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… 

Week 2: Prompt 2: College Still Ain't Easy

Last year when I wrote this blog post (https://profbooneeng1302.blogspot.com/2017/02/week-2-prompt-2-college-aint-easy.html)… I suggested that college ain’t easy.  Well, it still ain’t easy.

Here's one other previous post I posted with college advice... https://profbooneeng1302.blogspot.com/2018/01/week-2-prompt-2-read-read-then-read.html

Here's another post about reading... https://profbooneeng1302.blogspot.com/2018/01/cross-post-reading-again.html

Last week we talked about success in college.  I shared with my students (five times to five different classes be exact) that I graduated #6 in a class of 360 students.  I failed my first semester of college with a GPA of 1.8.  I candidly admitted that I had no idea how to be successful in college despite being the 6th top student in my high school class.  I was not ready for college.  And… despite my father being a professor at the college I attended, I had no one to teach me how to be successful in college.

When I asked for help, my father said… “You know what to do!”

I cried, but eventually, by the grace of God, I figured it out.

I also discussed my two…

While in college…

1.  Allowing my father to be my academic advisor.

2.  Not making any long lasting friendships.

Number One…

My father told me, without even asking me, that he was going to be my academic advisor.  He felt that he knew me (and as I discovered later) and he knew what was best for me.  Well, in hindsight, he was wrong.  I wanted to major in computers, but he said they would never last and told me to major in Human Resource Management.

He also had me taking classes that I was not prepared to take, sophomore classes, stating that I was smart enough to skip the freshman classes.  Again, he was wrong.

After flunking my first semester, my father told me that I would have to pay for my own college degree, and that I was going to get a college degree, so I had to get a job and go to college at the same time.

In the end, I ended up paying around $50,000 (after loan fees) for a college degree I have NEVER and will NEVER use.

So, piece of advice #1…

Never let anyone dictate what and who you will be in college.  Be who you want to be.  Get the degree you want to get.  Take the classes you want to take.  In the end, the only person who will suffer from these bad decisions will be you.

Number Two…

I was and still am a LONER.  I prefer to be by myself, to work alone, and to figure things out on my own.  I did that in college.  And as far as my life in college…

Image

I mean, I went to a party or three here and there throughout my four year stay at college, but, mostly…

I knew people on campus.  Talked to people on campus.  But, I really made no friends.  After college, I had no one to call and see how they were doing.  I had no reason to go back to the college for homecoming.  I had no reason to think fondly on my days at the college.

I honestly wish I would have made some friends.

Lest I be found guilty of forgetting two important people that I met in college, I must say that I met two people, Mr. & Mrs. Barree, who became the surrogate parents that I needed while in college, while I was a student at my college, so I do have a couple of relationships from my college days, but no friendships with people who were my classmates.

So, piece of advice #2…

Make some friends while you are in college.  College is one of the best times you will have in your life.  Have some people on campus who you can share these times with.  Also, make some memories while in college so that you will have a reason to come back to the school for homecoming weekend.

There’s so much more advice I can give to high schoolers, but I’ll save it for when I have them as students in my Dual Credit classes in the future.

I’ll close this post as I closed the post from last year…

If your school offers Dual Credit classes, please check them out, but remember, you have to be ready to be a college student, because that is how the professor will treat you.

P.S.  If you are a student already in college, keep your head up and do your best!  It may be hard, but you can SUCCEED.

Week 2: Prompt 1: The Modernizing of Hansel & Gretel (A Fairytale)

Repost...

Prompt: Thinking about the discussion of Hansel & Gretel today, how would you make the story more meaningful for millennials?  Be sure to give specific examples.

Being that I am not a millennial, I am not sure how I would change the modern adaptation.  It seems modern enough.  But, here is my attempt at making it meaningful to the youngins’.

First, I would take it out of the woods.  I would put it in a modern metropolitan area.  Then, I would have the parents drive them to the country, and leave them there.  This would probably make it almost impossible for the children to get back because they may not be able to get back to the city.  That might defeat the whole purpose of the story.

Instead of dropping something to leave a trail of M&Ms or bread crumbs as referenced in the original story, I would have the kids take pictures of the various landmarks.  That would be more effective in getting them home.

