Author: Sheri Dean Parmelee

Don’t poop out at the end of the semester

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

It seems like you have been climbing that mountain of homework forever. You only have one week of classes left and you have a decision to make: Are you gong to complete the term from a position of strength or are you going to poop out at the end of the course?

It is the end of the term for one of the colleges where I teach. Students had a final five-minute speech to give. And three of them didn’t show up at all while one showed up but said he was going to “go up and talk out the clock.”

Before he even stood up, I knew he hadn’t prepared anything, hadn’t done a lick of research, and hadn’t practiced what he was going to say. There was no outline of his speech available because he hadn’t made one. There was no Works Cited page because he hadn’t done any research.

He walked to the front of the class after saying to me that he was going to talk for five minutes because he figured that I would give him a grade that was better than zero if he did. He just hadn’t felt like writing the speech, so he didn’t.

He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, instead of the required dressing up, complete with a tie. He did not smile even once during his chat, and when he saw that five minutes had elapsed, he said, “I guess you can see that I didn’t prepare anything, so I’m going to sit down.” And he did.

The class was shocked because, to that point, I was the only one who knew he hadn’t prepared. The class looked hurt because of the disrespect he showed them by not being prepared. What the class didn’t realize was that, while they all did really well on their speeches, Mr. I don’t Care didn’t.

Finish your courses, folks. You’ve worked long and hard to get the grade you have earned. Don’t let down your guard at the last minute. You can do this!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Two students who made bad decisions good

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

A few years back, I had two male students who made some bad decisions. The first was to literally throw away a college education that someone else was paying for.  They showed up late for class or not at all, knowing that they would be penalized for their attendance behaviors. No sweat. They didn’t care.

They didn’t turn in homework. Was the instructor really serious that they had to turn things in? What does “on time” mean? That’s a flexible concept right? Nope.

They didn’t take notes. Wasn’t the professor required to give them her Power Point notes? Nope.

They didn’t study for tests. They felt sure that they could remember everything the professor had said. No sweat. No luck at that, either.

They believed that the  assigned speeches could be given without research and without practice (hey, they had the gift of gab and figured they could “wing it” and the instructor would never notice. She noticed, big time).

They completed the semester with a bit of a problem: they both flunked. That was fine, though, because they hadn’t really wanted to go to college anyway. They were both going to get jobs and bring in tons of money. Who needs college when you have their personalities?

Well, I saw them about three years later. They were back in my class. I recognized them as I called attendance. Both of them came up to me after class and apologized for their previous behavior. They had been experiencing a major reality check.

You see, they were two African American teens who had barely made it out of high school. Those killer jobs they were going to get never materialized. Instead, they both made change at a gas station, where they had plenty of time to discuss how they had messed up this college thing.

Three years later, they were back in college, but this time their parents were making them pay for it themselves. The interesting thing was that they had realized just how impossible it was to make it in the world without that sheepskin. This time, they were serious.

They attended every class, on time or early. They made excellent speeches  and got straight A’s on exams. They went from the lowest grades in the class to becoming the best students I had that term. Sad thing, it took them three years to figure this college thing out.

Don’t make the same mistakes they did. Take college seriously from Day One and you will be on your way to that dream job. Otherwise, you too could be making change in a gas station.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Preparing to give a speech

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Since it’s the time of the semester when you may be required to give a speech, here are some tips for getting the job done right:

Read the instructions carefully. If the instructor doesn’t want you to talk about a given subject, don’t try to talk him or her into it. That will be one strike against you, if you do succeed in picking an irritating topic, so why chance it? (Case in point: do not talk about the legalization of marijuana in my classes. I have heard 40 speeches on that topic and it bores the daylights out of me. For the record, only one of those speeches were on NOT legalizing it.)

Next, begin early. (Oops, this may be too late for you!) If you get your speech ready a week in advance, you can practice it over and over until it is absolutely outstanding.  If you wait until midnight the  night before to pick a topic, start research, and write the speech, I will notice. You may think your gift of gab will cover your lack of preparation. You are wrong.

