USER’S GUIDE The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit For HSE & ESL Learners · The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit was made...

Transportation & Warehousing

Education & Childcare

ManufacturingTechnology

Hospitality, Recreation & the Arts

Construction

Food Production

Healthcare

Community & Social Services

Retail

CAREER FUNDAMENTALS

The City University of New York • CUNY Adult Literacy / HSE Program

The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit For HSE & ESL Learners

A Comprehensive Career Preparation Teaching Resource Reflecting NYS Regional Labor Market Statistics

2018

USER’S GUIDE

The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit was made possible through support from the New York State Education Department, Office of Adult Career and Continuing Education Services.

The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit For HSE & ESL Learners

A Comprehensive Career Preparation Teaching Resource Reflecting NYS Regional Labor Market Statistics

2018

USER’S GUIDE Credits:

CareerKit Creator and Principal Writer: Ellen Baxt

Contributing Writers: Liz Latty, Kate Brandt and Mark Trushkowsky

Project Director: Leslee Oppenheim CUNY Director of Language and Literacy Programs

John Mogulescu CUNY Senior University Dean for Academic Affairs and Dean of the School of Professional Studies

Donna Linderman University Dean for Student Success Initiatives

Design and Layout: Renée Skuba Design

The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit provides:

Introductory set of essential career lessons for all students:

• Career Fundamentals

Sets of lessons for each of ten industry-specific sectors:

• Healthcare• Retail• Community & Social Services

• Transportation & Warehousing• Education & Childcare• Manufacturing• Technology• Hospitality, Recreation &

the Arts• Construction• Food Production

Version: 04.2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION • How to Get the Most Out of the NYSED/CUNY CareerKits 1

1 • What the NYSED/CUNY CareerKits Are 3

2 • How to Gauge Student Interest in Industry Sectors 6

3 • How to Engage Students with Diverse Career Interests 7

4 • How to Select CareerKit Activities 12

5 • How to Teach about Careers if You’re Not an Expert in Careers 14

6 • How to Develop a Career-Lookout Lens 15

7 • How to Use Your Local Newspaper to Find Career-Related Materials 17

8 • How to Adapt Complex Texts 21

9 • How to Determine Which Skills Students Will Need for a CareerKit Activity 23

10 • How to Create Pre-Reading Activities 25

11 • How to Teach Annotation 27

12 • How to Teach Paraphrasing 29

13 • How to Use the CareerKits to Help Students Make Gains on the TABE Reading Test 32

14 • How to Use the CareerKits for TASC Exam Preparation 34

15 • How to Lead Students Through a Website Navigation 39

16 • How to Use Graphs in the Literacy and ESL Classroom 43

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) 1USER’S GUIDE

Section # User’s Guide

How to Get the Most Out of the NYSED/CUNY CareerKits

The NYSED/CUNY CareerKits contain hundreds of lessons that integrate literacy and numeracy practice with content on careers and career pathways. This

unit is a collection of best practices for selecting, adapting and using the lessons with students. The CareerKits are a library of career exploration resources from which teachers and counselors pick and choose the activities that best address the academic and career goals of their students.

The following short pedagogical pieces show teachers and counselors how they can use CareerKit activities to teach students about careers and career pathways while at the same time strengthening their reading, writing, math, computer literacy and critical thinking skills. This unit addresses concerns about finding the time to address careers while making sure students meet their academic goals, including preparation for taking standardized tests, such as the TASC and TABE, and improving their English fluency. It provides guiding questions that help students identify the literacy and numeracy skills practice embedded in each CareerKit activity, so that they know they are making progress toward their academic goals while learning about careers. It includes step-by-step instructions on teaching the academic skills students will apply to some CareerKit activities. It shows how to adapt materials for various student levels. Each short piece can be used as a stand-alone training topic or as part of a training and professional development series.

The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit USER’S GUIDE

380 UNIT 5 • Choosing a Career, Finding a Job NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) • Career Fundamentals

Lesson Guide

Section 2

Using Job Search ResourcesStudents read about a variety of employment resources, paraphrase what they have read, examine scenarios that describe different needs job seekers have, and match the sample job seeker with the most appropriate resource, activating critical thinking and problem-solving skills.Note: This activity uses New York City public and community resources

as a means for helping students practice paraphrasing, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. All communities have resources that can help residents explore careers, access training and support system, and secure and advance in employment. This activity can be adapted to local resources.

PREP

• Review Employment Resources readingMATERIALS• Employment Resources reading• Employment Resources Recommendations worksheetExPLAIN

1 Whataresomechallengesthatpeoplemightneedhelpwithwhenpreparing

foracareerorlookingforajob? Help picking a career, job training, help writing a resume, help finding a job, etc.

Whether you are deciding on or preparing for a career or looking for a job,

there are many organizations that provide free assistance. These agencies

provide a variety of services and programs including job training, career counseling, resume preparation assistance, job search skills, and even clothes

to wear to an interview.2 Distribute the Employment Resources reading. This reading summarizes some

of the places you can go to for help. Each organization provides a different set

of services. For example, you may work with a job counselor in one agency

and attend a job fair to meet with employers through a different agency, while getting clothes to wear to the interview from a third. It is important to

understand which organization or organizations best fit your needs.

90 MINUTES

• Paraphrasing• Making

inferences

• Cite evidence from the text to support your analysis

• Reading an informational text

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) 2 USER’S GUIDE • TODAY’S LABOR MARKET

User’s Guide

188 UNIT 3 • healthcare worker narratives NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2017) • Healthcare

Lesson Guidesection 3

A Dental Assistant’s Math: Calculations with Percentages and Decimals

Students learn about the role of a Dental Assistant including inventory management, while using percentages, decimals and multiplication to solve workplace math problems.

PreP

• Students should already be familiar with the following concepts: percentages, decimals and rounding.

• Background knowledge Following are some general responsibilities of Dental Assistants:

Dental Assistants prepare patients for treatments, conduct teeth cleanings, and sterilize instruments. They often assist dentists during procedures by using suction equipment to clear patients’ mouths of fluid. Dental Assistants might take oral X-rays, manage inventory of supplies, place orders and help maintain patient records.

MaTerIals

• Dental Assistant Inventory sheet

eXPlaIN

1 Jacqueline is a Dental Assistant. List what you think her work responsibilities are in pairs.

2 Write student responses on the board.

3 One of Jacqueline’s responsibilities is managing inventory. What are some of the tasks that might be included in this work?

Counting inventory items, recording totals on the inventory sheet, reviewing totals for discrepancies, identifying products that need to be re-ordered and placing orders.

4 What are some types of math that might be included in these tasks?

Calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; calculating with decimals; calculating with percents.

60 MINUTes

calculations

Introduction

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) • Career Fundamentals 405UNIT 5 • Choosing a Career, Finding a Job

Student HandoutSection 4

Interview with Kade Alvarez, Bus Operator for New York City Transit (NYCT) Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)Composited by Hannah Son, based on interviews with NYCT employees Photo: https://content.invisioncic.com/r278501/post-1-133288581647.jpg

Interviewer: How did you get interested in working for New York City Transit (NYCT)?

Kade: After I got my GED in 2005, I was driving for a few different car service companies. It was flexible but also hard because a company would go out of business and then I’d have to find another company to work for, and then another—and no benefits. I was watching my father struggle with health issues with no insurance at the time, so I thought I better try for a job that included benefits.

Interviewer: So the NYCT meant benefits. Did you have any other reasons for joining?

Kade: Well, like I said, I was tired of losing my job because the companies I’d be driving for would fold through no fault of my own. I wanted something stable and I heard from a buddy that once you got hired by NYCT, it’s steady work.

Interviewer: How did you apply for the position?

Kade: I applied to be a bus operator back in 2010. I had to take a test first and wait for a pretty long time, to be honest, but once my name popped up on the eligibility list, I was able to start right away.

page 1

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2017) • Healthcare 187UNIT 3 • healthcare worker narratives

Lesson Guidesection 2.3

Additional Healthcare VideosThere are dozens of career-related videos on YouTube, containing short video interviews with healthcare professionals speaking about their jobs. Classes can discuss these videos similarly to the ones of Cynthia and Zaida. YouTube can also be searched to find additional career videos by using a keyword search.

