Why Nursing? And What Can I Do With It?
Subject(s): Freshman Seminar, Senior Seminar, Health Sciences, Advisory
Grade: 9-12
Keywords: careers, nursing, healthcare, health sciences, college readiness, career readiness, STEM, women in STEM, Black women in STEM
Time: 2-3 45 minute class periods
Jump Straight to Activity Plan
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Essential Questions:
- Why do people choose to become nurses?
- What can you do with a nursing degree?
- Could nursing be a good career choice for me?
- SWBAT describe two different possible career paths one could take with a nursing degree, with each path including at least four different steps (either education or work).
- SWBAT explain in a journal entry how they personally connected to the story of a currently practicing or retired nurse, using at least 2 different examples.
Introduction:
In this lesson, students will explore many reasons people go into nursing, as well as different career paths one could take with a nursing degree. The goal of the lesson is to expose students to the variety of ways that nursing might be a career that fits their interests or strengths. The lesson also aims to help students envision the different steps of how one progresses through a career.
The lesson mostly centers around a number of oral history interviews with currently practicing and retired Black nurses in the Chicago area and encourages students to engage in personal reflection to connect with the stories. Students explore a variety of excerpts of oral histories and then choose 1-2 oral histories for which they will create a “life road map.” Students then share these in a gallery walk. Lesson wraps up with students reflecting on at least one participant to whom they felt personally connected in some way.
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Activity Plan:
1) Introductory activity: Word Association activity about "nurse."
2) Why Nursing Quotes: students choose oral histories to focus on based on quotes about why individuals chose nursing.3) Creating a Life Road Map (formative): students create a life road map of one oral history participant.
4) Gallery Walk of Classmates' Maps: students explore each other's life road maps and consider which journeys they connect with.
5) Journaling Reflection: students build personal connections to one oral history participant and consider that person's life journey.
Assessments
- Life Road Map (formative)
- Gallery Walk Graphic Organizer
- Journal Reflection
Materials
- Why Nursing Quotes
- Graphic Organizer for Reflecting on Quotes
- Create a Life Road Map Graphic Organizer
- Gallery Walk Graphic Organizer
- Example Life Road Map
- Oral Histories
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Introductory Activity
- Give students 60 seconds to list as many words as they can that connect to the word “nurse.”
- Record words on the board as students share them with class.
Students will likely list words related to stereotypes about nurses or basic ideas about nursing - “scrubs,” “hospital,” “shots,” etc. - Explain that today, students will have a chance to explore the wide variety of things one can do if you could go to school for nursing.
- Explain to students that they will get 1 point for each word they write down and 2 points for each word they write down that no one else wrote down. But another student can challenge if a word is really connected to the term “nurse.”
- Ask one student to read their list and have other students raise their hand if they have the same word listed. Instruct students to cross out words that other students also wrote down. Repeat this process until no student has any words not crossed out.
Why Nursing Quotes
- Distribute to students on paper or display on board or around the room this list of quotes from oral history participants. Explain that these are all quotes from Black nurses explaining why they became nurses.
- Ask students to reflect on the quotes with either a 3-2-1 or Connect-Extend-Challenge strategy, both available on this graphic organizer.
- After about 10 minutes, explain to students that they now must choose 1-2 oral histories (teacher decides based on time) to focus on for the next activity, based on which quotes made them feel most interested to hear more about that person’s story.
Creating a Life Road Map
This teaching strategy is adapted from Facing History.
Once students have chosen their oral histories, explain that they will be reading and/or listening to longer stories about these nurses’ lives and drawing a map of their lives.
Brainstorm with students things that you might encounter on a journey and create a list on the board that they can draw from. Items like: stop signs, speed bumps, traffic lights, dead ends, detours, highways, tolls, slippery roads, yield signs, and rest stops. Give students the opportunity to discuss what these items might represent when applied to the metaphor of “life as journey.” For example, a toll might represent the cost (in money, time, energy) to take a certain step in life. A green light might represent getting the support needed to move forward.
Sketch an example for students based on a small part of your life - perhaps your journey to becoming a teacher - to model how they might use this approach to show someone’s life journey.
Note to students that their map will have to include at least four stops on the journey and explanations of the factors that led people to that next stop (formative experiences, historical events, important relationships, goals, beliefs). Model this for students on your example.
Example Road Map here.
Encourage students to think creatively; note that each step in the example road maps could have been represented differently and still convey a similar meaning.
Instruct students to read or listen to the first oral history twice:
Brainstorm with students things that you might encounter on a journey and create a list on the board that they can draw from. Items like: stop signs, speed bumps, traffic lights, dead ends, detours, highways, tolls, slippery roads, yield signs, and rest stops. Give students the opportunity to discuss what these items might represent when applied to the metaphor of “life as journey.” For example, a toll might represent the cost (in money, time, energy) to take a certain step in life. A green light might represent getting the support needed to move forward.
Sketch an example for students based on a small part of your life - perhaps your journey to becoming a teacher - to model how they might use this approach to show someone’s life journey.
Note to students that their map will have to include at least four stops on the journey and explanations of the factors that led people to that next stop (formative experiences, historical events, important relationships, goals, beliefs). Model this for students on your example.
Example Road Map here.
Encourage students to think creatively; note that each step in the example road maps could have been represented differently and still convey a similar meaning.
Instruct students to read or listen to the first oral history twice:
- Listen/read the whole way through without stopping, except for unfamiliar vocabulary.
- Listen/read, pausing to take notes for the possible four steps they might put on their road map. Note that they will probably want to write down more than 4, so they can choose their favorites later on.
Tell students that once they have listened to the oral history twice, they can grab a big piece of paper to start drawing the life road map.
Encourage students to “cheat” from each other by walking around and getting design ideas from their classmates if they are feeling stuck.
Gallery Walk of Classmates' Road Maps
Once students have completed their life road maps, students circulate and look at each other’s work, while completing the graphic organizer, that will help them gather information for their final reflective journaling question.
The graphic organizer includes space for students to examine four other stories. Teachers can modify this as needed for more or less instructional time.
Alternative final reflective questions:
The graphic organizer includes space for students to examine four other stories. Teachers can modify this as needed for more or less instructional time.
Journaling Reflection
Direct students who have completed the Gallery Walk graphic organizer to return to their seats and complete the reflection on the second page of the graphic organizer, which asks them to think about one person whose story they personally relate to the most.Alternative final reflective questions:
- What factors influence the choices people make?
- What factors help people move forward and make progress
- What factors set people back?
- Choose one person’s story and answer the question: what is unique about this person’s life and what did they have in common with all the other stories?