Week 4: Prompt 3: Effective is As Effective Does

Prompt: Think about the word EFFECTIVE.
Answer the question - What is definition of the word?  (If you use the definition from the list, you must cite google.com dictionary.)  What does the word mean to you?  What are two ways you can be more effective in your college studies (it can relate to any aspect of your college studies)?

According to Google.com, effective means, “successful in producing a desired or intended result.”  This is an excellent definition of the word.

When I think of effective, I think of being successful, but being successful in the most strategic way.  So, I would rewrite the definition like this…

“being successful in producing a desired or intended result strategically.”

To be effective, you must be strategic.  Strategic means, “relating to the identification of long-term or overall aims and interests and the means of achieving them.”  You cannot just perform random task or wander aimlessly when trying to be effective.

I need to be more effective as a writer and a professor.  I have yet to master the art of staying on task as a professor and being a writer while I work as a professor.  (So, maybe this is circular reasoning, but it is what I need to be more effective at.

I always felt I could not write while I was teaching, but last year, I learned differently.  In November, I participated in NaNoWriMo.  You write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  I successfully wrote over 50,000 words, 55,468 to be exact, and was successful as a professor.

It felt great to achieve success.

Now, I am striving to be effective doing it throughout the entire semester.  I still have not found an effective way to do it, yet.  It does not help that I have a totally different schedule this semester than I have had in the past.

But, let me be a growth mindset creator for a moment.

“I will write while being a college professor this semester… I will be effective at doing both!”

Repost: Week 4: Prompt 2: I Can Go to Havard… No You Can’t… But Really, Yes, You Can

Prompt: Read " 5 Myths about Who Gets into College"

Answer the question - Is this information convincing? Why or why not?

Be sure to use quotations from the article.

Richard D. Kahlenburg writes an article entitled “5 Myths About Who Gets into College.”  The title itself does not clearly describe what the article is about.  At first glance, one might think it is about getting into any college, but, he is writing about getting to a selective college.

The first question is: What is a selective college?  Kahlenburg does not clearly define what this is.  He gives you suggestions about what it is, but he does not state it plainly.  After reading the article, it can be determined that a selective college is a top college, such as Harvard, Caltech, Texas A&M, and University of Georgia, all of which he mentions in the article.

So, Kahlenburg needs to rename his article in my opinion to make it clearer.  The article is about the myths about who gets into selective colleges.  He makes his point, but he often seems to contradict himself, which is the point I think.

He states that there are perceived impediments for low-income students to get into selective colleges, which is true, but it is not as hard to get into these colleges as it once was.  While going about it in a round about way, Kahlenburg gets his point across.  If your desire is to go to a top tier school, do your best, make good grades, learn all that you can, and make sure you know what you need to do to get into college.

He says, “With more students going to college, we're closer to the goal of equal opportunity.” (448).

So, now, you can go to Harvard, but you just have to know how to maneuver through the system.

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Works Cited

Kahlenberg, Richard D. "5 Myths about Who Gets into College." Read, Write, Reason, Edited by Dorothy U. Selyler, McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. 446-448. e-file.

Repost: Week 4: Prompt 1: Writing Effectively Using Effective Writing

Prompt: Think back to the Effective Writing Guidelines we discussed.  Which two do you struggle with most and why?

The title is an oxymoron, or an example of redundancy, but it bears discussing.  As a writer, you must write effectively.  You must use the appropriate words, sentences, paragraphs, and structure to write in an effective manner.  Another way to say it is, to write successfully, you have to use high-quality writing.

Skip Downing, author of On Course, a book that helps high school students venture into college, writes a section on “Effective Writing.”  In it, he lists a number of guidelines that will help you be an excellent writer.  Some of them include, “Start immediately,” “Brainstorm,” “Cite your sources,” “Edit carefully,” and “Learn from Errors.”  All of these are excellent guidelines that would produce superior work.  But, some of these guidelines are problematic, specifically for a college student, who may not have time to do all of them because of their busy schedule.

