The ABCs of college financial aid Here's what parents should be doing now to maximize student financial aid

Juniors: Financial Aid for College: Read this with your parents/ guardians.


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December College Checklist for Juniors

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With Thanksgiving behind us and our next vacation just weeks away, it is easy to let the college process slip our minds temporarily. However, there is plenty that can be done now, particularly planning. Taking advantage of these winter months can make an enormous difference come summer and next fall.

Juniors, here is your college admissions checklist for December:

Be Committed to the Process

The college application process, from research through to submission, takes about 40 hours of work by the student. You do not need to wait until the summer or the fall of your senior year to do much of this work. Just 15 minutes per day — a study break, really — will have you through 40 hours by the middle of August, happy and satisfied with the knowledge that you are well-situated for the senior fall. Be diligent and committed, and the process will take care of itself.

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Communicate With Your Parents

This is your process, but you should make sure that your parents are informed and contributing to your college search. Take time to talk with your parents about the ways in which you want to involve them. Have this conversation early and often, even weekly.

Set up a schedule for visits, even though you may not yet have a list. Follow up with your parents after meetings with your college or guidance counselor. Work to understand your family’s financial situation. Explore costs as well as financial aid and loans. These all are essential conversations; now is the time to set up a plan for how you will communicate.

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Plan Your Summer Now

December is the ideal time to make plans for the summer so that you don’t scramble at the last minute to pull something together. Have you considered an academic program to pursue advanced work in a field of interest, to bolster or supplement shaky areas of your transcript, or to explore new disciplines not available during the regular academic year?

What about a job? Can you make and save money for college? Have you considered an internship? Community service or volunteer work? Travel? Are there sports or arts camps that would assist in your plans? Discuss with your parents and college or guidance counselor a plan for the summer. Be deliberate and intentional in your planning, and reserve some down time, too.

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Research, Research, Research

Begin to construct that college list. There is no substitute for visiting a college for a tour and interview or information session, but there is much to be said about getting online and exploring. Individual college Web sites can be enormously helpful in providing a sense of what your experience could be. What courses could you take? What courses must you take? How difficult is it to double-major or to switch majors? If you are undecided on a major, how might the college’s curriculum assist you in selecting one? What drives social life? How many students live on campus? What are the application requirements? Are SAT Subject Tests required? Keep note of these items that you deem to be important. The more of this information you can obtain and process, the more informed your search will be.

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Make a Standardized Testing and Test Prep Plan

Many juniors will receive PSAT results shortly. Take time to review them (and/or any other results that you have, including actual SAT and ACT results or any state exams) and put together a plan for future tests.

You should also carefully consider if and how you will go about preparing for those tests. Results from previous tests should figure prominently into any plan. To prepare, some students will opt to take courses or to work with tutors. You may also self-study by using free resources from the College Board or ACT Web sites. Regardless, now is the time to plan.

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Be Genuine and Explore

This time of year, you will hear much about “what colleges want to see.” Of course, the danger here is in pursuing any end exclusively because colleges want to see it.

Be genuine. If you are going to commit your time to anything, be sure that you are doing so because it is of significance to you. Ultimately, this is what colleges want to see, and they are exceptionally talented at sniffing out students who do things exclusively because they are trying to impress.

Keep in mind that we are all lumps of clay, still being formed. Remain committed to those things that are important to you, exploring positions and experiences of leadership, but do not close the door on new opportunities that might help you learn more about that unknowable enigma: you.

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This post was prepared in consultation with the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools, a membership organization. NYtimes.com

Free ACT Test Prep

C2 Education will be Offering a FREE ACT Practice test and  Consultation When? December 19th Where? At Hollywood High School What Time? 8:00am Please see attached flyer For more information contact Heather Brown at 323-993-1733 or hhb7405@lausd.net Sign up with Ms. Brown Start next semester off with extra credit. Show proof of completion of prep class for extra credit.

Scholarships: Start Applying NOW

Fastweb delivers scholarships for high school juniors and seniors. Fastweb has made the scholarship search easier for students with key scholarship selections by school year. Share these links with your students and point them toward more potential scholarships: • Scholarships for High School Juniors • Scholarships for High School Seniors Subscription Information This message was sent to hhb7405@lausd.net. Please add collegetips@m.fastwebmail.com to your Address Book/safe senders list to ensure that you continue to receive our newsletters. Email Preferences Edit your email address or profile information. Unsubscribe from the Fastweb Educator email list. Please allow 5-10 business days for your unsubscribe request to be processed. Fastweb | 444 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 600 | Chicago, IL 60611 Please view our privacy policy if you have further questions. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.

Link to Final Exam Vocabulary Review

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Vocabulary Review for Final Exam

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Practice daily!   Ace the final!

