You are learning to:
- demonstrate the skills, strategies, and habits that contribute to success
- explore complex, real-world situations that touch on the topics covered in this course
GLC2O_ILC1.1: Introducing Career and Life Planning
Learning goals and success criteria
Press the following tabs to explore the learning goals and success criteria for this learning activity.
I can:
- identify the four inquiry questions used to organize this course
- begin to use a Notebook and Individual Pathways Plan (IPP) to track my learning
Introduction
Welcome to GLC2O, a course that’s all about you and your future!
As you work through the course activities, you will learn about who you are now and who you want to become, and you will start to think about what decisions you will have to make along the way.
Trying to answer big questions like “who are you?”, “what are you best at?”, or “what do you truly want in life?” can be challenging, so it is important to take things one step at a time. In many ways, the first step towards achieving your dreams and aspirations is looking at what you care about, what you are moved by, and what you're good at. Knowing yourself and who you want to become, is a great way to begin your journey of career and life planning.
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
The future you
Take a few moments now to focus on your future path. You have accomplished a great deal already. But where do you see yourself in five, ten, or twenty years?
In order to set goals for yourself, it's important to envision where you'd like to be in the future. It's okay if you don't have all the answers—many people don’t. However, imagining your potential future helps you embrace the many opportunities life has to offer.
Notebook
Take a moment to imagine where you would like to be in five, ten or twenty years. Consider the following questions while you reflect:
- Where, geographically, will you be living?
- What type of home would you like to live in?
- What type of job will you have?
- What age will you be when you wish to retire?
- What would you like to be most proud of?
In your notebook, record your thoughts based on the questions. If you don’t know the answer, just record a rough guess. You may want to provide more than one answer to some of these questions.
How this course is organized
In this learning activity, you will learn about how the course is organized and some of the strategies that you can use right away to be successful, one of which will be to develop, evaluate, and refine your goals.
But what do setting goals and self-knowledge have to do with high school, postsecondary learning, or finding a career? A lot, actually! Understanding who you are and using your strengths or interests to narrow down your wants and needs will help you find a path in life that is both stimulating and rewarding.
Part of making sure your goals are achievable means working through a process of career and life planning. This course is structured around four areas of learning outlined in the Education and Career/Life Planning Framework diagram.
The following is the Education and Career/Life Planning Framework: A Four-Step Inquiry Process. Which areas of learning are you most comfortable with? Which do you think will be most challenging for you?
A diagram showing the four areas of the Education and Career/Life Planning model: Knowing Yourself, Exploring Opportunities, Making Decisions and Setting Goals, and Achieving Goals and Making Transitions. Each area is paired with a guiding question: “Who am I?”, “What are my opportunities?”, “Who do I want to become?” and “What is my plan for achieving my goals?”
Track your learning
In this course, you will track your learning in two ways: in a Notebook and in an Individual Pathways Plan.
Notebook
As you go through this course, you will be prompted to record your thinking and answer questions in a notebook. You need to consider whether you wish to use a physical notebook or an electronic one–perhaps even both.
The notebook is useful to capture thoughts and reflect on your learning, including how you learn, and your motivation, perseverance, goal setting, and more. It is your space to explore and experiment.
Check out the following example of how to effectively set up a notebook.
An illustration of an open notebook. The top left page is labelled “My Careers Studies Notebook” with the heading ‘Unit 1’ below. The page features two columns titled ‘Date’ and ‘Details’.
Career Portfolio
Throughout the course, you will be prompted to put some of your work from the various learning activities into your Individual Pathways Plan (IPP). Think of the IPP as a “career portfolio”.
This course covers the following topics centered around four main themes outlined in the Education and Career/Life Planning Framework diagram:
- Knowing Yourself: Who am I?
- Exploring Opportunities: What are my opportunities?
- Making Decisions and Setting Goals: Who do I want to become?
- Achieving Goals and Making Transitions: What is my plan for achieving my goals?
Individual Pathways Plan
At the end of the course, you will select specific items from your Individual Pathways Plan to submit as your Culminating Task. Keep the Culminating Task in mind as you progress through the course.
As you add documents to your Individual Pathways Plan, be sure to title each item with a key theme and activity name for easy retrieval later on. For example: “Knowing Myself: Personal Profile Reflection #1".
Creating Pathways to Success
For the next activity, you will be reviewing the following requirements from the Creating Pathways to Success document and using it to craft four personal goals.
Ontario Ministry of Education Creating Pathways to Success Ministry of Education. Retrieved on November 26th, 2024, www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/cps/CreatingPathwaysSuccess.pdf
Who am I?