1. Healthcare Career Pathways

A 6-minute video introducing healthcare careers that do not require Bachelor’s degrees. Many require certificates or Associate’s degrees. Includes job descriptions, salaries and education.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkCs_63HSM

2. Healthcare Managers

A 3-minute video introducing what healthcare managers do and where they work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkCs_63HSM

3. Healthcare Information Management

A 3-minute video explaining the data-related world of healthcare information, including what college courses are required.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTbY8taAMcg

4. Medical Assisting

A medical assistant is interviewed and describes a sample appointment. She explains many of her responsibilities in detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNM_OpSmMyc

5. Surgical Technology

A 5-minute video showing the duties of surgical technologists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNDR2ZT9YxI

6. Ultrasound Technology

An ultrasound technologist explains her responsibilities, demonstrating the equipment she uses, and describing educational requirements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3McedzGDgg

7. Paramedic

A “ride-along,” this video takes place in an on-duty ambulance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87DvYA3nX_M

8. Community Health Worker/Health Promoter

Immigrant Community Health Workers explain how members of the local community who share language and culture with residents can help improve local health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ia9Cfi9KgE

9. Healthcare Interpreter

A college professor describes a new certificate in Healthcare Interpretation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3_jrrXbu94


User’s GuideSection 1

1 • What the NYSED/CUNY CareerKits Are The NYSED/CUNY CareerKits are a large compendium of literacy-based career

exploration resources for teachers and counselors. In order to make the most of them, it’s important to know what they include and what they don’t include.

THE NYSED/CUNY CAREERKITS ARE:

A library of hundreds of activities that expose students to careers and career exploration, while at the same time developing their basic literacy and numeracy skills. While students practice paraphrasing, essay writing, graph interpretation and using evidence to support an argument, they learn about dozens of careers, including salary ranges, required education and the daily tasks done in jobs across many sectors.

Timely data Students read graphs and data on employment and salary statistics as they consider how their own interests intersect with the availability of jobs. The New York City Labor Market Information Service (NYCLMIS) has created CareerKit graphs and career maps of many industry sectors in all regions of New York State. In addition to hard data, dozens of industry advisors have been consulted to provide a nuanced understanding of the lived realities of work in their industry—what employers look for, which benefits are common in the sector and how people advance in the field.

Research-focusedAs students prepare for their next educational and career steps, they will have to clarify their needs and interests, navigate various websites, understand training program requirements, complete applications and figure out how they will pay for this career preparation. While the teachers, counselors and people in their personal networks can provide some guidance, they won’t have all the answers, and students will need to learn how to find the answers to their individual questions about complex choices and options. The CareerKits teach students how to research their own interests as well as next steps: how to navigate the websites of career databases, colleges and training training programs; how to assess the quality of programs; and how to find application deadlines and requirements.

Total Jobs in NYC, 2004 and 2014

TOTAL JOBS

MANUFACTURING

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

MINING

INFORMATION

CONSTRUCTION

OTHER SERVICES

TRADE, TRANSPORT, AND UTILITIES

PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS SERVICES

LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY

EDUCATION AND HEALTH

0 230,000 460,000 690,000 920,000 1,150,000

2004

2014



Applying basic skills development to career contentCareerKit activities present opportunities for students to apply the basic skills they are learning in their classes to activities that expose them to a wide variety of careers and career pathways. Teachers can use the CareerKit Skills Chart to locate lessons about careers that draw on the skills they are already working on in class. The chart above is an example of the Skills Chart included in every CareerKit, allowing teachers to choose activities by academic skill as well as by career content.

Searchable by literacy, numeracy and social studies skillsUsing the Skills Chart, teachers and counselors can search for career-related activities that reinforce the skills their students are already working on. This way, they do not have to find additional time for the activities. Rather, the CareerKit activities provide opportunities for applied practice in the skills, while exposing students to career information. In every activity, students should be reminded that literacy, numeracy and social studies skills they are practicing through the study of careers are helping them take steps toward their larger academic goals. Many skills practiced in CareerKit activities are ones tested on standardized exams such as the TASC and TABE.

NYSED

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areerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) • C

areer Fundamentals

xita

ble of skills

Table of Skillscareer FundamenTalS

Reading skills (cont’d) WRiTing skills MaTh skills addiTional skills

Cite Textual (or other) evidence

to support analysis

Compare and

Contrast

develop Questions

Reading an infographic

Create Visual Representation

of a Text

Respond to Text in Writing

TasC: argumenta-tive essay

TasC: informational

essay

Peer editing

analyze employment

Trends

Read and analyze

graphs and Charts

CalculationsConduct

Web-based Research

self- assessment

Making Presentations

UniT 1: Today’s labor Market

U1, S1: Identifying 10 Industry Sectors X X X X X

U1, S2: Labor Vocabulary

U1, S3.1: Job Losses and Gains Across Sectors

X X

U1, S3.2: Total Employment Graphs in Healthcare & Construction

X X X X X

U1, S3.3: Career Brainstorming

U1, S4: How Does Technology Affect Today's Labor Market?

X

U1, S5: Career Advantages of Being Bilingual X X

U1, S6: Career Families X X

U1, S7: Employer Types X X

U1, S8: Introduction to Civil Service X

TASC Essay Series: New for New York's Workers

X X

UniT 2: knowing Myself

U2, Section 1: My Work History X

U2, S2: Work Values and Interests X X

U2, S3.1: CareerZone activities a-d X X

U2, S3.2: Career Cruising activities a-h X X X X

U2, S4.1: Caculating a Budget X X

U2, S4.2: Check Cashing vs. Bank Accounts X X X

U2, S4.3: Online and Mobile Banking X

U2, S4.4: Terms for Taxes

U2, S4.5: Calculating Income Taxes X

U2, S4.6: Completing Form W-4 X

U2, S4.7: Earned Income Tax Credit X

Example of CareerKit Skills Chart



Applicable to many reading levels, class subjects, advisement contexts and populationsThe CareerKits were written for adults in High School Equivalency or High Level ESL classes, but can be adapted for middle and high school students, those with lower reading levels, those who haven’t started working yet and those with significant work experience.

Living documentsInformation about careers is always changing as the labor market evolves and new businesses open or close, as new technologies are developed. New CareerKit materials are continually added to the CareerKit blog at CollectEdny.org.

THE NYSED/CUNY CAREERKITS ARE NOT:

A curriculum that must be followed from cover to coverThey are designed with flexibility to enable programs to choose the activities that are most applicable to their students and teaching context. Designed mostly as stand-alone lessons, CareerKit activities can be inserted into already existing curricula. For example, the Education and Experience unit in the Healthcare CareerKit may be incorporated into a science class, so that students learn about career opportunities in Healthcare while they learn about systems of the body. Using the Skills Chart in each kit, teachers and counselors can find activities that fit in with their current lessons. A teacher working on graphing, for example, can locate all the graphing activities using the Skills Chart.

Another option is to design an entire course or project around a CareerKit unit. For example, a high level ESL class might be developed around the Parenting unit.

A substitute for basic skills instructionStudents need some familiarity with the literacy and numeracy skills present in CareerKit activities before they can apply them to a career context. CareerKit lesson guides provide detailed instructions, but presume that students have some familiarity with the tasks being practiced and applied, for example, how to paraphrase or how to perform calculations using percents. Some of these topics are included later in this unit, including guides on how to teach annotation, paraphrasing and graph interpretation.



2 • How to Gauge Student Interest in Industry Sectors Every class group represents a diversity of student experiences, interests and

needs. CareerKit activities often use one career as an example to teach a particular career exploration method or academic skill, but not everyone in every classroom is going to be interested in pursuing work in the same careers or even industries.

Taking an initial survey to gauge student interest can help you decide which CareerKits will be the most relevant and useful for your students. You may also want to consider adapting activities to include careers of interest to your particular students.

1 To get students thinking about careers, lead an open-ended discussion about what careers students know about, what jobs people in their circles have and what jobs they’ve seen in their communities.

2 Create and distribute a short survey, such as the one described below. Students can write their own answers or interview a partner. You might ask questions such as:

• Writeajobyouwouldbeinterestedinhavingandexplainwhataboutitisinterestingtoyou.

• Whatisanotherjobyouwouldbeinterestedinhavingandwhy?

• Whatinformationaboutthesejobswouldyouliketolearn?

• Ofthefollowingindustries,choosethethreeyouaremostinterestedinlearningmoreaboutandexplainwhy:

Healthcare

Retail

Community and Social Services

Technology

Food Production

Manufacturing

Construction

Hospitality, Recreation, and the Arts

Transportation and Warehousing

Education and Childcare



3 • How to Engage Students with Diverse Career InterestsBecause students’ interests are diverse, no matter which career or sector is

being discussed at the moment, there are bound to be some students who are interested in it as a potential career track and some who have different career interests. You may experience resistance or uncertainty from students about the value of learning about the career being discussed, and it’s important to know how to respond to these concerns in order to keep students’ attention and interest. The tips below are suggestions for addressing these concerns:

1 Don’t be afraid to engage the question, “How is this going to help me pass the test?”

If students express their uncertainty about the purpose or value of an activity, take a moment to help them work through their doubts, so that they can see how the activity can help them achieve their academic goals and so that they can re-focus on the lesson. These doubts may stem from anxiety about reaching their goals, such as advances in spoken English, gains in the TABE exam or passing the TASC and receiving a High School Equivalency Diploma. Use the questions in the next step to engage in this conversation.

