Lesson Plan I

Lesson Title: Colleges & Careers (Introduction)

Name: Lindsay Blowers

Subject: English Language Arts
Grade Level: 12th
Time Frame: 96 minutes (high school block)

Objective 12th-graders will learn about different colleges and careers by filling out fact sheets and
creating a college or career brochure.
12th-graders
Rationale Research makes decisions easier. This research will begin to give students a sense of
which colleges and careers are right (or not right) for them. Their initial selections for
research will be based on pre-existing interests, and discussing fact sheets & seeing the
brochures made by their classmates may give them additional ideas. Becoming familiar
with research, especially via the Internet, is also a lifelong skill with a wide variety of
applications.
Prior Familiarity with web browsing, basic Microsoft Word skills, some prior thought on
Knowledge college and career plans. This unit should already have been introduced and students
should be aware of requirements & expectations. They will already have been given the
rubric included in the assessments section of this unit plan.
Standards - Read with comprehension a variety of informational and functional reading materials
(2)
- Write for a variety of purposes (7)
- Demonstrate appropriate use of punctuation (8)
- Use the research process to manage, document, organize, and present information to
support a thesis on a teacher-approved topic of student interest (10)
Essential Who am I? What do I want to do with my life? Is there a “best” path through life? What
Questions information about a college or career will help me make a decision for or against it?
What is most important to me in life? What are my goals for the future, both short -term
and long-term? What is expected of me? Are these expectations fair?

Assessment/Differentiation/Accommodation
Formative After filling out fact sheets using Internet resources, students will use a Microsoft
Assessment Word template to create a brochure about one of the colleges or careers
researched. The brochure will be a multifaceted assessment that will evaluate
many things, including:
- Student’s ability/willingness to follow instructions
- Completeness of research/knowledge gained on selected colleges & careers
- Student’s familiarity with technology in the form of Internet research and
Microsoft Word
- Student’s interest in learning about colleges and careers
Informal checks and observations will also be made throughout the lesson.
Summative The fact sheets will become a part of the student’s Professional Portfolio, which will
Assessment compose the summative assessment for this unit.
Differentiated IEP – I am actually very excited to have Josh in my classroom for this lesson. This is a
Instruction great opportunity for him to think about what options he can pursue with his AOD. I

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Instruction
plan to do the following to make this a successful lesson for Josh:
 Talk with Josh individually to make sure he understands the options that
accompany the AOD and help him select some possible careers and
institutions to research.
 In the computer lab, seat Josh near students who are less likely to distract
him.
 Allow Josh as much time as he needs to complete the fact sheets for the
schools/jobs he selects.
 If he has trouble focusing on information down but can remember what he
reads, allow him to give an oral summary of the information. He must at least
think seriously about his options and back up his opinions and decisions with
some research.
 If he continues to work on fact sheets and needs more time, do not require
him to complete the brochure.
 If he seems to get bored with fact sheets, make sure he completes at least
one, then give him the option of moving on to the brochure.
 Give him individual, written instructions for the brochure or help him set it up
instead of having him listen as the class is walked through it.
 Alternatively, find out what items Josh may need to complete his portfolios
for his AOD and allow him to work on those items, if applicable.
 Keep in mind that the goal is for students to identify possible career or
education paths and learn more about them. Help Josh to reach this goal and
assess him in ways that best suit his abilities.

ESL – Jose will likely struggle with any parts of the lesson that require advanced
language skills or use of academic language. He is much stronger with informal
communication. I suggest the following accommodations for Jose:
 Define all vocabulary on the fact sheets for Jose, perhaps on an easily
comprehensible vocabulary sheet. Alternatively, allow Jose to fill in
definitions on a blank vocabulary sheet, or match definitions with vocabulary
words. This will both help him learn and serve as an assessment.
 Perhaps ask Jose to only fill out one fact sheet, or only parts of them, focusing
more on his understanding of new terms. (The parts that involve essentially
copying information from a website, i.e., basic school info from
CollegeBoard.com, should be fairly easy for him.)
 Since Jose struggles with the use of academic language, give him a more
specific structure on his brochure. Help him to construct complete sentences
using the information he has learned. Encourage him to use images to express
his ideas.
 Assess Jose verbally (just talk to him!) to ensure that he is learning vocabulary
related to colleges and careers, has put thought into his future plans, and has
learned something about the careers/schools he considered during the
lesson.

Lesson Plan
Lesson The majority of this lesson will be completed in a computer lab or library. After the
Overview bell ringer and teacher explanation, students will move to the computer lab or library
and will begin filling out fact sheets for two colleges of their choice and two careers of
their choice. Students should try to identify schools and careers they actually wish to
pursue. Following this preliminary research, each student will select one school or
career for which he/she will make a brochure. Students will be given instructions on
how to make a brochure using a Microsoft Word brochure template of their choice.

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 how to make a brochure using a Microsoft Word brochure template of their choice.

Materials Classroom computer with Internet access & projector, Fact Sheets*, Library/computer
lab computers with Internet access and Microsoft Word, printers capable of printing
brochures created in Microsoft Word, example brochure(s)*

*included
Bell By this point, students should be accustomed to walking into class and responding
ringer/Review to questions written on the board in their notebooks. Today’s questions will be:
Activity - What would you like to do after high school?
- List at least two post-high-school institutions you might be interested in attending.
- List at least two careers you might be interested in pursuing.
Students will then share their thoughts with someone next to them.

Activities and Instructional Methods: lecture with visual aids, independent work, project
Procedures - Bell ringer (5 minutes)
(with - Short lecture (10 minutes)
transitions and o Hand out fact sheets (1 college and 1 career) & explain that students will use
time the Internet to complete them
allocations) o Instruct students to select to colleges and one career they would like to
research (the bell ringer should have prepared them for this selection).
o Use the computer & projector to show students Internet resources
 www.collegeboard.com
 Use Google to find a college’s web page
o Explain that after students have filled out their fact sheets, they will select
one college or career they research and, using the information they gathered,
create a brochure.
o Show students an example brochure.
- Move to library/computer lab
- Fact sheets (30 minutes)
o Students will fill out each fact sheet, spending 10-15 minutes on each
- Sharing (5 minutes)
o After students have completed their fact sheets, they should share what they
have learned with one or two other people.
o After sharing, students should select one college or career (if they like one
someone else researched more, they make use that one) and make a
brochure for it.
- Brochures (30-45 minutes)
o Students will spend the remainder of the period working on brochures. If they
don’t finish, class time will be provided later on for that purpose.
o Alternatively, the brochures can be created by hand.
Closure Remind students that if they didn’t finish their brochures today, they will get a chance
to do so. Tell them that tomorrow we will be going over the college application
process. Hang up the completed brochures for display in the classroom.
References http://www.collegeboard.com
http://www.google.com

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College Fact Sheet

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Career Fact Sheet

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Brochure

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