Downing suggests that students should let their ideas and writing incubate, or let their brain rest after they brainstorming, and then again after they finish writing.  Both are good ideas, but when you are a student writing papers for three classes in one week, it may not be feasible to let your brain rest.

I’m a firm believer in incubating (resting your brain) during writing.  I tell my students that this gives their brains time to breath and to stop writing on their topic.  This is vitally important after writing.  You need to revise and edit, and not write during this time.  I think a writer should incubate for at least a day.  But, I generally suggest that my students incubate for an hour.

Again, incubating can be problematic for a college student.  But, it is vital to being an effective writer.

Another idea Downing mentions is to “read backwards when editing.”  This one is challenging for me.  I tried it once, but it bothered me so because you are not supposed to read backwards.  This is a good thing to do because while you are editing, you only need to focus on the errors you have in your sentences.  If you are reading your work in the proper order as you are editing, you may notice a revising issue, and forget to edit.  But if you are reading it backwards, the order will not be recognizable, errors in writing is the only thing you will be able to focus on.

Using Downing effective writing guidelines will help you be a better writer.  Some of them, you may already do, some of them, you may need to learn to do, some of them, you may never use, but, it is well worth learning these guidelines to write effectively.

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Works Cited

Down, Skip.  “On Course.” On Course, “Effective Writing,” PowerPoint, Freshmen Composition II: ENGL1302, (Professor Deartra D. Boone,) Richland College, Feb. 2017, PPT.

Weekly Essay 2: Gotta Be A Leader (repost)

Here's a past post for this prompt... https://profbooneeng1302.blogspot.com/2018/02/gotta-be-leader.html

Here's another post I posted for this prompt... https://profbooneeng1302.blogspot.com/2018/01/but-what-if-im-away-team-member-that.html

In Alex Knapp’s essay, “Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk,” he gives five valuable lessons to business people that he feels will make them better leaders.  This article appears in Read, Write, Reason, the textbook I use for ENGL1302.  When I first saw the essay, I thought it was weird to have it in a Freshmen Composition textbook, but after reading it, I discovered that the lessons were applicable to college students.

The advice he gives will help college students do better in college and will prepare them for life after college.

Lesson 1: Never Stop Learning.  This is and always will be an important key to being successful in life.  If we are always learning, it will help our brains continue to grow and flourish.

Lesson 2: Have Advisors with Different Worldviews.  This is one is a good lesson for college students.  I encourage my students to be open to meeting new people, especially ones who don not look like them.  Developing Interpersonal Relationships is key in college.  He is right when he says, “We all need a McCoy and a Spock in our lives and organizations” (30).

Lesson 3: Be a Part of the Away Team.  This one is interesting for college students.  In the essay, Knapp refers to leaders not always sitting in their office and watching their staff.  But, it can apply to college students as well.  It reminds then to be a part of what is going on at their college.  I encourage my students to be active in the college activities.  That is important to making new friends.

Lesson 4: Play Poker, Not Chess.  I do like this lesson.  As Knapp says, “Life is a game of probabilities, not defined rules. And often understanding your opponent is a much greater advantage than the cards you have in your hand” (31).  Remember, people do not always follow the rules, so knowing how to read people will help you a lot in life.

Lesson 5: Blow Up the Enterprise.  This one can be hard because Knapp reminders readers that things change, and that you need to be okay with change.  And as we know, most of us struggle with change.  Knapp says it like this, “change what isn’t working and embark on a new path, even if that means having to live in a Klingon ship for a while” (32).

All these lessons are certainly familiar to my students because they learn them in the first week of the semester when I lecture on “Growth Mindset” (the belief that intelligence is pliable and can be developed with effort and hard work) and “Creating Success in College” (focusing on you being the creator and controller of your success in college).  Both lectures teach students the same lessons that Knapp discusses in his essay, but in a different way.

As I told my students last week when discussing reading… “I taught you something that you needed to learn, but I gave you three ways to look it.”

