Hi everyone:

I love teamwork, don’t you? Well, perhaps not so much.

If you have ever had a …shall we call the person a “Non-productive Member,” then you are probably thinking I have rocks in my brain right about now.

Bad teams, good teams: Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and worn the hat.

Some of my students have a project due tomorrow. Some of the team members have not yet done their part for the assignment. What’s a good group to do?

First the don’t list: Don’t wait until the last minute to complete the project yourselves. Set the due date for members to have their parts ready to add into the team paper several days before the instructor wants the project. That way, you will know ahead of time if you have to “fire” the no-load and do that part of the paper yourselves.

Don’t be afraid to tell the instructor if someone is a goof-off. Do not wait until the last minute to tell her (or him). If you wait until the Lazy Loader has his or her name on the paper and you turn it in, then I have to give the person who did nothing a grade as if he or she did something. That’s not fair to you and it gives the person the idea (apparently correctly) that he or she can goof off and get an A.

Do not feel sorry for a sob story. Yes, things happen and they are sometimes pretty sorry-sounding. If I, as an instructor, have heard that the person has had a death in the family followed by a flooded basement followed by a spouse losing his or her job followed by a broken leg, root canal problems, and a herniated disk, then I will have pity and ask you to do the same. If someone has a hang nail, then the pity party is over.

Now the Do list: Do keep your instructor in the loop. I cannot help if I do not know what is going on. Allow me to qualify that statement: Do not email the professor, demanding the person be dumped off the team just because he or she has not answered the 27 emails you have sent him or her in the last fifteen minutes. Do not fire the person without a reasonable time for that person to become active.

What is a “reasonable time?” If your project has a due date in four weeks, then one and a half weeks in without any action from the Lazy Loader means that we might have a problem. Two weeks in, and you definitely have cause for concern. It’s time to email the professor. I will send an email and, if there is no reply, I will move the person to a team where he or she will have to complete the project alone.

Teamwork can be very rewarding, I have known teams that became the best of friends, purposely taking future classes together in the hopes that they could work together again. Teamwork can be a dream, with the right people. With the wrong folks co-joined at the hip, it can be a nightmare.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hello everyone:

A friend of mine was telling me this afternoon that he avoided going to the all-you-can-eat-in-one-plateful restaurant on campus because he didn’t want to participate in the Freshman 30. I replied, “I thought it was the Freshman Fifteen.” He said that, after a few months of eating at that place, he blew right through the 15 to 30 pounds. Thanks, my friend. I had just bought my dinner from that place. Poor timing on his part.

It was his habit to load up his plate as if it was his last meal. Had to get his money’s worth, you see. While it fed his body, it added greatly to his waistband. Inches, actually. Quite a few, apparently.

What are you to do? Eat sensibly, for one thing. Your parents bought a meal plan but it doesn’t mean that you have to load up your plate just because children are starving in….fill in the blank. (Yes, this is a test!)

Next, if you do have to eat at a restaurant like the afore-mentioned, fill up your plate with low-calorie salad fixings and then take a small portion of that wonderful beef stroganoff. (It was too heavily seasoned- I’ve been drinking water all evening.)

Do watch out for salads. It’s very easy to create a beautiful but heavily-calorie-laden meal, even at the salad bar. A few high-calorie options can make your salad into a 2,000 calorie meal faster than Richard Simmons can do jumping jacks. (This is a cultural reference- ask your grandmother about him.) Note: He is 71, so I don’t know how many jumping jacks Richard Simmons is still doing, but you never know.

Pick fruit. Our salad bar offers bananas, apples, and oranges. They are a better choice than the chocolate chips cookies, even though it might not seem like it. Chose them and avoid the excess pounds!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hi Everyone:

Congrats on being back in school. What in the world do you do now? Prepare, prepare, and do it. Here’s how:

When I was an undergrad (and even now that I teach), I would buy an academic month-at-a-glance calendar. I use different colored pens for each class and mark off all of the assignments (including reading assignments) that I had for each class. One English class might be blue ink; another class would be green; still another was red or purple. (Write the number of the class in the same color ink next to the assignments or you will get hopelessly lost. You will, however, have a very colorful book!)

When there was a major assignment, I would highlight it with a yellow marker, to make it stand out. In fourteen years as a college student, I only forgot one assignment. I had forgotten to look at my calendar and was going off of my memory. Oops!

Keep that calendar with you at all times. Is this old-fashioned? Yes. Does it ever crash? No. Does it require that you charge it at night? No. It simply sits there and works.

I hope this helps!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hi everyone:

I had the MOST fun this afternoon. My colleagues and I got to do a “meet and greet” for incoming freshmen.

Their wide-eyed looks, frozen silence, and unabashed youthfulness were charming. They sat silently during our informal presentation. Two of them were accompanied by parents. Here were about 20 young people, standing (or, in their case, sitting) on the brink of their adulthood.

It was so exciting to me, as a faculty member, to give them some college success tips and share what our school within the university was all about.

When we broke up into smaller groups, we had the chance to find out about their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations. What fun! I pray that these young people, like thousands of other students spread out across the campus, will find God’s will for their lives and do it. There is no greater joy than to find out what God wants you to do for Him and then work hard so that you can do it.

I remember my own calling to become a college professor. I was standing in Dr. Klumpps’ COM451 class, talking to a graduate student (I was a junior but it was a bridge class that also had graduate students). As I stood there, I turned and looked at the row of desks that had students waiting for the class to begin. I heard a voice saying, “This is is what I have for you, my daughter.” I knew the Lord was giving me the work He had for me to do.

Some people get a calling to go on the foreign mission field. I applaud their dedication and willingness to go to other lands and cultures. But my calling, no less important, is to minister to students. I praise the Lord for that opportunity and ministry.

So, welcome, freshmen. I wish you well.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hello everyone:

Believe it or not, you can tell a lot about a potential spouse or significant other by how he or she plays a game and how he or she behaves in college.

One of my previous blog postings talked about my beloved Mexican Train Dominoes and I got some excellent feedback on that subject (about the dominoes, not the choice of a spouse).

There’s an old saying that goes, “Win without boasting. Lose without excuse.” That’s a good strategy for college students, as well as picking a spouse.

How does someone behave when he or she gets a bad grade? Does the person verbally attack the professor or blame the instructions or the circumstances or the time of day or the weather?

If the person blames everyone but him or herself, then the person will eventually put responsibility for everything bad that happens on you. Keep this in mind as you make decisions about your future with the individual. Do you really want to accept that kind of burden?

So, enjoy playing games, but keep a close eye on behavior. It really does make a difference.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hello everyone:

Many of my students are taking the summer off…to work. That’s a good thing, refreshing their minds, getting some work experience or internships done. Perhaps you will do the same thing.

Or maybe you are the kind of person who is soldiering on, taking classes during the summertime in an effort to get ahead a bit. Both are good ideas.

Even if you are working or going to school this summer, it’s still a good idea to take a little time to rejuvenate before heading back to classes in the fall.

What is your idea of a great way to spend a few days? Are you a mountain or a beach kind of person?