Careers & Community Helpers Curriculum Unit

I just finished TEACHING my technology-enhanced curriculum unit. The unit is called "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It focuses on careers and community helpers. I wanted to write this unit because I have noticed that often, under-privileged children, like many of the children I work with can't tell you what they want to be when they grow up. I think that it is important for kids to dream and start working on life-long goals, even at an early age. I really think there's something to it - a correlation between this phenomenon that I have witnessed and the perpetual effects of poverty - a discussion for another time!

Anyway, the unit actually started as a webquest project from Internet K-12, which I took last summer. I took a much deeper look at this idea, and what I have come up with isn't necessarily a webquest anymore, but I guess, if you consider it's for kindergartners, it might be as close as you can come to one.

It was so fun to teach something that I knew so well - from the standards and objectivevs all the way to the finished project. I'm excited to share the unit because the final product turned out great! I think that UBD is probably crucial in the process of integrating technology into curriculum, as it requires you to think about the outcomes of the study early-on. The final product really drove the activities I chose and the sequence I used to teach them.

Here's a preview - look at Shanna's Show on the playhouse disney website. This quick little time-filler shown on the Disney channel is a great way to incorporate technology into a career unit for kindergartners. Because of their small attention span, this is the perfect size of video. There are other shows that focus on careers and community helpers, but they are 20-25 minute shows focusing on only one job. This way, we could explore many different careers in just a few minutes at a time.