Works Cited

“Developing a Growth Mindset.”  Handout, Freshmen Composition II: ENGL1302, (Professor Deartra D. Boone,) Richland College, Jan. 2018, e-file.

Down, Skip.  “On Course.” On Course, “Creating Success in College - On Course,” Handout, Freshmen Composition II: ENGL1302, (Professor Deartra D. Boone,) Richland College, Jan. 2018, e-file.

Knapp, Alex. "Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk." Read, Write, Reason, Edited by Dorothy U. Selyler, McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. 28-32. e-file.

Week 3: Prompt 3: Burdened With Glorious PURPOSE

I’ve adopted the vision boarding technique of choosing a word for the year and making it the focal point of my endeavors, activities, and thought process for the entire year.  I discovered this online in a Facebook group for Planning.  It hit me like a ton of bricks… “This could work for me!”  I embraced it and went full force with the idea.

My word for the year is PURPOSE.  Google.com dictionary defines the word as “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.”  It also means, “have as one's intention or objective.”

Dictionary.com defines the word like this, “the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.”  Another definition is “an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.”  One last definition, “to intend; design.”

All of the definitions about fit.  But the one that best suits my purpose is…

“an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.”

That’s what I’m focused on this year… an intended or desired result.  I chose the word PURPOSE specifically for that reason.  I want to act on purpose to accomplish several goals.  If I accomplish these goals, it will help me have a sense of accomplishment and will help me be better because I will have grown, matured, and changed some habits and my thinking.

I have some things I want to accomplish, and to accomplish them, I will need to be PURPOSEFUL with my actions, thinking, and planning.  There are four areas in my life where I have a specific purpose.

In regards to my faith, I want to find, join, attend, and get active in a church, making it my home.  I haven’t had a church home in over a year, so I need to find one and get busy.  I have gifts and talents that I need to use.

As a professor, I want to change the hearts, lives, and minds of students, specifically about writing, but in thinking about college success, too.

One other thing I want to do is to inspire a writer like my creative writing teacher from high school, Mrs. Spightner, did me.  She helped me discover my best writing gift, and I want to do that for someone else.

I want to read more this year.  Here’s what I want to do… read as many books on my calling and gifts as I can.  Write down what I learn and apply it.  I have to remember to apply.  My purpose won’t be fulfilled if I don’t apply it.

Lastly, as a writer, I want to finish all my unfinished NOVELS!  This is where the idea of purpose came from.  I have too many novels that I haven’t finished, and I need to finish them on PURPOSE and with PURPOSE.  I have tried in the past to finish them, but I wasn’t successful.  I feel that this year is filled with purpose, so I’ll be able to do it.

I feel like Loki of Asgard… 

Please Listen...

My life today...

REPOST: Week 3: Prompt 2: I Gotta Wear Dresses, All the Time?

Prompt: Read "The Wife-Beater"

Answer the question… Do members of your religious or ethnic group wear an item of clothing that is not well known to others? Define the article of clothing, and explain its significance and its history in terms that outsiders can understand.

What I posted last semester still rings true for me...

“The Wife-Beater” is an exceptionally well-written essay by Gayle Rosenwald Smith about A-Shirts, also known as Wife-Beaters.  She breaks down the definition of the article of clothing in terms that everyone will understand and react to.  This essay sparks thoughts on articles of clothing that can be misunderstood.

Growing up, I was a member of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), a Pentecostal organization that, at the time, places strict regulations on what the women of the religion could not wear.  One such item was pants.  This directive resulted in the interpretation of Deuteronomy 22:5 (ERV) which states, “A woman must not wear men’s clothes, and a man must not wear women’s clothes. That is disgusting to the Lord your God.”  This rule caused me complications as girl who was a total and complete tomboy.

I had to wear dresses no matter what I was doing.  I wore them 24-7, even in gym class at school, which was bothersome at times.  There was one time when we were learning about gymnastics.  We had to flip, tumble, jump, and the like to receive a grade.  I could not even wear shorts under my skirts, against the rule.

