Every semester I hand out syllabi to each of my classes - every student. And, every semester, I end up frustrated by the number of students who spend time to look up my email address and send me an email when they could just look at the syllabus. And, that's not even including the number of students that miss due dates for major assignments!
Believe it or not, but teachers generally hate giving bad grades - especially when a few minutes spent reading a syllabus could have saved a student the heartache of failing an assignment or even a course. I know you've all heard it countless times, but I'll say it once more for good measure -
READ YOUR SYLLABUS!
A syllabus is your contract with the Instructor. By staying in the class, you're agreeing to abide by the rules of the class - all of which should be in your syllabus. Syllabi also include a lot of information - due dates for assignments, contact information and office hours of your Instructor, assigned readings and homework for the week, etc.
It's amazing how much harm not reading a syllabus can do to a student's grades. :(
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
How to Survive a Busy Week
It's getting to be that time of the semester - the time when everyone has their first major tests or papers due for all of their classes. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, here are a few tips to help you get back on track....
- Don't forget to breathe! - It may be a hectic week or two, but it's only temporary. Try to keep things in perspective.
- Keep an updated daily "To Do" list. - If you can plan out your week ahead of time, things will go much smoother later on.
- Leave extra space in your schedule. - You never know when a printer will die, you'll have computer problems, or a major traffic jam will disrupt your nicely planned schedule.
- Don't wait until the last minute. - Something unexpected will almost always come up.
- Make sure to schedule yourself some downtime. - We all need a little downtime and breathing room. Scheduling some fun into your schedule or just some time to relax can keep you from getting too stressed out. And, it'll help you stay healthy, too!
Good luck!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Time for a New Semester
It's that time again - time for a new semester of classes! In the spirit of getting you back on track, here are a few reminders to help get you organized and off on the right foot:
-Prof M
- Make sure you have a calendar ready to use for the semester. If you need one, there are still extra handbooks available from Student Life. Stop by one of the Greeter tables (the one's with the red tablecloth and the "Ask me a question" signs) and pick one up. You can also stop by Georgiadis Hall Rm 206 and get one from the Office of Student Life if you miss the Greeter tables week.
- Take some time to put all of the due dates and known assignments from your class syllabi into your calendar. Doing this will help you stay organized and on top of when things are due. You may also want to put a reminder if a big assignment is coming up the week before it's actually due. (Believe me - there's nothing worse than turning the page in your calendar on a nice Monday morning and finding out that you have a major paper or test due that day! Not a nice surprise!)
- Check on all of your classes' pre-requisites and get a feel for what the teacher expects. If you don't meet the requirements for the class or decide that you need to switch to another time/teacher/class/etc., this week is the week to do it. Add/drop for 16 week classes comes and goes quickly (even faster for 8 weeks classes), so do it now!
- Take the extra time to stand in lines! You'll need to count on spending extra time in both the bookstore and the ID lines. (ID's are permanently good, and parking decals need to be renewed every Fall. So, if you just took care of this in Fall 08, then there's one less line you need to worry about this semester.) You can also order and pay for your textbooks online through the college bookstore's website. They can have them bundled and ready to pick up. That can cut a few minutes off of your stay.
-Prof M
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Zen Habits on Breaking a Bad Habit
Check out this Blog from Zen Habits on Breaking a Bad Habit....
zen habits
Breaking a Bad Habit Shatters the Rung Beneath You
Posted: 01 Dec 2008 04:15 PM CSTEditor’s Note: This is a guest post from Sean Platt of Writer Dad.
I’ve always thought of life as a spiraling staircase, gracefully wrapping around time and achievement, as opposed to the blunt vertical found on a ladder. Comparing life’s ascension to a set of stairs is often apt, but there are moments when life as ladder is far more fitting, such as when we find ourselves stuck between rungs, mired in the middle of old pattern and new performance. This is when the decisive climb from one rung to the next must begin so that we may climb toward our tomorrow, while leaving yesterday behind.