Next, do your research. A student of mine in a writing class stared at a blank screen for 45 minutes (I was working my way around the class and had started on the opposite side of the room, but I noticed her lack of work while I was with the other students). When I got to her, she said, “I don’t know what to write.” I asked her to show me her research and she said, “What research?”  Another “oops” moment.

Read your research. What does it say? Take notes and use the articles you found to bolster the main points you want to make. Be sure and note what information came from which sources, so that you can orally cite them in your speech. Failure to cite is plagiarism.

Write your speech. Don’t write it word-for-word, but what do you plan on saying, generally? Get your visual aids and/or Power Point done and practice giving the speech while using them.

Practice some more. And some more…and more. You get the idea. Keep practicing, “not until you get it right, but until you can’t get it wrong” (like a poster said that I saw in a band room).

Good luck and best wishes on your successful speech. Let me know how it went.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Finishing the course stupidly

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

There’s a good way to finish the term …and a really stupid one.

Let’s say you are in an 8-week or 16-week course. You have turned in all of your assignments, for better or for worse. You know that your grade hinges on that very last assignment. So what do you do?

Instead of giving it your all, being all-in on this class, or just doing your level best to complete the assignment, you decide to purchase your final document.  Poor choice, bad idea, what are you, stupid or something?

You have worked so hard all semester long and now you are going to blow it in one fell swoop???? You are going to trash your academic reputation? You are willing to have “plagiarism” follow you around for the rest of your academic career? Come on, people. Don’t do it.

In the first place, your instructor was not born yesterday. Yes, we really do notice if your writing suddenly improves by a 200% leap. If a student has trouble writing simple sentences all semester long, do you really think we are going to believe that you wrote : “I have included an in-depth contract with information attached that explicates all relevant esoteric sources?” (Please note that I have re-worded this sentence only slightly, so that the student can’t get me for plagiarism, but the three biggest words really were used in the paper.)

In the second place, most online documents do not fit into the required components for a given assignment. This means that you will look foolish at trying to shoehorn a document you have “borrowed without attribution” into the requirements of an assignment.

Finally, we are wiling to work with you to make sure that you have the right document written. I give students two rough drafts on the final big-deal assignment, just to make sure they get it right. Other than writing it for you, what more could we do?

Here’s the bottom line: be honest in your dealings or you will have a lot of explaining to do about the “failure due to plagiarism” note on your transcript. You probably won’t be able to explain your way out of that one, so the bottom line is: DON’T CHEAT!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Getting rid of needless words

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Sometimes students write essays that contain a lot more words than they need. Some examples include the following:

I thought that I would write my essay for COM1010 about the following really interesting topic: the communication  aspects seen and heard and visualized in House, M.D.  The aspects of communication that I will discuss in this essay for COM1010 will cover include indirect communication, nonverbal communication, and verbal communication.

Please, I’m bored already. It’s your essay and you are writing it. Therefore, it goes without saying that you have thought about writing it before you actually did. Get to the point. One thing: if your professor likes five-sentence paragraphs, you need to make sure that you have written a five-sentence introductory paragraph without boring anyone to death.

I would re-write this paragraph as follows:

House, M.D. contains many aspects of communication that we have covered this semester in COM1010. This essay will discuss indirect, nonverbal, and verbal communication as seen in the episode Autopsy from season two. My focus will be on the first differential diagnosis scene between Doctors Cameron, Chase, Foreman, and House. I will argue that camera angles, lighting, and proximity all contribute to the audience’s understanding of this episode.  I will take each of these aspects in turn.

Now your essay is launched and I can’t wait to read it. You sound like a college student who knows what he or she is talking about, not someone straight out of high school who has too much blank paper and not enough legitimate things to say.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Thou shalt not write sentence fragments

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

One of the greatest offenses in the world of writing is to have a sentence that doesn’t quite make it. Something is missing, like the rest of your thought.

Your sentence gets going really well and then…it suddenly isn’t  there.  Perhaps you got sidetracked or put a period where a comma belonged. Your computer automatically thought you were starting a new sentence, so the first word that should have followed the comma is now facing a period and is capitalized.  Don’t blame your computer. Instead, blame yourself for not proofreading the document.

