STUDENT ENGAGEMENT:

Words are seldom precise. One word can mean many different things. The reverse is true too. There are many different words that we can choose to use to describe one idea that we are trying to get across. I have a quick game to illustrate this. The game is called, “Gimme Ten” and it works like this: As a class, it is your job to guess the word that I am thinking of. I have ten clues, but your goal is to guess it with the fewest numbers of clues. Each clue is a word that some people use to mean the same thing. For example, if the word I’m thinking of is “television,” some of the clues might be “telly” or “tube.”
 

The goal is to guess with the FEWEST number of clues. Raise your hand to guess my secret word after I reveal a clue.

(There will probably be time to do three to four rounds within the allotted).
 

 

DIGGING IN:

This game was put together to help get students thinking about how words don’t always mean what we intend them to mean. Sometimes this can be a problem. There’s a word that gets used a LOT with middle and high school students that a lot of people assume means just one thing, but in reality it’s another one of these words that can mean many, many different things. That word is,“college.”
 

The reality is that college looks very different for just about every student. It can take a number of forms and in this activity students are going to explore what some of those different options are. But it’s not going to be a matter of the teacher simply explaining the different types of college experiences. Instead, the students will be doing this work.
 

Ask the students to pull up the website: intoolkit.com/degrees
 

This website will be the students’ homebase for the little bit of research that they will be working on. Divide the class into six groups.
 

(Once students are in their groups, pass out the “Degree Options Research" page to students in their groups. Every student should get a page.)
 

Assign each group one of the six degree options listed on the “Degree Options Research” page. Each of the six groups is going to work together to answer just six questions about a degree option listed on the website that they are on. Some of the answers may actually come directly from this website. Others, they may have to search the internet a bit to find. You’ll have fifteen minutes to work on answering the questions together. Every team member should have the answers written on their sheet when you are done.
 

After students have finished, each group will be asked to stand where they are and share the answers to the questions. Not everybody has to speak, but someone from each group must. So, please decide before it’s time which group member will speak.

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Monitor the class to help answer questions and assist as needed.

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INTO ACTION:

Once research time has passed, take time to let the student groups report out the answers to their questions. Tell the rest of the class to listen closely to their answers and record them down on their own sheets as each group presents. All students should have a complete sheet after the last presentation. After each presentation, talk about other careers that might require that level of education.