally by answering the following questions: Do you feel you have the skills needed or could learn them? If you

can acquire the skills, how will you do that?

Is the training/education required consistent with your future plans?

8. What type of lifestyle do you anticipate having? To help answer this question, select either TX or CA as the place where you will be living. For TX, access the web site http://www.cdr.state.tx.us/realitycheck/start.htm For CA, use the web site http://www.californiarealitycheck.com/

Will the salary and work conditions support the kind of life style you envision for yourself? If not, what will you do to attain that lifestyle?

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9. Imagine yourself in the career you researched. Get together with 3 or 4 other members of the class whose careers relate to yours. Form a fictitious company or association that would encompass all the careers in your group. For example, it could be a hospital or a medical group (e.g. hospital administrator or office manager, physicians, dieticians, therapists, computer operators, emergency medical technicians), a large manufacturing or retail firm (e.g., engineers, lawyers, salespeople, designers, secretaries, advertising writer, etc.), a school, etc. Prepare a group presentation for the class that will illustrate group members’ careers within the fictitious company. In your presentation, include what employment trends may affect your career field. The presentation can include (but is not limited to) imaginary:

Resumes Publicity in the form of TV interviews or magazine or newspaper articles Video Design a logo and/or slogan for the company Brochure or ad selling your company's services A web page or Power Point presentation Business cards.

Identify the names of the students in your business, and the type of business the group agreed to form.

______________________________ ____________________________

______________________________ ____________________________

______________________________

Type of business: _______________________________________________

10. Arrange a time to give your group to give an oral presentation to the class.

11. Submit your work including interest survey results, analysis and summary, career research, materials from your presentation, a reference sheet, and this completed handout on the due date.

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ConclusionSuccessful career planning requires knowledge about the many careers that exist in today's world and insight into what your interests, abilities, and work values are. The more you know about the world around you and about world within you (yourself), the easier it will be to make wise choices about your future.

_________________________________________________________

Blazosky, K. and Dogruel, S. (1999, July 7). The real world and careers: Closer than you think. Retrieved June 7, 2009 from http://education.nmsu.edu/webquest/wq/career/index.html

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Rubric: Oral Presentation

Criteria Professional Experienced Developing Novice

Content

What the speaker talked about; the information that was shared

30 points

Speaker presented relevant, accurate, up-to-date information.

Audience responded favorably to examples that were outside their experience.

Examples strayed from the point or required some thought to grasp.

Examples were difficult for the audience to grasp or totally inappropriate for the occasion.

Supporting information was provided for each point made.

Unsupported points did not create a sense of unfinished business.

Several points were vague or unsupported by evidence.

Points were vague and lacked any supporting evidence.

Examples were relevant to the audience and occasion.

Speaker presented information that was relevant and accurate, but outdated.

Speaker presented relevant information that was obviously incorrect and outdated.

Speaker wandered from topic to topic or gave information that seemed unrelated to scenario.

Speaker responded to questions fully, knowledgeably, and without hesitation.

Speaker responded hesitantly, but knowledgeably to questions.

Speaker responded hesitantly and uncomfortably, providing sketchy information in answer to questions.

Speaker gave vague, nonspecific responses to questions.

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Rubric: Oral Presentation (cont’d)

Criteria Professional Experienced Developing Novice

Delivery

How the speaker presented the information; the speaker’s performance in front of an audience

20 points

Speaker appeared confident and relaxed.

Speaker’s initial nervousness was not distracting.

Speaker’s apparent discomfort was distracting on occasion.

Speaker’s nervousness was distracting throughout the presentation.

Volume and pace made a positive contribution to speaker’s message, helping to show the speaker’s enthusiasm for the topic and engaging listeners in it.

Volume and pace were satisfactory, showing the speaker’s interest in the topic, but did nothing to engage listeners.

At some points, unvaried or erratic volume and pace detracted from the presentation, making listeners think that the speaker had no feelings about the topic.

Unvaried or erratic volume and pace detracted from the presentation, allowing listeners to think the speaker was uninterested in or uncomfortable with the topic.

Transitions from point to point flowed smoothly.

Most transitions from point to point were smooth.

Transitions from point to point were occasionally awkward.

Transitions from point to point were bumpy or nonexistent.

Presentation had originality and creative choice of examples.

Presentation had some originality and creative choice of examples.

Treatment of topic and choice of examples were fairly traditional.

Presentation relied fully on traditional treatment of topic and examples.

Accurate visual aids, including charts and graphs, supported, focused, clarified and reinforced presentation.

Accurate visual aids, including charts and graphs, added some support to presentation.

Visual aids, including charts and graphs, had to be read to the audience and contained a few inaccuracies.

Inaccurate or incomplete visual aids, including charts and graphs, detracted from presentation and were difficult to see and decipher.

Nonverbal communication (professional manner, eye contact, etc.) added to purpose of presentation.

