How to Choose a College - College Readiness

Help your high school students with their college search and how to choose a college with this college readiness interactive Google Slides presentation/lesson that offers 10 tips for making a college choice.

This lesson can help students choose a college to research further or even to make a decision about where to apply to if they are ready to submit their college applications.

⭐️ Click HERE for the Pear Deck version!

⭐️ This interactive Google Slides presentation can be used with distance learning, face-to-face instruction, OR a blended, hybrid, or flipped learning approach in an English language arts, AVID, CTE, life skills, or advisory class.

⭐️ Counselors can also use this slides presentation to give a talk to a large group of students or help students one-on-one or in small groups.

⭐️ WHAT'S INCLUDED (a full 5E lesson that takes students through the entire learning cycle!):

• Engage: Questions to hook students and activate prior knowledge at the beginning of the presentation.
• Explore: Question to activate prior knowledge and the chance to ask questions before getting into the lesson.
• Explain: 10 tips for making a college choice.
• Elaborate/Extend: Discussion questions at the end of the presentation AND an editable extension activity. For the extension, students must go to the BigFuture website and put in their criteria for a college based on the tips mentioned in this presentation and then answer this question: "What are your top 10 colleges? List in order with your top choice as #1. Label each school dream, target, or safety."

• Evaluate: Reflection questions at the end of the presentation AND a rubric/scoring guide that can be used for assessing notes (the score areas are editable).

• Extra: Great ideas for engaging students and extending the lesson!

⭐️ The time it takes for the entire lesson will vary depending on how much discussion and other extension activities you include. You and/or your students can get through it in one class, or you might spend two to three days or more on it if you assign the extension activities. Instructional time also depends on your students’ levels.

⭐️ This lesson has it all:

• Explicit instruction: This lesson is direct and systematically chunked following a 5E lesson plan and guides students with a clear purpose/essential question, explanation, and supported practice/extension.
• 21st century skills: Students use media and technology literacy skills with this interactive Google Slides presentation and use critical thinking, collaboration, and communication with all the opportunities for discussion.
• Multi-modalities and hands-on learning: Students view and/or listen to the presentation, write and talk about their learning in “think-write-pair-shares” and discussion groups, and possibly more depending on what you assign in the extension, such as producing an essay or video to demonstrate understanding and synthesizing ideas.
• Differentiation: Depending on students’ levels, you could present to the class as a whole and/or assign students to view the slides independently or in small groups and answer the questions as you see fit.
• Scaffolding: This complete lesson comes in manageable parts, from activating prior knowledge to reflection and assessment, and can be teacher- or student-paced.
• Higher levels of questioning: The discussion questions require higher-level thinking such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
• Real-life connection: The college and career-readiness topic and essential question are meaningful and relevant to students’ futures.
• Student choice: To add student choice, give students options of strategies, tools, and/or extension activities.

SUGGESTIONS FOR USE:

1. Present the slides in a face-to-face lecture OR through a video conference lecture by sharing your screen. To make your presentation more interactive and engaging (and less of a teacher-centered lecture), be sure to have students answer the questions and share their answers at the beginning and end of the presentation (see ideas for sharing below), stop to check comprehension, use peer teaching, and clarify or explain anything as needed.

2. OR, you can just send the slides to your students by email or Google Classroom to work on independently or in small groups and type their answers on the slides, a Google Form, or a separate document -- whichever you prefer (make sure you make a copy for each student). 

3. Do some kind of combination of #1 and 2. You may also want to work one-on-one with some students and let others work independently.

4. Follow the lesson plan and extra ideas given in the product directions.

⭐️ You might also like this College Research BUNDLE and this Winter-Themed College Research Project.

IF YOU LIKE THIS PRODUCT AFTER PURCHASING IT, PLEASE GO TO YOUR TPT PURCHASES AND LEAVE ME A REVIEW AND EARN TPT CREDITS! AND BE SURE TO FOLLOW ME ON TPT FOR UPDATES ON NEW PRODUCTS!

⭐️ Get this FREE College and Career Readiness Curriculum Planning Guide on my website! Click HERE.

⭐️ Get in touch by using this form HERE.

⭐️ Check out my other products on TPT and find out when I make new products (be sure to follow!): Jenn Liu: Engaging to Empower

Aloha,

Jenn

Copyright © Jenn Liu

Permission to use for single classroom use only.

Please purchase additional licenses if you plan to share this product with other teachers.