MODULE
4
ACTIVITY
1
CAREERS,
COMPANIES
&
COMMUNITIES
CHALLENGES
IN THE
CHANGING
BUSINESS
WORLD
Careers, Companies, and Communities,
introduces students to three interwoven
themes that continue throughout this course.
The first, “The Changing Nature of the
Workplace,” is introduced through the Change
in the Workplace assignments that students
complete in each of the six activities.
The second and third themes, “Interplay
Between Industry and Community” and
“Industry Clusters,” are explored through both
in- and out-of-school activities, as well as
through a Career Exploration Journal. Students
are given a Career Exploration Journal
assignment in each of the first five activities,
and they use those assignments, and their new
understanding of both industry clusters and
the interactions between industry and
community, to create a career presentation.
In this module, students learn about the
businesses and industries in their region, the
range of positions companies may offer, and
the changing nature of the workplace. They
gain information through interviews, classroom
speakers, a worksite visit, and other resources.
Throughout the module, students develop
technology skills: working with databases,
creating and delivering presentations, and
doing Internet research. By the end of this
module, students will have a better
understanding of careers they may want to
pursue, places they may want to work or
intern, and the ways that people and
companies adapt to change.
Using a case study, students explore some of
the issues that arise when a company and its
surrounding community are faced with a
change. Students identify stakeholders in the
planned expansion of a company, take on the
stakeholders’ roles, and discuss their concerns
at a stakeholders meeting. By the end of this
activity, students will understand that the
workplace and community are interconnected
FORD PAS & NY STATE C-DOS STANDARDS
LEARNING
GOALS

Identify and advocate for a
stakeholder’s position in a
business situation.

Generate alternative
responses to issues that
arise from a company’s
growth and expansion.
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ST. #3B
Students will
develop an
awareness of
the world of
work, explore
career options
and relate
personal skills,
aptitudes, and
abilities to
make future
career decisions
Students will
demonstrate
how
academic
knowledge
and skills are
applied in the
workplace
and other
settings.
Students will
demonstrate
mastery of
the
foundation
skills and
competencies
essential for
success in the
workplace.
Students will
choose a
career major
and will
acquire
career
specific
technical
knowledge/s
kills.
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MODULE 4 – CAREERS, COMPANIES & COMMUNITIES
and that the company may be responsible for
resolving problems that affect both the
community and the company itself.
In
Careers, Companies, and Communities, you’ll
experience the connection between companies
and communities. You’ll begin by taking on the
role of people involved in a clothing company’s
expansion plans. Then you’ll investigate a
career path of interest to you.
Throughout this module, you’ll learn about the
interdependency between communities and
the workplace. For example, you’ll visit a
worksite, where you’ll have the opportunity to
see employees in action and learn how
companies deal with emerging trends,
including increased diversity in the workforce.
By the end of this module, you’ll understand
the interconnections between people at work,
the companies they work for, and the
communities where the companies operate.
Act. 1
Cont’d
MODULE 3
TITLE
ACTIVITY
2
COMPANY
IMAGE
DESCRIPTION
Students work in teams to research, describe,
and analyze personalities, images, and cultures
projected by different companies. They look
for ways in which companies convey a
commitment to community, family, diversity,
and/or the professional growth of their
employees. Students develop and deliver
presentations There is more to a company than
its products and services. The way a company
portrays itself through its Web site or other
promotional materials says a lot about that
company’s image and values. This activity
provides an opportunity for you to continue
your exploration of Careers, Companies, and
Communities by analyzing company Web sites.
FORD PAS & NY STATE C-DOS STANDARDS

LEARNING GOALS
Analyze a company’s
information in order to
describe its vision.

Use multiple sources of data
to compare and contrast a
company’s vision with its
practices.