2 Discuss the academic skills practice embedded in the activity.

Helping students identify the utility of an activity themselves rather than it being identified by the teacher will increase buy-in from students. Ask questions that help students find the skills embedded in the activity that are applicable to their academic goals, and applicable across industry sectors. You might ask questions such as:

• Whatacademicskillsareyoupracticinginthisactivity?

• Isthissimilartoanyskillswehavepracticedinclass?

• Doesthisrelatetoanyquestionsyouhaveseenonastandardizedtest,suchastheTASCorTABE?

• Howcanyouapplywhatyoulearnedaboutthiscareertolearningaboutadifferentcareer?

• What“softskills”or“employability”skillsareyoupracticinginthisactivity?



Activity

Job Gains and Losses

+ Academic Skills

interpreting graphspredictinginferencingreadingwritingbackground knowledgehistorical knowledgebrainstorming

+ Employability Skills

market analysiscollaborationcommunication

3 CareerKit activities often have embedded in them at least two of the following:

• The practice of academic skills, usually more than one, such as the development of new vocabulary or interpretation of graphs. Many of the skills tested on standardized tests, such as the TASC and TABE exams, are practiced in CareerKit activities.

• Information about a particular career or sector, such as the salary range or pathways of promotion.

• Employability skills practice, such as making a presentation, collaborating in a team or synthesizing information.

• Consumer information, such as, in Healthcare, what patients might expect if an EMT were to respond to their medical emergency, or in Education, how to select a school for their child.

EMBEDDED SKILLS

Following are two example CareerKit activities and the skills embedded in them. Once a lesson has been completed, or during a lesson if students are struggling to see the relevance, a teacher can lead a class discussion eliciting the skills contained within the lesson. This will help students see the relevance of the CareerKit activity to their academic and career goals.

1 EDUCATION CareerKit: Using the CareerZone Website to Learn About Teaching Assistants (Education CareerKit, Unit 3)

The assignment is to read about the Teacher Assistant career on the CareerZone website and paraphrase the findings.



Each CareerKit shows students how to use career databases, such as CareerZone, pictured above, to read about careers in the sector.

HowisthisactivityusefultostudentswhoarenotinterestedinpursuingacareerinEducation?Whataretheskillsbeingpracticed?

• Learning to navigate a complex online database

• Learning to conduct keyword searches

• Learning the relationship of salaries in students’ local area to average salaries nationwide

• Decoding and interpreting graphs

• Paraphrasing

• Vocabulary development

• Identifying information relevant to the question, filtering out less relevant information

• Consumer information, such as learning what to look for in a child’s teacher or teaching assistant



2 HEALTHCARE CareerKit: On-the-Job Math for Dental Assistants (Healthcare CareerKit, Unit 3)

The assignment is to perform calculations similar to those a Dental Assistant would perform when taking inventory of dental supplies.

HowisthisactivityusefultostudentsnotinterestedinbecomingDentalAssistants?Whichacademicskillsarerequiredtodothisactivity?

• Decoding complex, multi-step math problems, and making a plan for solving them

• Anticipating the steps of the complex, multi-part process of taking inventory

• Anticipating the mathematical processes involved in accomplishing each of the steps of taking inventory (applied mathematics)

• Practice calculating percentages

• Articulating the steps taken to solve the problem

• Assessing one’s own and classmates’ answers by making reverse calculations



• Learning the process of taking inventory, an important task in all industry sectors

• Building awareness of one’s comfort with this type of problem. Didtheyenjoyusingmathinaworkplacecontext?Didthereallifecontexthelpthemapplyandusemathematicaloperations?

• Consumer information, such as learning what to expect from dental assistants as a patient of a dental office.

The above are examples of two typical CareerKit activities. All activities integrate academic skills practice and career content. Staff leading the activities should be comfortable articulating the academic skills embedded within each activity to address any concerns students might have.



4 • How to Select CareerKit Activities

The CareerKit Project consists of ten sector-based CareerKits and one general

CareerKit that is not sector-specific, called Career Fundamentals. Teachers can

use parts or all of one or more Kits with students.

Some teachers wonder how they will find the time to devote to career exploration when they may be pressed to cover so much material already. The CareerKits fulfill two goals at once. While exploring careers, students simultaneously practice the literacy and numeracy skills they are already working on, such as paraphrasing, essay-writing, vocabulary development and graph-reading. Students should be repeatedly reminded that they are practicing academic skills while simultaneously learning about careers so they don’t have to wonder about the relevance of CareerKit activities to their academic goals. For tips on how to help students identify the academic skills embedded in CareerKit activities, see the previous section, “How to Engage Students with Diverse Career Interests.”

TEACHERS CAN FIND CAREERKIT ACTIVITIES IN LINE WITH THEIR TEACHING OBJECTIVES IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:

1 Each CareerKit comes with a Skills Chart which lists every CareerKit activity according to which literacy and numeracy skills development lessons are embedded within it. Teachers can search for CareerKit activities according to the literacy or numeracy skill they want students to practice by reading across the top of the example chart (see below). They may choose one or all CareerKit activities that address a particular skill, such as essay writing or graph interpretation.

NYSED

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areer Fundamentals

xita

ble of skills




to support analysis

Compare and

Contrast

develop Questions



of a Text



TasC: informational

essay

Peer editing

analyze employment

Trends

Read and analyze

graphs and Charts

CalculationsConduct

Web-based Research

self- assessment


UniT 1: Today’s labor Market

U1, S1: Identifying 10 Industry Sectors X X X X X

U1, S2: Labor Vocabulary

U1, S3.1: Job Losses and Gains Across Sectors

X X

U1, S3.2: Total Employment Graphs in Healthcare & Construction

X X X X X

U1, S3.3: Career Brainstorming

U1, S4: How Does Technology Affect Today's Labor Market?

X

U1, S5: Career Advantages of Being Bilingual X X

U1, S6: Career Families X X

U1, S7: Employer Types X X

U1, S8: Introduction to Civil Service X

TASC Essay Series: New for New York's Workers

X X

UniT 2: knowing Myself

U2, Section 1: My Work History X

U2, S2: Work Values and Interests X X

U2, S3.1: CareerZone activities a-d X X

U2, S3.2: Career Cruising activities a-h X X X X

U2, S4.1: Caculating a Budget X X

U2, S4.2: Check Cashing vs. Bank Accounts X X X

U2, S4.3: Online and Mobile Banking X

U2, S4.4: Terms for Taxes

U2, S4.5: Calculating Income Taxes X

U2, S4.6: Completing Form W-4 X

U2, S4.7: Earned Income Tax Credit X



2 Once teachers identify the activities they want to use, they can access any

CareerKit activity through https://tinyurl.com/cunycareerkits. All activities are available as downloadable PDFs.

3 Teachers then read the activities they want to use and consider any

adaptations they might want to make. For example, one teacher may decide to footnote some terms in a reading that might be challenging for a particular class. Another might decide to pre-teach or revisit performing calculations with percents before doing an activity. A third might decide to extend an activity on preventive care in the Healthcare field with a science lesson on the physical properties of soap bubbles.



5 • How to Teach about Careers if You’re Not an Expert in CareersSome teachers worry that they may not be equipped to teach about careers. They may

wonder how they will be able to teach about a career or sector they don’t know much about. They may worry about what to say when a student asks them how to become a computer programmer or a welder or a forensic psychologist. The same answer applies to all careers: “Let’s do some research to find out.”

When we teach about careers, we’re teaching students how to ask meaningful questions, search for information and glean meaning from the information they find. In the process, they strengthen their computer literacy, paraphrasing, inferencing and summarizing skills, while learning about careers they may be considering or have never heard of. The teacher is not expected to know about the pathway to all careers. The teacher is a facilitator of this research process.

WHEN A STUDENT EXPRESSES INTEREST IN A CAREER OR SECTOR, THE TEACHER OR COUNSELOR SHOULD:

1 Have students develop questions they want answered about that career. They can include questions about pay, benefits, work environment, training, required credentials, work culture, academic or hands-on skills needed and related careers. This presents a good opportunity to develop W-H questions (what, who, where, when, why, how much/many).

