Do you want me to fail?

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s college-related post is based on what a student asked me recently, “Do you want me to fail? ” My short answer is “no.”

The person in question is one of my online-only students; I will never met him. Still, it is not my wish to fail the individual. It is my goal to teach him how to write.

He wrote a paper recently that received a 49 out of 100 points, so it certainly seems as if I wish him ill, but let me explain how he went so far astray. First, he did not follow the directions, so his format was totally off base (he had been given an example paper to follow, but he chose to ignore it). Next, he took his research references (he used the absolute  minimum required) and dumped the information into his paper. This lead to almost page-long paragraphs, which are dreadful on the eyes. Next, he made no effort to analyze the information, which was required. The paper had no introduction and no conclusion. Finally, what was supposed to be a APA-formatted Reference page was just a bunch of website addresses, with no format at all.

Was I making him fail? No, he was doing pretty good at that all by himself.

Discussion board postings were another issue. The requirement was for two five-sentence paragraphs as a minimum for both initial threads and replies. I was lucky to get two to three sentences out of him, one of which was usually “good post.” Every one of his postings got feedback from me; none of them were changed, even though I gave him 24 hours per posting to fix them.

Do I sit up at night, working on ways to make him fail? Nope. I would love it if he passed with flying colors. The ball, however,  is in his court.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Free feedback on college assignments

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

If your college instructor offers you the opportunity to get free feedback before you have to turn in an assignment, take it! Every semester, I offer my students the chance to show me assignments one week before their due date and I will give them information on how to improve the document for a better grade.

Do you know how many take me up on that offer? Usually, I get 1 out of 5 students or fewer. Why do you think that happens? I am not asking for the entire assignment in perfect readiness for grading, just a rough draft. It’s nice to make sure that students are on the right track for a document, and this gives me the chance to assure them that they are or to wave them off if they aren’t.

Do you know what the average grade is that a student who asks for feedback usually gets on a document that I have previewed? It doesn’t happen 100% of the time, but the students normally end up with an A on the assignment. With the odds in your favor, why wouldn’t you use the chance to do better?

I am curious about your “take” on this idea of free feedback. Would you use it, if you were offered this chance? What would you have to do in order to be prepared enough to take advantage of this type of opportunity? I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Writing assignment gone bad

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

I recently received a 7-paragraph list of answers to questions that had been posted for a writing assignment. While the answers were rather nice, they did not follow the assignment’s instructions. Instead of writing a 17-page paper like one of the other classmates, this individual wrote a total of 2 pages. [Note: The other papers in the class were a minimum of 8 pages, with most of them 10-12 pages, so the other students clearly understood what they were to do.] Instead of having a full page of references, this person had no references at all. Instead of having an APA-formatted, well-written essay on the topic at hand, this person wrote an un-formatted, hastily-written discussion board posting.

When you have an assignment to do, do not wait until the last minute to throw something together. You will not do your best writing in this situation and you will not have time to email the professor (and get an answer back) if you do not understand the assignment. In this particular case, the student assumed that 7 paragraphs with no references would be sufficient to earn a good grade on an assignment that was worth 15% of the final grade. That was a poor assumption.

What kind of stories do you have about assignments that either you or someone you know did not follow? What words of advice would you give in this situation?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Learning to say “no”

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

One of the hardest things for a people-pleaser to do is to say “no” when someone makes a request. If you are serious about your future, sometimes you have to turn down a request to do something.

When starting college or a new job, this is something you need to be able to say pretty quickly, or you will miss deadlines. I used to be very active in my church, but taking on home schooling and a double major in college made it so I could no longer be at church every time the doors opened.  The amazing thing is that they replaced me pretty quickly. Ladies’ banquets still got planned and thrown, missionaries still got treated to a home cooked meal when they arrived, and children still got babysat in the nursery. And this happened all without my showing up to open up and set up and staying to lock up the church at the end of the event. What an eye-opener!

While I did enjoy continuing my involvement with the adult choir and Passion Plays, everything else could wait until I finished college. It took 14 years for me to complete my education, but the church is still running. The good thing about saying “no” is that you give someone else the opportunity to serve. You can still support the ministries through prayer; you can still support any causes you believe in through donations or encouragement. The bottom line is: You don’t have to do it all yourself! I have found that, if the cause is worthwhile, 100% of the time someone else steps up and does the job you felt you absolutely had to do.

What have you learned about saying “no?” How did you get over your feelings of being the only one who could do or run something? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Homeschooling tips

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

When I home schooled the younger of my two sons, there were several things that we did to make the day go more smoothly. Here are the issues that we faced and how we handled them;

Having a schedule was very important, so that he knew what we were going to do and when we were going to do it. For the first year, we kept to the same schedule that he had been on while in a private school. For example, we began with pledges and prayer and worked our way through the day, just like he had been accustomed to. There was one notable exception: he was working at three times the speed of the traditional classroom. As a result, he finished the school year one month early, having completed all of his books. We spent the rest of the year studying anything he was interested in, such as space flight and marine life.

Next, I found that visualization was important. As such, I began each school day by removing all of the books from the home school cabinet and then stacking them according to subject. As we  completed each subject, I put the books back in the cabinet (this included my teacher’s version of each book, so the stacks were quite high). When the table was empty, we were done for the day.

