Career Theme - concept maps

The six week unit for my ARP will be focused on exploring careers. To introduce the topic I asked the students if money or education was not an issue, what three careers would they want to do in the future (thanks Melissa for the idea!). It was fun to go around the room and hear the results. I found it revealing and it already gave me insights into the personalities of the students in my class. Originally I had planned to have the students make concept maps (using Inspiration) to detail the various positive and negative attributes associated with careers - but since the mood was so light-hearted and fun I changed the assignment.

I asked each student to make a concept map the answered the question: The "best" career would include ... what? Students then brainstormed attributes like: I would be in charge, I would help people, I would make lots of money. I allowed students time to format their concept map with images if they wanted. They printed a copy to turn in.

My plan is to save these concept maps and use them at the end of the unit to see if they still agree with these statements after they have spent 5 weeks exploring careers. Once again, I found the activity revealing and has helped me get a better sense of who these students are.