1st 6 Weeks

Second Chances

When Karen Erickson of College Survival, Inc., a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin that publishes Dave Ellis's The Master Student, spoke to 50 MRCTE faculty gathered at JSRCC on 8/18/00, one of the best researched and salient points she made was that students persist at college if they meet someone who makes a difference for them.

On a different occasion, the question for discussion among 18 faculty at Southside Virginia Community College was--

What faculty do during the first six weeks of a course that keeps students enrolled.

Instead of notes from the discussion, I will gather for you, in no particular order, the comments made in response to the evaluation question--What single idea that you heard today do you intend to enact in at least one of your own courses? (This includes, it appears, confirming existing practices and continuing those.) Numbers in parentheses indicate how many attendees offered that as the best idea or the practice that they would most likely adopt. The most popular notion, as you can see, is actually suggested by Stephen Brookfield, author of Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, whose book was offered to attendees for free. Being a graduate-level business professor, he likens the letter to someone who is leaving a position leaving a letter for his or her successor.

	Have students write a letter to future students of the course regarding how to succeed in the course. (6)
	Check up on students in my Internet course to decrease the number of dropouts.
	Implement a "Grade Improvement Day" for each class I teach.
	Present the course syllabus in a different way, covering the point value [total for the course] in small, "manageable" parts. (2)
	Ask colleagues for samples of writing that my students will be doing on the job and then try to add them to my ENG 111 course.
	Use more "real" tests of student learning.
	Interview "failing" students about what they can do to succeed in my class.
	Be a positive "student" for the student, a role model.
	Ask the current students to suggest to the next class one piece of advice on how to do well in this class.
	I [already do] give second chances.
	Don't be too authoritative.
	Change my methods of teaching, such as identifying dependent students.
	Have interviews [for students who lag behind significantly but could still catch up] worth points.
	Use "Give Me Five." [Method demonstrated: After discussion, ask the entire group to volunteer an idea of theirs or one they heard until 5 ideas had been told to the class. See the "Roxane" variation, below.*]

What Do You Think: A question raised by one of the attendees is one you may wish to ponder--

Doesn't retaining students after six weeks also depend on the subject in which they enroll?

* We didn't get into the "Roxane" variation (reminiscent of the scene in the bar when Steve Martin as the nose-laden fire chief has to come up with 20 insults better than the dart champion thrust at him)-- Since the teacher is the official tabulator in the "Gimme 5" method, one could miscount in order to get more ideas from a group (or fewer to let them off the hook if most seem uncomfortable sharing).

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