Is the money worth the effort?
Is the money worth the effort?
James Sanders
Sixth Grade
Mathematics/Economics
Did you ever think about what you wanted to do in your future? What college do you plan on going to and what career will you pursue while you go there? Well it is never too early to being thinking about your career choice. You may chose your career choice on your interests, you may follow in your parents footsteps, or you may even go for a career because that is just what you always wanted to be. When thinking about your career choice, it is always an important idea to look at the salary you will be receiving. Many careers involve a high workload with very little pay, while in other careers you may be getting pair less for working more, but it is a tougher job.
The task for you is simple, I want you to do some research on some possible career choices. These can range from something you find interesting to a job your uncle has in a factory. When doing this you should research the qualifications for the job, how much money you will be getting paid, look at the benefits you and your future family may be receiving, and check out what each career requires. Finding the right career for yourself may not be as easy as it sounds, but if you acquire some knowledge of what is out there for yourself, you can try to make the best decision possible.
A career may seem as though it is forever a way, but believe it or not it is time to start thinking about your future now. Having a quality paying job is probably one of the most important things to look for in your career choice. When doing this project ask yourself there important questions:
-
Will your job pay enough to support your family?
- How many hours per week will your job consume?
- Will your job offer decent benefits?
- Is the amount of effort put into your job worth the payment
you are receiving?
- Is there any other job worth looking into with better pay
and benefits?
Your
"job" is to get into groups of four and research possible career opportunities.
Your group will decide upon two careers that they all find either interesting or
potential career choices. Two members from the group will research one career
while the other two members will research the other career. The group members
will get back together in the end to present what they have found. The entire
group as a whole will then create a PowerPoint presentation o
f
both careers for the entire class.
- Step 1: Get into groups of 4 and have the group approved by the teacher.
- Step 2: Each group of 4 will chose two careers to do research upon. The group of 4 should then divide themselves into two groups of two. One group of two will do research of one of the careers while the other group of two will research the other career. The research should include, but not be limited to, salary of the career, the benefits offered, time per week spent on working, and comparison of salaries to other careers.
- Step 3: Once each group has
chosen it's careers and have broken up, they should then begin to do their
research. Using the resource pages provided as well as other resources available
throughout the building, the students should begin to examine their careers in
an in depth manner.
- Group member one
should research the average salary of the job as well as the roles and duties
the job entitles. Along with the salary, group member one should look into
opportunities for raises, job-inflation rates, and the amount of effort to money
intake that the job offers.
- Group member two should check into the benefits that the
job offers. Every good job should include good benefits for the worker and the
family and group member two's job will be to make sure that this career provides
proper care. Group member two should also look into the retirement plans
available once the worker finished up their career.
- Step 4: Once each group has concluded their research, they will get back together to discuss their findings to one another. They will compare and contrast both career researched, figuring out which career has the better average salary, which career has the better benefits, and which career is better overall in relation to the amount of work put into the job compared to the salary which you get out of it.
- Step 5: Once the entire
group does their comparison and contrasting, they will then begin to brainstorm
ways in which to develop a PowerPoint presentation that will be presented to the
entire classroom. The PowerPoint should include the following:
- An introduction of
both careers investigated
- A detailed explanation of why this career was selected to
be researched
- The average salary of both careers
- The highest and lowest salaries found during research
- The typical benefits each career has for it's workers
- Retirement plans available once that time comes in each
career
- A comparison and contrast chart of the two careers
researched
- A detailed description of which of the two careers seems
like the better choice
- Step 6: Decide how the PowerPoint presentation will be presented to the classroom. Figure out which slides each group member will present and talk about ways to enhance the presentation to keep the classroom interested.
- Step 7: When your group is called upon, be prepared to present your PowerPoint presentation to the classroom. Make sure to talk in a clear and concise manner. Talk loud enough for the entire classroom to hear and keep eye contact with the students while presenting. The presentation should last between 10 and 15 minutes. Conclude the presentation with each group members feelings towards the careers after research, advice to the class about which career would be a better choice, and the groups overall opinion on how to chose a possible career choice for their future.
Once each group has presented their PowerPoint
presentations, the class will then talk about all the careers researched
throughout the assignment. The class as a whole will express their views and
opinions on which careers would be of better choice, which careers would be the
most difficult, and most importantly which careers offer the best salaries. The
class as a whole will then vote for their favorite career presented in the
PowerPoint presentations. The winning career will then be a classroom theme for
that month and the students will be asked to do a typed report on that career to
be handed in at a later date.
The favorite career of the classroom will also be the topic at hand for the school's open house and parent-teaching conferences that will be held at some time during that month. This will be a grand opportunity for the students to show off the work that they have done in the class and to also give some insight to their parents about possible careers that they may want to look into as they get closer to college.
Each group member will be graded both individually and as a
group. Each member of the group will help to formulate each individual's score.
Each group member, including yourself, will fill out the individual rubric to
determine the amount of points you will receive. The teacher will formulate the
group score based on the presentation of the PowerPoint and it will also take
into account group cooperation with one another.