Nonverbal communication was usually supportive of presentation.

On a few occasions nonverbal communication was distracting.

Nonverbal communication diverted audience attention from presentation’s purpose.

Speaker was appropriately dressed and well-groomed, creating a positive impression on the audience.

Speaker’s dress and grooming were adequate for the presentation.

Some items of the speaker’s dress or grooming were distracting.

Speaker was dressed and groomed for another occasion.

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Rubric: Oral Presentation (cont’d)

Criteria Professional Experienced Developing Novice

Organization

How the information was put together; the flow of the presentation

20 points

Presentation was structured with definite beginning, middle and end.

Beginning, middle, and end of presentation were present but not clearly identified.

Beginning, middle, or end of presentation was difficult to define.

Beginning, middle, or end of presentation was missing.

Speaker’s main points were easy to follow and logical with points building on each other.

Speaker’s main points were generally easy to follow and logical.

Speaker’s main points were logical but difficult to follow.

Speaker’s main points were so difficult to follow that their logic could not be determined, or they were illogical.

Introduction engaged audience in topic and outlined what the speech was about.

Introduction was interesting and provided a partial description of what the speech was about.

Introduction was standard for the topic and hinted at what the speech was about.

Introduction was uninteresting, and speaker jumped into presentation without outlining what the speech was to be about.

Material was suited to length of presentation.

Material was fairly well suited to the length of presentation.

Speaker appeared to stretch or omit material to meet the length of the presentation.

Speaker presented too much or too little material for length of presentation.

Presentation came to suitable conclusion with main points clearly summarized.

Conclusion was satisfying, but summary of main points was unclear.

Conclusion seemed unsatisfying, and/or summary of main points was vague.

Presentation ended abruptly without a conclusion or summary of key points.

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Rubric: Oral Presentation (cont’d)

Criteria Professional Experienced Developing Novice

Mechanics

Practical application of skill; mechanical or functional details or procedures

20 points

Speaker’s terminology was familiar to the audience or clearly explained.

Speaker used a few unfamiliar words and did not explain them but they could be understood from the context.

Speaker used some technical terms and did not explain them.

Speaker relied on the use of technical terms and did not explain them.

Speaker’s word choices painted vivid, precise pictures of the topic.

Speaker’s word choices were good, but did not trigger images.

Speaker’s word choices were standard, but adequate.

Speaker’s word choices were traditional and wordy.

Speaker used correct grammar and standard English throughout the presentation.

Speaker used correct grammar, occasionally incorporating slang into the presentation.

Speaker made a few grammatical mistakes and used slang throughout the presentation.

Speaker’s presentation was hampered by grammatical mistakes and reliance on slang.

Speaker pronounced words correctly and clearly, making it easy for the audience to understand what was being said.

Speaker pronounced words clearly but mispronounced a few words.

Speaker occasionally mumbled and mispronounced words, making it difficult for the audience to understand what was being said.

Speaker mumbled and mispronounced words throughout the presentation, making it almost impossible for the audience to under-stand what was being said.

Vocal pauses were used for emphasis rather than being filled with dead words such as “uh,” “and,” or “like.”

Vocal pauses were not used for emphasis.

Speaker occasionally filled pauses with dead words.

Speaker filled pauses with dead words such as “uh,” “and,” or “like” throughout presentation.

Speaker’s use of notes was not distracting and/or noticeable.

Speaker’s actions occasionally called attention to the use of notes.

Speaker occasionally fumbled with notes.

Speaker constantly fumbled with notes.

Presentation tools were used smoothly and were not distracting.

Use of presentation tools attracted minor, but not negative attention.

Use of presentation tools occasionally detracted from the presentation.

Use of presentation tools hampered the presentation.

Speaker supported presentation with clear and easy-to-see visual aids that used correct grammar and spelling.

Speaker’s visual aids were clear, easy to see, and contained few errors in spelling or grammar.

Speaker’s visual aids contained many errors in grammar and spelling and required concentration to see and understand.

Speaker’s visual aids were too small/faint/dark to be seen easily and contained so many spelling and grammatical errors that they detracted from the presentation.

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Rubric: Oral Presentation (cont’d)

Criteria Professional Experienced Developing Novice

Teamwork

Ability to work together to achieve a common goal

10 points

All students involved in the project participated equally in its presentation.

All students participated in the project but not equally.

Only a few team members participated in the project and gave the presentation.

Students relied on one student to give the presentation.

All students answered questions accurately.

Most of the students answered questions accurately.

Only a few of the team members answered questions accurately.

Students were unable to answer questions accurately.

Each team member was easily and smoothly able to describe his/her part in preparation of the presentation.

Most team members were able to describe their part in preparation of the presentation.

Only a few team members were able to describe their part in preparation of the presentation.

Team members were unable to describe their role in the preparation of the presentation.

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