Sunday, January 24, 2010

College Project Underway

This month in writing workshop, we have started our biannual college project. This is a long term project that begins with students writing letters to three colleges requesting information (and perhaps some trinkets and souvenirs) from each school.

Students will use this information to decide which school they like best. Then they'll create a poster about that school and write an essay about what makes that school great. These posters and essays will be displayed at our "Third Floor College Fair" later in the spring. The college fair is lots of fun because all students get to show off their posters and we have judges evaluating and lots and lots of prizes donated by colleges from around the country.

Our goal is to give students a little taste of what college is all about. We want to get them familiar with the vocabulary, the options, and all the great things about college and college life. They are at University Prep Academy after all. This is a project that will benefit all of them.

In early April we'll be bringing the concept to life with a field trip to the University of Michigan, where we'll be touring the campus, eating in the dormitory, talking to students and much more.

I'll be keeping you posted as we go along. All the letters will be in the mail by the end of the week, and students should begin hearing back from them very soon. Ask them how this project is going; it tends to be one of students' favorites, especially once they start getting mail!

1 comment:

Miss D said...

Hi Mr. C! I've been having more time to devote to digging in to the blog and class wiki. This is such an awesome idea. I'm very grateful that you took/take the time out to do this. Noah W. and I will explore this more "together" as I search for more ways to get/keep interested in learning this is most definately a great start. He loves being on the computer...and this is something we can do together. Thank you for all your hard work. You may feel unappreciated but I promise you that you are very much so appreciated. You are a great teacher. You make a great effort. Keep up the good work!