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Lesson 2

We will review the survey from the previous lesson, and in groups, we will read sections of “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings” by Anthony P. Carnevale, Stephen J. Rose, and Ban Cheah and summarize our findings via a jigsaw activity.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension?

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas in “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings”?
  • Can I work productively in various roles with other participants?

  • Can I pay attention to and acknowledge others while thoughtfully considering their ideas?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “Professional Degree vs. Academic Degree: What’s the Difference?,” Northeastern University Graduate Programs, Northeastern University, Jan 28, 2019
  • Unit Reader
    • “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings,” Anthony P. Carnevale, Stephen J. Rose, and Ban Cheah, Georgetown University, 2011

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will discuss our Lesson 1 Closeout Survey with a peer.

Review your completed Lesson 1 Closeout Survey.

With a partner, discuss your closeout survey. Specifically focus on Questions 4 and 5 from the survey in your discussion.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will preview terminology and concepts of “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings.”

For this activity, you will use a Vocabulary Journal, which you will maintain for the entire unit.

Access the Vocabulary List. Write down the following terms in your Vocabulary Journal:

  • associate’s degree

  • bachelor’s degree

  • master’s degree

  • doctoral degree

  • professional degree

Working with a partner, use an online reference material to determine the meaning of each term.

These are key terms in the text “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings.”

Activity 3: Read

We will read and analyze “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings” in jigsaw groups.

Step 1

In this jigsaw, you will first work with your expert group (e.g., Expert Group A, Expert Group B, Expert Group C, Expert Group D, or Expert Group E). As you read and analyze your assigned section of the text, you become an expert in that section.

In the next lesson, you will form home groups made up of experts from each expert group. In your home group, you will share your analysis of the assigned section from your expert group in a jigsaw discussion.

Get into your expert groups as assigned by your teacher.

Step 2

Each expert group will read the introduction of “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings.” As you read, make note of the following terms and add them to your Vocabulary Journal.

  • conferring

  • overlap

  • postsecondary education

If you are unsure of the above words, you might use a Vocabulary in Context Tool for words you can decipher from the text; for others, you might use morphology to decipher the meaning or a reference resource to check if your meaning is accurate.

Working with your expert group, identify the vocabulary strategy (e.g., context, morphology, reference resource) you used to determine each term’s meaning.

When you complete the Section 1 Diagnostic, you will identify key terms you have studied to use in your response.

Step 3

Review the following section titles of “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings.”

  • Part 1: Lifetime Earnings by Educational Attainment

  • Part 2: Lifetime Earnings by Educational Attainment and Age

  • Part 3: Variations in Earnings by Education and Occupation: Earnings Overlap

  • Part 4: Lifetime Earnings by Educational Attainment, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity

  • Part 5: Top Ten Occupations by Educational Attainment

Read the section of the text your expert group has been assigned and consider the following question as you read:

  1. What does the data in your text section communicate about the relationship between lifetime earnings, educational attainment, and choice of occupation?

As you read and analyze together, make sure to make meaningful annotations and margin notes. Refer to the Annotating and Note-Taking Reference Guide for further assistance.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss – Write

We will work with our expert groups to summarize our assigned section of “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings.”

Step 1

You will use the Summarizing Text Tool as you work with your expert groups to summarize the section of the text assigned to your group. You will share this summary with other groups during the following lesson.

The Summarizing Text Tool guides a reading and thinking process to help you make an effective summary of a text you are reading. Summaries should be short, concise, and include just enough information to help you remember or explain the main points of a text when you come back to it later. This tool allows you to list key details you might want to include in a summary, then select from your list as you “write a summary of the text drawing on the key details you identified.”

Using the Summarizing Text Tool will support your ability to share your expertise with your home group by reinforcing your comprehension and understanding of the text.

Step 2

For your section of the text, complete the tool with your group.

  1. The heading of the tool provides a space to write down the theme or central idea of the section of the text. You might want to fill this in last, or you might need to change it once you have completed more of the tool, and there is a space to write a revised theme or central idea at the bottom of the page.

  2. Use the central rows of the tool to note key details that stand out to you and that you might (or might not) eventually mention in your summary. There are spaces to write down key details or ideas as you come across them, and also spaces to write down answers to questions about who is involved, what events occur, or what ideas are discussed—often important things to include in a summary. Keep in mind that you might not fill in all of the spaces. You might consider other questions such as when, why, and how as well.

  3. Use the final section, Summarize the Text, to combine and synthesize the most important details you have gathered above into a sentence or two that condenses or outlines what the text is about.

  4. Once you have completed this step, look back at the original theme or central idea you wrote at the top of the page, and use the Central Idea or Theme box to make any changes based on how your thinking has developed through the process of summarizing the text.

Step 3

You are now an expert on the sectionassigned to your group. In the next lesson, you will form home groups made up of experts from each expert group, where you will share what you learned in your expert group.