Career Insights

Overview

Unit: Careers and Community Connections
Lesson: 5 of 14
Duration: 60 minutes
Class Size: 28 students
Year Levels: 7-8 (ages approximately 11-13)
Subject: Business
Lesson title: Guest Speakers: Career Insights

This session involves parents and community members visiting the class to share their career experiences. Students prepare questions in advance to engage meaningfully with speakers, developing understanding of various professions and community connections.

This lesson aligns closely with the New Zealand Curriculum for years 7-8, especially within Social Sciences and Business contexts, and incorporates key competencies such as Relating to Others, Participating and Contributing, and Using Language, Symbols, and Texts. It also includes scaffolding for language and communication skills, supporting diverse learners including those with dyslexia.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate respectful and effective communication with adults from the community (NZC Key Competency: Relating to Others) .
2. Articulate insights about different career pathways and the skills, habits, and experiences required (Social Sciences Achievement Objective: Understand how people participate individually and collectively in response to community and workplace roles) .
3. Prepare and ask relevant, thoughtful questions to guest speakers (English Achievement Objective: Participate actively in group discussions, showing respectful listening and questioning skills) .
4. Reflect on and record information gained from guest speakers to support personal growth and career planning (Business and Social Sciences domains) .
5. Develop confidence in communicating in formal contexts and valuing community connections (Key Competency: Participating and Contributing) .

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Curriculum Links

Learning Area: Social Sciences / Business Context

• Nature of Social Sciences: Understand how communities function and how individuals contribute through work, roles, and responsibilities .
• Key Competencies:
  • Relating to Others: Engage respectfully with people from different backgrounds and age groups.
  • Participating and Contributing: Develop a sense of belonging and contribution to community and workplace.
  • Using Language, Symbols, and Texts: Communicate ideas and information appropriately in oral formats .

English Curriculum

• Develop verbal reasoning and interpersonal communication skills, including asking clarifying questions, using sentence stems respectfully, and contributing constructively to discussions .

Differentiation & Inclusion

• Use dyslexia-friendly reading and listening supports, such as printed question prompts in large, clear fonts; visual aids; and sentence stems for questions and responses .
• Provide advance organisers and clear explanations for all new vocabulary related to career and business terminology.

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Lesson Plan

Time	Activity	Details and Resources
0-5 min	Starter: Setting the Scene	Brief whole-class discussion on ‘What is a career?’ and why learning from others’ experiences can help us explore future options. Use a KWL chart on the whiteboard (Know, Want to know, Learned) .
5-15 min	Preparation – Crafting Questions	In small groups (4-5 students), students brainstorm and write thoughtful questions for the guest speakers. Provide sentence stems (e.g., "What skills do you use most in your job?"; "What do you enjoy about your career?") to scaffold speaking and writing skills and support dyslexic learners. Questions are recorded on a printed sheet/grid with larger font for accessibility .
15-45 min	Guest Speaker Presentations and Q&A	Two to three guest speakers (parents or community members) share their career stories (5-7 minutes each). After each presentation, selected students ask their prepared questions. Teacher models respectful listening and questioning behaviour, with prompts displayed visually in the classroom (e.g., ‘Listen carefully’, ‘Make eye contact’, ‘Use polite question starters’). Encourage students to take notes, using a guided worksheet with prompts to support focus and retention.
45-55 min	Reflection Activity	Individually, students write a short reflection using sentence starters (e.g., "One thing I found interesting was…", "A skill I think I need for my future career is…"). This can be oral or written depending on learner needs. A dyslexia-friendly writing frame with prompts and visuals supports student responses.
55-60 min	Closing Discussion & Homework	Whole class shares one new thing learned about careers. Teacher assigns a simple follow-up task: students share with their whanau one interesting insight from the guest speakers. For homework, students can prepare a question of their own for the next guest speaker or research a career of interest using simple online or library resources, with dyslexia-friendly guidelines on how to research and summarise information.

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Materials and Resources

• KWL chart template (poster or digital)
• Question planning sheets with sentence stems (large font, clear layout)
• Guest speaker welcome pack and briefing notes
• Note-taking worksheet with sentence prompts and visuals
• Reflection writing frames (dyslexia friendly — e.g. clear fonts like Dyslexie or OpenDyslexic, use of coloured backgrounds)
• Visual prompt cards for respectful discussion protocols
• Access to a timer or clock for managing speaker time

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Assessment and Reporting

• Formative assessment:

  • Observation of students' engagement during question preparation and speaker Q&A for evidence of active listening and respectful interaction (Key Competencies: Relating to Others, Participating and Contributing) .
  • Review of prepared questions to assess understanding and ability to formulate relevant queries about careers (English, Using Language).
  • Reflection notes provide insight into student learning and attitudes towards career exploration.

• Reporting:
  Teach reflection on how engagement with community supports learning and planning, relate this to student profiles in relation to communication and social interaction skills.

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Explanation Sheet for Level 4 Statistics Graphs for Students

Since the lesson involves note-taking and reflection, including dyslexia-friendly reading supports, provide a supplementary "Quick Guide to Graphs" referencing the Level 4 Mathematics and Statistics Curriculum focus on data visualisation (supporting student literacy across curriculum areas):

Key Graph Types and Uses (with simple definitions and visuals):

• Bar Graph: Compares different categories by length of bars; useful for showing favourite careers or interests.
• Dot Plot: Shows frequency of data points; good for displaying how many students like certain job types.
• Pie Chart: Circular graph showing proportions; easy to see percentages of career interests.
• Line Graph/Time Series: Shows changes over time; helpful for tracking interest in careers across years.
• Scatter Plot: Shows relationships between two variables, like hours spent on hobbies vs. career interest level.

Basic interpretation tips:

• Look at the labels and title carefully.
• Check the scale on axes.
• Identify the main message the graph is showing.
• Notice which category is biggest/smallest or increasing/decreasing.

Dyslexia-friendly options:

• Use high-contrast colours and simple fonts.
• Provide large print copies.
• Use oral explanations alongside visuals.
• Break concepts into small chunks.

This sheet supports cross-curricular skills and aids students in making sense of career-related data, preparing them for future lessons on statistical literacy .

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Teacher Tips to Impress

• Integrate explicit teaching of polite questioning and response strategies with sentence stems to support confidence and language skills.
• Use a ‘microphone’ prop during Q&A to encourage turn-taking and active listening.
• Invite students to record one new vocabulary word related to each speaker's career and define it together later.
• Consider recording the session (with permissions) for students who struggle with note-taking, allowing them to revisit later.
• Use a feedback form at the lesson’s end for students to self-assess their participation, linking to self-monitoring and metacognition skills .

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This bespoke plan marries meaningful career exploration with communication skills development, grounded in the New Zealand Curriculum’s key competencies and values, while carefully considering inclusive teaching strategies and subject-specific frameworks.

If you'd like, I can also prepare printable versions of the question sheets, reflection frameworks, and graph explanation sheet tailored for dyslexic learners. Just let me know!