My district (we got a new superintendent last year)
took the initiative to encourage more college readiness. We are a district with
a standard dress code, however every Thursday this year is “Think College
Thursday.” Students get to wear a t-shirt or sweatshirt representative of a
college or university team with the rest of the standard dress code (khaki
pants with belt). However, they’ve limited it to colleges and universities
while excluding things like the military and trade schools. With this district
initiative my supervisor and I have limited my research this year to my current
students (and my fellow 8th grade science teachers) and will work to
expand it next year. What I have done within my classroom is we spend part of
each Thursday talking about opportunities beyond school. Sometimes our goals
will never lead us down the road to college, however the skills we need to be
successful in life are the same for all students—whether they want to flip
burgers or be a doctor; such as respect for self and others, how to take care
of our business and help others with theirs, etc. So far we have talked about
what students want to be…I’ve invited them to come and have their picture taken
with what they want to be written on our classroom whiteboard. I’m still
waiting on a few and when I have all of them will make a collage picture so
that we leave it up to inspire ourselves! We’ve also spent time talking about
characteristics of successful people…it’s not all about school, but
unfortunately we have to get through school in order to reach our goals because
the state and national government say so. We are just starting to talk about
each of the things my students want to be when they “grow up” and I will begin
challenging them to find schools (college, university, trade or military) that
offers them the opportunity to do what it is they want to do. Following this
will be the challenge to learn the particulars about the program; i.e. cost,
length of program, how do I qualify to get in, will I have a degree, etc.