To help answer the question “Who am I?”, you will:
- Identify the characteristics that describe who you are (for example, interests, strengths, intelligences, accomplishments, values, work habits and transferable skills).
- Identify factors that have shaped who you are and that are likely to shape who you become over time.
- Reflect on how these characteristics influence your thoughts and actions, and how those thoughts and actions may in turn affect you as a learner and your education and career/life choices.
Possible IPP tasks:
- Goal setting (1.1)
- Goal Setting Worksheet
- Letter to Future Me
- Interests, aptitudes, and skills (1.2)
- Interest Quiz
- Multiple Intelligence Quiz
- How Do You Think Quiz
- Career Quiz
- Transferable Skills Quiz
- Personal management skills reflections (1.3)
- work habits
- organization
- time management
- Values and motivations reflections (1.4)
- decision making
- values
- strategies to build resilience
- Personal Profile (1.4)
What are my opportunities?
To help answer the question “What are my opportunities?”, you will:
- Explore the concept of “opportunity” and how the choices you make can open pathways.
- Expand awareness of school and community-based opportunities (for example, recreational, social, leadership, volunteer, part-time employment) and how these programs/activities help develop skills and relationships.
- Explore a variety of fields of work, occupations, and careers, and develop awareness of the impact of local and global trends (for example, demographic, technological, economic, social) and the opportunities available to them.
Possible IPP tasks:
- Postsecondary path (2.1)
- Researching my online presence (2.2)
- Building my professional network (2.2)
- Workplace trends infographic (2.3)
- Researching my community (2.3)
Who do I want to become?
To help answer the question “Who do I want to become?”, you will:
- Identify the demands, rewards, and other features of the various opportunities you have explored and reflect on the fit between those features and your personal characteristics.
- Based on the connections you identify, use a decision-making process to determine education and career/life goals.
- Review and revise your goals in light of changes you recognize in yourself and in the opportunities that are available to you.
Possible IPP tasks:
- Life stages reflection (2.4)
- Career goals research project (2.4)
What is my plan for achieving my goals?
To help answer the question “What is my plan for achieving my goals?”, you will:
- Create a plan that identifies in detail the steps required to achieve the goals you have set for your first post-secondary year.
- Identify the resources (financial, educational, personal) required to implement your plan.
- Identify potential obstacles and challenges you may encounter in implementing your plan and devise possible solutions.
Possible IPP tasks:
- High school credits checklist (2.5)
- OSSD completion plan (2.5)
- Budget plan (2.6)
- Job posting information (2.7)
- Sample job application (2.7)
- Resume (2.7)
- Cover letter (2.7)
- Mock interview feedback (2.7)
Who am I?
To help answer the question “Who am I?”, you will:
- Identify the characteristics that describe who you are (for example, interests, strengths, intelligences, accomplishments, values, work habits and transferable skills).
- Identify factors that have shaped who you are and that are likely to shape who you become over time.
- Reflect on how these characteristics influence your thoughts and actions, and how those thoughts and actions may in turn affect you as a learner and your education and career/life choices.
Possible IPP tasks:
- Goal setting (1.1)
- Goal Setting Worksheet
- Letter to Future Me
- Interests, aptitudes, and skills (1.2)
- Interest Quiz
- Multiple Intelligence Quiz
- How Do You Think Quiz
- Career Quiz
- Transferable Skills Quiz
- Personal management skills reflections (1.3)
- work habits
- organization
- time management
- Values and motivations reflections (1.4)
- decision making
- values
- strategies to build resilience
- Personal Profile (1.4)
What are my opportunities?
To help answer the question “What are my opportunities?”, you will:
- Explore the concept of “opportunity” and how the choices you make can open pathways.
- Expand awareness of school and community-based opportunities (for example, recreational, social, leadership, volunteer, part-time employment) and how these programs/activities help develop skills and relationships.
- Explore a variety of fields of work, occupations, and careers, and develop awareness of the impact of local and global trends (for example, demographic, technological, economic, social) and the opportunities available to them.
Possible IPP tasks:
- Postsecondary path (2.1)
- Researching my online presence (2.2)
- Building my professional network (2.2)
- Workplace trends infographic (2.3)
- Researching my community (2.3)
Who do I want to become?
To help answer the question “Who do I want to become?”, you will:
- Identify the demands, rewards, and other features of the various opportunities you have explored and reflect on the fit between those features and your personal characteristics.
