Curriculum Practices:

Library Resources

The following items have been shared with you by GU/TRIO professionals who used them successfully in their programs. You are invited to do the same. Take five minutes to share a document that you use in your program. It could be an activity, form, or program handbook. If we all share a little, this will become a more powerful online program manual for the community. Send to edpractices@eoa.org and share the same on the national and program-specific listservs. The newest items are listed at the top.

<SSS Summer Bridge Goals, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (WI)

<SSS Student Learning Outcomes, St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley (MO) and Sample Map of Completed SLOs>

<UB Senior College Exploration Curriculum, Kent State University (OH)>

<ETS Career Planning 6th Grade, Alpena Community College (MI)>

<ETS Career Planning 7th Grade, Alpena Community College (MI)>

<ETS Career Planning 8th Grade, Alpena Community College (MI)>

Apple Teacher Online Resources

Free Downloadable eBooks

TRIO or GEAR-Specific Online Curriculum

  • Free STEM Curriculum. <Click to discover free STEM curriculum> Career in STEM website receives over 1 million visitors yearly through games, posters, and lessons for other teachers to use in their classrooms. We are honored to be the world’s leading provider of STEM career resources in over 13,900 classrooms across the USA and abroad.

  • Math Competition with Other TRIO Programs. Ana Calandrino, Director, Upward Bound, Wayne State University (MI). We plan to do a Summer Program Math competition with other TRIO Summer Programs across the United States. We will use a FREE website called Mangahigh, a free math <https://www.mangahigh.com/en-us/>. Would anyone be interested in partnering? Please get in touch with me via email at du2847@wayne.edu

  • Online Curriculum and Other Online Resources, Dr. Linda Rhone, Director, Student Support Services, Wichita State University (KS) <Click to download curriculum assignments and other resources>. The two-page handout provides several reflective writing activities, mental health tips, mindfulness, stress management, online course study strategies, and a reminder of institution-specific emergency resources for the current emergency. These are appropriate for adult first-generation, limited-income, and students of disability status that are served through the Student Support Services grant. The resources selected are designed to encourage reflection, and possible publication, promote health and protection and help online learners become more effective at learning online, which could be more permanent than we know now.

  • Summer Online Courses, Tracy Yaich, Director, Upward Bound Eastern Gateway Community College (OH).<https://www.k12courses.com/summerprogram/list/> These classes are free and offer .5 high school credits. I have decided to pay my summer drivers to deliver lunches to each student who signs up for Virtual Summer Academy. I am considering every student, regardless of signing up, but not sure about the costs yet. We would deliver two lunches on Monday and two lunches on Wednesday. Because we are a community college and do not have housing, our Summer Academy is set up differently. We transport the students 3-4 days per week depending on the additional activities (like college visits). So lunches for 4 days per week are sufficient. I am worried about technology in the home. I have asked my colleagues to help me purchase laptops. Not sure if that will happen. My assistant director already has a couple of virtual college visits set up for Juniors and Sophomores. Seniors, I already have set up Summer Bridge online college courses. We will deliver the Senior Gifts in early May: college prep items, planners, notebooks, and book bags.

  • Week of Curriculum Using Facebook Live Discussions for High School students, Corinne Nilsen, Executive Director, Kansas Kids @ GEAR UP, Wichita State University (KS). Be prepared for some good laughs and a few surprises

    • Monday after the Weekend Video Dreams: Using the 3 questions below, have students record a short video on one or all: What are five things you want us to know about you? What would be your favorite class if you could make up your own? What would be the best job ever and why?

    • The Tuesday TED Talk: Have students create TED Talks of their own, sharing a story, a piece of wisdom, or an idea from their own lives.

    • Wednesday Poet: Most teenagers have written a rhyme or a poem at some point. Explore different forms, from haiku to sonnet to free expression, then create a montage of students expressing themselves.

    • Thursdays To Be Continued… Ask one student to begin a story, and after a few sentences, pass the story to the next person until everyone has had a chance to add to the story. Ask the last person to bring the story back to the beginning or to a conclusion. Sometimes the moderator may need to move the story back on track for the next storyteller.

    • Friday’s Graduation Speech: Everyone wonders what they would talk about if asked to give a graduation speech. What would you say if you were selected to come on stage and talk to your graduating class? This is your chance to inspire others. What would you say?

  • Preparing Students for Online Learning through Motivational Group Meetings and More. Derrick Veasey, Director, Upward Bound Math-Science, Wichita State University (KS). As Wichita State University, UBMS, anxiously prepares to transition our summer program to an online format, we strive to continue providing our students with exceptional services. As having online classes can be stressful for students our program will begin each day with a motivational group meeting. We are also allowing a creative outlet to express their anxieties as they complete creative writing journal entries. With each student’s personal interest in mind, the program provides a 30-minute lecture and 60-minute hands-on interactive assignments in Engineering 1 &2, Statistics, Sign Language, Game Design, Forensic Science, and BioMed classes. To ease their emotional, physical, and spiritual minds, students will select from various cultural classes to wind down the day. In the true form of the essence of what TRIO does to enable our students to become academic scholars, tutoring is offered to students who have an academic need in core subject areas of below 90. Our staff is equipped with training on conducting a virtual summer with do's and dont's on Zoom etiquette and classroom management. TRIO is paving the way in bringing students to remote learning with a virtual summer.

