classwithmrbabb.comWATCH & REFLECT · CAREER READINESS
🌊 The Layoff Wave: What It Means for YOUR Plan
This year, nearly 200,000 tech workers lost their jobs — at some of the richest companies on the planet. We're watching a news report about it (the video), and then doing the real work: figuring out what this means for the careers YOU'RE about to choose. Here's the thesis of this whole class: basic-level skills are not job security anymore — the building, defending, and inventing we do here and in competition is training you to create and think critically for careers that don't exist yet. Capture notes while we watch, build your own questions, write first, talk second.
NAME
1 · BEFORE Your first readTO DO
Qualcomm. Barclays. eBay. Xbox. Amazon. Netflix. All cutting jobs in the same year — while most of them are profitable. Before we watch: why do you think this is happening? (15+ words. There's no wrong guess — we'll check it against the video.)
0 words
2 · DURING Evidence captureTO DO
While we watch, grab three things. Real numbers and real words — you'll use them to defend your answers later.
Companies and numbers you heard (who cut, how many):
0 words
The reasons the report gives (what's driving the cuts?):
0 words
One line or fact that stuck with you — and why it did:
0 words
Words or terms you heard but couldn't define ("restructuring"? "productivity gains"?) — capture them; confusion written down is a question waiting to happen:
3 · AFTER Career choicesTO DO
Tech is still one of the highest-paying fields in the world — and it just cut 200,000 people. Holding both of those facts at once: how does this change the way you'd choose a career path? (30+ words)
Push past "avoid tech." Think: does it change WHAT you'd choose, or HOW you'd prepare? Is any field actually "safe"? What did people in those jobs probably believe a year ago?
0 words
4 · AFTER Skills that surviveTO DO
Companies cut roles. But skills travel with the person out the door and into the next job. Name at least TWO skills you believe survive a layoff wave — and defend why a machine or a restructuring can't easily take them. (30+ words)
Think about: learning new things fast · communicating and leading people · solving problems nobody's seen before · knowing how to USE the AI instead of competing with it · building things end to end.
0 words
5 · AFTER Your move, right nowTO DO
You're in high school while this wave is happening — which is actually the best possible timing, because you get to prepare BEFORE you're in the water. What are you doing right now — or what could you start this month — so a wave like this hits you as a surfer, not a swimmer? (30+ words)
Be specific to YOUR life: classes you're taking seriously, skills you're stacking, certifications, portfolio pieces, people you could learn from, habits. "Work hard" is not a plan.
0 words
6 · ASK Build your questionsTO DO
Watching makes you informed. Questioning makes you dangerous. Write two real questions this video left you with — questions you'd actually want answered by Mr. Babb, the class, or someone working in these industries.
Starters if you're stuck: What happens to the people who...? · Who decides which jobs...? · If AI can do ___, then why...? · How would I know if my field...? · What should someone my age do about...? A strong question can't be answered with yes/no, and it names something specific from the video.
Question 1:
Question 2 (a different angle than #1):
7 · TALK Discussion — now you've earned it
~200,000TECH JOBS CUT IN 2026
5,000AT BARCLAYS ALONE
?THE JOBS THAT REPLACE THEM
Open with YOUR questions: Around the room — each person reads their strongest question from #6. We answer the ones we can and keep a board list of the ones we can't. The unanswerable ones are the best ones.
Pair (2 min each): Read your partner your answer to #4. Then challenge each other: "Could an AI do that skill in five years?" Defend or revise.
Class: Is AI taking jobs or changing them? You must use one number or line from the video in your answer.
Class: Mr. Babb's claim — "Basic-level skills are not job security anymore. Everything we do in this class and in competition — the building, the defending, the inventing — is training you to create and think critically for careers that don't exist yet." Agree or challenge it, using something you've actually built this year as your evidence.
Class: Who is responsible for keeping a worker employable — the company, the government, or the worker? Where does that answer leave YOU?
Closer: One sentence, around the room: "The skill I'm betting on is ___ because ___."
🏄 REFLECTION COMPLETE — your thinking is on the page. Copy your responses and paste them into today's Google Classroom assignment. Then join the discussion loud.
classwithmrbabb.com · Mr. Babb · Paul Public Charter School · This page does not save — copy your responses before closing.