College Preparation: Managing Expectations and Skills/Strategies for Success

It is a part of our responsibility as the teachers of secondary students to prepare them for the realities of college. High school students are often unaware of just how different the responsibilities of a college student can be in comparison to those of a typical high school student. Making students aware and offering them the skills and strategies to deal with these changes is necessary.

This unit exposes the major differences between expectations of the typical high schools students and college students:

-comparison/contrast between high school and college topics and responsibilities

-class schedule, class size

-attendance

-workload, grades, studying, testing/assessment

-health

-creating and managing a typical college course load and accompanying work

-reading and using course syllabi

-time management and organizational skills

-accessing campus resources

The unit teaches the important abilities/skills/strategies needed to be a successful college student:

-hard skills verses soft skills

-grit

-self-advocacy

-handling criticism

-growth verses fixed mindset

-effective communication

-effective listening

-managing stress, self-care

-self advocacy

-self reflection

The unit additionally teaches necessary academic skills:

-skimming and scanning

-annolighting

-Cornell Notes and study system

-close reading

-answering text-based and self-to-text questions