Career Garden
Cultivating Career Success

How to Use Career Garden Materials

Career Garden modules are designed for individual self-study. They not only give you guidance for building your career, but specific exercises to help grow your skills.

Getting the Materials
What's In Each Module
Suggested Procedures

Getting the Materials

You may download and print Career Garden modules from this website. Each of the modules has its own page with links to download the modules and links to resources for further learning. You will see a link to the page to each module on the left.

What's In Each Module

Each Career Garden module has these elements:

  1. Brief introductory comments providing the rationale for the module as a value for career success.
  2. A statement of objectives, that is the skills you will build or improve upon by completing the module.
  3. Focus Questions at the beginning of each section that suggest what information is to be presented.
  4. Presentation of information, demonstration of skills.
  5. Comprehension Questions at the end of each section to help you assess how well you have grasped the material. Answers to the questions are provided, as well as a discussion of each question (See #8 below.)
  6. Various and worksheets and exercises in which you practice and demonstrate the skills targeted by the module.
  7. A Quiz consisting of the Comprehension Questions encountered at the end of each section of the module.
  8. A Discussion of Quiz Questions to explain the correct answers to the Quiz/Comprehension Questions.
  9. A summary, on the Get Ready To Meet Your Coach page, of the requirements for completing the module successfully.
You will also see in each module a Preface, which is the same in each module. The Preface provides some of these same guidelines for using Career Garden.

Procedures

Here are some general guidelines for using these materials.

  1. Read through the module. Use the Focus Questions to help you anticipate what is coming. The wide margins provide you space for making notes as you go.
  2. Answer the Comprehension Questions. Check your answers at the bottom of each set of questions. For clarification about the answers, flip to the Discussion of Quiz Questions near the end of the module.
  3. Do the exercises. Some of these require you to work with other people, so be sure to allow enough time. If you plan to have a module done on Tuesday, you'll need to start before Monday.
  4. Do the Quiz.
  5. Review the Prepare to Meet Your Coach page. Assess your work in terms of the standards for completion presented there. Complete anything substandard. This will be especially important if you are in a “course credit” situation for a grade or “pass/no pass” certification.
  6. Meet with your teacher or coach to review your work. These meetings might be one-on-one or in a group, or possibly over the phone or online. The meeting will help validate your learning, address any question you have, and guide you into the next module.