Professional development opportunities sponsored by GEAR UP fund

Articles from professional journals about infusing college awareness materials into the curriculum, promoting high levels of achievement by all students, or advising on college planning

Preparing-for-college instructional units

Links to high quality state and national sites disseminating information pertaining to college awareness and planning

RI Office of Higher Education Activities under GEAR UP
(Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs)

Professional Development Opportunities

The Rhode Island Office of Higher Education (RIOHE) sponsors professional development workshops through GEAR UP funding. The workshops are open to teachers, school counselors, and others in non-profit organizations who advise students regarding their preparation for college. 

Download a flyer describing RIOHE's workshops:

GEAR UP workshops, 2005-2006

2005-2006 GEAR UP registration form

Instructional Units

The curricula presented below were developed during workshops hosted by the RI Office of Higher Education through a federal GEAR UP grant intended to provide professional development workshops to teachers, media specialists, counselors, administrators, public librarians, and access agency staff. The purpose of the curriculum units is to convey the importance of early college awareness, academic and financial planning, career interest clarification, and high academic expectations to middle and high school students. Under the supervision of Dr. Murray Finley and Ms. Ellen Weaver Paquette of Rhode Island College, workshop participants design lesson plans and instructional units complementary to their districts' overall missions and curricula.

Participants at the Rhode Island Office of Higher Education's GEAR UP Professional Development Workshop|

Summer 2002	Fall 2004

Sample Lessons

Planning for the Future: Career & College Choices
A Computer Workshop for Parents and Students
   --by Anne McLaughlin, West Warwick Public Library

Career Exploration
   --by Kathy Campopiano, Nathan Bishop Middle School

PowerPoint Presentations

Here are some examples of PowerPoint presentations that workshop participants developed to help students create portfolios of their work. Students can use the portfolios to clarify their interests, note their accomplishments, plan for a career, and think about the postsecondary education needed to accomplish these goals.

David J. Girard and Frank Santos
Shea High School Business Department
Pawtucket, RI

Stephanie Rainey, Windmill School, Providence, and
Tonmarie Campopiano, Woonsocket Middle School

Sharon E. Alexander-Reyes and Freya Messias
Dorcas Place, Providence, RI

Maryann Amaral and Mary-Ann Duval
Riverside Middle School
East Providence, RI

More College Awareness Lessons/Project Ideas

1. College Bound Express: A Student College Awareness Newsletter
Middle school students, in groups, are asked to go to pre-selected college planning Web sites. The groups collect information on an assigned early college awareness topic. Each group writes a brief article, explaining the main ideas of the topic. The students' writing will be collected for a college awareness newsletter that can be illustrated with computer graphics. This newsletter (College Bound Express) can be sent home with a cover letter explaining why it is important for parents and students to be thinking about college at the beginning of middle school. References to sites of interest to families, such as Parent Connection, and where they can be viewed (library, at home, College Planning Center), can be included. Grades 6-8

2. FutureQuest
Students take on the role of a high school counselor and suggest college and/or career guidelines for four fictitious students. To complete the process, students must explore various resources available on the Internet. Grades 9-12.

3. Personal Interests and Career Traits
Students will develop an awareness of their personal interests and relate them to career traits. The students will match their traits to various jobs to help them see beyond their immediate future.

4. Integrating College and Career Research with Job Shadow Experience
The purpose of this activity is to have high school students research and explore career and college opportunities. Students learn about and evaluate career clusters. They also look at colleges offering degree programs in their chosen field. Grades 9-12.

5. College Accept-tion to the Rule
This lesson encourages students to extend their ideas about the college application process by thinking about ways to supplement college applications. Students will write an informative, persuasive letter about themselves to a college admissions counselor that could be used as a "cover letter" to college applications. Grades 6-12

6. Comparing College Benefits of Military Branches
In this lesson, students can complete a financial aid application for federal assistance, prepare a one-year budget for their first-year college costs, and prepare a written report describing the financial aid process and how they plan to finance their college education. Grade 11.

