What Is a Career? What Is CTE? Setting Up How We'll Learn Together

🎯 Essential Question

• What is a career, what is a trade, what happens after high school, and how does CTE connect all of it to real skills and employability?

📈 Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson (1 Day), students will be able to:

1. Set up their class notebook (Vocabulary Log + Daily Notes & Sketches) and try a simple note-taking method.
2. Explain the difference between a job, a career, and a trade, with an example of each.
3. Name at least 4 different pathways available after high school graduation and identify one that interests them.
4. Explain how CTE connects classroom learning to career readiness and employability skills.
5. Name and describe all 3 CTE pathways offered at Bronx International: Digital Design, Urban Farming, and Historical Preservation.

📐 Standards Alignment

CDOS (Career Development & Occupational Studies)

• CDOS 1 — Career Development -- students will be able to explain the range of career choices, and identify personal interests, skills, and aptitudes that relate to those choices.
• CDOS 3a — Universal Foundation Skills -- basic literacy, communication, and problem-solving skills required for a career.

📚 Key Vocabulary

Career

A series of related jobs in the same field, usually built over many years, that grows your skills, responsibility, and income over time.

Job

A single position doing work in exchange for pay; a job may or may not be part of a bigger career.

Trade

A skilled occupation that requires hands-on technical training or an apprenticeship, such as electrician, plumber, or carpenter.

Apprentice

A person learning a trade by working under a licensed or experienced professional, often earning pay while training.

Post-Secondary

Any education or training that happens after high school -- college, trade school, the military, an apprenticeship, or straight into the workforce.

Employability Skills

The core work-readiness skills (communication, punctuality, teamwork, problem-solving) every employer expects, no matter the field.

CTE (Career and Technical Education)

Coursework that builds real workplace skills and industry credentials alongside a high school diploma.

🧰 Materials & Tools

• Class notebooks (one per student, already in the room)
• Pencils, pens, crayons or colored pencils
• Sticky tabs or index cards (for notebook dividers)
• Printed job/trade sorting cards, one small set per pair (teacher-prepared, ~10 varied titles)
• Pathway-interest half-sheet (one per student -- lists Post-Secondary options with a checkbox each)
• 3 quick-look station images/examples posted around the room, one per BIHS pathway

🧠 Do Now (Warm-Up)

Look at the blank notebook on your desk. In one sentence, what do you think we'll actually use it for this year?

📋 Main Workshop / Lesson Sequence

1. Do Now + notebook setup (5 min). Share out a few predictions, then set up 3 labeled sections in the notebook -- Vocabulary Log, Daily Notes & Sketches, Project Work -- using sticky tabs or a quick hand-drawn divider. Introduce the Daily Routine we'll repeat every day this year: Do Now, then 1-2 new Vocabulary words with a picture, then a 60-second sketch.
2. Card-sort in pairs (5 min): sort ~10 job-title cards into 3 piles -- Job, Career, or Trade -- fast, first instincts, no explanation yet.
3. Mini-lesson + share-out (7 min): reveal the actual sort, define career/job/trade/apprentice, and unpack why it was tricky (a job can be a step inside a bigger career; trades are careers built on hands-on skill plus an apprenticeship). Quick 60-second history connection: medieval craft guilds and the Apprentice-to-Journeyman-to-Master progression are the direct ancestor of today's trade certifications. Log Career, Trade, and Apprentice in the Vocabulary Log.
4. Post-secondary pathways quick-map (8 min): mini-lesson naming the real range of options -- 4-year college, community college, trade/vocational school, apprenticeship, military, workforce, entrepreneurship (3 min) -- then every student checks their top 2 on the half-sheet and writes one sentence on where they picture themselves in 5 years (5 min). Log Post-Secondary in the Vocabulary Log.
5. CTE + 3 pathways gallery walk (10 min): 60-second mini-lesson on how CTE builds Employability Skills that transfer across every pathway just named. Timed 90-second silent walk past the 3 posted pathway images (Digital Design, Urban Farming, Historical Preservation), jotting one word per pathway in Daily Notes, then a fast 2-minute whole-class share of who's drawn to which pathway and why. Log CTE and Employability Skills in the Vocabulary Log.
6. Exit ticket + heads-up for next class (5 min): complete the exit ticket, then copy down from the board what to bring for the Career Pathways (CPP) account signup -- a personal email, their school ID number, and a parent/guardian's phone number, address, and email.
7. Optional homework extension: interview a family member or neighbor for 5 minutes about their job, career, or trade and jot 3 things you learned in your notebook.

✅ Assessment & Exit Ticket

Notebook check: Vocabulary Log has all 7 terms in the Word+Picture+Definition format; Daily Notes has one word per pathway from the gallery walk; the pathway-interest half-sheet has at least 2 boxes checked.

Exit Ticket: In your notebook, in your own words: what is CTE, and how does it help you no matter which path you choose after high school?

📊 Pull up the anonymous Class Check-In for students to fill out before they go.

🧩 Differentiation & Accommodations

English Language Learners: provide translated or bilingual glossaries, visuals, and sentence frames; pair with a peer for meaningful participation. Students with IEPs: provide extended time, step-by-step checklists, and one-on-one or small-group support as specified in each student's plan. Attention-related needs: break the task into smaller steps, use visual timers, and minimize distractions. Students who finish early: extend the task by adding a second design variation, mentoring a classmate, or writing a short reflection connecting today's skill to a career pathway.

🔗 Resources & References

• NYSED Career and Technical Education overview
• Apprenticeship.gov — What Is an Apprenticeship?
• Cornell University — Note-Taking Systems
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Outlook Handbook