Group Rubric
| OVERALL APPEARANCE |
|
|
3 points
Appealing use of graphics, shows consistency of planning and creativity in use of color and type |
|
| ORGANIZATION AND TRANSITION | 1 point
Material looks as if its just "pasted" together, lack of thought obvious, either no transitions or too many |
2 points
Material has a coherent flow, though some parts may be out of order. Makes consistent use of transitions. |
3 points
All parts are in logical order, carrying audience from one element to the next. No more than three different transitions are used. |
|
| USE OF TECHNOLOGY | 1 point
Uses template and just puts information into appropriate place. Little or no use of sound, pictures, or movies. |
2 points
May have used template, but has added some elements. Multimedia elements are used to enhance presentation. |
3 points
Presentation has creatively made use of the multimedia aspects to make information more lively and enjoyable to the audience. |
|
| EDUCATOR INFORMATION | 2 point
Element looks rushed and lacks depth. Little evidence of resources being used.
|
4 points
Element looks planned and has obviously accessed several resources. Information could show more analysis. |
6 points
Has several resources accessed and information gathered has been synthesized to that the audience can understand its relevance to the task. |
|
| PERSONNEL MANAGER INFORMATION | 2 point
Element looks rushed and lacks depth. Little evidence of resources being used.
|
4 points
Element looks planned and has obviously accessed several resources. Information could show more analysis |
6 points
Has several resources accessed and information gathered has been synthesized to that the audience can understand its relevance to the task. |
|
| MONEY LOVER INFORMATION | 2 point
Element looks rushed and lacks depth. Little evidence of resources being used.
|
4 points
Element looks planned and has obviously accessed several resources. Information could show more analysis |
6 points
Has several resources accessed and information gathered has been synthesized to that the audience can understand its relevance to the task. |
|
| SELF ACTUALIZER INFORMATION | 2 point
Element looks rushed and lacks depth. Little evidence of resources being used.
|
4 points
Element looks planned and has obviously accessed several resources. Information could show more analysis |
6 points
Has several resources accessed and information gathered has been synthesized to that the audience can understand its relevance to the task |
|
| CONCLUSION | 1 point
Does not state overall thoughts, no summary of positive/negative aspects of the career |
2 points
States overall thoughts about career, less then clear on accessibility and positive/negative aspects of the career. |
3 points
Clearly states overall thoughts about career, how accessible the career is to the audience, and positive/negative aspects of the career. |
|
Individual Rubric
|
Here are a list of
resources that you can use while working on your assignment. These resources
will help you find out average salaries, what goes on in the workplace, and will
help you to find out benefits in each career to be studied.
The Occupational Outlook
Handbook
http://www.bls.gov/oco/
-Comprehensive, up-to-date information of careers from the Federal
Government.
O*Net Online
http://landing.domainsponsor.com/index.mas?epl=00640037VFAXVE0DWlgVVRBeVwMAFQVbC1YKW1kADFAIV1ZRUgBbQAdKFwpBU0dRPQpcWFMH
-In-depth info about hundred of occupations . Find related occupations;
searches for jobs that use your skills.
America's Career Infonet
http://www.acinet.org/acinet/
-Career exploration, wage and employment trends, career resource links.
Career Pathfinder
http://www.highwired.net/careerpathfinder
-Career Pathfinder for students, is an interactive resource that you can use
to explore who you are and what you could be, plan for what to do after
graduation, and get practical information and actual work experience.
Career Key
http://www
careerkey.org/english/
-The Career Key interest inventory assist students with identifying personality
types, finding jobs that fit those types, and has links to find out more about
those jobs. A section also explores how to make good career decisions.
Salaries
http://wwv.salary.com/
-A web-site that connects salaries to different jobs and also gives you an
outlook of what to expect as you are attempting to enter this workfield.
Wall Street Journal Career
Information
http://www.careers.wsj.com/
-CareerJournal.com is the Internet's premier
career site for executives, managers and professionals. The site's job database
offers more than 100,000 available positions, including job listings in the
CareerJournal National Network, a database containing opportunities from local
and national newspaper, magazine and TV station web sites across the U.S.
Salary Expert
http://www.salaryexpert.com/
-SalaryExpert provides FREE salary reports to
students and job hunters. For salary software used by 10,000 subscribing
organizations to set pay for more than 10 million employees worldwide, see ERI's
Salary Survey Assessor. Compensation professionals rely on this salary survey
software to set 2007 salary structures.
The
Riley Guide
http://www.rileyguide.com/
-The Riley Guide is a directory of
employment and career information sources and services on the Internet. It is
primarily intended to provide instruction for job seekers on how to use the
Internet to their best advantage, but recruiters and other career service
industry professional will find information here to help them also.
Wet Feet
http://www.wetfeet.com/
-WetFeet.com is the leading site for job seekers to research companies,
industries and careers. Its research powers the career sections of top Internet
destinations including AOL, Excite, Monster, NationJob, Yahoo! and many others.
The internet is not the
only place to research salaries and careers. Many magazines and books also have
valuable information that could be used in your assignment as well!
Have Fun and Good Luck!
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