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S T U D E N T G U I D E

Engineers: Employment, Pay, and Outlook

Based on the evidence provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, what do you think are the most important factors to consider when choosing a career in engineering?

View this lesson at ThinkCERCA

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Table of Contents

Skills Focus

  • Build Your Vocabulary: Frayer Model
  • Cornell Notes: Finding and Making Use of Structure in Mathematics

Overview and Connect

  • Find Your Purpose for Learning
  • Share Your Personal Connection

Read and Check

  • Share Your Reflections
  • Test Prep Strategy: Prediction (Optional)

Analyze / Engage with the Text

  • Highlight and Annotate

Summarize

  • Write a Summary

Develop / Build

  • Share Your Argument Builder

Draft and Review / Create

  • Peer Editing Activity
  • Reflect on Your Writing

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Extension Activities

  • Activity: College Intro Search
  • Inquiry to Research: Asking Questions of the Texts

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Definition

Facts and Characteristics___

Examples

Non-examples___

Vocabulary Word:�

MEDIAN INCOME

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S K I L L S F O C U S

Build Your Vocabulary: �Frayer Model — Median Income �

The Frayer Model helps you learn vocabulary from different angles.

  1. Look for the vocabulary word in the center circle of the graphic organizer below.
  2. In the “examples” box, list examples or synonyms of the word.
  3. In the “non-examples” box, write non-examples or antonyms.
  4. Next, add facts and characteristics about the word.
  5. Finally, write your own definition, or look one up!

Frayer Model

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S K I L L S F O C U S

Cornell Notes: Finding and Making Use of Structure in Mathematics

What is structure?

Structure is…

What is a fact family?

A fact family is…

How can patterns help us to solve math problems?

Patterns can help us to solve math problems in these ways:

Instructions: Take notes on the Direct Instruction lesson using the organizer below. Then summarize and reflect on the next page.

Complete the Direct Instruction lesson online at learn.thinkcerca.com

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S K I L L S F O C U S

Cornell Notes: Finding and Making Use of Structure in Mathematics

Summarize and Reflect

In your own words and in complete sentences, write a 3–4 sentence summary of this Direct Instruction lesson. An accurate summary will cover the lesson's central ideas and include important details to support those ideas.

Record your summary here:

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O V E R V I E W A N D C O N N E C T

Find Your Purpose for Learning

Instructions: When you have finished reading the Overview for this lesson, answer the following questions in the space below:

What more would you like to learn about engineering as a career choice? What are the most important factors to consider when choosing a career in engineering?

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Read the Overview provided at learn.thinkcerca.com

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O V E R V I E W A N D C O N N E C T

Share Your Personal Connection

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Complete the Connect section for this selection at learn.thinkcerca.com

Instructions:�

  1. Think: On your own, think about your experiences related to the topic.
  2. Pair & Share: With a partner, group, or a trusted listener, share the parts of your response that you feel comfortable sharing.
  3. Reflect: If time permits, reflect on your experience. What ideas did others share that you hadn't considered? How were your ideas alike?

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R E A D

Share Your Reflections

Instructions: During or after you have finished reading, find the questions in the text marked Pause and Reflect. These questions may help you understand the text, or they may help you connect the text to yourself, to other texts, or to the world around you.

Use the space on the left below to answer the reflection questions. Then discuss your answers, noting how they were similar or different.

Record “Pause and Reflect” answers here:

Record discussion reflections here:

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Refer to the Pause and Reflect questions within the Read section of the lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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C H E C K

Test Prep Strategy: Prediction

One way to prepare for assessments is to practice looking for the answers in the text before looking at the answer choices. Use prediction strategies as an opportunity to read a text more carefully.

Read each multiple choice question. In your own words, record your prediction of the correct response in the chart below.

Question on ThinkCERCA

What is the question asking you to do?

Example: Which of the following statements best explains how the passage is structured?

Look for details on the order of ideas in the passage, like order of importance, or cause and effect.

Refer to the multiple choice questions for this lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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A N A L Y Z E / E N G A G E W I T H T H E T E X T

Highlight and Annotate

In this step, you will analyze the text closely, then discuss your findings to begin developing reasoning for your argument.

  1. Read the text again, highlighting and annotating important details. ��Follow the prompts provided. The highlighting prompts will help you with the final writing task. ��You will find evidence to support your own argument or informational piece, as well as models of excellence that will help you better understand a writer’s craft in narratives and poetry. The evidence you highlight will be available when you begin building your draft in the next step.

