Preparing for College—Reading Comprehension and Written Response

Objectives:
● Students will identify common road blocks to college admission and academic success and develop several concrete strategies for overcoming such obstacles.
● Students will use the reading strategy of text marking to support their comprehension of a short story.
● Students will write a four-paragraph letter stating common obstacles and solutions to college preparation.
● Students will write with a tone appropriate to audience.

Standards: This lesson meets Common Core Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. (See end of lesson for a complete list.)

Introduction: Write this quote on the board: “Better late than never.” Ask the students: Have you ever procrastinated about doing something important? What made you procrastinate? How did it turn out?

Some students will say they work better under pressure. If you receive this response, ask whether it is always possible to make procrastination work for you; for example, does procrastination work well when your task has a lot of complicated steps that require input from other people?

Tell students that college is a good example of a complicated process that has multiple steps and strict deadlines. Point out that many students have doubts about whether they are prepared for college. Some question whether college is a “good fit,” for example if their grades aren’t great or if they don’t have many financial resources. Some are intimidated by all the steps involved in applying to college and may doubt whether they have the self-discipline or skills to succeed once they’re there. Ask the students whether any of them have felt that way about college.

Reading: Tell students that they’re going to read a story about a girl facing those kinds of doubts about college. Her doubts cause her to procrastinate until her senior year, when she must finally face her doubts—and the reality of life after high school. Have students take turns reading aloud the story “Is College for Me?” (Alternatively, you can divide them into partners or small groups for this activity.)

Before they read, instruct students to underline obstacles that prevent the author from feeling prepared for college. Point out that this kind of text marking is a strategy that can support reading comprehension if they practice it regularly.

After reading, lead a group discussion about these obstacles, and what kinds of solutions the author came up with to eliminate the obstacles. You may wish to make a chart with problems and solutions, like this:

Obstacle: Family didn’t communicate much about her goals and the specifics of college
Solution: Share specific goals with parents or other trusted adults to gain support in making specific plans to pursue goals

Obstacle: Procrastinated about making decisions about which college might be a good fit for her
Solution: Visited college campuses to get a “feel” for college life; talked to cousin and roommates about how they handled the pressures of academics and life on their own; could have done more research about what different colleges offered (in terms of academics, financially, student life) to identify colleges where she’d have the best chance of success

Obstacle: Limited finances
Solution: Devised a plan to work part time while going to a community college to save money, then transferring after a year.

Obstacle: Fear of continuing bad study habits she’d developed in high school
Solution: Social support: Take the initiative to form study groups with college classmates; meet with professor to keep herself accountable; get mom/other family members to help her study. Turn off all electronic devices during study time.

Writing: Tell students they are going to use this list to write a four-paragraph letter to an incoming freshman who is not feeling so confident about whether college should be in his/her future. The purpose of the letter is to encourage him/her to begin preparing for college, giving specific suggestions. Remind students that the single biggest obstacle is usually self-doubt: a lack of confidence in one’s own abilities. Therefore, writing with an encouraging tone is as important as giving realistic, concrete suggestions. (Note: you may need to review the meanings of tone and audience.)

Instruct students that the letter should include an introduction asserting that college is within reach, but requires concrete steps to get there. The next two paragraphs should anticipate common obstacles, and pose solutions they can pursue to get on track for college.(Remind students to draw on the Obstacles/Solutions chart they created in Activity #1 for content.) The fourth paragraph should be a conclusion that will motivate the reader to want to implement those suggestions.

Note: Depending on the skill level of your students, you may wish to add a mini-lesson to this activity about the purpose of a thesis statement, topic sentence, and supporting sentences.

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Common Core Anchor Standards for Reading:
Key Ideas and details
● Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
● Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
● Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
● Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Common Core Anchor Standards for Writing
Text types and Purposes
● Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
● Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
Production and Distribution of Writing
● Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Range of Writing
● Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Common Core Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration
● Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.


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