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Teacher’s toolbox

The following activities correspond with the information presented in this module. Designed with groups in mind, these tools are a great way for your students to discover important information about themselves, which may influence their college decisions.

Discovering college life

Brainstorm ways that high school is different from college. Fill out the differences chart together. After you have completed the chart, show the class the completed differences chart to see if there are any other differences that need to be included on the class chart.

Faculty expectations

Listen to the podcast on this page of Dr. Miller discussing faculty pet peeves. Have a discussion about the podcast. Ask the students why it is important to know about faculty pet peeves. Ask them if they were surprised by any of the pet peeves that faculty have? Finally, ask them if there were any student pet peeves that were missing from the list?

Getting accommodations

  1. Each student will pick a college of interest and research the accommodation process [Word document] (call, go online, visit the school, etc.). Develop a chart for each school. This will give you a list of many schools for your current and future students.
  2. Each student will contact a school of interest and have the school mail the Handbook for Students with Disabilities to the student. This will create a library of handbooks for students to reference. Update the library every three years.

Sharing your disability

Hold a discussion with the class and talk about the pros and cons of talking to your professors about your accommodations.

Getting good grades

As a class, brainstorm a list of strategies from the videos that may be helpful in college. Discuss with the students what they need to do now in high school to develop or enhance these skills.

Exploring technology

  1. Have each student choose one type of technology that they would like to learn more about. Have the students try it out for a week and then complete a presentation on the technology to the class. Information in the presentations could include:
    • A description of the technology
    • The purpose of the tool
    • People who benefit from it
    • A demonstration of its use
    • Your opinion of how the tool can help or not help you with the task you are trying to complete
  2. Have the students create a demonstration of how to use a software program of interest using Camstudio or other screen capturing software. Discuss what the tool is, how it can help students and then demonstrate it. The final screencast can be shared with the class as well as placed in a location on the computer for other students to view on an individual basis.