Students

Gals who definitely have it all together

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog is about two gals who are in one of my classes. These ladies have truly got their college act together. Let me tell you what they do:

They figured out a few semesters that they were majoring in the same thing and would be taking the same classes, so they made the commitment to take the same classes at the same time and become study buddies. This has worked out very well, since they share a common work ethic. They study hard and hold one another accountable.

They show up for class early every day, so that they can organize their study plans, solidify their assignments, and quiz each other for upcoming tests.  The tests may be a couple of weeks away, but they prepare for them early. No late night cramming the night before the exam for them! They have also mapped out their future coursework and talked to the advisers about their next-step plans.

They challenge each other to get the top grade; in my class, their GPAs are .8 different. Needless to say, they are at the very top of the class.  They are already discussing the courses they will take for their master’s degrees, even though they are sophomores right now. They have gotten guidance about what classes they should take at our college and which are best reserved for the future.

They know where they are going, what it takes to get there, and the time frame they need to complete their goals. When success arrives, it will not be a surprise. They have planned and prepared for it all along.

How about you? What preparation have you begun for what lies ahead?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Success isn’t going to hit you over the head by surprise

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

It’s always a surprise to me when students think that success is going to hit them over the head as they just stand there. Nope, folks, success in college is no accident. You have to work at it.

How can you achieve your goals? By taking college seriously from the very first minute, you can increase the odds that you will do well. What does taking college seriously look like?

For starters, you get the book that is required and you read it, take notes on what you read, and study it. Attend the lectures and ask questions. Be engaged in what you are learning.

So, how do you read the book? Look at the Table of Contents and see what you will be reading about. Use a highlighter to bold certain parts of the text, but do not bold everything! I had a student once who highlighted the entire page…..so what good was that?

Keep in mind that you might be a person who is distracted by underlining and highlighters, so keep this in mind if you plan on reading the book more than once. Also keep this in mind when you go to purchase used textbooks. I used to sit on the floor next to the college bookstore’s used books and flip through them until I found a book with minimal underlining. Sometimes folks only underline or highlight the first few chapters, so you might find that the rest of the book is “clean” which is important to those folks who get distracted easily. Perhaps your instructor will emphasize different ideas from the ones that someone highlighted, so do not depend entirely on a former student’s notes in the book to help you this term.

You might find it more helpful to put notes in the margins, rather than underlining. Try underlining, highlighting, and margin notes until you find what works best for you personally.

After the lecture, try to take time that day and go over your notes, supplementing them from the textbook. Did your professor emphasize certain points more than others? It is important to him or her, so it automatically is important to you! Review throughout the semester, so that you don’t get stuck the night before an exam and have to cram. That’s no fun and it rarely works very well.

Are there any study habits you find helpful? Do you have any questions or topics you would like me to cover on the blog? I am as near as your computer and I am here to help you have success in college! It won’t hit you over the head by surprise, but is the result of hard work and dedication. You can do it!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

“I chose not to do this assignment” or how to fail in one easy lesson

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Picture this: A student walks up to me and says, “Dr. Parmelee, I chose not to do this assignment.” I replied, “What???” She repeated herself and walked away. A few weeks later, she failed my class. She was none too pleased when she got her final grade for the course and sent me an email that said, “How dare you flunk me?”  I replied, “Let’s go over the numbers.”

You see, ladies and gentlemen, college is a numbers game. You make the grades, the numbers are high, and you pass the course. You “chose not to do this assignment” and you fail.  For the sake of understanding, let’s say that she had a potential to earn 100 points in that class. Here are her numbers:

The assignment (a group presentation) she did not do was worth 20 points.

The Team Dynamics paper she could not do because she did not do the group assignment (she did not have a team because no one wanted someone who refused to do any work) was worth 10 points.

The Reflection paper on how she felt about working on a team (which she also could not do) was worth 10 points.

So, those totals are 40 points out of the 100 points she could earn for the entire semester, which left her with a 60. At that particular college, 60 points is a low D. If everything else had been perfect for the entire semester, she would have gotten a D. But it wasn’t. If she had lost only one point all semester, she would have gotten a 59 and that is an F.  But she lost a lot more than 1 point on her other assignments. As a result, she ended up with a middle-range F. That’s how the numbers worked.

What are your numbers saying about your work ethic?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Are you trying to fail me Part Two: Nope, you are doing fine on your own

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Remember the recent blog where a student asked me if I was trying to fail him? Well, I have had a couple of students who answered that question for themselves. Here’s how it happened:

At one of the colleges where I teach, we had a final report due this past weekend. The students were required to submit a rough draft so that I could go over it, make comments on how to get a better grade on it, and then re-submit the corrected document for grading within 5 days.  Several students “chose not” to submit a rough draft. Not turning in the draft resulted in a 10 point reduction in their final score right off the top, but I guess that was okay with them. (Mr. Are You Trying to Fail Me was one of those students who did not submit a rough draft.)

The main problem with the failure to submit the rough draft was that they also chose to ignore the required format for the document. They also did not bother to read the grading rubric that I am required to use, so their documents lacked the mandatory components of the assignment. Bad call on their part! One of the students actually turned in a 3 1/2 page essay that was one-half the required length for the business report that she was supposed to be writing (a 3 1/2 page essay does not a business report make!).