7. The National Center for Consumer Education (NICE) has a series of mini-lessons on financing a college education. Each mini-lesson has learning objectives, background information, discussion questions, an activity, and additional sources of information. Grades 6-12

College Student Budget
A mini-lesson for secondary school teachers and students on how to budget for college and the appropriate use of credit.

College Financial Aid
This mini-lesson acquaints students and families with the types of financial aid, reviews the financial aid process, and identifies the major sources of financial aid.

Saving for College
Learners will consider saving and investing alternatives to finance a college education. They will develop an investment strategy for a college fund.

8. FRONTLINE's "Secrets of the SAT"
FRONTLINE's "Secrets of the SAT," produced by PBS, can be used as the basis for workshops given by high school school counselors and others working with college-bound students. These workshops can be especially helpful to disadvantaged students and families who may lack information on college admissions and who face special challenges on the road to higher education. Grades 9-12.

9. Making the Grade. Exploring the Rising Interest in the Teaching Profession and What Teaching Means to Educators
In this lesson, students explore the recent trend of interest among college students in pursuing teaching careers, as well as their own views about teaching as a career choice.

10. Do You Have a Yen to Go to College?
This lesson, developed by the Idaho Council on Economic Education, gets students thinking about financing college by considering the best use of the funding available. Carols is considering options in other countries and comparing those costs (by figuring out exchange rates) with a U.S. university. Students help Carlos to determine which education option he can afford and meet his goals.

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Articles

Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA)
The ADDA web site has articles personal accounts, interviews with AD/HD professionals, book reviews, and other web sites of interest to teachers and counselors.

Gaining Ground: A Newsletter of the Project to Improve Achievement in High Poverty Schools
Courtesy of The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), February 2000

Toward Resiliency: At-Risk Students Who Make It to College
The Office of Educational Research and Improvement, May 1998

College-Bound Students with Learning Disabilities: Assessment of Readiness for Academic Success
This research article compares high school and college environments from a lifespan developmental perspective. Life stressors are reviewed and adaptive behavior is discussed.

A Systematic Approach for Assisting Students with Learning Disabilities in Postsecondary Education
This article contains general principles that have been found to be extremely helpful in assisting people with learning disabilities to maximize their potential in postsecondary settings are discussed. The acronym for the system of assisting students with learning disabilities is PRISM: Planning, Reinforcement, Insight, Self-Advocacy, Modifications, and Accommodations. Differences between high school and college requirements are also presented in chart form.

 For more articles, click here. 


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Exciting Sites for Educators
The following sites have lessons or information that educators, counselors, and librarians will find useful when the subject is planning ahead for college and careers.


Bigchalk
There are useful resources for teachers, library media specialists, and parents available here. Follow the link to information on students with special needs for an extensive listing which includes information on education issues for students who are at risk. The site also has homework helpers, lessons, and other resources.

Blue Web'n
Blue Web'n is a searchable database, sponsored by Pacific Tel, of about 1000 Internet learning sites categorized by subject area, audience, and type (lessons, activities, projects, resources, references, & tools -- especially online activities targeted at learners). One feature of Blue Web'n is Filamentality, which helps teachers use online education resources. Filamentality prompts teachers to "fill in the blanks" with links, instructions, and questions, and then builds a Web activity for students.

Busy Teachers Website
This site provides teachers with direct source materials, lesson plans / and classroom activities. A section for high school school counselors includes links to virtual campus tours, financial aid resources, and information on colleges and universities.

Center for Teaching Effectiveness
An exceptional resource that lists affiliated law, strategies for teaching and learning, and articles on college students with disabilities. The site also includes directories with information related to disabilities and technology, faculty/student guides, and resource agencies.

The College Board Services for Counselors
This site offers services for high school counselors including providing information on upcoming events, professional development workshops, and information on SAT preparation. Many features are available in Spanish.