Steps may be clambered in tandem (my wife and I often fall into reflexive harmony when we find ourselves on stairs together), but climbing a ladder is a solitary endeavor. We begin at the bottom, then spend our lifetimes reaching for the top, each rung pulling us closer to dusk and further from dawn. Destinations are determined by our daily decisions, as is our grasp and the speed of our climb.
Each of us finds ourselves at some point stuck between the rungs, pinned at an impasse. Perhaps success has halted, and our growth is no longer happening at the rate it once was. We can wrap our hands around the rung above, but we do not have the strength to pull ourselves upward. Often, it is the rung just below that is holding us hostage with insubordinate habit. It is then when we must lower our heel, shatter the habits to bits, and then continue to climb without looking behind.
It is never too late to learn a new habit; never to early to shed the old like dead, useless skin. Bad habits are formed by the slow and steady accumulation of mindless minutes. As a million years of rainfall will smooth the slope of a mountain summit, so do a million misplaced moments warp our good intentions.
We all are capable of reverse engineering our own bad behavior, but we cannot unlock the door without looking for the key.
We can start by searching for the reason in our routine. Understanding why we do something is an excellent precursor to halting the undesirable. If a bad habit is built by a sequence of negative actions, then a good habit can be formed by stringing opposite elements in an opposing direction.
New habits are most difficult at their birth. The links of our new chain are frail, and barely strong enough to hold their weight, but every moment of determination thickens our resolve.
For the last three years, I’ve run a preschool with my wife. Recently, I sailed the seas to full time writer. The needs of a cadre of kiddies are nowhere close to those of the online world, and adjustments needed to be made.
At first, it was easy to allow my old habits to swallow me. It would have been simple to swear I was doing my best, but I wasn’t. The whisper was there, and I rarely commanded his silence. You know the voice, we all have one. Mine tells me to check my email, or my analytics… or my email (it’s been five minutes after all). Telling myself I could do better wasn’t enough. I needed to reach for the rung, and pull with all my might.
I could tell you that I used the mute on my computer to silence the song of my inbox, or preach the pluses of using pen and paper, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. Not one single bit. What worked for me may not work for you. I’ve read enough tips to know. I don’t need a “How To,” I need a “Why Should I.”
It is the universal thread that’s important - our need to change, and desire to do so. When want meets willing, there is no limit to how high we can climb.
Read more from Sean Platt at his blog, Writer Dad, or subscribe to his feed.
zen habits
Breaking a Bad Habit Shatters the Rung Beneath You
Posted: 01 Dec 2008 04:15 PM CSTEditor’s Note: This is a guest post from Sean Platt of Writer Dad.
I’ve always thought of life as a spiraling staircase, gracefully wrapping around time and achievement, as opposed to the blunt vertical found on a ladder. Comparing life’s ascension to a set of stairs is often apt, but there are moments when life as ladder is far more fitting, such as when we find ourselves stuck between rungs, mired in the middle of old pattern and new performance. This is when the decisive climb from one rung to the next must begin so that we may climb toward our tomorrow, while leaving yesterday behind.
Steps may be clambered in tandem (my wife and I often fall into reflexive harmony when we find ourselves on stairs together), but climbing a ladder is a solitary endeavor. We begin at the bottom, then spend our lifetimes reaching for the top, each rung pulling us closer to dusk and further from dawn. Destinations are determined by our daily decisions, as is our grasp and the speed of our climb.
Each of us finds ourselves at some point stuck between the rungs, pinned at an impasse. Perhaps success has halted, and our growth is no longer happening at the rate it once was. We can wrap our hands around the rung above, but we do not have the strength to pull ourselves upward. Often, it is the rung just below that is holding us hostage with insubordinate habit. It is then when we must lower our heel, shatter the habits to bits, and then continue to climb without looking behind.