I had just spent the last seven weeks teaching them how to write a memo, a business letter, an executive summary, and a body of a report, yet they threw all of that out the window when it came time to write the final document (which incorporated all of those things).

Here’s the deal: pay attention, follow the instructions, ask questions about anything that is muddy or unclear, and do not re-invent the wheel at the eleventh hour. Otherwise, I won’t be trying to flunk you- you will do just fine flunking on your own.

Have you ever experienced turning in the wrong assignment? What did you do to try and save your grade?

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Getting it done or getting by

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Have you ever wondered why some students excel while others, who seem equally intelligent, just get by? When a student did poorly in my class, I used to think it was me. Now I know that individuals have different goals for their education.

Maybe they are in college just to stay on their parents’ medical insurance policy. Maybe they are there to avoid having to get a post-high school job. One of my favorite reasons is the student who told me, “Well, the judge said I had a choice between prison or college. I chose college.” I thought, “Oh, goodie goodie gumdrops- you chose my class.”  He turned out to be a good student and a very pleasant young man…..but I never found out what crime he had been convicted of……

I have been teaching an online class recently and there is a student who always does the absolute minimum, no matter what the assignment. He seems talented but chooses to waste his time with the course, rather than apply himself. It is such a pity.

Why do you think some students just get by instead of getting it done? Have you ever done that yourself? I look forward to hearing from you and how you overcame it…..of not.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Letters of recommendation

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog deals with that all-important letter of recommendation from your instructor. You may need one in order to get into a four-year college, if you are in a community college. You may be required to provide letters in order to get a scholarship or to get a better-paying job. The very best letter you can get is one that the instructor offers to give you, without your even needing to ask. So, how do you get one?

The first few hints are intuitively obvious, but still need to be included. First, be a good student who shows up on time, who shows up for each class meeting totally prepared for the day, and who does well on assignments and exams. “Okay,” you may be saying, “what else is new?”

Go beyond that, folks. Be pleasant to everyone, from the teacher and the other students, to folks who can never “do” anything for you. Do you know who the janitor is in the buildings you have classes in? Do you ever thank that individual for the work he or she does? Do you greet the advisers, the office staff, and previous instructors with a smile on your face? This may sound silly, but you never know when the instructor you plan on asking for a reference is watching.

Don’t go about like an Eddie Haskel, pretending to be nice and then turning into a monster when the instructor’s head is turned. Be genuinely nice. Ask your instructor how his or her weekend went and pay attention to the answer. Talk to your fellow students before or after class, don’t just show up and clomp out.

I was asked for a reference letter just this past week. The student was in a class of mine one year ago, but I still remembered her because, not only was she a top student, but because she threw herself enthusiastically into every assignment. She never complained about anything, but truly sought to take charge of her own education. It was easy to write a reference for her; she was one of the most involved students I have every met. When she was in class, she was in class with every fiber of her being. I had 150 students that semester, but she clearly stood out. Be that student!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

P.S. Eddie Haskel was on Leave it to Beaver.

Some kids and college

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today I would like to approach the thorny subject of kids and college. Some students I meet would be better off going to trade school than sitting in a college classroom where they don’t want to be.

I know this is shocking news, especially since I teach at three colleges, but the world needs trade school graduates- we need electricians, welders, plumbers, and the like. Case in point: We had a problem with our hot water heater recently. My hubby tried to fix it, but the heating element was fine. He called an electrician who showed up two days later (hey, it was Christmas, so we understood).

What happened? The breaker needed replacing. The electrician sized up the problem, fixed it, and was on his way in 15 minutes. The price tag? Two hundred dollars. That’s not bad, for a guy who never went to college. Instead, trade school taught him what he needed to learn.

Here’s the deal: He was the boss, so he got to keep the money (after expenses). The bottom line: Let your child follow his or her own pathway to success. It might not be what you had hoped and dreamed for, but our electrician loves his work. He shaves the boss every day (or maybe every other day, judging from his looks) and he is very, very good at his job. He also makes good money!

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Basic writing tips for college students

Posted on by Sheri Dean Parmelee

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog is on writing for college. Having taught college for 11 years, there are some tips I would like to share with you.

First, please use commas with introductory words and phrases. An example of an introductory word is seen in my previous sentence. If you are looking for an introductory phrase, I just gave you one in this sentence. These phrases can make your writing interesting but please do not use too many or it becomes tedious. Introductory phrases tell your reader to breathe as he or she reads your sentences and too many breaths lead to hyperventilation!

Next, use commas with the second-to-the-last item in a list of things. Here is an example: birds, planes, and automobiles. Let me give you an example of why this comma is so important. Let’s say that your parents have three million dollars and they want to leave one million to each of their three kids. If they write “we want to leave one million dollars to child A, child B, and child C,” then each child gets one million dollars. But if they say “we want to leave one million dollars to child A, child B and child C, then child A gets a million and B and C split a million. (I guess the dog gets the remaining million.)

Finally for today, please read your documents out loud before you submit them. It is amazing what you may catch. You may find that the sentences that you thought were so lovely do not make sense at all. You may locate sentence fragments, typos, and subject/verb disagreement. If you can catch them, the professor won’t find them for you, and this will result in a higher grade.

Best,

Dr. Sheri