In one class, we were on the parallel bar, doing exercises, and it was my turn.  I got up on the bar, and did the required exercise.  I could not refuse to do it, I would have received a failing grade, and in my family, failing grades are not a good thing.  Thankfully, the young lady who was spotting me, thought to hold my skirt in a way that my undergarments could not be seen by everyone in class.

You would think the coach would have let me get an excused “absence” for this lesson because my mother wrote him a note explaining my religious beliefs, but he did not.  I had to participate.  I tried to talk to him, but he said that my excuse note was not sufficient to get me excused from the assignment.  So, there I was trying to flip on a parallel bar without showing all my glory.  I got a “C” on the assignment because I could not fully do the exercise without showing my glory, so I did a modified version.

As a child, I did not understand the rule, but as an adult, I realized why the church had this rule.  They wanted the saints to look a certain way, in order to portray what holiness looked like.  I have often heard people say that the forefathers of the church were ignorant, but I do not feel that way.  I think they were simply trying to help the congregants live a holy lifestyle.

The rules on dress has modify some, which is good, but I would not change my experience for anything.  It made me who I am.

Works Cited

Smith, Gayle Rosenwald. “The Wife-Beater.” Patterns for College Writing, edited by Laurie G. Kirsznek & Stephen R. Mandell, 9th edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004, 521-524, e-file.

Repost: Week 3: Prompt 1: But What if I’m the Away Team Member that Dies

Week 3: Blog Prompt 1 – Pick one of the Leadership lessons from "Five Leadership Lessons…" that you value and discuss it.

“Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk” is an essay written by Alex Knapp.  In it, he discusses lessons we can learn from James T. Kirk, the main character from the TV show Star Trek.  He contends that Kirk’s successful missions were not by accidents.  According to Knapp, “His style of command demonstrates a keen understanding of leadership and how to maintain a team that succeeds time and time again, regardless of the dangers faced” (28).

In lue of my score for Developing Interdependence on the Self-Assessment test (http://livinglovingteachingwriting.blogspot.com/2018/01/thats-not-right-score.html) from Week 1, I thought I’d pick this one...

Be Part of the Away Team

“Risk is our business. That’s what this starship is all about. That’s why we’re aboard her.”

Knapp discusses James T. Kirk’s willingness to put himself in harms way and join the away team missions.  He writes, “With his boots on the ground, he was always able to make quick assessments of the situation, leading to superior results, at least, superior for everyone with a name and not wearing a red shirt” (30).  This proves that Kirk was a hands-on leader.  He was able to lead his team by doing, and not just by talking.  As a leader, often we feel that we do not have to have our boots on the ground, causing us to forget what it was like when we were in our team’s shoes.  This can cause a leader to lose perspective.  Losing perspective can facility a lack of empathy for your team.  And, you do not get to know your team members.

One thing I try to do is get to know the names of my students.  It is not always easy, depending on the class size, but I think that is what makes me a caring professor, I want to know my team.  I enjoy being with my students, talking to them, and hearing their thoughts and ideas.  I think my students trust me more because I have been through what they are going through, and I still remember what it is like to be a college student.  In the classroom, I am Kirk.  I am the leader.

When it comes to being a teacher, I like being with my students, but I just have to learn to be a part of the away team in life.  My scariness with being part of the away team in life is that on Star Trek, almost always, one of the away team members, (the extra for that episode) ended up dying.  In real life, I feel like I am the extra, and I will be the one who dies in whatever episode I am in at that time.  I know that it is fear that causes me to feel this way, but I do not want to be in the extra in life.  I do not want to be that random person who no one knows their name or where they came from.  They just showed up, and then died.

Developing Interdependence will help me overcome this weird fear, but I must work at it.  I must remember, that in real life… I have to be a part of the away team, even if I am not the leader of the team, and there is a chance I will be the Away Team Member that Dies.

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Works Cited

Knapp, Alex. "Five Leadership Lessons from James T. Kirk." Read, Write, Reason, Edited by Dorothy U. Selyler, McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. 28-32. e-file.