Don't forget to recapitulate your thesis statement in the closing paragraph.
And don't lip the f***ing joint.
Posted on 05/19/2006 4:07:43 PM PDT by Republicanprofessor
This is a plea to educators, parents, home schoolers, and even the general public: please pay attention to the following tips to fully prepare children for college. Each semester, as we hand in grades, my husband and I are amazed at the students who blow off a great proportion of their grades.
1) Turn in all the work. This seems obvious, but I have gaps in my gradebook every semester for papers that just were not written. True, a 5% or 10% paper may not seem like a big deal, but what it means is that the C student has just become a D student.
2) Take all the quizzes. My husband has weekly quizzes online, through Blackboard. If students do not take the quizzes, or take only some of them, their grade is affected by 25% or more. Again, B students become D students.
3) Hand in work on time. Some professors (like me) are softies and would rather not flunk students if I can finally get the paper. But others, like my husband, are ruthless. Hand it in on time or else….
4) Learn the math to understand what happens to your grades if you do not do the work. (Actually, I would love to hear from other math professors to hear how they would like their students to be better prepared.) If the three papers that you do not do total 35% of the grade, you will flunk. (It is not the A students who space out their papers….duh.)
5) If students miss class, they should check (and study and learn) any notes the instructor has posted in regard to that class. They cannot simply b.s. their way through exam questions if they have not tried to catch up with what they missed when they skipped class.
6) Learn to write. Writing is a way to communicate how you think. Yes, college papers may be boring, but you will need to gain the skills to write in your future job. To write a good paper, you need to
a) Use an introduction and a conclusion, with the body of the paper (and your ideas) in between.
b) Learn to break up the paper into paragraphs. This is not a joke, but some of my “honors” students have just submitted essays in one long paragraph. Argh!!
c) Learn the difference between the possessive and the plural “s” at the end of the sentence. Apostrophe before an “s” means a contraction (it is = it’s) or possessive (Sarah’s dress). The simple s means a plural (chairs). No, I am not joking; every semester I have to correct this on papers.
d) Learn the difference between there, their, they’re; where and were. My children are learning this in elementary school. College students should know this; but again, every semester a good number of papers miss this basic knowledge.
e) Learn to back up your ideas with specific examples (in my case, specific works of fine art) with details.
7) Learn to document all ideas that are not your own. That means to give credit (with the book or web citation) for all ideas gleamed from that book or web site.
Now, it is true that I teach at a state college, in the northeast. But it is pathetic that our public schools do not teach these minimum skills.
BTW: a hint for parents. Grades are often posted online on a gizmo called Blackboard (or its competitors). If your children have received low grades and won’t let you know why (or badmouth the hard-working professor), ask them to show you their grades on Blackboard. If the grade is blank, the work was not turned in. Now you can yell at them.
Thank you for your help.
College education ping list.
Let James P81, Jalisco555, or me know if you want on or off this ping list.
This really isn't an art-related column, but I thought maybe I'd get some worthwhile ideas from you all, so I pinged you. (Besides, I've missed posting as I've been so busy with grading and all.....)
I don't know if this is up your education alley or not, but I thought it worth a ping.
Bravo!
Preach, Teacher, Preach!
Yes, you have to memorize EVERYTHING I say....
Well, it doesn't quite work like that, but it would be fun...
Don't forget to recapitulate your thesis statement in the closing paragraph.
And don't lip the f***ing joint.
College was pretty much a big beer fest for me, but I couldn't agree with you more on this point.
I just finished my junior year and will be entering my senior year, WOOhoOOo!!!!! It did not come fast enough.
Unfortunately, if a paper is full of spelling and grammatical errors, the reader can't help but think poorly of the writer.
< severe criticism mode >
It's "gleaned", not "gleamed" --
< /severe criticism mode >
(everything in our office is proofread by four different people before it goes out the door - your eyes get "used" to the errors in your own work.)
I spent most of my time in college goofing off, napping, playing video games, staying up all night...
I miss those days.
Seems simple common sense to me. Thanks for some great points.
Thank you from a mom with a 19 year old freshmen that needs to work a little harder at college and a little less at socializing. I am sending a ping to him of your helpful hints!
8. Learn how to conceal that you are doing the crossword during lecture. Apparently some professors do not appreciate it. :)
Good for you.
But you might want to relish this time in school. I think you might find the "real" world, 9-5 workday, to be a lot less fun and harder work.
Nowadays, students are bringing laptops to the lecture. The good point of that is that students can download the lecture notes before class and add to them as they wish.
The bad side is that they can IM during class.
The professor will learn the difference. If we are watching a video, and someone is typing like mad, the odds are in favor of IM and a casual stroll around the room may cure that. Or, if someone giggles when I didn't tell a funny joke.....
I hire mathematicians and engineers for a living - writing sample required.
I've seen so many people using their laptops in class supposedly taking notes; they're actually checking on e-mail or playing a video game.
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