Corridos: Compare and Contrast Table Template

Corrido Compare and Contrast Table

	El Corrido De Gregorio Cortez	Student’s Choice
Initial Address to Audience
Location, time, name of main character
Importance of Main Character
Message
Main Character’s farewell
Composer’s farewell
Fate (anticipation, omen, chance)
Pursuit (plans, coercion, chase, escape)
Challenge (ridicule, offense, defiance, provocation)
Confrontation (capture, imprisonment, sentence, execution, death)
Defeat (capture, imprisonment, sentence, execution, death)
Judgment (reflection, deduction, advice, experience, lamentation)
Farewell (memory, nostalgia, reputation)

Week 15

Week 15 Class Work and Homework

Day	Class Work	Homework
Monday Print this out and bring to beginning of class on Monday Morning for 100 Extra Credit points. (Due when bell rings. Make sure your name is on it, as it will be returned to you before end of period).  If you complete all the week’s assignments you will get 400 bonus points. Ideas to explore: What are the influences on a poet? What view of the world do we see through the poet’s eyes? How does the poet use figurative language such as metaphor, personification, and hyperbole? What interpretations are there of the poem?	Stephen Crane Objective: Analyze poems about perspectives, choices in life, and perceptions. To explore uses of irony To review Prepositions Do Pp. 376 1-6	Study Vocabulary for quiz on Wednesday Superlative Pursue Horizon Accost Futile Do Literary Focus PP 376 : Irony Discuss the Irony in The Wayfarer? What do you expect of the Wayfarer? Why? What is ironic about his behavior? What other poem by Crane contains situational irony?
Tuesday Objectives/Goals What are the influences on a poet? What view of the world do we see through the poet’s eyes? How does the poet use figurative language such as metaphor, personification, and hyperbole? What interpretations are there of the poem? What ideas or emotions might poets personify?	Vocabulary Exam Read Historical Overview PP. 386-387 Take Cornell Notes Read Mark twain  The celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County Objectives to understand that: The frontier was a big country which spawned tall tales, exaggeration, and humorists such as Mark Twain Tales, ballads, poems, and speeches relate the difficulties and heartache of people experiencing great change. Pioneers were caught in a schism of the urban world that they cherished and their frontier struggle for survival.   To find examples of Exaggeration To observe characteristics of frontier mining life To identify use of dialect To trace development of a story line To evaluate use of dialog	Read pp. The celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County  pp 390-395 Listen to audio at http://librivox.org/the-jumping-frog-by-mark-twain/ Answer questions 1-6 pp. 395 Study vocabulary for quiz Wednesday: Garrulous Append Dilapidated Afford Recommence
Wednesday What is a frontier? What challenges and changes might people encounter on a frontier? Was the American West a frontier for Everyone? What are today’s frontiers?	Read  pp. 397-399 El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez Complete handouts	Read Pp. 400-404 The Gold Mountain Poems  by Anonymous and My Heart Feels Like Bursting by Satanta Answer Questions 1-6 Study Vocabulary  for quiz Barren Defilement Humiliate Implicate Chaotic
Thursday Vocabulary	Complete Literary Focus on Tone pp. 404  in Groups Objective: Corridos reflect the evolving perspectives and concerns of urban and rural working-class peoples from the United States and Mexico. Students develop their understanding of various themes, regions, and perspectives of North American history.	Compare and Contrast Essay Write Outline Compare and Contrast the elements of a modern corrido of your choice with El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez Resource: Corridos sin Fronteras http://www.corridos.org/
Friday Poignant Effaced Prismatic Smartly Presage Gyration Interminable Ineffable Malign Martinet	Essay Writing  Preparation Practice for Final Exam Complete Corridos Compare and Contrast Table Compare and Contrast the elements of a Modern Corrido of your choice with El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez. You must print out a copy of your modern corrido and attach to your assignment.	Write a Corrido in preparation for Essay Exam Rubric for how projects will be graded is below. Your Corrido must include the following: Corridos are distinguished by a narrative structure1, that includes—   Singer’s initial address to the audience  Location, time, name of main character  Importance of main character  Message  Main character’s farewell  Composer’s farewell Most corridos share the following thematic and structural elements. The subject matter of corridos includes, but is not limited to: gun fights, social justice issues, betrayed romance, wars, and horse races. A main character is usually featured who may be heroic, tragic, villainous, or conflicted. The narrative discourse features shaping corridos are as follows:  Fate (anticipation, omen, chance)  Pursuit (plans, coercion, chase, escape) v Challenge (ridicule, offense, defiance, provocation) Confrontation (duel, battle, attack) Defeat (capture, imprisonment, sentence, execution, death) Judgment (reflection, deduction, advice, experience, lamentation)  Farewell (memory, nostalgia, reputation) While each of these themes and features may not be found in every corrido, understanding the structure and themes that tend to distinguish corridos will help you come to understand the form and analyze its lyrics on a deeper level.