I would have them walk for a few miles until they found a farmhouse, where the lady of the house welcomed them in with open arms because she was lonely, and wanted companionship.  She would feed them, then treat them well, lulling them into a false sense of security before she puts them to work as farmhands.  Of course, the man of the house would come in and crack the whip.

The kids would eventually grow tired of the hard work, and then steal the farmer’s truck, and drive home using the pictures they took as their parents drove them to the country.  They would come back home with a new appreciation for what they have, and what their parents gave them.  They would go to college, and become productive citizens, learning the lesson to be appreciate and work for what you have.

But knowing millenials as I do, if they were allowed to keep their cell phones, they could just call an Uber or Lyft, and get back home.  Yes, this would not teach them a lesson, as a fairytale is supposed to, but they use their resources.

Works Cited
“Hansel and Gretel: A Modern Adaptation.” Rhetoric and Civic Life, Penn State University, 26 Sept. 2013, sites.psu.edu/rclsen/2013/09/26/hansel-and-gretel-a-modern-adaptation/.

I Will Do It This Year...

This year...

Write ALL the blog post required for my ENGL1302 class!

Assessing Ourselves (respost)

We took a Self-Assessment this week in 1302.  It looks at the following areas:

Accepting Personal Responsibility – “seeing themselves as the primary cause of their outcomes and experiences.”

Discovering Self-Motivation – “finding purpose in their lives by discovering personally meaningful goals and dreams.”

Mastering Self-Management – “consistently planning and taking purposeful actions in pursuit of their goals and dreams.”

Employing Interdependence – “building mutually supportive relationships that help them achieve their goals and dreams (while helping others do the same).”

Gain Self-Awareness – “consciously employing behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes that keep them on course.”

Adopting Lifelong Learning – “finding valuable lessons and wisdom in nearly every experience they have.”

Developing Emotional Intelligence – “effectively managing their emotions in support of their goals and dreams.”

Believing in Myself – “seeing themselves as capable, lovable, and unconditionally worthy human beings.”

I feel that this lesson will help the students greatly.

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Works Cited

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.

Weekly Essay 1: That’s Not the Right Score (repost)

I asked the students to write an essay discussing their scores.  I thought I’d discuss mine.

We must apply self-reflection on a regular basis.  It helps us become a better person.  We did that in my ENGL1302 class.  It was a Self-Assessment test.  It looked at many areas that a student needs to develop to be a successful college student.

Often, taking these types of tests are monotonous and useless, but I found this test to be helpful.  I have taught this lecture twice before, but this year was the first time I took the test.  The questions were interesting, and they caused me to pause and think several times.  They were eye-opening as well.  The scoring of the test took awhile because it requires more math than I wanted to have to deal with, but it was worth it.

I knew that I would have only one low area, Employing Interdependence.  This is where you create relationships that will help you be successful in life.  I am a self-actualizer, and I prefer working by myself whenever possible.  I do ask for help, but I would rather work alone.  I hate, yes, hate working in groups.  This score is also low because I do not network well.  I need to work on that more.  But, as I tallied up the scores, I saw that I had a low score in Developing Emotional Intelligence.  This is where you understand your emotions, control them, and work towards creating your own happiness and peace of mind.  My score there was 20 points lower than I expected it to be.  I was shocked.

It seems that I need to work on developing my emotional intelligence more.  I usually am even tempered, but I can zone out on you when I am in “one of my moods.”  I have been known to ignore people well.  My husband laughs at me and tells me that he wishes he had my focus.  I am still somewhat upset about this low score, but I am working on growing in this area.

The scores of my other areas were in the 70s.  I expected that.  My highest score was Discover Self-Motivation.  I am a self-motivator.  In fact, I enjoy motivating others.  I have always motivated myself.  I function best when I am accomplishing various tasks and goals that I set for myself.  It is fun to find ways to motivate myself; I used to use stickers when I taught pre-k, but as a college professor, I find that checking off or crossing through completed tasks works.

Overall, taking this test with my students helped me learn more about myself.  I believe in showing my students that I use what I teach them to succeed.  I was able to tell my students that I had low scores on the assessment, so they should not feel bad if they had a low score on the assessment.

Life is all about growing, learning, and becoming better.  this is just one tool that shows you how you can do that.

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Works Cited

Downing, Skip. “Self-Assessment.” On Course, 5th edition, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2007, 6-10, e-file.

Spring 2019

I'm exciting about this semester.  Can't wait to begin blogging.