Students will identify an area of improvement for a product and attempt to sell their idea and/or prototype to potential (mock) buyers.

In this 90-minute lesson, students will be able to:
- Implement a variety of strategies to save money on groceries
- Calculate the unit price on common grocery items and use it as a part of your decision making process
- Understand how dining out affects your financial goal

Students will learn
- Factors to consider when deciding where to live, including the cost of living
- Benefits of having a roommate and how to set themselves up for success in living with others
- How to find and rent their first apartment
- How much they’ll need to budget for utilities and renters insurance
- How to decide whether to rent or buy a home

Students will be able to
- Define the gig economy and freelancing
- Understand the financial implications of working in the gig economy
- Acknowledge the special importance of saving if you work a gig job

In this 60-minute lesson, students will be able to:
- Discuss the different jobs they would and would NOT love to have as an adult
- Discuss different factors to consider when selecting a career
- Analyze the starting salaries of two different specific careers
- Evaluate the careers that are recommended after using a career search tool

This 7th-grade Biases and Career Choices lesson leads students through a comparison of two careers in the Xello platform.

In this lesson, you will explore how your favorite courses in school can lead you to future career choices. You will also update your Xello account to reflect three careers related to your course interests.

Learn how to explore how school, extracurriculars, and leisure activities help build skills. Also learn to identify skills needed for various occupations and investigate options related to your own skills.

Learning Targets:

I can investigate central, secondary, and other aspects of the career match assessment and how they relate to careers.
I can reflect on my own career assessment results.
I can explore what makes me interested in certain careers.

Learning Targets:

I can explore ways to make my transition to high school easier and more successful.
I can identify questions and concerns I have about transitioning to high school
I can explore clubs, activities, and other resources to help handle the transition to high school.

Welcome back to Xello! Throughout your academic and career planning process, you’ve had the opportunity to use a variety of resources to explore how your skills, talents, and interests align with careers. As you enter the second half of your high school experience, there will be coursework, extra curricular, volunteer, and work-based learning experiences to help you gain valuable career readiness traits that are important to starting a successful career journey.  Today we will update your experiences in the “About Me” section of your Xello profile, and explore key personality traits that are essential for career success.

Workplace skills that are not specific to one career are often called soft skills or transferable skills. These are the skills that you would need to navigate most workplaces.  In this lesson, you will begin by recording your current use of transferable skills in your part-time job, volunteer, extra curricular, hobbies, and/or classroom activities and will identify the importance of these skills in your future career. Once you’ve reflected upon your current use of a few key transferable skills, you will then update the skills included in your About Me profile.

Even if you’re not sure you’ll be heading to a technical college or four-year college or university your first year after high school, you never know where your future career will  take  you.  It  may be later in your career that you decide that additional education is necessary to advance you in your field.  So why not start thinking about potential schools that  would make a good fit for you?  In this activity, you’ll explore schools in Xello to help you identify factors that you feel are important in your postsecondary education goals, saving at least 3 schools and identifying the factors that influenced your selections. 

Knowing how to budget your money is important for your financial security, ensuring you can pay basic living expenses like food & clothing, rent or mortgage payments, transportation, tuition, insurance, and have money left for entertainment. Budgeting is a proactive approach to organizing your money.  Budgeting ensures you're not spending more than you're making, allowing you to plan for short- and long-term expenses AND help you make a plan to save for larger future purchases that support your lifestyle goals!  You simply want to be able to track your income left over after all expenses to ensure you're not falling into debt.

This 7th grade Biases and Career Choices lesson leads students through a comparison of two careers in the Xello platform.

This 7th grade Jobs and Employers lesson leads students through an exploration of a company in the Inspire portion of the Xello platform.

Students use research and observation data (field trip) to objectively rank potential career opportunities to help guide their individual career choice and pathway.

Learning goals/objectives:

After completing this unit, students should be able to utilize an objective method for evaluating potential careers. Students will determine what career types and opportunities are best suited to themselves personally and defend their choices.

In this 45- minute lesson, Students will be able to
- Track and evaluate a sample student’s current spending habits and expenses
- Determine what the student’s priorities and financial goals are
- Explain how a budget can help the student achieve their financial goals
- Create a plan that outlines the next steps for the student to take

Learning Objectives
Students will be able to
Explain the advantages of a 401(k).
Analyze who has access to 401(k) accounts.
Compare different types of retirement accounts, including Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, and pensions.
Simulate signing up for a 401(k) or IRA account.

Approximate Time
Lesson length: 115 mins

• I can identify and reflect upon skills that I may need in my career
• I can identify skills that I am practicing today that I may use in my future career
• I can identify skills that I need to develop