What do you do at work?
Learn what others do in their careers and create a vision board to guide your journey.
Overview
Through video students will hear from different individuals about their careers in the green sector, including their job roles and what they enjoy about their work. They will then gather, analyze and compile various pieces of information from multiple sources to create a physical career vision board. This vision board will serve as a detailed reference and source of inspiration for future career planning and guidance.
Instructions
What you'll need
- Computer and TV or projector
- “What do you do at work?” slideshow
- “Career vision board” student handout, print one copy student
- Materials to create a vision board, such as poster board, pens, and images.
- Videos:
- Toni: Click here - Cut at 3:51 mins
- Love-Ese: Click here - Cut at 2:29 mins
- Ed: Click here
- Natasha: Click here
- Gary: Click here
- Jay: Click here
1. Have a class discussion about green careers; what makes a career green, who would be interested in pursuing a green career and / or do the activities “Explore green careers for a sustainable future” and “Dig deep into green jobs”.
What do you do at work?
2. Pull up the “What do you do at work?” slideshow and explain that you will be showing some videos of people sharing their jobs. Starting at slide 2 share that green entrepreneurs are a big part of the green economy. Ask students to share any green businesses in their area. Slides 3-4 feature two B.C entrepreneurs. After the videos have students discuss what are the skills of an entrepreneur like creativity, knowledge, leadership, financial literacy and good communication.
3. At slide 5 share the story from the T'Sou-ke First Nation. They have become a leader in the innovative use of renewable energy in Canada and the most solar intensive community in Canada creating not only clean energy but jobs, self-sufficiency and food security.
4. At slide 6 share that BC Hydro has many green careers ranging from vegetation coordinators, water license managers, trades, engineers, marketing specialists and librarians.
5. At slide 7 show the videos of Natasha, Gary and Jay who work or have apprenticed with BC Hydro. After the videos have students discuss what aspects of the jobs interested them. Share the following resources with students to explore options at BC Hydro further:
b. Careers
c. BC Hydro’s Youth Hires and Cooperative Education programs
6. At slide 8 summarize that green jobs are everywhere, in every sector, and need people with all different skills and experience.
Career vision board
7. Share with students that they will be creating a career vision board — a visual tool to help clarify and focus on their career goals. It serves as a guide and motivator, featuring images, words, and symbols that represent their desired career path and help align their actions with their objectives.
8. Provide each student with a copy of the "Career Vision Board" student handout. Explain that this handout will guide them through the process of creating their vision board. Invite them to reflect on the questions in the handout to develop and organize their ideas.
9. Ask students to create their career vision board using images, key words, and phrases that reflect their interests and aspirations. They can choose the format that works best for them , either a physical board (such as a posterboard collage) or a digital version created with online tools.
10. Invite students to display their vision boards (either physically or digitally) and update them as their ideas and goals evolve.
Modify or extend this activity
Check out the Power Smart for Schools activity “Careers in STEM and gender equality” to learn about opportunities to close the gender gap in STEM and explore many STEM careers open to all.
Curriculum Fit
Career Education 8 & 9
Big ideas
- Reflecting on our preferences and skills helps us identify the steps we need to take to achieve our career goals.
- Our career paths reflect the personal, community, and educational choices we make.
Content
- Personal development: self-assessment for career research.
- Community connections: local and global needs and opportunities, and factors affecting types of jobs in the community.
Competencies
- Use self-assessment and reflection to develop awareness of their strengths, preferences, and skills.
- Question self and others about how individual purposes and passions can support the needs of the local and global community when considering career choices.
- Recognize and explore diverse perspectives on how work contributes to our community and society.
Career-Life Education (CLE) (10-12)
Big ideas
- Career-life choices are made in a recurring cycle of planning, reflecting, adapting, and deciding.
- Career-life decisions are influenced by internal and external factors, including local and global trends.
Content
- Career-life development: self-assessment and reflection strategies.
- Connections with community: factors that both inform career-life choices and are influenced by them, including personal, environmental, and land use factors and ways to contribute to community and society that take cultural influences into consideration.
Competencies
- Experience: Identify career-life challenges and opportunities and generate and apply strategies.
- Initiate: Explore and reflect on career-life roles, personal growth, and initial planning for preferred career-life pathways.
Career-Life Connections (CLC) (10-12)
Big ideas
- Career-life development includes ongoing cycles of exploring, planning, reflecting, adapting, and deciding.
- Career-life decisions influence and are influenced by internal and external factors, including local and global trends.
Content
- Personal career-life development: factors that shape personal identity and inform career-life choices and reflection strategies.
- Connections with community: career-life exploration.
- Career-life planning: self-assessment to achieve goals that advance preferred career-life futures and labor market trends, and local and global influences on career-life choices.
- Career-life choices are made in a recurring cycle of planning, reflecting, adapting, and deciding.
Competencies
- Examine: Analyze internal and external factors to inform personal career-life choices for post-graduation planning.
- Experience: Engage in, reflect on, and evaluate career-life exploration.
Assessments
- Assess students’ focus during the videos and participation in the group discussions.
- Assess students’ ability to research, examine and compile their ideas into their career vision board.
- Assess students’ creativity to visually communicate their career journey.
Teaching Notes
Government of Canada Job Bank
This site is a comprehensive resource on career planning, market information, and job searches. Students can take the “explore career possibilities” quizzes and/or the “explore your personality quizzes” to guide the process of exploring careers. Many of the jobs suggested after taking the quizzes are green jobs.
What is a career in sustainability, and why might you be interested?
Sustainability is less a sector and more a highly diverse area that cuts across many industries – broadly, a ‘job in sustainability’ means performing a role that combines environmental, social, and economic factors, and has a strong focus on environmental or social justice issues.
You might be interested in working in sustainability because of:
- a value you hold (for example, an accountant may really care about the social and environmental regeneration of their local area and choose to work for an organization promoting this),
- a knowledge base you have (for example, you might hold a degree in a sustainability-related subject or have previous relevant work experience),
- the career opportunities this growing sector presents, or
- a combination of the above.
Excerpt from source.
Check out the following BC Hydro websites for career information
Downloads
Select the materials you require for this activity or download all
872.9 kb • pdf
123.9 kb • pdf
