TN-CAPS: Career Awareness and Preparation System

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Connect Your Students to Careers in Your Community

TN-CAPS provides easy-to-use, classroom-ready lesson plans that introduce students of all ages to the types of careers that are available in your local area. These lesson plans include activities that practice core academic skills in the context of the jobs that local employers will have in the future.

These lesson plans are customized for teachers’ needs based on student age range, and the industries and local businesses within each economic region in Tennessee. This links local careers to subjects that are typically taught in classrooms. The curriculum also strengthens the viability of local businesses by showcasing regional employers to the future workforce.

Localized lesson plans are available for 4 different age brackets—Kindergarten to 2nd grade, 3rd through 5th grades, 6th through 8th grades, and 9th through 12th grades—will highlight the most high-demand careers within each economic region and will integrate the relevant academic standards. Lessons will be categorized by career, industry, company, economic region, and the methods for company-in-classroom opportunities.

You can access the lesson plans by clicking here.

Each lesson includes:

  • Career name and description
  • Lesson Plan for hands-on or creative thinking problem solving
  • Career Connection illustrating how the lesson connects to the career
  • Local Connections featuring regional employers that hire this type of career
  • Salary and Outlook
  • Academic Standards Alignment with answer key and/or teacher rubric

Check out our introductory video about TN-CAPS here!