2 Help students identify sources that might contain some of these answers. These can include career exploration databases such as Career Cruising or the Occupational Outlook Handbook, YouTube videos using “[the career] career” as keywords, or general search engines such as Google. When using these resources with a class, make sure you preview them to make sure they are at an appropriate level for your students. Video and database activities are included in the CareerKits.

3 Help students interpret the information they find by guiding them in paraphrasing and summarizing the information. Remind them that these skills are important for all levels of learning, and that demonstrating knowledge of them will be helpful on standardized tests, such as the TASC, TABE and other exams.

4 Have students consider how the information they find fits in with their goals and realities, taking into consideration the time and money required for training, typical work responsibilities, pay, pathways to promotion and their own interest in the field of work.

Career research is a multi-step process that should be done over the course of several lessons, days or weeks. A semester-long course could even be built around career exploration, incorporating essays, presentations, vocabulary development, graphs and math. Read the next page for pointers on how teachers can learn more about individual careers or sectors.



6 • How to Develop a Career-Lookout Lens The world of work is not separate from our immediate surroundings. It is

everywhere we look. We encounter people engaged in work and texts about work all day long. As we drive or take public transportation to work, we see train conductors, gas station attendants and track engineers. When we arrive at work, we encounter dozens of careers that intersect with our own jobs. Outside we see people improving the street, selling items, conducting traffic, delivering packages, or en route to their own jobs. Literally everywhere we look, people are working. Once we adopt a career-lookout lens, hundreds of questions occur to us. We can conduct informal informational interviews by asking people about their jobs.

• Doyoulikeyourjob?

• Howdidyougetyourjob?

• What’syourfavoritethingtodoatwork?

• Whatjobdidyouhavebeforethisjob?

• Wereyoupromoted?

• Doyouhaveanideaofwhatyournextjobwillbe?

• Areyouhappywiththebenefitsyoureceive?

• Howmuchmoneycansomeoneinyourpositionearn?

• Didyouhavespecialtrainingorearncertificatesordegreestogetyourjob?

• Wheredidyoudoyourtraining?

• Whatcareersdoyouinteractwithatwork?

• Isyourjobphysicallydemanding?

• Isyourjobstressful?Inwhatways?

• Whatareyourprimaryresponsibilities?

• Wheredoyouwork?

• Whathoursdoyouwork?

• Doyougetpaidovertime?

• Areyouinaunion?

People love to talk about something that are an expert in, and everyone is an expert in their own experience of work. Even with perfect strangers it’s not hard to break the ice with, “Can I ask you something about your job?”



In addition to informal interviews, we can gather information about careers from our local newspapers and ads we see on the streets or public transportation. When we open the newspaper, we may see that a new facility is opening, an old one is closing, or one is in the design phase and will eventually need a large number of construction workers. We read about a new technology that may lead to layoffs in one field, and another technology that may create jobs. We see that the local community college is offering new certificates, degrees or internships that can lead to steady jobs. We read about new legislation that impacts workers, such as a new minimum wage, parental leave or sick day policies. We see that improvements in the economy mean an increase in hospitality in our region. We see announcements for upcoming civil service exams. Every time we open the newspaper we are bound to see news about careers, and this news can be transformed into materials for students to read and analyze. Once you adopt a career-lookout lens, you will see information about careers everywhere.

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) • Career Fundamentals 379UNIT 5 • Choosing a Career, Finding a Job

Student Handout

Developing Interview QuestionsImagine that you are interviewing a worker about a career you are interested in. Write the questions you will ask them. Think about everything you want to know about working in this field and ask questions that help you learn about their experience and get some advice from an experienced worker. Use the words below to begin your questions.

What

Where

How

How often

How much

Who

When

Describe

Section 1.1



7 • How to Use Your Local Newspaper to Find Career-Related Materials Many people turn to their local newspaper to find current, local job openings.

It can also be a treasure trove of other career-related materials. If funding for a new highway or bridge comes through, it may amount to jobs for token clerks, engineers, traffic controllers and construction workers. When the summer is rainier than usual, it may mean financial losses for local farms. Even when newspaper headlines don’t explicitly mention jobs or employment, many articles may provide information related to careers. Even without reading an article, students can develop questions based on headlines, such as the ones connected to the images below.

How will the closure of this prison affect Department of Corrections employees? Will current employees lose their jobs? Will they be transferred? Will they have to be retrained to do a different job?

Snow: Does the Department of Sanitation hire additional seasonal workers for snow removal? How do employees in any field know if their workplace will close due to a “snow day?”

How could this affect MTA employees? Will this create new jobs? How will this work impact commutes?



Infographics, such as the one below, can be used in math, reading or writing activities to teach about a subject, in this case, employment protections for transgendered workers, and to strengthen academic skills at the same time.Image from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/employment-non-discrimination-act-2013-_n_3402688.html

Learning to look for career-related materials with your students is a skill that can help expand the kinds of career-related texts you can use in the classroom. Applying this skill to your local newspapers will help in finding career-related texts specific to your local area or region. Articles about careers can be used to help students practice important literacy skills such as critical thinking, skimming, close reading and making inferences. In addition to articles, newspapers often have charts, graphics and pictures that can be utilized for interpretation, increasing visual literacy skills. When adapting and using articles with students, always be sure to cite the author, source and date, and note that it has been adapted.

Some examples of career-related materials often found in local newspapers include:

• Articles about changes in local labor policies

Example: A new sick or parental leave policy



• Changes in companies represented locally, as this could create new jobs or decrease the number of jobs available

Example: A new food manufacturing plant is set to open nearby or an existing business is about to close.

• Interviews or profiles with employees who talk about the specifics of their jobs

Example: A counselor in a local homeless shelter talks about the rising homeless problem, the daily challenges the residents face, and how she works to meet their needs. She might also discuss the career path she took that led her to and prepared her for her current job.

• Ads for career-related events

Example: An ad for a local career or college fair might include which businesses or college will be represented, and what attendees should bring with them to the fair.

• Articles about advances in technology and how that technology is changing different industries. Whatnewjobsareavailablebecauseofthenewtechnologies?Whatkindoftrainingisrequiredtocompeteforthesenewjobs?

Example: A spotlight on advances in 3D-printing which make manufacturing easier, faster, and more automated than ever before. A local training program that prepares people for careers in 3D manufacturing.

• Articles about social or political issues that might affect employment trends in particular industries

Example: A spotlight on the retiring Baby Boomer generation who, due to their large numbers and longer life spans, will need more health and social services in the years to come.

Some articles may need only minor adaptations. Others may need to be truncated, delivered in several sections over several classes, have language modified, or terms described in footnotes, depending on the reading level of the class. See the section on page 20, “How to Adapt Complex Texts.”



NEWSELA

Not all newspaper articles will be appropriate for students, even if modified. One important news source for lower level readers can be found at newsela.com. It contains articles, grouped by reading level, adapted from newspapers from around the country on timely topics, making important news content available to readers at many levels. In addition to articles, it has a “Dream Jobs” section, which presents career profiles adapted from newspapers and career databases, such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Many are written at the 5th-6th grade reading levels.

Dream Jobs from www.newsela.com



8 • How to Adapt Complex TextsThere are lots of texts that contain important career content, but they might not

all be ideal to use as is with students. With minimal adaptations, however, such as dividing the article into chunks, or providing definitions of some terms, students may be able to comprehend even complex texts.

What makes texts challenging? The following elements play a role:

• Visual elements: Text length, number of words on a page, blank space surrounding paragraphs and images.

• Mechanics: Word length, sentence length and syntactical complexity.

• Individual Words: Vocabulary demands and specialized language.

• Context: Background knowledge is needed.

FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS

Even advanced students may need support when reading complex texts such as articles from The New York Times. Some suggestions include:

• Preview vocabulary and copy the text into a new Word document. Then footnote challenging vocabulary and add definitions.

• Divide the article into sections and read one section at a time with students. Encourage re-reading of challenging passages.

• Preview syntactically challenging quotes and sentences. Then model how to cross out unnecessary words (words that will not change the meaning of the sentence if they are absent) and paraphrase the quotes into “everyday” language. Provide students with a model example before asking them to try it on their own.

• Make a chart with students to map key elements of the text. For instance, if there are many experts quoted, write the names of the experts in one column and have students paraphrase their opinions in another column.



FOR INTERMEDIATE LEVEL READERS

• Pre-teach challenging vocabulary, especially terms specific to a particular industry sector.

• Write the text in a new Word document, then footnote challenging vocabulary, including definitions.

• Write the text in a Word document and simplify it by shortening sentences, adding section headers, footnoting and adding more accessible vocabulary. Once students have read the simpler version, they can read the more complex original.