It is never too late to learn a new habit; never to early to shed the old like dead, useless skin. Bad habits are formed by the slow and steady accumulation of mindless minutes. As a million years of rainfall will smooth the slope of a mountain summit, so do a million misplaced moments warp our good intentions.
We all are capable of reverse engineering our own bad behavior, but we cannot unlock the door without looking for the key.
We can start by searching for the reason in our routine. Understanding why we do something is an excellent precursor to halting the undesirable. If a bad habit is built by a sequence of negative actions, then a good habit can be formed by stringing opposite elements in an opposing direction.
New habits are most difficult at their birth. The links of our new chain are frail, and barely strong enough to hold their weight, but every moment of determination thickens our resolve.
For the last three years, I’ve run a preschool with my wife. Recently, I sailed the seas to full time writer. The needs of a cadre of kiddies are nowhere close to those of the online world, and adjustments needed to be made.
At first, it was easy to allow my old habits to swallow me. It would have been simple to swear I was doing my best, but I wasn’t. The whisper was there, and I rarely commanded his silence. You know the voice, we all have one. Mine tells me to check my email, or my analytics… or my email (it’s been five minutes after all). Telling myself I could do better wasn’t enough. I needed to reach for the rung, and pull with all my might.
I could tell you that I used the mute on my computer to silence the song of my inbox, or preach the pluses of using pen and paper, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. Not one single bit. What worked for me may not work for you. I’ve read enough tips to know. I don’t need a “How To,” I need a “Why Should I.”
It is the universal thread that’s important - our need to change, and desire to do so. When want meets willing, there is no limit to how high we can climb.
Read more from Sean Platt at his blog, Writer Dad, or subscribe to his feed.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Stress Relievers
As the semester winds down, a lot of people tend to get wound up and stressed out. So, take a few minutes to de-stress with the following:
1) Listen to some relaxing music. If you don't have any, create your own on this website: http://www.soundsleeping.com/
2) Recite the Student's Prayer:
Now I sit me down to study,
I pray the Lord I won’t go nutty.
If I should fail to learn this junk,
I pray the Lord that I won’t flunk.
Now I lay me down to rest,
I pray to pass tomorrow’s test.
If I should die before I wake,
That’s one less test I’ll have to take!
- Anonymous
3) Or, you can just sit and ponder some silly things:
Enjoy!
1) Listen to some relaxing music. If you don't have any, create your own on this website: http://www.soundsleeping.com/
2) Recite the Student's Prayer:
Now I sit me down to study,
I pray the Lord I won’t go nutty.
If I should fail to learn this junk,
I pray the Lord that I won’t flunk.
Now I lay me down to rest,
I pray to pass tomorrow’s test.
If I should die before I wake,
That’s one less test I’ll have to take!
- Anonymous
3) Or, you can just sit and ponder some silly things:
- Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
- Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
- Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?
- Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there?
- Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
- Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
- If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?
- If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they make Teflon stick to the pan?
- If you're in a vehicle going the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?
- Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATM?
- Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
- Why isn't "palindrome" spelled the same way backwards as it is forwards?
- Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo?
- If a black box in a plane is indestructible, why can't they make the whole plane out of it?
- Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?
- Why is it so hard to remember how to spell 'mnemonic'?
- If the front of your car says 'DODGE', do you really need a horn?
- When you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?
- Does fuzzy logic tickle?
- Do radioactive cats have 18 half-lives?
- What was the best thing before sliced bread?
- Is there another word for thesaurus?
- After eating, do amphibians have to wait one hour before getting out of the water?
- Just before someone gets nervous, do they experience cocoons in their stomach?
- If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
- If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?
- Why does the word monosyllabic contain five syllables?
- Why is abbreviated such a long word?
- If you put a chameleon in a mirrored box what color would it change to?
- What should you do if you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
Enjoy!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Registering for Classes
It's that time again! Time to register for your Spring classes.
