Possibilities is a supplemental anthology of fifty short stories, poems, essays, and speeches along with turn-key journal prompts and ready-made discussion questions.

As students read the literary pieces that integrate thematically with the lessons in the Career Choices series text, they receive career advice from John Updike, inspiration from Emily Dickinson, and life planning tips from Ralph Waldo Emerson, all while exploring activities that meet the Common Core State Standards.

How to Use Possibilities in Your Career Choices Series Course

• Ideal as a supplement to expand reading and writing opportunities in the foundation course of your Get Focused Stay Focused/pathway program
• Perfect for developing substitute lesson plans that stay on message and support your regular instruction without the need for a lot of prep
• Great for integrating career exploration and college/career readiness in a semester or full-year English class
• A great team teaching opportunity for the English department and a counselor, career technician, family and consumer science teacher
• Two integrated classes—for example, a freshman transition course couple with 9th grade English

A Sampling of the Selections in Possibilities

• To Build a Fire
  by Jack London
• A Dream Deferred
  by Langston Hughes
• Sympathy
  by Paul Laurence Dunbar
• The Savings Book
  by Gary Soto
• from Self-Reliance
  by Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Hope
  by Emily Dickinson
• Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  by James Thurber
• To Be of Use
  by Marge Piercy
• The Boys’ Ambition
  by Mark Twain
• I Hear America Singing
  by Walt Whitman
• Ex-Basketball Player
  by John Updike
• from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  by Maya Angelou
• Sonnet 43
  by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• The Road Not Taken
  by Robert Frost