• Create sections that separate the text into smaller chunks. Have students preview the text, noticing text features such as headings, bold print and side bars. Students can develop questions based on headings, then stop at the end of each section and discuss or write answers to their questions.

FOR BEGINNING/EMERGING READERS

• Recognize that some texts are simply too complex and should not be used.

• Read aloud texts that are difficult, but comprehensible with support. Stop at the end of each small section and ask questions. Ask students to identify the parts of the text where they find answers to the questions. Sample questions might include:

Whatisthetopic?

Whatisthewriter’spositionon ?Howdoyouknow?

• Rewrite the text to simplify it by shortening, adding section headers and pictures, revising sentences and substituting more accessible vocabulary.



9 • How to Determine Which Skills Students Will Need for a CareerKit Activity

CareerKit activities are designed to supplement existing curricula or to serve as a core of lessons to which supplemental materials are added. In either case,

they are used to practice and reinforce literacy, numeracy, and related skills while transmitting information about careers. Because they are intended to reinforce skills that have already been taught, it is important that teachers assess which skills students need to already be familiar with before doing a particular CareerKit activity. This assessment will be critical for the successful implementation of any activity. Below are some steps teachers can take to make that determination:

1 Use the Skills Chart

Each CareerKit contains a Skills Chart that can help identify which skills are practiced in each activity. Users can search by career topic in the far left-hand column of the Skills Chart where the activities are listed vertically in the order in which they appear in the Kit. They can also search by literacy or numeracy skill or social studies content, written across the top of the page. To identify all the activities that address a particular skill, they find the column for the desired skill, Cite Textual Evidence, for example, then read down the column and find each activity that addresses that skill, marked with an X.

NYSED

/CU

NY C


areer Fundamentals

xvta

ble of skills

table o

f skills




to support analysis

Compare and

Contrast

develop Questions



of a Text



TasC: informational

essay

Peer editing

analyze employment

Trends

Read and analyze

graphs and Charts

CalculationsConduct

Web-based Research

self- assessment


UniT 5: Choosing a Career, Finding a Job

U5, Section 1: Identifying Your Network X X

U5, S1.1: Developing Interview Questions

U5, S2: Using Job Search Resources X

U5, S3: Using Online Employment Resources X X X

U5, S4: Exploring Civil Service

U5, S4.1: Finding a Job in Civil Service X

U5, S5: Volunteering Pays Off X

U5, S5.1: Internships, Field Placements and Apprenticeships

U5, S6: Language to Leverage Your Experience

X

U5, S7: Sample Help Wanted Ads

U5, S8: Assessing Job Offers X X X X

U5, S9: Expectations in the Workplace X

U5, S10.1: Calculating Percents: Small Businesses in NYC

X X

U5, S10.2: Small Business Narratives X

U5, S10.3 Launching a Business X

U5, S11: My Career Map X

U5, S11.1: Career Map Writing Activity X

2 Notice the TASC, Literacy and Numeracy Tie-In Icons

So that users can easily identify key skills addressed when flipping through a Kit, many activities are tagged with a TASC, literacy or numeracy “tie-in” icon, noting the embedded literacy or numeracy skills, such as those that appear prominently on the TASC exam or important fundamental skills such



as paraphrasing. Look for the “tie-in” icons in the table of contents for each unit and in the lesson plan for each activity. These icons call attention to a few key skills; The complete list of embedded skills is in the Skills Chart.

3 Read the entire lesson carefully, scanning for skills students might need

Before deciding to use an activity with students, read the entire activity carefully to determine which skills, in addition to those noted in the Skills Chart or “tie-in” icons, you might need to pre-teach or review first. Is there vocabulary you’ll need to pre-teach? Will you need to teach or review how to paraphrase, find the main idea, or calculate percentages? Note the reading level of the texts included in an activity. If they do not suit your students’ skill level, could you adapt them to better meet their needs? It is also important to consider that not every activity will be a good fit for every class.

4 Notice patterns and similarities across activities, units, and Kits

Many CareerKit activities appear across all 11 Kits and have been adapted to reflect sector-specific information, but the skills required to do the activity typically remain the same. In addition, many of the same skills are required each time any activity asks a certain task of a student. For example, if an activity includes reading an article, students will almost always be asked to annotate the article. Noticing these patterns and similarities can make assessing the skills necessary for each lesson easier and quicker.

5 When considering an activity, ask yourself:

• Willthisactivityhelpmystudentsreachtheiracademicgoals?

• HowwillIarticulatetheacademicskillspracticeembeddedintheactivity?

• Isthereanythinginthisactivitythatmightgetinthewayofstudentsmeetingthelessonobjectives?

• Whatsupportmightstudentsneedduringthisactivity?



10 • How to Create Pre-Reading Activities CareerKit reading activities help students increase their literacy and English

proficiency and prepare for standardized tests such as the TASC and TABE exams, while exposing them to a wide range of career information. As with many reading activities, depending on the reading level of the students, some CareerKit activities may benefit from a pre-reading mini-lesson.

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES ARE INTENDED TO:

• Activate background knowledge, find out what students already know about a topic and create a bridge between the “known” and the “new.”

• Pique student interest and help them see the importance of the topic and its relevance to their own lives.

• Introduce vocabulary that is relevant to the content or necessary to understand the text.

• Set a purpose for reading, often with a guiding question.

When designing a pre-reading activity, ask yourself about the following:

Topic. What background knowledge is needed to understand this topic and what are students likely to already know about it? What questions can I ask that will help them connect to what they know and make them curious to know more?

Text complexity. What text features (length, vocabulary, text structure) are likely to pose difficulties for students? How can I scaffold or minimize the complexity?

Reading Strategy. What strategies do students most need to work on given their level of development as readers and their academic goals? Does this text lend itself to using certain strategies?

HIGH-UTILITY PRE-READING ACTIVITIES INCLUDE:

• One question interview: Each student chooses one question from a list of 4 or 5 questions related to the lesson’s topic, writes an answer to the question, and asks two other students, writing their answers down, then meeting with other students who had the same question to look for trends in the answers.

• Prediction Guide: Students complete a prediction guide with statements related to the important ideas in a nonfiction text to be read. They revisit their predictions after reading the text to see how their predictions measured up. Prediction guides can be used with graphs or other visual sources as well.



• KWL Chart: Students can fill out the first two columns of a KWL chart, which is a three-column graphic organizer, asking 1. What do I know, 2. What do I want to find out?, and 3. What did I learn? Students fill in the first two columns before doing the reading, and the third column after they’ve read the assigned text.

KWhat do I KNOW?

WWhat do I WANT to find out?

LWhat did I LEARN?

Chart can be found at https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KCNVhBnkIVs/Wk0p0SZzfEI/AAAAAAAAFAY/DldGw3E8SGIgcXRPC-qt5xkfjZZfG05fgCL0BGAYYCw/h961/kwl.png

• Vocabulary: Teach and practice vocabulary important to the topic and/or text.

• Set a reading purpose: Ask a guiding question that students will consider while reading. When they answer the question after reading, they will provide evidence from the text.

• Reading Strategy Model: A reading strategy to be used with the CareerKit text can be introduced and modeled, for instance, previewing, annotating, underlining important information, writing questions based on subtitles, then writing answers to the questions.



11 • How to Teach AnnotationAnnotation is a process of taking notes while reading, and serves to concretize

students’ process of thinking-while-reading. As students note their responses to and questions about the text in an on-paper conversation, they take steps toward comprehension. It is a skill that takes practice to be effective and is a common feature of CareerKit reading activities.

The most concrete way to introduce annotation is for the teacher to model annotating a text for students. By watching a teacher read aloud, pausing to annotate the text, students will start to understand that annotation is a personal process of thought and reflection. They can see the teacher marking up a text and have a visual representation of what this close reading technique looks like. An overhead projector or a smartboard can be an effective tool in this process. If these tools are not available, a teacher can annotate a sample text ahead of time, distribute copies of the annotated text to students, and have students analyze the teacher’s annotations.

The instructions on the next page can be used as a teacher’s guide and/or a student handout.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CHhXJ0FB8vs/URavNMFeXBI/AAAAAAAAAF8/DI_co6iSfz8/s1600/annotation.jpg



How to Annotate a TextAdapted from Brooklyn College SEEK Program materials

1 Have a pen or pencil available to use as you read.

2 Read the assigned text at least twice.The first time, read quickly, to get a sense of what the text is about. The second and subsequent times, read carefully.

3 Mark anything you find:• Confusing

• Interesting

• Surprising

• Important

• Contradictory

You might put an exclamation point or a double line in the margin of a section you really enjoyed or think is important. You could put a question mark next to sections that are confusing. You might circle unfamiliar or confusing words or phrases. Write questions or comments that tell what you think or want to know about the information you’ve read. You will “talk” to the text in writing.