If you are an undergraduate, take heart. You have company. They are called graduate students. Yes, even in graduate school, fragments can be a part of an essay. They shouldn’t be, mind you, but they are.

If this is your problem, the thing to do is to proofread everything. Read it out loud, if you please.  Have a friend look over your writing, if you are so sick and tired of that paper than you simply can’t look at it again.

Fragments are not good things, unless you are doing creative writing.  Even then, a few fragments go a long way.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Barnabas or Barnabarbie

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Have you ever known a guy or gal who was such an encouragement to your heart that you just wanted to give him or her a great big hug?

I have been blessed to have people like that in my life.  I call them “Barnabas” and “Barnabarbie” in honor of Barnabas in the Bible. The name “Barnabas” means “son of encouragement.” Some encourages are not male, hence the “Barnabarbie.”

These folks always lift you up. Sometimes they tell you things you need to hear, even when you don’t want to hear them, but they do it nicely. They don’t put you down. They always have time for you. They support your biggest dreams, even when the odds are against your dreams ever panning out. They always tell you that you can do it, that you can achieve whatever you are aiming for.  They pray for you.  They are always on your side.

Thank you to all of the Barnabarbies in my life. I love and appreciate you more than words can say.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Studying for undergraduate exams

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I was talking this week with a student who told me she did not know how to prepare for an exam. She’s a freshman who perhaps did not need to study in high school but she knows she needs to now. Wise woman!

So how do you go about preparing for a test? First, take notes on lectures. When you get home in the evening, review those notes while they are still fresh in your mind and fill in the blanks of anything you missed, using your textbook. If you still have some blanks, as the professor at the next class.

Review all the notes for the week on a weekly basis. Make up note cards for any definitions you need to learn. Hand-write all notes and note cards because studies have shown that students who hand write things remember them better than those folks who take notes on a computer. That’s why I do not allow computers for note-taking in any of my classes.

As you get closer to the exam, review all of the notes you have taken since the last exam on an every-day-or-so basis. Even if you have not memorized the answers to potential questions, you should be able to recognize the correct answer when you see the exam.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Working with a team, even if the team doesn’t work

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Many professors stress group work. Many students groan. Why would they want to work with total strangers and take a chance on their teammates having a negative impact on their own grade?

Well, you probably don’t want to do team work.  Sadly,   you probably don’t have a choice in the matter. Welcome to the real world. When you get out in the world of business, you will find group work everywhere.

Sometimes it is called “team building” or “bonding,” but what it means is putting your own work on the line as you let others have a say in how your project goes.

Let’s grin and bear it and make it work for you. First, find out if you can pick your own teams (you can, in most of my classes). If this is allowed, look for students who you know get high grades and who have a work ethic like your own.

What that means is, if your idea of turning in something “on time” is two days early, do NOT team up with someone who says it’s “on time” if it’s due at 11:59 and you turn it in at 11:58. Team up with that person and you will drive one another nuts.

Next, do you have a schedule for when things have to be done?  Make one up, working backwards to figure out when each step of the project must be complete. Stick to your plan, as much as possible, and build in time to let a project “sit” for a few days before you turn it in.

That way, if you need to make some major overhauls at the end, you will have time to do so.  So-called “all nighters” are not fun and they do not produce the best work, no matter what Last-Minute Lewy says.

Finally, you may have to fire a teammate, if he or she is not producing. This is very hard to do, emotionally, but look at the project like a business. If you don’t show up for work, you get fired. Ask for permission to drop the person from your team, if necessary.

Teamwork can actually be wonderful. I joined a study group team five years ago as we prepared for our Ph.D. qualifying exams. We passed that hurdle and then continued to meet to write our dissertations. We completed those individual tasks while continuing to encourage one another.  We have all now graduated but we continue to meet in order to bounce ideas off one another. It’s an example of a great partnership, which can happen to you, if you pick your team wisely.

Best,

Dr. Sheri