Sample Curriculum Units

UNIT 2: Professionalism
© Unit outline copyrighted by Amy Carrier.  All rights reserved.

Lessons:

• What is professionalism and why do students need to know it? 
• How do we code-switch? (What I stand to gain by playing by the rules)
• Practicing presentation skills
• What is professional attire? (For men and women)
• Workplace norms and culture:

1. "Isms” in the workplace (racism, sexism, homophobia, sexual harassment, ableism, ageism, others)
2. Rights, responsibilities and the law
3. Teamwork and colleagues
4. Reflection on observed workplace behaviors (both right and wrong)
5. Questions about assumptions based on others' stories, Hollywood's portrayal of the workplace and news articles

Key Activities & Projects:

• Socratic seminar-style whole class discussion about the “isms”
• Pair up students to make multimedia presentations about one of the “isms” – research and present a mini seminar on your rights, responsibilities and the law. Presentations should include a PPT, a paper flier/brochure and a 5 minute presentation with Q & A.
• Role play professional phone calls in pairs in front of classroom. Students plan out the dialog and illustrate two examples: One call that contains and obstacle the student must overcome and a second call that goes well.

Key Pedagogy:

• Equity themes and pedagogies can be used to frame this unit around students' roles in building a new socially conscious workforce
• Ongoing use of Standard Business English in class (SBE)
• Regular and surprise presentations (use “Elevator pitch” lesson from UNIT 1: Career Exploration & Knowing Yourself)

Sample Competencies (Using Bloom's Taxonomy):

• Students can compare various "isms"
• Students can apply various professionalism norms to real-world examples (from personal experience or others' stories) in the workplace
• Students can analyze and predict the impact of "ism" behaviors on workplace environments, working teams and individuals

UNIT 6: Managing Stress & Overcoming Adversity
© Unit outline copyrighted by Amy Carrier.  All rights reserved.

Lessons:

• Knowing yourself and your limits
• How do you set boundaries?
• What are your triggers?
• How do deal with stress? Anxiety? Fear?
• What’s in your toolkit? Making positive choices in the moment
• What is a mentor? How do you know the difference between a mentor and a non-mentor? Who has your best interest at heart?

Key Activities & Projects:

• "If you were your own best friend" exercise: Have students write, reflect and apply advice they would give themselves (Students know their own triggers, if they were giving advice to a best friend just like them, what would they suggest to that friend to use as a coping/stopping mechanism?)
• What positive or inspirational leaders, quotes, mentors do you look up to? Share and compare (creative activity – allow students to create posters or print out formatted quotes to post on the classroom wall)
• Writing letters to yourself (and setting personal goals)
• Meditation, breathing, thoughtful response and other stress reduction exercises

Key Pedagogy:

• Allow students to co-set goals and benchmarks, even co-create rubrics.  This will empower deeper self-awareness, pride in his/her own strengths and enable transparency/open conversation about personal challenges. 
• Teachers can empower growth through perceived "weaknesses" by giving greater weight to strengths through individualized, co-developed student rubrics that tackle only 2-3 areas of weakness/challenge areas.
• For reference, see UNIT 10: Thinking About the Future and the 20 Years Presentation unit for this.

Sample Competencies (Using Bloom's Taxonomy):

• Students can synthesize "advice" and reflect on wisdom shared by inspirational leaders, famous mentors and teachers as it relates to their own experiences.
• Students demonstrate understanding of complex emotional ideas as they are represented in the solutions to personal challenges.
• Students can apply coping and stress-reduction methods to their personal set of "weakness/challenge areas."
• Students can recommend solutions to the problems discussed in class.