  • High School Financial Literacy GEAR-UP Students. Wichita State University (KS) (approved Promising Practice October 31, 2014). The GEAR program created an online high school financial literacy program based on the National Standards for K-12 Personal Finance Education created by Jump$tart. The program's six parts teach students financial knowledge in financial responsibility, income and careers, planning and money, credit and debt, risk management and insurance, and saving and investing. The goal is to ensure seniors graduate with basic knowledge of finance. The program begins with an introduction to financial literacy, including a pre-test to assess the student's financial literacy knowledge. <Click on this link to download the above education practice.>

  • Senior College Experience for UB Students. Kent State University (OH)  (approved Promising Practice 11/1/16)  While the following was originally designed as an in-person activity, much of it involved students working independently on a computer. The Kent State University Upward Bound Classic Academy supports high school seniors’ success and transition into postsecondary education through a senior curriculum. Designated activities occur during the residential Summer Institute between a student’s junior and senior year. The curriculum is designed so students complete most activities online if unable to attend the Summer Institute. This creates opportunities for students to be better prepared and equipped to handle some of the pressures of life as high school seniors. This document focuses on college exploration. Many activities are interwoven to build upon each other. They lead students to reflect on their personal preferences, detailed research on institutions and match their preferences with college choice selection. Goals of the senior college exploration activities: (1) create a personalized action plan for senior year; (2) gain knowledge of the colleges the student will pursue; and (3) self-reflect on their interests,  preferences and qualifications to ensure their college choices are the right fit and meet their needs academically and personally. <Click on this web link to download the education practice.>

Audio and Video Curriculum

  • <AmericanRhetoric> This is a database of and index to 5000+ full text, audio, and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two. Some of the speeches have transcripts too.

  • <Internet Archive> Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

  • iTunes Audio or Video Podcasts More than 1.6 million podcasts on every conceivable topic. Use the search engine for the desired content. Individual episodes can be downloaded by dragging from your library to the screen

  • <MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching)> MERLOT is a curated collection of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services contributed to and used by an international education community. Affiliated with the California State University System.

  • <National Repository of Online Courses (NROC)> NROC collaborates with secondary, postsecondary, and adult educators to deliver courses and tools that address the challenges students face today. More than 6,000 media objects you can use. Create your own viewing channel for students with selected items

  • <National U.S. Constitution Center> The Center is the first and only institution in America established by Congress to “disseminate information about the US Constitution on a non-partisan basis in order to increase the awareness and understanding of the Constitution.

  • <Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons> OER Commons is a dynamic digital library and network. Explore open education resources and join our network of educators dedicated to curriculum improvement.

  • <Smithsonian Online> Select Art & Design, History & Culture, or Science & Nature to discover featured collections, stories, videos, and more from around the Smithsonian. OR Search for your specific topic of interest in the search bar.

  • <U.S. National Archives> The nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created during business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that we keep them forever.

  • <U.S. Library of Congress> The Library of Congress is the world's largest online library. The online resources include print, audio, video, and other media. Check copyright permissions for use beyond the classroom.

  • <U.S. Supreme Court Center> The website is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone. It is a complete and authoritative source for all of the Court’s audio recordings.

  • <Educational Portal> 5.300 online video lessons Subjects include science, math, history, English, and business. Free use by educators and students. The free account permits tracking of courses completed. Rigorous peer-reviewed.

  • <NROC: National Repository of Online Courses> NROC provides free access to online courses, learning modules, and activities you can integrate into your face-to-face or online courses.

  • <NROC Individual Weblinks for Learning Objects> A companion to the above NROC resource, this spreadsheet provides individual web links for each of the 5,000 learning objects.

Images and Video

Text Documents and More

  • <ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)> ERIC is an online library of educational research and information, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. It is now peer-reviewed and contains curriculum as well as research studies.

  • <Library of Congress> The Library of Congress ("LOC") is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. Digital collections include print documents and images.

  • <Google Scholar Using Advanced Search> Search across disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other websites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work.

  • <Wikipedia> Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia created and edited by volunteers worldwide and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. Contrary to popular belief that evil lurks within it, this is a great first place to search and then use the references.

  • <Smithsonian Institution> Discover over a million resources, create personal collections and educational experiences, and share your work.

  • <National U.S. Constitution Center> The National Constitution Center inspires active citizenship as the only place where people across America and worldwide can come together to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution.