Change Your Career Lens
A creative classroom activity that notices stereotypes about jobs and expands the range of people and settings imagined within them.
This content is an original draft whose PDR expert review is not complete. Evaluate it against your school's guidance principles and the group's needs before using it.
Learning objective
The learner questions at least one stereotype about a job and gives examples showing that the same job can look different across people and settings.
MEB / DİSREP ↗Age suitability
Middle school, grades 5–8
Materials
Worksheet with an open drawing area instead of job cards · Pencils and colored pencils · Board or large paper
Activity flow
- 01
Catch the stereotype
The facilitator gives examples such as “A person doing this job is definitely like this” and notes that such statements are assumptions, not evidence. Learners choose a job or use a broad example offered by the facilitator.
- 02
Multiply the lenses
On the worksheet, each learner designs two different people, settings, or ways of doing the same job. They are encouraged to include diversity of gender, body, language, income, and life path without writing information about a real person.
- 03
Build a new sentence
Groups transform an “Always…” sentence into a “Sometimes…, in another situation…” sentence. Sharing emphasizes that different paths are possible without declaring one job more or less valuable.
Inclusion and adaptations
A learner may pass if they do not want to participate. Writing can be replaced by drawing, role-play, or speaking; no job is ranked by gender, income, or status, and no name or child data is collected.
Wrap-up
A job does not have only one appearance; people and working conditions are diverse. This material is a draft awaiting review by a school counseling professional and is not presented as a completed activity.
Change Your Career Lens
You do not need to write your name. You do not have to share your answers; you can choose writing, drawing, or speaking.