Hello everyone:
By now, you are probably in the midst of final week. You may be exhausted. Worn out. Here’s a You Tube recording I heard to today that I hope you will enjoy.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
College Life
Posts about college life, students, professors, and grades.
Congratulations to the graduates
Hello everyone:
So here you are at the end of the semester. You are getting ready to walk across the stage to get your diploma. Well done!
Oh, the rolled paper you receive on stage probably won’t be your diploma. When we graduated, my son and I got a poster of the school when we shook hands with the dean. Another time, I got a rolled up Word document that said they would send me my diploma when they were sure my fees had been paid in full.
Don’t sweat it- that’s how things work. Do keep on top of things and call or email the school if you don’t get your diploma in the time they say they’ll get it to you. One of my schools didn’t send my final paperwork through until I had called them three times. A job was hinging on my receiving a final transcript that showed the degree had been conferred, but one of the ladies in the office for my school “just hadn’t gotten around to sending the paperwork over to the registrar.” Then she tried to blame the registrar after the first two times I called. I finally called the registrar and she got it straightened out.
I do have a question for you: Who are you now? For many, many years (probably since you were 4 or 5 years old), you have been a student. Now you aren’t. One of the hardest things I found was to redefine who I was. Since it took me a few months to get a job, that resulted in a lot of soul searching.
This might be difficult for you, and you may go through some depression until you get that first job, since you are no longer in the “student” category, but watch out for the tendency to stay in school after school so that you never have to redefine who you are. It’s an exciting time of life, so get your Big Boy or Big Girl pants on and go for it!
Congratulations on a job well done!
Dr. Sheri
Don’t poop out at the end of the semester
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
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
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
Profound impact of a movie
Hello everyone:
I don’t usually talk about movies in this space, but I wanted to share a recent blog posting of mine about the Ted Kennedy movie. I would love to hear what you think:
Studying for undergraduate exams
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
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
Keeping the professor informed
Hello everyone:
I have three students who were trapped on their street by snow recently. They let me know, so guess how many points they lost for not being in class? None.
I have a student with a deadline this weekend whose husband was taken seriously ill this week. She emailed me this afternoon, to let me know she was struggling with getting her homework done in the face of her hubby’s hospitalization. Guess what she got? An extension of the deadline.
I have another student with the “excuse of the week..” In an eight week course, she had reasons every single week for why she was late on posting her assignments. Guess what she got? No extensions after the first two weeks of excusitis and no letter of recommendation saying what a wonderful student she was, because she wasn’t.
When H1N1 was a big problem, I had one student who got it 5 times…or so she said. She actually never got it at all but her symptoms always occurred when we had a major assignment due. Guess what she got? A poor final grade.
Problems arise. Life happens. Make a Plan B so that, if Plan A fails, you have something to fall back on. Do keep your professor informed but don’t take advantage of him or her. It’s like losing your electricity. We lose ours every once in a while, so I have a Plan B, Plan C, and a Plan D, if my normal Plan A isn’t working. Food for thought.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Want some fun? Read my Death by Porta Potty blog posting
Hello everyone:
For the past two and a half years, I have been writing a variety of posts. The most popular one by far has been my Death by Porta Potty blog posting. I hope you will take a few minutes to pull it up. It is a true story, to a certain extent.
Best,
Dr. Sheri