Assess career possibilities by
evaluating information
gathered through research.
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MODULE 4 – CAREERS, COMPANIES & COMMUNITIES
MODULE 3
ACTIVITY
3
ACTIVITY
4
TITLE
COMPANIES
WITHIN
OUR
COMMUNITIES
SEEING
EMPLOYEES IN
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
Students develop an awareness of companies
within their community, and they use a variety
of resources to research companies of interest
to them. The activity also introduces students
to databases as a means of storing and
managing large amounts of information—
students investigate how databases work and
how they are useful. Using the data they have
gathered, students begin to create a database
of local companies. What kinds of businesses
exist within your community? Through your
Career Exploration Journal assignments, you’ve
learned about many different career clusters
and companies that fall within those clusters.
Arts and Media, Business and Finance,
Manufacturing and Communications,
Agriculture, and Retail—these are just some of
the clusters you have explored. What
companies within your own community are
representative of these clusters?
In this activity, you have an opportunity to
learn more about the companies in your
community. You may be surprised to find both
large and small companies within your region
that you were not even aware of. As you
gather information about different companies,
you’ll use a database as a tool for storing and
managing that information.
In this activity, students gain firsthand
knowledge of a local company through a
worksite visit. On this visit, they identify key
elements of the environment and culture of
the workplace. They identify
roles and responsibilities of various employees,
problems that employees solve on the job, and
ways
FORD PAS & NY STATE C-DOS STANDARDS

LEARNING GOALS
Use a variety of local
resources to gather
information about
companies in the
community

Use and develop a basic
database by entering
data, generating fields,
and making queries.

Collect and organize
information about the
requirements, learning
paths, and
compensation
for different careers.

Conduct a personal
interview and/or collect
information about a
particular job.

Write an account of the
educational requirements
and nature of work for a
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MODULE 4 – CAREERS, COMPANIES & COMMUNITIES
Activity
4
Cont’d
MODULE 4
ACTIVITY
5
Employees in
Action
Cont’d
TITLE
COMPANY
IMPACT
in which employees interact with one another.
Students compile the information and write a
report about the company.
Visiting a local company is an excellent
opportunity to dig up useful information. You
can learn more about what people do at work,
who they work with, how they interact and
communicate, what problems they solve, and
what tools and technology they use. Gathering
this information requires you to actively listen
and observe what is happening in the
workplace during a worksite visit. You’ll learn
even more if you are able to interview one or
more employees.
particular job.

DESCRIPTION
In this activity, students continue to explore
the interplay between companies and
communities. Through speaker presentations,
interviews with community members, and
other community resources, students research
and organize information about the social,
economic, and environmental impact of a local
company on the community over time.
Students develop a presentation to share
their findings. You’ve spent some time
thinking about careers and the workplace,
researched ways that companies advertise
themselves, and visited a local worksite. Now
it’s time to learn about the impact of a
particular company on your community. In this
activity, you’ll work as part of a Company
Impact team to gather information from a
variety of community resources. Your goal is to
show how a local company has affected your
community over time.
FORD PAS & NY STATE C-DOS STANDARDS
Use observations made on a
worksite visit to analyze and
evaluate the workplace from
a potential employee’s point
of view.
LEARNING GOALS

Organize and present
information about the social,
economic, and
environmental impact of
one local company over
time.

Develop and deliver an
effective slide presentation
using graphics, animations,
and transitions.
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MODULE 4 – CAREERS, COMPANIES & COMMUNITIES
MODULE 4
ACTIVITY
6
TITLE
CAREER
EXPOSITION
DESCRIPTION
The Career Exploration Journal assignments
have given students an opportunity to
investigate a career of interest. In this activity,
students synthesize the information they
gathered and create a poster or PowerPoint
presentation. At the end of the activity,
students present this information in a career
exposition. Over the course of this module,
your Career Exploration Journal assignments
provided an opportunity to investigate, indepth, a career of interest to you. After
articulating your own work skills and interests,
you researched career clusters that matched
your skills and interests. You explored specific
types of jobs available within a particular
cluster, the education or training needed to
pursue a career in this area, the prospects for
future work, and different professional and
trade organizations associated with that
career. In this culminating activity, you create a
poster or PowerPoint presentation in which
you pull together all of the information you
have gathered about your career of interest,
and share it with your classmates during a
career exposition.
FORD PAS & NY STATE C-DOS STANDARDS


LEARNING GOALS
NYS CDOS #1
NYS CDOS #2
NYS CDOS#3
NYS CDOS#4
Synthesize career
information gathered
throughout the module.
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X
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Create and deliver a
presentation that
communicates information
that is both informative
and engaging.
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MODULE 4 – CAREERS, COMPANIES & COMMUNITIES