Before you get ready to register, take a look at your current schedule, your current obligations and what classes you still need for your major. When you set a schedule, bear in mind that you should add in 2-3 hours of study time for every hour you're in class. (And, if you're taking online classes - you can use the number of credits for a class to figure out how many hours you're expected to be in class. That's why they're called credit hours. 1 credit = 1 hour of time in class) So, plan accordingly. Taking a full schedule is not feasible for a lot of students in one semester. And, if you have multiple obligations (ie. school, work, children/family, church, organizations, etc.), then it gets even more complicated. Here's a list of steps to help you get started:
If you get stuck, stop by and talk to an Advisor. That's what they're there for! First Year students, your advisor is in the Student Success Center. Non 1st Year students, contact the division office for your major to find your Advisor's name and contact information including office hours.
Important Information:
Before you get ready to register, take a look at your current schedule, your current obligations and what classes you still need for your major. When you set a schedule, bear in mind that you should add in 2-3 hours of study time for every hour you're in class. (And, if you're taking online classes - you can use the number of credits for a class to figure out how many hours you're expected to be in class. That's why they're called credit hours. 1 credit = 1 hour of time in class) So, plan accordingly. Taking a full schedule is not feasible for a lot of students in one semester. And, if you have multiple obligations (ie. school, work, children/family, church, organizations, etc.), then it gets even more complicated. Here's a list of steps to help you get started:
- Get the tools you need to have at the ready - blank weekly calendar, a list of the classes you've completed so far (print off your unofficial transcript), the college catalog, and the schedule of classes. You'll also need a writing utensil - I recommend a pencil with a good eraser!
- Make a list of your current obligations and any set times that these fall under. Add these to the blank weekly calendar.
- Look at the college catalog under your major for the courses you still need to complete. Make a list of the next set you'd like to tackle.
- Look in the back of the college catalog for each of the courses in your list to make sure that you've met the pre-requisites. (Update your list from step 3 if necessary.)
- Using your list of preferred courses from step 3 (once you've checked pre-req's), find the classes in the Schedule of Classes that best fit your schedule. Write them into the weekly calendar. (Also, make a note of the 5 digit number at the front of the class, the location (campus and room number), and section number in your calendar somewhere. That way it'll be really easy to actually register when the time comes.)
- On Monday, register for classes using your weekly calendar!
If you get stuck, stop by and talk to an Advisor. That's what they're there for! First Year students, your advisor is in the Student Success Center. Non 1st Year students, contact the division office for your major to find your Advisor's name and contact information including office hours.
Important Information:
- Early Bird Registration begins Monday, 11/10!!!
- To check tuition due dates, go to: http://reynolds.edu/jsr_ar/paying_for_college.htm
- College Catalog: http://www.jsr.vccs.edu/catalog/ Check here for course pre-requisites and for a list of the courses that you need to complete for your degree.
- Schedule of classes - Pick one up outside the Student Success Center or view it online athttp://reynolds.edu/_schedules/default.htm
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tools to help you set up and meet your goals
Check out the new site by Noomii - www.noomii.com
The site allows you to create a profile for free. By answering some questions, it gives you a visual representation of your life's goals and how well you're meeting them. You can then update things as they change. The site also offers a "Coaching Page" where you can set up specific goals and action items for each goal - all with due dates. The "Coaching Page" also allows you to schedule a specific time to either self-coach or coach with a partner of your choosing. (You invite a partner to work with in a separate section.) During the partner coaching sessions, you take turns coaching each other and checking on each other's progress. This helps provide some motivation and a nice visual way of keeping track of your progress!
The site allows you to create a profile for free. By answering some questions, it gives you a visual representation of your life's goals and how well you're meeting them. You can then update things as they change. The site also offers a "Coaching Page" where you can set up specific goals and action items for each goal - all with due dates. The "Coaching Page" also allows you to schedule a specific time to either self-coach or coach with a partner of your choosing. (You invite a partner to work with in a separate section.) During the partner coaching sessions, you take turns coaching each other and checking on each other's progress. This helps provide some motivation and a nice visual way of keeping track of your progress!
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