Education Week
Education Week is an important source of information for educators, and it can be accessed on the Web. It contains current news, policy reports and information on the major issues in education. The archives are searchable.

Education World
This site has news, lesson plans and links to education resources. Information on planning for college can be found by clicking on higher education.

FAS for Counselors
This website is specifically for middle school, secondary school & TRIO counselors. The site provides an online source of information about student aid for college and career schools. Features include the High School Counselor's Handbook, federal student aid publications (with instruction on how to print or order them), video conferences , and scripts and slides for presenting a financial aid night.

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE)
More than 30 Federal agencies formed a working group to make hundreds of Federally supported teaching and learning resources easier to find. The result of that work is the FREE web site.

Harvard Education Letter
The Harvard Education Letter summarizes the latest education research and synthesizes it with practical suggestions you can put to daily use in your classrooms and schools. This site has links to Harvard University, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
U.S. Department of Education: FSA for Counselors

AskERIC
This collection contains more than 2000 unique lesson plans which have been written and submitted to AskERIC by teachers from all over the United States. Contributions from individuals are essential for keeping the collection growing. Teachers are invited to share a great lesson plan with educators all over the world by sending it to AskERIC.

The Gateway
The Gateway Educational Materials (GEM) is an effort to provide educators with quick and easy access to thousands of educational resources on federal, state, university, non-profit and commercial Internet sources. This project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and is a special project of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology. A search engine with multiple options, such as requesting free resources, makes access to the material user friendly.

Harvard Graduate School of Education
This Web site has links to many research projects and publications at HGSE. The site provides an overview of many of the major issues in education today.

LDOnLine
LDOnLine offers an interactive guide to learning disabilities to assist teachers in promoting self-determination with their students. You'll find bulletin boards, audio clips, articles, personal stories, learning strategies, research findings and the latest news in the field of learning disabilities.

Muskingum College - Center for the Advancement of Learning
This comprehensive site is designed to empower teachers and others who work with students by facilitating their development of the component elements of self-determination. The site offers a well-organized layout of strategies for learning specific content areas such as accounting, math, and psychology.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC)
The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), is an organization of professionals engaged in guiding students through the secondary to higher education transition process and are dedicated to serving students as they make choices about pursuing postsecondary education. A listing of national college fairs and advice on preparing to attend can be found here. It features some free publications that can be downloaded of interest to counselors, parents and students. Steps to College is an online publication with articles written for students on topics of interest in the college planning process. The NACAC web site also includes publications and professional development for members.

National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition seeks to increase the capacity of national, state, and local agencies and organizations to improve secondary education and transition results for youth with disabilities and their families.

New York Times Learning Network
The New York Times Learning Network has a number of resources for teachers. There is a daily lesson, and previous lessons are accessible in a searchable archive. Entering "college" as a search term resulted in several lessons that infuse college awareness into subject matter teaching.

Northeast Technical Assistance Center
The Northeast Technical Assistance Center is a resource for professionals who work with the deaf and hard of hearing in postsecondary environments. Publications can be downloaded from the site. In addition, the center can be contacted for information on service options for students, workshop training and Teacher Tipsheets on a variety of topics.

Pathways to College Network and Clearinghouse
The Pathways to College Network Clearinghouse provides reference services, workshops, and disseminates research findings, tool kits, fact sheets, and bibliographies and other resources. The Clearinghouse also contributes to the ERIC Database by disseminating resources related to college preparation and retention; policies affecting access and success; effective practices and policies for family involvement and community engagement; and college affordability and financial aid.

Special Education Resources on the Internet (SERI)
This site has a collection of Internet-accessible information resources of interest to those involved in the fields related to special education. This collection exists in order to make online special education resources more easily and readily available in one location. The information is categorized topically and by specific disability.

TeacherNet
TeacherNet features articles, lesson plans, projects, teaching ideas, and interactive discussion. Sponsored by Highlights for Children, TeacherNet also has links to articles in this publication.

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