Shea Week 6

I really enjoyed our lesson today - it was titled "College Conversations" and we began the session with students journaling (either with images or writing) why they wanted to go to college. Afterwards, we looked over some of these journals and saw that most of the students wanted to secure a financially stable future or "make something out of themselves." These answers provided very concrete insight for us to define why these students are truly here, participating in EXPLORE!. After journaling, we broke up into three small groups with two volunteers per group and went through our typical days as college students. We passed around our PC id's and pictures of the campus, our friends, and on-campus events - all of which made students grasp what a typical college student does each day/throughout the year. The students seemed interested in this portion, both of the students in my group seemed to be interested in what college had to offer and came up with a few questions about college in general. I found this exercise particularly helpful because students were allowed a more one-on-one time with volunteers and really got a better sense of college life. We then went to the computer lab and had students make College Board accounts - a website which will prove very useful to them in the years to come. Many students were unsure where they wanted to go to college exactly, or what they wanted to major in, but that is to be expected since they are only high school freshmen. It is very good, however, to get these students ahead of the game and knowledgeable about the websites offered to students to help the college process run more smoothly. Students began a survey which would outline which colleges would be best for them (depending on factors like location, tuition, private/public institution) and students seemed to enjoy this segment of the session. Overall, I think students are becoming more involved in our lessons and actually getting something out of these EXPLORE! sessions.