  1. If time permits, pair and share your highlights and annotations with a classmate. Pay close attention to this conversation! Your thinking is important reasoning that you may include in your final draft.

Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Analyze / Engage with the Text.

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S U M M A R I Z E

Write a Summary

Summaries help you process your thinking about a text and are often a great way to start off an argumentative or informational essay. A good summary shows you have knowledge about a topic.

Practicing summarizing also helps you prepare for the main idea questions posed on many standardized assessments. In addition, summarizing is a helpful skill for working with others, such as when you need to confirm your understanding of what someone else has said. That's a useful skill for all parts of life.

  1. Use the sentence stems provided in the online lesson to summarize the text. Your summary should:
  2. Be brief
  3. Include the main idea and key details
  4. Represent these ideas fairly and accurately �
  5. If time permits, pair and share with a classmate. Read each other’s summary, and discuss how they are similar or different. What did you say were the main idea and key details? Were your summaries fair and accurate? Why?

Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Summarize.

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D E V E L O P / B U I L D

Share your Argument Builder

When you’ve completed the argument building step, share your results with others, and listen to how they responded to the same question. Ask questions, and give feedback to help strengthen your partners’ reasons and evidence.

Based on the evidence provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, what do you think are the most important factors to consider when choosing a career in engineering?

Share Your Argument

Listen and Record Others

1.

2.

3.

Complete Develop / Build to begin building your argument at learn.thinkcerca.com

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D R A F T A N D R E V I E W / C R E A T E

Peer Editing Activity

  1. Do a self-assessment of your CERCA. Use the online rubric for the lesson on learn.thinkcerca.com, checking each box where you find evidence that you have achieved the criteria.�
  2. Next, collaborate with a classmate to read each other’s drafts. Again, use the rubric to evaluate each other’s work.�
  3. Share insights into what might make your pieces stronger. Find two positive attributes and one area of growth for each draft you review.�
  4. Revise your piece using what you learned from your self-assessment and the feedback from your peers.

Complete your Draft at learn.thinkcerca.com

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D R A F T A N D R E V I E W / C R E A T E

Reflect on Your Writing

Before you submit your final CERCA, write a brief reflection describing your experience.

An area for growth for me on this piece or in my writing in general is…

The strongest areas of this piece of writing are…

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Through self-assessment and/or peer editing, I learned…

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Extension Activities

The following activities can be used as extensions to this lesson.

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : A C T I V I T Y

College Intro Search

Background

This college search tool will help you to start thinking about college and the college process. When considering college, there is a lot to consider: academics, location, size of school, extracurricular activities, programming, and more.

Definitions

  • In-state college/university: a school that is located in your home state
  • Liberal arts programming: schools that focus on critical thinking and teamwork skills in various fields including the humanities, math, and science
  • Public college/university: a college or university that receives funding from the state in which the school is located
  • Extracurricular activities: activities that happen outside of classes
  • Study abroad: Study abroad programs allow students to study at other universities, usually outside of the US

Research

Using your favorite search engine and the definitions above, fill in the table below by researching five different colleges or universities. **If you are stuck, search “colleges in my state” or something similar. Try to get a variety of types of colleges in your table.

College Name

In-State

Public

Size

Study Abroad

Liberal Arts

Example College

Yes

No

6,542

Yes

Yes

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : A C T I V I T Y

College Intro Search

Research, cont.

Pick one of the schools above and research it further. Write down a few facts about the college or university below.

School Selected:

Fact 1:

Fact 2:

Fact 3:

Would you consider attending this school? Why or why not?

Reflect

Based on your research, what do you think might be important for you to think about as you consider college options?

Now, share your search with a partner. What did you learn about their college search that is new information for you to consider?

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : I N Q U I R Y T O R E S E A R C H

Ask Questions of the Texts

As you engage with texts in any subject, you can actively ask questions about the author’s purpose, intended audience, and occasion to understand the message. The table below provides examples.

Approaches

Example

Questions about the author

Is the author an authority on this topic? What was the author’s motivation in writing this piece?

Questions about the audience, purpose, and occasion of the text

Why was this article written? Why was it published at this time?

Questions about civics, economics, geography, and history

What should people consider when thinking about a career?

Questions about concepts and ideas

How might the availability of jobs affect career choices?

Questions about self and community reflections

How important is salary when considering a job choice?

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Ask Questions of the Texts (continued)

Use the table below to record questions about the text you read.

Approaches

Questions

Questions about the author

Questions about the audience, purpose, and occasion of the text

Questions about civics, economics, geography, and history

Questions about concepts and ideas

Self and Community Reflections

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