08/31/2016

I want to give you some quick impressions of this year’s class. They seem eager and conscientious. I suspect they still don’t believe that college is that different. With next week being the first round of tests, they will experience their first real challenge. You should be prepared for some self-doubt from your student. It’s way too early to get discouraged.

What’s really important now is that our students establish routines. Much of college is repetitive from week to week. If students establish set times to do assignments, they are more likely to do them.

I’m very pleased with the bonus responses. The students who have done these have started to develop the practices they need to do well. I hope they find them helpful.

I emphasize the concept of starting a streak. A streak is the number of consecutive days they go without missing any class on their schedule. I’ll be asking them what their streak is this week in class. This is something you might ask them whenever you talk to them. Students will become very proud of their streak andby the way, my current streak is six. (I measure my streak in decades.)

Our students are fast approaching the first big week of tests. Students need to prepare this week for the tests that are coming up in order to avoid what could be a disastrous week.

It’s my experience that most of our students will approach studying for test like they did in high school. If they do that, they will be really disappointed in the results they get. For math and chemistry, students need to start studying at least 5 days ahead and devote at least 10-15 hours of solid preparation. I hope you will help me reinforce this.

This week in class I’ll be helping them with some tips for doing well. I thought that I would share some of these with you.

  1. Make school a job. I suggest that students get up early and use their breaks between classes to study. If they do this, they should be done with most of their work by early evening.
  2. Learn in class. It’s surprising how students will just zone out in class. They end up having to teach themselves. Taking good notes can be a big help. I still have students coming to class with no paper and nothing to write with.
  3. Approach a test like a video game. Students are really good at thinking through a winning strategy in video games. Tests are really not that different. They just need to use the same approach to learning material in class that they used in mastering a game.
  4. Get a good night’s sleep before big tests. There is lot of medical research that tells us that our mental functioning declines when we do not have proper sleep.
  5. Keep a planner to record assignments. Students are over reliant on their memories. This past week about 25% of the class had forgotten their homework.
  6. “Park down hill.” Some of you may have had a car that wouldn’t start very well. You might have had to park down hill to get the car started. The same is true about starting on homework. I suggest that students save some work to do that is easy or fun to do. This homework is a good place to start. Once they get started on homework, they get more motivated to continue.
  7. Turn off all of the digital devices while doing homework. Instant messages can easily make homework take 2 to 3 times longer to do. Cell phones are another major problem. I’m very observant when I teach. It’s amazing to see how many students are using a digital device during class. Obviously they aren’t learning anything at that time. Also, I see no need for a student to have a laptop computer in class.
  8. Reward yourself for good work. I suggest that students develop a way to reward themselves for a good test result or following a study plan. The reward can be something simple, but it should be something they don’t do unless they earned the reward.
  9. Have study dates. If your student is dating someone on campus, study dates are a great way to be together and to get the work done.
  10. Use on-line learning resources such as Khanacademy.org to supplement course instruction. In effect this is a 24/7 tutor for math and science classes. I have had students really turn around their grades using this site.

This is the week that students need to prepare. Since many of the tests they will be taking are given at night, they won’t have as much time to study next week. This is also a good week to make sure they have all of their notes organized.

I’ll conclude with stories of two students. The first was Jim. He did horribly his first year in college and was suspended. He sat out a year and when he came back I meet with him often. That semester he had a 4.00. I asked Jim what made the difference. I’ll never forget his answer. He said: “It’s time”.

I use this story in class. Now for the second story of Derec. I got to know Derec very well his freshman year. He was from Chicago. I first met him when he sent me a note that his best friend had been killed in a gun fight. He was very upset.

Derec was one of those students who just attracted trouble. He was constantly getting involved in situations that he should have stayed away from. We had long talks about this, but nothing seemed to sink in until Derec’s cousin was also killed. Derec found out that they wanted him as well. Obviously he couldn’t go home.

Derec had a kind heart. One morning at 6:00 AM he came to my office. He was covered in blood. He had saved a fellow student who had broken out a window and was trying to jump out to commit suicide. Obviously Derec was very disturbed.

Derec’s grades weren’t very good, and he was suspended from the University. I lost track of Derec for a year until I received this email.

“Since I left WVU, I have come to SalemInternationalUniversity, and I am majoring in history education. I have gotten my GPA up from below 1 to a 2.7. I am more motivated to do my school work especially since I have a family. Everything has gotten better at home especially since I have stayed away from people who I tended to do things I probably shouldn't have been doing. My future plans include joining the Army as a pilot and although my math scores from WVU were extremely low, I had an exceptionally good score which makes it possible for me to achieve my goal. Like I had said I have also gotten engaged and have two children now and partially because of them my path is more narrow and the goals and how I have to achieve them are much more clear to me. I remember the lecture you had in ENGR 199 I believe where you had talked about a boy named Jim who had been suspended and when he came back had told you "It's time". I have definitely felt that revelation, and it took until fairly recently for me to realize it.

I also want to say thank you for your help while I was at WVU as it helped me while I was there, and it has also helped me at my new school and in my personal life as well.

I use a lot of stories in class because students remember the stories long after they forget the content of a course.