The benefits of small colleges stand out in every important aspect of college life. Consider the following three categories for assessing a college, focusing on size.
Available majors: You, the student, need to make sure that your major is offered in the college of your choice. More importantly, the quality of the department you wish to study is an important concern. It is true that small colleges will not necessarily offer as many majors as larger ones, but it may possible to specialize and focus on the major of your choice to a greater extent in a small college if it is offered. It is worthwhile to look for a small and specialized school concentrating on the subject of your choice, for in the end you can either be the master of one topic, or a mediocre amateur of very many.
Location: Cities have a lot of appeal to prospective college students. The busy clockwork routine of a large city and a large college is an attractive prospect. If the city draws you in, a small college in a city is a wiser choice than a large school in a city. This is because a small college will focus more efforts on providing you with activities than a larger college. In more rural and suburban settings, the difference between large and small ones is even more pronounced when it comes to social activities, as there is no longer that lively city to fall back on. Smaller colleges will be more sensitive to the desires of its students regarding social activities, and you will have a greater influence on deciding what it is you want the college to organize for you. After all, being one in a crowd of 1000 is much more conducive to getting your voice heard than being one in 10,000.
Social Life: A small college means less students, which means that you have a better chance of getting to know more of your classmates on a more personal level. The small college will start to develop that comfortable feeling of a well-known residence – the aura of familiar faces and welcome. A larger college may never be owned by the student in this manner, simply because of its sheer immensity.
The decision boils down to the amount of control you are desirous of exerting over your four years of college – control over your surroundings, learning, and actions. Smaller colleges let you take your life into your own hands to a slightly greater degree than larger colleges; instead of going with the overwhelming flow present in a large college, you have more potential to shape the course of your years in a small college, making it an experience truly and uniquely yours.
June is a borderline month. Although it signifies the end of spring, it also symbolizes the coming of summer. June is also a student’s favorite month, since the coming of this month means that school will soon end. For teachers, however, June can be a time for reflections and remembrances about the year past.
To celebrate the month of June, you can create a bulletin board that showcases your school year’s memorable moments and the people who shared them. To create this bulletin board, you will need to pick a theme for the board. For this particular project, you will make a board themed with “summer beach fun.” Using large sheets of colored paper, you will create a sandy beach and water, as well as a large Sun and a beach umbrella. Then, visit this website and cut out paper people. Let your students make paper versions of themselves and have them put their paper people onto the bulletin board.
This project is necessarily called Transitions because it involves teaching the transition from spring to summer. Using the bulletin board, you will teach your students how the world changes when the season changes. Before you begin, start brainstorming with your students. Ask: “What events signal the change from spring to summer?” and “How do we know when it’s spring and when it’s summer?”
Write down the answers (and no doubt, you will find many of them). Next, draw two trees onto a large sheet of brown paper. Cut the trees and use thumbtacks to attach them to the bulletin board. The tree on your left will be the “spring tree,” while the tree on your right will be the “summer tree.” Then, draw an arrow on another sheet of paper and cut it out. Then, attach it between the two trees using thumbtacks. The arrow should point to the summer tree. You will use each answer that you received on the bulletin board. For example, if a student answers, “The days become longer,” you will write this answer on a leaf and attach that leaf to the summer tree. If you get the answer, “Spring is about rebirth,” this will be attached to the spring tree. When you’re done, your trees will be full of life.
As you can see, June is a wonderful month that allows you to celebrate the “magic of the season.” Although June may end the school year, it necessarily ushers forward the outlook of a fun and seemingly endless summer.