- Based on the connections you identify, use a decision-making process to determine education and career/life goals.
- Review and revise your goals in light of changes you recognize in yourself and in the opportunities that are available to you.
Possible IPP tasks:
- Life stages reflection (2.4)
- Career goals research project (2.4)
What is my plan for achieving my goals?
To help answer the question “What is my plan for achieving my goals?”, you will:
- Create a plan that identifies in detail the steps required to achieve the goals you have set for your first post-secondary year.
- Identify the resources (financial, educational, personal) required to implement your plan.
- Identify potential obstacles and challenges you may encounter in implementing your plan and devise possible solutions.
Possible IPP tasks:
- High school credits checklist (2.5)
- OSSD completion plan (2.5)
- Budget plan (2.6)
- Job posting information (2.7)
- Sample job application (2.7)
- Resume (2.7)
- Cover letter (2.7)
- Mock interview feedback (2.7)
Mindfulness
Research has pointed to the benefits of implementing mindfulness practice in your daily life. These strategies, which you will encounter throughout the course, are tools that can help you manage stressful situations as you navigate a healthy school/life/work balance today and in the future.
Take a moment to explore the following exercise. When these exercises appear in the course, this is an opportunity to slow down, breathe, and reflect on a particular situation.
Belly Breathing
Welcome. Let’s take the next few minutes to slow down and focus on your breath. We are going to practice a type of breaking called “belly breathing.” This style of breathing can reduce stress. Find a comfortable position—either sitting or lying down. Let your hands rest gently in your lap or by your sides.
When you’re ready, with your eyes open, bring your attention to your breath. Breathe in deeply through your nose and feel the air fill your lungs. Notice your belly rising as you inhale. Now, exhale slowly through your mouth, feeling your belly fall. Let’s repeat that together—inhale deeply… and exhale slowly.
Now, when you are ready, close your eyes or soften your gaze. Place one hand gently on your stomach and the other on your chest. As you breathe in, focus on making your stomach rise while keeping your chest still. Let’s try this together. Inhale deeply through your nose for a count of 4… 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold the breath for a moment. Now exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of 6… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Great. Let’s do that again. Inhale for 4, letting your belly rise… hold… and exhale for 6, feeling your belly fall. If your mind wanders, that’s okay. Just bring it back to the gentle rhythm of your breath. Inhale deeply through your nose for a count of 4… 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold the breath for a moment. Now exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of 6… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Now, let your breathing return to its natural rhythm. Notice how your body feels. Does it feel more relaxed? When you’re ready, slowly open your eyes. Carry this sense of calm with you as you continue your day.
Once completed, record your thoughts in your notebook and reflect on how you felt during the exercise.
Making SMART goals
By now, you’ve likely noticed that so much of your learning, growth, and progress comes as a result of the big and small decisions you make each day. Well, similarly, your future learning, growth, and progress comes as a result of the short and long-term goals you set. Rather than unfolding in a random, chaotic way, the days, months, and years ahead of you can actually take you in a specific direction if you make plans and set goals along the way. As long as you have a desired result in mind, meaningful goals can be decided on ahead of time and used as a target to aim at.
Before learning about how to set your own goals, it is important to understand that although all goals involve working towards achieving something, there is a difference between long-term and short-term goals.
Press the Long-term and Short-term Goals button to learn more.
| Long-term goals | Short-term goals | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A long-term goal refers to something that you would like to accomplish in the future. These goals require proper planning, patience, and discipline. | A short-term goal refers to something that you would like to accomplish soon. These goals can often be done quickly, sometimes in conjunction with other short-term goals. |
| Duration | Long-term goals are those that will typically take five or more years to achieve. | Short-term goals are those that can be completed in the near future. This includes goals that can be accomplished today, as well as those that can take up to five years to achieve. |
| Steps involved | Long-term goals often involve many smaller steps that lead up to the ultimate goal. These smaller steps are often made up of a series of short-term goals that lead towards the long-term goal. | Short-term goals can often be accomplished in a single step. Sometimes several smaller short-term goals can be linked together, when working towards a larger long-term goal. |
The SMART goal formula
In order for goals to be meaningful, they must meet a set of criteria that is commonly referred to as SMART.
What is a SMART goal? Explore the following interactive to learn more.
Learning check
Check your understanding with the following activities where you will answer questions related to each characteristic of the SMART goal formula.
Activity 1
Select your answer for each characteristic by answering the questions that follow, then click Check Answer button to see how you did.
Activity 2
Which SMART criterion is missing from this goal?
