The Real Game California (TRGC)
The California Real Game Unit Summaries and Learning Objectives
Unit One - Making a Living
In these sessions, participants become acquainted with The Real Game California. They learn basic concepts and terminology associated with the program and with the world of work.
Participants play the first round of the Spin Game, a question and answer game, which draws on their existing knowledge of the working world. They form groups for working together in future sessions.
Then, they dream — by selecting from a Wish List all the material things they would like to have and the leisure activities they hope to pursue. They randomly choose jobs and learn about the realities of working life: typical days, monthly salaries, and the educational paths they took to reach their positions.
Participants begin to add to their Activity Posters — a graphic element of The Real Game California that chronicles their journey through the program. They learn about the jobs and lifestyle choices of their neighbors and build the foundations of an imaginary classroom community.
Learning Objectives- Students will be able to name and understand The High Five principles, use terminology, and concepts related to the world of work and the career-planning process.
- Students will be able to recognize the links between their school subjects and the world of work.
- Students will be able to use the following vocabulary: access, allies, principles
Unit Two - Quality of Life
Participants learn about some perks of working life — namely leisure and vacation time. They also learn about how these perks relate to earnings, different occupations, personal inclination, and educational achievement.
Participants distinguish between the activities that must be done and the ones that they want to do, choosing from many options or creating their own.
Reality strikes when they complete their monthly budgets and compare what they dreamed of owning and doing with what fiscal reality and chance will allow them. Participants learn of the importance of financial planning.
Participants plan a group vacation, including choosing a dream destination, matching dreams with budgetary realities, and researching and reporting on their travels. They also play the Spin Game again to review and reinforce the material covered in the first two units of the program.
Learning Objectives-
While applying math and decision-making skills:
- Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the relationship between their job and the amount of time available for leisure.
- Students will be able to examine the truth behind the adage “There’s more to life than money” by identifying, allocating, and comparing leisure time for enjoyment and for personal/career development.
- Students will be able to identify different leisure activities and positive or negative costs of each.
- Students will be able to learn the differences in leisure time and associated costs within their groups and among other job roles in the class.
Unit Three - Changes and Choices
Some of the forces shaping the world of work begin to make their presence felt in these four sessions.
First, participants explore their preconceived notions about gender issues at home and in the workplace. They also examine their feelings and perceptions about the occupations to which they have been matched — considering what suits them and exploring avenues that might suit them better.
Harsher realities impose themselves as each group deals with the implications (and the possibilities) of job loss when one of its members discovers he or she has been “let go” from his or her position.
In the next session, with no prior warning, the entire group is rendered jobless. They learn about chance, change, and coping with the unexpected. They then explore how they can create their own businesses and understand the implications of self-employment.
Learning Objectives- Students will be able to identify the changing domestic and work roles of men and women, and demonstrate their knowledge of the progress workers have made in recent decades.
- Students will be able to correctly use the following vocabulary in discussions: discrimination, non-traditional work role, equity, sex-role stereotyping, gender, sexual harassment
Unit Four - The Personal Journey
In this final unit of the program, participants step out of their roles (characters) and back from the future, into their own personal, actual present.
In the first of these closing sessions, participants integrate their future working lives into the complete picture of their lives, reinforcing the idea of career as the sum total of personal, family, work, and extracurricular events.
Participants are then encouraged to draw on everything they have learned from the adult role they played, as well as from all the other roles with which they interacted, regarding career planning, the world of work, and, most importantly, themselves while exploring an ideal occupation. A variety of inventories and assessments provide them with an opportunity to develop a better understanding of themselves. They will then research potential occupations.
They expand on what they have learned and link it to the real world by hosting a Career Day. They invite members of the real working world into the classroom for a session of trading ideas and experiences.
The What I Know About the World of Work survey is given a second time to identify the learning that has taken place during The Real Game California. They play a final round of the Spin Game.The Real Game California wraps up with a celebration and the presentation of an individualized certificate to each individual.
Learning Objectives- Students will be able to understand how decision making links to career planning and demonstrate the process of career planning.
- Students will be able to describe the relationship between personal preferences and job satisfaction.
- Students will be able to demonstrate skills in using resources to learn about occupations.
- Students will be able to demonstrate research and creative writing skills.