4 Return to the sections that you have marked. Write questions next to places where you were confused. It is important to write why you were confused so that you can return to your questions and hopefully answer them as you work to more deeply understand the text.

Note associations you have made to other texts you have read, information from other classes, and personal experiences from your life or someone you know.

Use context clues to define the meaning of unfamiliar words you circled or use a dictionary if available.

Avoid:• Marking a word, phrase, or section without noting why you are marking it.

• Simply saying you like or don’t like something in the text. Explain why.

• Saying something confuses you without asking a question.

!——?



12 • How to Teach Paraphrasing Paraphrasing is rephrasing a portion of text in one’s own words. It’s something

we do all the time in our day-to-day lives. When someone asks, “What did she say?” and you rephrase someone’s words, that’s paraphrasing. When students paraphrase, they first have to understand what they have read, then restate the text using their own words.

Frequently included in CareerKit activities, paraphrasing strengthens reading comprehension and literacy and is needed for many of the skills tested on the TASC and TABE exams. It is also a necessary skill for students to master in order to avoid plagiarism throughout their academic careers. Paraphrasing can be a challenging skill for students of all levels, as they learn how to first make meaning from a text, then rephrase the ideas of a passage or sentence using their own words. Below are some strategies for teaching paraphrasing to HSE and ESL students.

TEACHING PARAPHRASING SKILLSAdapted from http://busyteacher.org/11272-how-to-teach-paraphrase-skills-pre-university.html

1 Prepare and Discuss a Model Paraphrase

A. Prepare a paraphrase of a text that you will use with students. It should demonstrate the following methods of sentence transformation:

• synonyms

• the use of phrases, especially at the beginnings of sentences

• combining sentences, using transitional words

• putting information in a different order (while still maintaining original meaning)

• deletion of extraneous details

B. Show students the original text alongside your model paraphrase. Have students discuss how the author took the original sentences and transformed them into a paraphrase. Make sure to discuss all of the methods listed above.

The following are practical steps for writing a good paraphrase:

• Read and reread the text until you have a good understanding of the main idea and the details.

• Put the text away and write down what you remember without looking at the text.

• Compare the original with the paraphrase: Does it have the same meaning? Did you leave out any essential details? Do you use too many words that are identical to ones in the original text?



• Circle all of the words that are repeated in the original and your paraphrase. Are there any you could change?

• If there is a phrase that is either too difficult to rephrase or just really well-written as is, use quotation marks within your paraphrase. However, these should be used sparingly.

• Names do not have to be changed.

2 Write Paraphrases as a Class

Writing paraphrases as a class allows you to verbalize the thought process that goes into paraphrasing a text. Start with individual sentences at first until students get the hang of it. An example dialogue between the teacher and the class could be as follows:

Teacher: The sentence is “The Healthcare sector has a bright future, but not all of the available jobs pay liveable wages.”

What is the main idea of this sentence?

Student: There are many job openings in Healthcare.

Teacher: Good. What else?

Student: Some Healthcare jobs pay very little.

Teacher: Yes. Now what are the words we cannot replace in this sentence?

Student: Healthcare.

Teacher: Right. We could say “medical” but that wouldn’t include all types of Healthcare, like mental health. Let’s keep “Healthcare” in our paraphrase. What about “bright future?” How can we replace it?

Student: Job openings.

Teacher: Good! What about “wages?”

Student: We could say “pay” or “earnings.”

Teacher: Great. Now let’s write our own paraphrase. What should it say?

Student: There are many job openings in Healthcare, but they don’t all pay well.



3 Present an Anti-Model

Just as it is helpful to see a model of what paraphrasing should look like, it is also helpful to see what paraphrasing should not look like. In this activity, students learn why changing just a few words is not a true paraphrase.

A. Read aloud. Give students a short original text and read it aloud together. Spend a few minutes discussing the article so that you make sure students fully comprehend it. Have a word count at the bottom of the paragraph so students know how many words are in the paragraph.

B. Word salad. Prepare a similar short paragraph which changes some words and sentences from the original text in Step A, but would still be considered plagiarism because it is so similar. This is known as a “word salad,” because the words have been tossed around in a different order, but are mostly the same words as in the original text.

C. Word find. Have students read this second text in Step B individually and circle all words and phrases which are used both in the original text and paraphrase, and add up the number of words repeated from the original text. If the number of words used in both totals more than 15%, tell students that this second text is considered a plagiarized text and if a student turned in this work, s/he would receive a failing grade.

4 Practice, Practice, Practice

After writing paraphrases as a class, allow students to work in pairs to paraphrase individual sentences and slowly work up to short paragraphs. Longer paragraphs are really unnecessary to paraphrase as summarizing would be a more effective and realistic skill for longer texts. Other good texts that work well for paraphrasing are famous quotations and statistics. These will prepare students for encountering quotes and facts in academic articles.



13 • How to Use the CareerKits to Help Students Make Gains on the TABE Reading Test Adult students in NYSED-funded literacy programs need to show gains through

the TABE reading test. The CareerKits lend themselves well to fulfilling both the demands of the TABE and the WIOA mandate to prepare students for careers. Below are some of the specific ways the CareerKits are aligned with preparing for the TABE exam.

1 Build Reading Fluency Through VolumeOne of the main reasons students have difficulty scoring well on the TABE reading test is a slow reading pace. Reading speed and fluency can only be achieved through reading a lot of text without significant assistance from others. The texts in the CareerKits are at a range of reading levels, with many accessible to pre-HSE students, and there are a lot of texts! Use these and supplementary texts at appropriate reading levels to provide students with the opportunity to read, read, read, thus increasing speed and fluency.

2 Teach Main IdeaOne of the most important reading skills for students to develop at the pre-HSE level is the ability to identify the gist or main idea. Teach main idea identification by first providing practice differentiating between a broad category of information (such as fruit) and details or examples of the category (such as apples, oranges, pears), then moving on to identifying the main idea in sentences, paragraphs, and ever larger sections of text. Eventually, you can use CareerKit texts for students to practice this skill by dividing texts into smaller sections to make the task manageable. When students have become more proficient, you may want to try the GIST strategy, in which students work together in small groups to summarize a text in 20 words.

See more on GIST Strategy: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/gist-summarizing-strategy-content-290.html

3 Develop Vocabulary One of the main needs of developing readers is to build their store of academic vocabulary that is found mainly in print. The CareerKits offer teachers a great opportunity to do this, with many texts that include both academic words and those that fall within a specific domain having to do with careers in general or a particular labor sector.



4 A Variety of Text TypesLike the CareerKits, the TABE Reading Test employs a wide variety of text types: charts, graphs, infographics, forms and connected text. Making students aware of the purpose and features of different text types, and teaching strategies for understanding each type of text as you move through a CareerKit will greatly help students on the TABE. After you have worked with students on a particular text type, you may want to look for TABE practice questions geared to the same type of text so that students make the connection.

5 Link CareerKit Topics to Sample TABE QuestionsTABE practice materials tend to focus on texts about jobs and everyday living just as the CareerKits do. After focusing on a particular topic in the CareerKits, comb through TABE practice materials and you are likely to find practice test questions related to that topic. If you don’t, it’s easy to create some. TABE questions generally fall into the following categories: Main Idea/Supporting Detail, Vocabulary in Context, Fact/Opinion.



14 • How to Use the CareerKits for TASC Exam PreparationWhile some teachers may worry that using the CareerKits will take time away

from preparing students for the TASC exam, they can in fact do both at once. The CareerKits were designed to help prepare students for the TASC as well as other standardized exams.

CAREERKITS AND THE TASC READING EXAM

1 Vocabulary BuildingThe CareerKits include a rich repertoire of texts geared to topics of general interest in adults’ lives, and these texts present great opportunities for helping students learn academic words. At regular intervals, introduce a set of words found in a text or group of texts. Have students engage with the words through games, quizzes and review activities. Vocabulary acquisition activities should be ongoing throughout a semester.

For a comprehensive list of suggested routines, see http://www.collectedny.org/fpsubjects/vocabulary-instruction/.

2 Comprehension of Complex TextStrategies for comprehension of complex texts include previewing, rereading, paraphrasing, annotating and chunking. See How to Adapt Complex Texts, How to Teach Paraphrasing and How to Teach Annotation, earlier in this User’s Guide. Modeling these reading strategies with CareerKit texts will provide students with guided practice as they develop these important skills and learn about careers. Activities such as GIST to build summarizing skills, double-entry journals to practice paraphrasing key quotes, and teacher think alouds that model how to distinguish important words and phrases from less important will all help students build key skills for the TASC. Simplified versions of newspaper articles can be found at the NewsELA website.