Select the correct answer, then press the Check Answer button to see how you did.
You have now had a chance to explore the components that each SMART goal should include, and how some goals may be missing some of these essential criteria.
Next, you will learn some other tips that can be helpful when trying to set effective goals.
Tips for setting effective goals
You’ve learned that each goal you write should use the SMART method. Explore some more tips on how to set effective goals. You will be practicing some of these later in the course. Take a moment to learn how to implement each one of these goal setting tips.
Press the following tabs to find out more.
Rather than focusing on a single goal, develop five to seven things that you would like to work at achieving, over a period of time.
A phrase such as, “I want to apply for three jobs this week” lacks power. “I will apply for three jobs this week” is intentional and powerful.
Decide what you want to accomplish and when. Your list will include long and short-term goals, so there may be several dates that you will be working towards. Some goals may take a few days to reach, while others may take months or years.
The goal “figure out how to pay for college” is too general, while “research scholarship and bursaries available, and the tuition costs of programs that sound interesting before the end of the month” is better. Sometimes, long-term goals have more general aims at the beginning, but it’s important to identify some more specific goals that will take you there.
People such as your teachers, friends, and family members will likely be invested in helping you reach your goals, so be sure to let them know what you are working towards.
The more often you read your list, the more likely you are to stick to your goal, so put your list somewhere where you will see it often.
Try different ways of stating your goals. Goal setting improves with practice, so play around with your list and revise it when necessary.
Individual Pathways Plan
Access the following Goal Setting Worksheet (Opens in a new window) to complete the activity.
List your goals for each of the different areas identified and then create some action steps that you could take to achieve them.
Submit your worksheet for feedback, before revising and adding it to your Individual Pathways Plan and prepare to revisit it in Unit 2.
Review and reflect
At the end of each learning activity, you will find a Consolidation section. In this section you will be asked to reflect on both what you are learning and how you are developing as a self-directed learner. At the end of each learning activity, you will find a Consolidation section. In this section you will be asked to reflect on both what you are learning and how you are developing as a self-directed learner.
Individual Pathways Plan
At the very beginning of the course, you started thinking about the future you in five, ten, or twenty years from now.
For this task, think about the future you at the end of the course, and the learning you’ve done about setting goals using the SMART formula. Write a letter to yourself.
Include the following details in your letter:
- What are four specific, measurable, and attainable goals you plan on achieving by the end of this course related to each of the following themes: Knowing Yourself, Exploring Opportunities, Making Decisions and Setting Goals, and Achieving Goals and Making Transitions?
- What are you most excited about learning or understanding better from taking in this course?
- What do you hope to be most proud of by the end of this course?
Press the Example button to help you get started with suggestions for each theme.
| Knowing yourself: | Knowing yourself: I plan to have a concise, memorized, one or two-sentence answer to the question, "What are you good at?", that I can confidently give in a professional setting. |
|---|---|
| Exploring opportunities: | Exploring opportunities: I want to have found and learned about at least two volunteer opportunities that exist in my community. |
| Making decisions and setting goals: | Making decisions and setting goals: I want to choose one day every month, to review, check-off or revise the personal and professional goals I've set and add a recurring reminder in my calendar. |
| Achieving goals and making transitions: | Achieving goals and making transitions: For at least one of my post-secondary pathway preferences, I want to have a list of potential obstacles and come up with a Plan B or C. |
Coming up
In the next learning activity, you will begin to work on developing your personal profile.
Self-check quiz
Check your understanding!
Complete the following self-check quiz to determine where you are in your learning and what areas you need to focus on.
This quiz is for feedback only, not part of your grade. You have unlimited attempts on this quiz. Take your time, do your best work, and reflect on any feedback provided.
For each question, select the correct answer, then press the Check Answer button to see how you did.
Connecting to transferable skills
Ontario worked with other provinces in Canada to outline a set of competencies that are important to have to be successful in today’s world. Ontario then developed its Transferable Skills Framework as a set of skills for students to develop over time.
Explore the following video to learn about each of the seven transferable skills.
https://edge.api.brightcove.com/playback/v1/accounts/23648095001/videos/6369635693112
To learn more about each of the transferable skills, read the following document entitled Transferable Skills Overview (Opens in a new window) to explore the framework and the descriptors for each skill. Download, print, or copy the information in the document into your notes - you'll refer to it in each unit.
Throughout this course, you will be given the opportunity to reflect on the transferable skills you are developing. Keep your notebook up-to-date and be mindful of opportunities to apply and develop transferable skills.