Tag Archives: College

Burned Out from Summer Off?

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A normal summer is me recovering from the hectic pace of 60 hour college semester work weeks. The only time when I get to put the word normal back into my life. Like, normally doing laundry once a week. Normally sleeping eight hours a night. Normally seeing my friends and family on a regular basis. Summer = three months of soul rejuvenation before the nine months of crazy takes over.

Only this summer, was not normal. This was the dreaded every third summer. This was the summer the faculty at my employer changed their Learning Management System (LMS). Again.

Yes, I’ve taught online for nine years and this will be the third LMS we’ve used.

Nothing to it. Take everything from the old system: syllabi, course structures, presentations, 100s of files, links, videos, quizzes, assignments, rubrics, announcements, discussions, e-mail history, grade books, blah blah blah, and copy it all into the new system. Voila!

But. No.

In the real world, systems don’t always play nice and there are plenty of surprises along the way. Two hundred hours, seven live classes and two archived for Spring, I hold my breath and hope everything works as planned Monday morning.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m good with change. Often a change leader, sometimes a go with the flow gal, rarely a complainer. But when 2016 rolls around . . . I really don’t want to link back to this post.

Photo by Phil Date

This is a personal weblog. Opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

Why you should go and flip your tassel . . .

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Tomorrow evening my college will celebrate the graduation of over 1000 students. Unfortunately, if history repeats itself only one third of those students will attend the commencement ceremony. According to four of my students who have chosen not to go . . .

“It’s not a big deal.”

“I’ll celebrate with my friends on my own.”

“It’s boring.”

“Why should I?”

My responses? In order, “It is a big deal. Bring your friends. You’re right, some of it is boring, but the part with you in it won’t be. You should go, because you can.” 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2008, almost 28% of Americans had earned a college degree. When I see that statistic, I think of the 72% who had not. You’ve done something special that not everyone can achieve. Even those with the heart and mind to do it, often can’t because of circumstances beyond their control: financial, medical, emotional. . .

You’ve earned the right to walk across that stage and shake the college president’s hand to the sound of thunderous applause. Trust me, it will sound thunderous—our venue is notoriously loud. 

Everyone who’s played a role in your journey has earned the right to watch you too. Your attendance is a thank you to all of them: the family member who took on a second job and/or a second mortgage to help pay tuition, the friend who offered a shoulder during the tough times, the teacher who encouraged you to keep trying. 

My colleagues and I will take our seats in metal folding chairs facing the stage and the first thing we will do is look through the program, some of us with pencils in hand, taking immeasurable pride in marking off “our students”, ready to clap and cheer when they cross the stage. We know what it took for you to get there. 

Attending a 90 minute commencement that ends with you flipping your tassel from the right side to the left of an odd, little hat may seem a silly ritual, but it symbolizes much, much more. Commencement celebrates your transformation from student to graduate and all the new opportunities and challenges you will face with your degree in hand. After all, the word “commence” means “to start, to begin”. Embrace your new beginning.

Top Five Ways to Suck Up to Your Professor, #1

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Here it is…the number one way you can suck up to your professor…

#1. BE POSITIVE

If you come into the classroom with the attitude “I can’t,” I can guarantee “you won’t.” Your attitude has built a brick wall around your brain. I’ve banged up against student brick walls enough to know once you’ve built them there’s not a thing I can say or do that will tear them down– you have to do that yourself.

“I hate this.” “This is too hard.” “Is there math in this, I’m no good at math.” “I won’t ever be able to figure this out.” Each statement places another brick.

Even the statements “I’ll try,” or “I’ll do my best,” can be self-defeating; you’re accepting failure as an option before you’ve even begun. As long as you did your best, well then failing is okay, you tried, right?

No. Wrong. I sure don’t want my doctor coming to me and telling me she tried, I want her to do. And I don’t want the engineer who designed the bridge that I cross over every day to tell me he did his best, I want a bridge I can trust. Even Gladys, the super sweet woman at the McDonald’s where I get an occasional coffee doesn’t tell me to try and have a nice day, she tells me to have one and she doesn’t try to hand me my coffee either, she does it. Even Yoda knows this, “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”

Choose your attitude: “I will succeed,” then build an incremental plan with plenty of wins a long the way. For example, “I’m going to figure XYZ out and I’m not going to give up until I do. If I have to ask my teacher to explain it to me a dozen different ways, I will. If I have to put in ten extra hours a week practicing, I will. If I have to get extra help from a tutor, I will. I will get the job done, because I can!” Now that’s the attitude that makes your professor swoon 🙂

Photo credit © Marek Uliasz