Third, we took a break each day about mid-morning. He could play outside while I walked around and enjoyed the day. We both “got the wiggles out” by doing this. A little fresh air really revitalized us. After the school day was over, we also walked three miles together for PE class.

Finally, we made a point of eating out for one lunch per week, so that we felt like there was something to look forward to (we were very involved in two home school groups where he visited with other kids once a week and he was active in our church youth group, but this was something that just the two of us did). While in the restaurant of his choice, we talked about what it cost to start a restaurant of that type. This continued the learning experience, while also stopping people for turning us in for truancy, since my son was obviously healthy but not in school.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Time Management

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog is about time management, at the request of one of my students. How do you keep on top of things when juggling work, school, and family? Here are some tips that I have used:

First, keep a month-at-a-glance calendar that shows all of the homework you have due for a specific class. If you have more than one class at a time, which is pretty common, color-code the assignments. I mark up my calendar as soon as the syllabus is available, so that an assignment does not show up unexpectedly. (Now that I am a teacher, I obviously get the syllabus first, but teaching for three colleges, I mark up each college’s work on my calendar accordingly. I know which students will be turning something in and when to expect it, so that I can track my own grading schedule).

Then you need to mark in work commitments, family commitments, and church activities. Take a careful look, so that you know well in advance when you will be having a particularly busy week. Work ahead as much as possible, if you know a busy week is coming. Is there some reading that you can do ahead of time? Does your professor release discussion boards a week ahead of the due date (one of my colleges requires that I do this, to make accommodations for our large groups of military students).

Finally, chart in some down-time. This may be difficult, but you do need to relax. Note: Do not try to guilt-trip your professor into letting you submit things late just because you are overwhelmed. It is not our fault that you work full time, are taking 7 classes for a double-major, and are expecting identical quadruplets the second week of class.

Hope this helps!

Dr. Sheri

Planning for Your Financial Future Starts Now

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

You may be a young person who is just starting out in life and planning for your financial future may seem like something to put off for a lot of years……don’t do it.

I recently spoke with a dear friend whose parents did not plan adequately for their retirement years. She and her husband are now responsible for helping them out. It has been a financial strain but, if they had put away some money as they worked, they would not be destitute now.

What plans have you made for your future? How will you avoid being a financial burden to your children in the coming years?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

What constitutes beauty?

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

What do you think makes someone beautiful? Is it the inner glow or a well-turned makeup and hair job? Do you think it is the combination of these internal and external things?

Recently, I attended a conference where a friend of mine was going to give a presentation. Someone else had the room right before she did, so we entered and sat in the back, waiting for her turn. As it happened, the previous speaker was a radical feminist who was sharing her view of the world.

When the workshop was over, my friend and I headed for the front of the room, to get things ready for her presentation. The feminist cornered me and said, “I just want you to know that you don’t need to dye your hair anymore. You can stop curling your hair and you should dump that silly flower. You can stop wearing makeup and you don’t need jewelry or fancy clothes anymore. Wear jeans and T-shirts and be comfortable.”

Before I could respond, she went on her way. Now folks, your author is someone whose theme song as a child was “I Enjoy Being a Girl.” If you have ever seen me, you know that I do not go out of the house without my hair done, my makeup on, and my “silly flower” firmly planted in my hair. I wear jewelry, though not to excess, and try to always look my best. Why? Because I feel better about myself when I do it.

What do you think about the feminist’s comments to me? How would you have responded? I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

P.S. Yes, I dye my hair. My former pastor always said, “If the barn needs painting, paint it.” I chose to use brown paint.

New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? I conducted a very informal survey today and here is what some of the folks told me:

A very hard-working (and very slender) friend said that she resolves each year to “see more movies, eat more chocolate, and have more fun.” Life is short!

An elderly gentleman at the mall said he resolves to “stay alive.” A noble thought, there!

His wife said she resolves to “be happy.” She always seemed happy to me, but perhaps not.

Their coffee-drinking companion said that he doesn’t have any resolutions but that the additional walkers at the mall and at his health club apparently did. He wonders how long their resolutions will last. Things will settle down, he said, and in a few weeks he will have better access the to machines at his club.

My banker said she resolves not to resolve anything. She doesn’t like the idea of being stuck with resolutions only once a year, as if you can’t start any new lifestyle change at any time other than January. She said that if you want to do something new, just do it. Sounds a bit like a Nike ad!

Whatever your resolution, or lack thereof, I hope that 2017 is a great year for you and yours.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Keeping family stories alive and well

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Let me tell you a story. A friend of mine had an uncle and aunt who owned a farm. They loved to make ice cream, so they opened a small store in front of their farm and sold their ice cream, which was made from the milk that their cows produced. Everyone loved the dessert, and business was great.

One day, the uncle learned that he could make a lot more money selling booze from the back of his store. He started his new economic endeavor, to the chagrin of his sister. One night, the store burned down. He could never prove who did it, but it certainly appeared that his sister had put him out of business.  To her dying day, she never confessed…….

Family stories are such fun. I hope you will take the time to chat with your older relatives and find out what interesting experiences they have had. You never know when you might find a bootlegger or two in your family tree!

Best,

Dr. Sheri