1. English 12 Unit One Part 2: You and Your Future
The Digital Story

2. --William shakespeare
Session One
“It is not in the stars
to hold our destiny
but in ourselves.”
--William shakespeare

3. Investigating Your Future: Why Bother?
You may already have an idea of what you want to do as a career
You may have no idea of what you want to do as a career
Investigating options and interests may open up new possibilities
Having a goal makes it easier to plan and strategize
Having a goal makes it less likely that you will just “drift” after high school

4. The Teacher’s Story
Sometimes, even when you have strong interests and skills, it takes time to figure out what you want to do with your life. Here’s my story…

5. Group Share Get in a group with three or four other people
Share what you think you may be interested in doing, or if you really have no ideas right now
Discuss what it may take to accomplish any goals group members already have

6. Interest Inventory
Sometimes, taking a quick interest inventory can help guide you toward career possibilities.
Take one of the Career Interest Inventories linked on my website (under the “Links” page, toward the bottom of the page—there are five choices).
When you finish, take some time to explore the career options that the survey results suggest.

7. Group Share Get back in the groups you were in before.
What were your survey results? Were they as you expected? Surprising?
What interested you about the careers suggested by the results? What disinterested you?
Do you have a better idea of possibilities for a career? What is it/are they?
What kind of training or education would you need for the career possibility(ies) you investigated?

8. Class Discussion
Sometimes, we have certain career interests and influences at an early age—even when we don’t recognize them as such at the time.
Teacher’s examples
Consider early influences and/or experiences that could reflect career possibilities. What comes to mind? Please share with the class.

9. Session One Homework
Take some time to consider what you learned today by doing the interest inventory.
Before the next class period, select two or three career possibilities that you would like to research further. These may have been suggested by the survey, or you may have come up with them by yourself. Write them down in your Writer’s Notebook.
Write at least half a page reflection on early influences that could guide or indicate possible career avenues. This WILL be turned in during the next class period, so either type or write your reflection on separate paper.

10. “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
Session Two
“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
--Malcolm X

11. Researching Further
Take some time to do research online regarding the two or three career paths you selected:
What kinds of tasks and skills are required for the career paths?
What kind of training and/or education is necessary for the career paths?
What skills, training, and/or education do you already have that would help you with this career?
After researching, do these career paths still interest you?

12. Group Share Get back into your groups.
Share the most interesting information you gathered in your research
Discuss what you’re thinking about the career paths now and whether they still interest you
Which career path is the most interesting to you and why?

13. Metacognitive Reflection
Write a one-page reflection on the following:
How did the research today help you in your consideration of possible future careers?
What further research do you need to do?
How has your thinking about your possible future career changed or solidified as a result of the research?
What one career path most interests you at this time?
Turn in your reflection to the teacher.

14. --William jennings bryan
Session Three
“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
--William jennings bryan

15. The Interview
As part of the project, you will need to find a person who works in the career path upon which you have chosen to focus, and reach out to him/her for an interview.
The interview may be in person, over the phone, or via /chat.
Prepare questions ahead of time. Ask questions such as: What made you choose this career? What is involved in the career? What is most interesting about the career? Most challenging? How did he/she get into this career? What path did he/she take to get where he/she is now?
Remember to record your questions and answers!
If you have trouble finding someone, talk to the teacher.

16. The Digital Story Your end-of-unit project will be a Digital Story.
What is a digital story?
Digital stories are multimedia movies that combine photographs, video, animation, sound, music, text, and often a narrative voice.
How do you create a digital story?
Several “movie-making” products are available for your use: iMovie (Apple), Movie Maker, WeVideo (Google), and even PowerPoint (using advanced techniques). There are others, but these are probably the most common at your stage.
If you are familiar with iMovie and have Apple products readily available to you, feel free to use it. Otherwise, we recommend that you use WeVideo, as it is free to use through your Google account and is user-friendly. You can also easily use it here at school.

17. Digital Story Assignment
Create a Digital Story about your chosen career path that is 4 to 5 minutes long. You must use images, music, and a recorded voiceover (narration). Short video clips are optional, but should not take up much of the time. Your digital story should explore the following:
What skills, activities, and tasks are involved in your chosen career path?
What training and/or education is required? How long would this take? What kinds of costs are involved?
When you interviewed someone in this field, what key advice did he/she have to give you? Points of interest?
What do you find most interesting about the path? What could be potentially frustrating or difficult?
Why did you choose this path? What early influences have guided you? What is the likelihood that you will pursue this career?
Your digital story WILL be shown to the class, so do your best!

18. Using WeVideo
The documents on my website give basic instruction for using WeVideo.
Access it by downloading the app through Google or by creating an account (via Google) at WeVideo.com.
Watch the tutorials! WeVideo offers step-by-step instructions via video tutorials for both the basic and more advanced ways to use WeVideo.
Keep in mind that you have limited FREE space (5 minutes), so plan carefully.
Take some time now to explore WeVideo.

19. Further Research
Select the one career path you would like to investigate further (probably the one you mentioned in your metacognitive reflection two sessions ago, though you may have changed your mind).
Continue your research on this career path:
What skills are needed for this path?
What training/education is needed for this path?
What kind of salary/compensation can you expect from this path?
Where might you need to move/live in order to pursue this path?
What training programs/universities/apprenticeships are available for this career path? Would they cost you money? If so, how much?
What timeline would you need to follow in order to pursue this career path (i.e. how long for training/education and how soon? How many years to work your way up?)

20. Preparing for the Digital Story
Start collecting images and (if you desire) short video clips to incorporate into your digital story. Remember that they cannot be copyrighted images and videos! You may definitely use your own photographs if you have any that are appropriate for the task.
Consider what kind of music you want to use (WeVideo has a very large selection of music that is royalty-free). Remember you can only use up to 30 seconds of copyrighted songs!
Start uploading your images, videos (optional), and music files (optional) into your WeVideo account.
Start writing your narrative script, incorporating your research into an interesting presentation on your chosen career path. Remember to time how long it takes to read!

21. Create your Digital Story
In the time given to you during class, and at home as homework, put together your digital story.
Remember to include information from your interview and to credit the person you interviewed, by name!