GIST Strategy: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/gist-summarizing-strategy-content-290.html

Double-Entry Journals: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/printouts/double-entry-journal-30660.html

Teacher Think Alouds: http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/think_alouds

NewsELA: newsela.com



3 Practice with TASC-like QuestionsFollowing is a sample list of question stems from the TASC Reading Test item specifications. Teachers can use these to create questions that students answer after they have read a text.

• Whichdetailfromthetextbestsupportstheideathat…

• Whichstatementbestsummarizesthecentralideaofbothtexts?

• Howdoestheauthor’srepeateduseof impacttheoveralltoneofthetext?

• Howdothesesentencescontributetothedevelopmentoftheauthor’sclaimthat…

• Whichstatementbestdescribestheeffectofrepetitionthroughoutthetext?

• Whatisthemeaningof asitisusedinthesentence?



PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE TASC WRITING SKILLS TEST

1 Sentence HuntsThe TASC Writing Skills Test requires that students understand various sentence structures and the accompanying punctuation (commas, semi-colons, colons, dashes). As students learn about a grammatical structure such as compound sentences or appositives, they can be asked to look for examples in CareerKit texts. (See the Teaching Guide to the TASC Writing Skills Test, available on CollectEdNY.org, for more resources.)

2 Sentence Combining Teachers can use the content from any text, including CareerKit readings, to create sentence fragments that students combine to practice various grammatical structures such as complex or compound sentences.

3 Signal or Transition WordsThese are tested on the TASC and are key to writing in professional and academic settings. Students can be asked to add signal words to a text to clarify meanings or fill in blanks where signal words have been removed.

PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE TASC ESSAYS

TASC Argumentative and Informational Essay activities are included in all CareerKits. The prompts in these activities mirror the prompts that appear on the TASC exam. Various writing strategies are used.

1 Set Expectations with Anchor PapersEarly in every semester, it’s a good idea to clarify students’ expectations about the requirements of the TASC essay by reading one or two anchor papers from the TASC website (papers scored “2” and “3” are generally sufficient) with discussion questions that highlight key features, such as claim, reasons, evidence from text, counterclaims, organization, introductions and conclusions.

2 Become Familiar with TASC-like PromptsThe TASC website provides examples of prompts for both essay types. In addition, excellent examples of prompts for the Informational and Argumentative Essays can be found on CollectEdNY.org. You may want to use these models to adapt a CareerKit writing assignment so that it more closely resembles a TASC prompt.



A. Informational Essay prompts: “Eight Informational Essay Prompts,” compiled by Michelle Monsour and Judy Bowers.

http://www.collectedny.org/frameworkposts/writers-write-8-informational-essay-prompts/

B. Argumentative Essay prompts: “Essay Prompts and Readings for the TASC Argumentative Essay” compiled by Susan Giuliano and Lisa Wright.

http://www.collectedny.org/frameworkposts/essay-prompts-and-readings-for-the-tasc-argumentative-essay/

3 Teach Students to Analyze PromptsA mistake students frequently make on the essay is failing to directly address the given prompt. For the informational prompt in particular, which cannot be predicted before students go to test, it’s important to give examples of various types of prompts and to work with students to clarify their “job” as writers. Have students underline the exact part of the text that tells them what to do. Create multiple choice questions that ask students to correctly identify what they are being asked to do by the prompt.

4 Modify/Add to Texts if NecessaryThe CareerKit argumentative and informational essay activities use high-interest, complex texts which will engage students. In addition, many texts in the CareerKits can be adapted for use in informational essay assignments. For example, the series of texts on the impact of technology on a job sector are ideal for writing informational essays. Students may need to first become familiar with how to summarize sections of an article, as these texts can be long.



5 Model Reading for a PurposeTeach students how to use subheadings to preview the text, identify and underline key information, take notes and paraphrase the text. This will help them produce an organized essay in the limited time they have during the test.

6 Use a Template or OutlineTeach students to plan their essays using a template you provide or by creating an outline themselves. Keep in mind that when writing an argumentative essay, students need to organize their ideas in terms of a claim, using reasons, evidence and counterargument, whereas the organization of the informational essay depends upon the prompt. Helping students recognize categories of information, such as drawbacks and benefits, causes of a particular problem, or problems and solutions is key.

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) • Career Fundamentals 637UNIT 6 • parenting is a job, too

Student HandoutSection 15

Template for TaSC argumentative essay

eSSay TemplaTe: argUmenTaTive eSSay

paragraph one: introduction

• The topic

• Why the topic is important

• Your claim about the topic

An important issue today is . Some people feel that . Others believe .

My own opinion is that .

paragraph Two: reason one to support your claim

further explanation/examples/evidence to support this reason (Check that your whole paragraph is ONLY about Reason One)

One reason I believe is that . The article states that . This article gives the example of .

paragraph Three: reason Two to support your claim

further explanation/examples/evidence to support this reason (Check that your whole paragraph is ONLY about Reason Two and that Reason Two is DIFFERENT from Reason One)

Another reason I think is that . As the author of shows, . In my own experience, . For instance, .



15 • How to Lead Students Through a Website NavigationIn today’s increasingly digitized world, a major component of career exploration,

job search and job application, involves website navigation and interpretation. Even the most computer-savvy students may have trouble correctly entering URLs, conducting keyword searches, understanding the organization of websites and creating a professional online persona.

One early computer activity students can do is create a professional email address if they do not already have one. The email address they use in their personal life may or may not be appropriate to use in a professional context. Job inquiries, job applications, resumes and cover letters all may go through their email account, so making sure it is professional and well received is critical. As an introductory computer activity, students can create a free email address that includes their first and last names.

The CareerKits contain several activities that require students to navigate websites, from career exploration sites such as Career Cruising to city agency listings of job openings. In order for a group web navigation activity to be successful, students need to be led step by step through how to locate the relevant parts of the pages being used, and how to use them. The following steps will help make a website exploration activity successful.

1 Have a helperWebsite navigation is a complicated and challenging task for students, who may have varying degrees of computer literacy, making it a complicated activity to teach. It is recommended to have a helper in the room. It can be another teacher, a counselor, lab technician, classroom assistant, tutor, volunteer or former student now in the workforce or college. With a variety of reading levels, English skills, computer literacy and learning styles in the room, having more than one guide is recommended.

2 CirculateThroughout the entire activity, the guides should be circulating to make sure students are on the correct pages and are finding the information they need.

3 Write URLs on the boardWhen asking students to navigate to a web address (URL), write it on the board.

4 Write website pathways on the board If you are asking students to make a few clicks before arriving at a page, write URL on the board.

Bmcc.cuny.edu > Academics > Course Schedule



5 Keep students togetherWhen students are instructed to navigate from one area of the site to another, you and your helpers should circulate to make sure everyone is on the same page before moving on. You may decide to have one of the guides spend extra time with students who are having a particularly difficult time navigating.

6 Ask open-ended questions about page organizationBefore students can glean particular information presented on a website, they need to be able to comfortably navigate from one part of the site to another and to understand the goals of the page. Ask questions that help students articulate the organization and contents of a page, such as:

• Whatdoyouseeonthispage?

• Whatkindofinformationdoyouthinkthispartofthesitewillcontain?

Ask follow-up questions, such as:

• Wheredoyouseethat?

• Wheredoesitsaythat?

• Wheredidyoufindthat?

• Howdoyouknow?

• Howdidyougetthere?

7 Gradual release of responsibility: I do, we do, you doOnce they have a sense of how the site is organized, students can begin to search, locate and interpret the information they find. Use a gradual release of responsibility, so that students work up to using a website independently.



• I Do: Choose one area of the site for them to explore. Have everyone navigate there, have them read a selected text from that area of the site. Ask them how they would put this information in their own words. Explain that this is paraphrasing. Next, share your own paraphrase. This is modelling an activity they will later do on their own.

• We Do: As a class or in groups, students are assigned a related but different website interpretation task. They might navigate to and paraphrase a different text on the same site, for example. With the support of their peers, they collaborate on a task they will soon do on their own.

• You Do: Having already practiced twice, students now explore the site on their own with a similar literacy- or numeracy-related task to work on. It may be another paraphrasing activity around an area of the site that they choose.

An example of this sequence is in the CareerZone activities in Unit 2. Students first all look at and paraphrase the description of one career together, then a different career in small groups, presenting their findings. As an extension activity, they can continue exploring careers of their personal interest on their own.

8 Alternate between reading time and talking timeIt’s easy to get lost in a website, and once lost, it’s easy to feel like you’re the only one and shrink into your seat. Make constant navigation and comprehension checks by asking questions such as:

• Whatdoyouseeonthispage?

