Lesson 7.E.
Where Are You Going?
LESSON TYPE: Mandatory (YL, S)
SUPPLIES/EQUIPMENT:
v dictionaries
v high school catalogs (optional)
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How to Create Position Statements
Position Statements Template
College Prep Courses
Getting into College: What Counts the Most?
High School Goals
Writing Activity
Students will establish viable goals, including attending and graduating from college.
DESCRIPTORS:
Students will analyze the importance of setting goals.
Students will examine the impact of motivational levels on their success.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Research on student success indicates a paradoxical simultaneous affirmation and
rejection of schooling by some students, particularly minority students. There is a gap
between their expressed desire for further education and their limited actions to attain
their goals. It has been suggested that the absence of social supports accounts for much
of their lack of action.
These students often don’t know about or understand the need to take certain courses in
high school, the application process for college, the importance of the SAT, or the value
of practicing on the PSAT.
The work of MacLeod (1987) and Weis (1990) shows that it is vitally important for
students to have goals and aspirations for life after high school. However, unless students
are given instruction and assistance in the mechanisms and processes to get into college,
they do not make it.
Lofty goals, just like teachers’ high expectations, are an essential ingredient for school
success. Unfortunately, unless these goals are accompanied by a system of support to
PROTEAM DREAMQUEST CURRICULUM
7-37
MODULE 7:
STANDARD:
I Can Plan for a Successful Future
STUDENT HANDOUT(S):