• Howdidyougethere?

• Whatkindofinformationishere?

• Whatdoesitsayabout ?

• What’saquestionyouhaveabout ?

9 Call on individual students instead of asking for volunteersSome students are more comfortable than others with website navigation, paraphrasing or speaking aloud in front of a class. Make sure to hear from everyone by directing questions at specific students. Make sure students with less familiarity with computers are given the space to answer questions uninterrupted.

10 Continually refer back to the textIf a website reading or paraphrasing activity is challenging to students, they may be tempted to fill in the gaps with information they already know. Ask them to provide evidence from the text by asking questions such as:



• Wheredoyouseethat?

• Howdidyougettothatpartofthesite?

11 Pre-teach vocabularyAlthough we can adapt written texts, we cannot adapt a website. Assess the difficulty of the site. If the site is mostly at the right level for students but contains challenging vocabulary, you may want to pre-teach certain words, ask students if they can define them using the context, write the words and/or their definitions on the board, or do a vocabulary pre-activity.

12 Assess for DifficultyIf a website seems by and large too difficult for students to understand, you may want to forego the activity or find a different website.

TROUBLESHOOTING: COMMON PROBLEMS AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM

“I can’t find the page”

When students are not able to arrive at the URL, they may have entered it incorrectly. Resist the temptation to correct it for them. If you notice it has been entered incorrectly, tell them to check the URL written on the board and re-enter it. Remind them that website navigation requires intense attention to detail, and if there is an error in even one keystroke, they may not arrive at the correct page. Let students know that this attention to detail is an important employability skill across every sector.

“It doesn’t accept my password.”

Some websites require registration with a username and password in order to access them. Most passwords have certain requirements. They might have a minimum number of characters, or may require a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols. Often when a particular new password is not accepted, it’s because the requirements of the password have not been met. Usually these requirements are written on the registration page. Ask students to re-read the requirements and make sure their password fits the requirements.

“I lost my password.”

Many phones have password-saver areas. It’s a good place for students to save all their passwords in one place. They should note the website, username and password, and double-check for spelling errors. They can also save the username and password in their class notebook or binder.



16 • How to Use Graphs in the Literacy and ESL ClassroomAdapted from The CUNY HSE Curriculum Framework, available on CollectEdny.com

Data and graph reasoning skills are vitally important in math, both in terms of HSE assessment and in the real-world and workplace. The NYSED/CUNY

CareerKits contain graphs depicting a range of data including recent trends in employment, salary range and sector growth, among other things. While each graph is part of an activity, there are many ways the graphs can be employed as meaningful texts for building literacy, numeracy and workplace skills. Below you will find nine effective open-ended strategies for developing these skills with your students using graphs.

Open-ended activities allow students to engage with the graphs at their own level as they work to interpret them. They can be particularly effective in classrooms with a wide range of student abilities. They encourage students to take responsibility for the information that is central to a discussion, and develop student ability to speak and write in precise mathematical statements.

Because they offer room for student interests to come out, they often pave the way for follow-up graphs and/or data to further pursue their interests. Because the direction comes from the students themselves, students draw on their life experiences and they can see how math connects to things that they care about, not to mention the other HSE content areas.

Our role as teachers is to help students verify their observations and the observations of their peers. We can also ask follow-up questions to help students go deeper into the stories embedded in every graph. The following strategies can be used to enhance or adapt the graph activities contained in the CareerKits so they most effectively meet your students’ needs.

1 Discuss titlesBefore distributing the graph, announce the title to your students and have them make written or verbal predictions about what they think the data will show. After giving them the graph, compare the class predictions to the actual data. This is a great way to engage student interest and/or prior knowledge. For example:

I am about to show you a data set titled “Life Expectancy in the U.S. 1900–2000.” What do you expect the data will show?


User’s Guide

2 Ask: “What do you notice?” Give your students the graph without any attached questions, and ask them to write and talk about what they notice about the data. This is a good approach for all students, but particularly for lower-level students who feel less confident about reading graphs. When we attach questions to a graph, students will often narrowly focus on those questions and they to consider the graph more broadly.

• What do you notice?

• What do you see that interests you? What do you want to know more about?

• What do you have questions about?

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Source: NYCLMIS analysis of NYS Department Of Labor Quarterly Census Of Employment And Wages (QCEW). NEW YORK CITY includes Bronx, Queens, New York, Richmond, and Kings counties.

JOBS IN CONSTRUCTION, NEW YORK CITY

3 True/False StatementsAsk your students to create true and false statements about the data in the graph. Students can try to stump one another by reading their statements and challenging others to decide if the statements are true or false.

Write three true statements based on this data.

Write two true statements and two false statements based on this data.

4 Write questions about the graphs Ask your students to write questions that can be asked and answered based on the data. (You can take their submissions and create a handout from it for a later class. When you use student questions, identify them by name beside each one.)

Create three questions that can be answered using information from the graph.

Section 16



5 Describe the data Ask your students to write a few sentences in a journalistic style that describes the data. Encourage students to write more about trends in the data rather than to report a series of individual pieces of data.

You work for a newspaper. Your editor wants a short article describing the change in the number of people employed in the Manufacturing sector over the past several years. Write a few paragraphs that describe the number of people working in Manufacturing from 2010–2015. Assume the reader cannot see the graph.

6 Title thisGive your students a graph without a title and ask them to come up with their own title. This requires students to convey an overall impression of a set of data in a few words. This works best if you encourage creative titles that might be used in a newspaper, and not titles that merely repeat the axes labels.

7 Make predictionsParticularly for data over time, ask students to make predictions for the future based on the trends observed in the data. Insist that students defend their predictions with calculations using those earlier trends. Discourage predictions based on hunches and background knowledge.

8 Create a graphAsk your students to read a passage for which they will create the graph. For example, they read a passage about the average pay of medical assistants, certified nursing assistants and home health aides, and create the graph that depicts these numbers.

9 Use sentence startersHave students write about (a) the information in the graph, and/or (b) their own sense-making process for understanding graphs. Sometimes the most difficult struggle for our students is actually putting pen to paper and generating text. They are unsure of how to start and how to develop their ideas and sometimes their frustration causes them to quit before they start. Providing students with sentence starters can help them get started and, overtime, begin to internalize some of the questions we want to be part of their reading of graphs.

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) • Career Fundamentals 53UNIT 1 • today’s labor market

Student HandoutSection 3.2

Jobs in Healthcare and Construction Writing AssignmentWRITING pROmpT: You work for a newspaper. Your editor wants a short article to accompany the graphs, Total Jobs in Healthcare, New York City and Total Jobs in Construction, New York City. Write one paragraph that describes the total number of Healthcare jobs between 2010 and 2014 and one paragraph that describes the number of construction jobs. Assume that your reader cannot see the graphs. Discuss patterns in employment in the two graphs. include a prediction for Healthcare and construction jobs in the near future—Do you think these jobs will rise or fall in the near future? explain why you think this.

back up your prediction with evidence from the graph.

NYSED/CUNY CareerKit for HSE & ESL Learners (2018) • Career Fundamentals42 UNIT 1 • today’s labor market

Student HandoutSection 3.1

Prediction Guide: Rising and Falling IndustriesWith a partner, decide whether you think each of the industries below increased, decreased or remained level between 2004 and 2014, marking a check in the corresponding boxes below. Discuss the reasons for your choices.

industry increased Decreased Stayed Level

Manufacturing

Public Administration

Financial Services

information

construction

other Services

trade, transportation and Utilities

Professional and business Services

Leisure and Hospitality

education and Health



• Accordingtothegraph…

• Onethingaboutthegraphthatsurprisesmeis…

• Onethingaboutthegraphthatconfusesmeis…

• Onethingaboutthegraphthatupsetsmeis…

• confirmsmyopinionthat…

• OnequestionIhaveis…

• WhenIcompare ,Inotice…

• Oneexplanationfor mightbe .

• OnethingIknewthathelpedmeunderstandthisgraphwas…

• OnethingIdidtohelpmemakesenseofthisgraphwas…

• Onethingthattooksometimetofigureoutwas…

• Thenumber inthegraphrepresents…

• Thisgraphmakesmewantto…

• Iwouldliketoshowthisgraphto because…

• Themostimportantnumberisthisgraphis because…

• WhenIfirstlookedatthisgraph…


Section # User’s Guide

USER’S GUIDE The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit For HSE & ESL Learners · The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit was made...

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Transcript of USER’S GUIDE The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit For HSE & ESL Learners · The NYSED/CUNY CareerKit was made...