English 100 at Ashland

The rumor from my secret sources is that Ashland University will soon make a transition away from Google Docs (and Google Drive, etc.) to a Microsoft product. Here are my early (and very personal) thoughts about the transition. Google Docs was always “word processing lite” Though it is getting better, Google Docs never gave much help with spelling or writing style, and its approach to page formatting was very primitive. Paragraph styles were especially weak. Docs was one of the first programs to automatically save your work, and that was a great advantage, but many other programs do that now. Its file format is unusual and hidden, so one result is that I keep getting files I cannot open from students who don’t really understand how it works. In general, Google Docs is OK if you are not too fussy about your final product, don’t want to learn how to use a better tool, and need something fast, free, and undemanding. I don’t think many businesses would use Google D...

Hard skills tend to be the things you can write in an instruction sheet: how to change spark plugs, give an injection, or enter items on a spreadsheet. Formal education, both in high school and college, tends to focus on hard skills because they are easy to grade (I can quickly tell whether you have correctly named the bones in the human hand) and because so many schools are obsessed with propelling you as quickly as possible into a job where you can accomplish a specific task. Soft skills are more difficult to teach: showing up for work on time, cooperating with coworkers, treating your boss with proper respect. Few high school or college courses focus on soft skills, yet, oddly, you are more likely to get fired for lacking soft skills than for lacking hard skills. Coworkers and bosses see those who lack soft skills as irritating and disrespectful. Applying this to the classroom For the next few years, your main job description is “student.” Tr...

Paper and pen/pencil This seems so basic, but many of my students arrive without any way to write anything. A spiral notebook for each class is a great idea, and you should bring more than one pen or pencil because pens run out of ink and pencil points break. When you arrive without paper and pen or pencil, we all know: You really are not serious about passing this course. You think that all you need to do is sit there—actually learning anything isn’t on your menu. You assume that everyone else will take care of your needs. You assume that you will never have to take a quiz in class—or that it is everyone else’s responsibility to give you paper and pencil so you can pass the course. Fortunately for the rest of us, people with this level of arrogance/ignorance will all be gone by the beginning of their sophomore year. Paperwork for the teacher If you have a form from your coach, a late paper, etc., don’t le...

Right now you are signing a lot of documents—loan papers and such. Get one of those accordion file folders, and keep your copy of everything you sign. At tax time you will thank me. You will thank me again in five or ten years when you really need to know what those documents said. By the way, you will want to keep your textbook receipts so you can return the book if you bought the wrong one or your schedule changes.

A lot of fake news circulates concerning college life. I’m not sure where all of this comes from, but kids seem to tell each other these lies—and you need to ignore them. Spoiler Alert: Pretty much all of the legends below are quick routes to failing a course or flunking out entirely. Don’t believe them. College attendance doesn’t count Yes it does, in two ways. In our course (and in many courses) attendance is part of the grade, and unexcused absences count against you. And obviously, if you weren’t here and the teacher said something you need, that hurts too. Some teachers don’t appear to take attendance, but they really can—they just know who is supposed to be in their small classroom. (I’m not that good. I will usually call roll.) You only think that absences don’t count against you because we don’t have an assistant principal phoning your mother. You are an adult now, and you should know how much absences hurt your grade. Strolling i...

When you think about it, most of us have disabilities of some sort or another. I’ve worn glasses since I was eight years old, and a couple of years ago I had cataract surgery. (My pre-surgery view of the world looked like this Monet painting.) Like you, I’m no stranger to physical problems with a classroom. Dealing with your issues Nobody is going to chase you down and demand that you find help. They probably don’t know that you are having trouble reading or hearing, so you must take initiative to deal with your issues. What you can do First, you need to figure out what kind of problem you have and how severe it is. Did you have an IEP in high school? Have you always had trouble seeing things from a distance? Then you need to take some action. Here are some places to begin: Get an eye exam. There’s nothing shameful or nerdy about wearing glasses. (Harry Potter wore them, and he saved the world.) Get your hearing checked. ...

During this last month Look carefully at your class schedule. Mistakes happen, and you will find it much easier to correct them in the week or two before classes start. Do a campus walk-through. We are a small campus, but we are still big enough to be confusing. Some buildings are known by more than one name. (A great example is the building our class is in: commonly called Bixler, it’s on the campus map as “Center for Humanities 14 ,” and it shows up in your computer list as “Center for Humanities Bixler.”) Your Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule is different from your Tuesday-Thursday schedule. Walk both of them and actually find the rooms. Get an eye exam. Don’t laugh. At least one student in every section I teach sits in the back, squinting and struggling to see the board. If you need glasses, get them. Wear them. They don’t look weird. Go shopping. I assum...

Looking forward to the fall semester, some of my students are wound very tightly, terrified about what’s coming. (Will I fail instantly? Will everyone hate me? How will I ever find my way around campus? Maybe I should just give up now!) Others are extremely laid-back and probably won’t even begin to think about college until August 24. Message to the uptight Relax! If you made it through high school, you can probably make it through college. Thousands of students on thousands of campuses have done what you are about to do—and my whole agenda as a teacher is to help you pass. Ashland University has a lot of resources to help you get through this place, and you don’t have to pay extra for them. If you are still full of anxiety, make a list of things you need to do (Get computer ready; buy a book bag.) and as you accomplish them over the next month, check them off. Then you can look at your list and say, “There! Nailed that one! I’m closer to my goa...

Everyone writes everything on a computer now, right? Wrong. In high school, perhaps you got along without having any handwriting skills (and, sadly, nobody teaches people how to handle a pen any more), but in college, you should expect to do a lot of handwriting. Classroom notes. You came to college to learn from teachers, and some of the things they say show up on tests. Computers are awkward for taking class notes, and phones are totally useless. Several studies show that people who hand-write class notes learn more about the content than people who take notes on computers. Notes on reading. You should be marking your textbooks and keeping a reading journal of your assignments. This just won’t work with a computer. In-class tests and quizzes. There is often no way to print out a typed copy of a quiz, so you will be writing it. If your writing is slow and difficult, you are at a disadvantage. If your writing ...

I see from the news that the newest Covid variant (BA.5) is spreading and likely to cause trouble. It’s supposed to be easier to catch and less affected by immunization. (And we all thought that the pandemic was behind us!) What you should do The rules are much the same as they have been for a couple of years now: Keep practicing social distancing. (Personal note: I was stuck in an airplane in the Orlando airport for two hours while the airline tried to find us a pilot. Sure enough, a week later I had all the symptoms of a mild Covid infection—exhaustion, cough, and muscle aches.) Keep washing your hands. The structure of the virus requires a grease molecule to bind it to your cells, so common soap and water is a surprisingly good defense. We should probably go back to masks, especially in places such as church or classrooms where a lot of people are packed together. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the university co...

I am not asking a deep philosophical question (Why did you get created? What’s the purpose of life?) I’m being much more simple-minded. Why did you decide to go to college? Why did you decide to come to Ashland? What are you looking for? First, a couple of non-answers I sometimes have students who are here so they can play football and get into the NFL. If that’s you, you need a backup career plan. Yes, Ashland does send people to the NFL—about one every ten years. We sent one guy to the NBA too—back in the 1970s. You seriously need a career plan besides professional sports. Every college, Ashland included, has a few students who are here to party. I don’t need to tell you that’s a waste of time and money, and party animals won’t be here very long. Grow up. If you’re not here to learn something college-related, you need to shift gears fast. Some good answers I’m not passing judgment; all are valid and it’s completely reasonable to find yours...

I was going to put together a list of the differences between high school and college, but then I ran into a website which summarized things beautifully: How is College Different from High School? This website comes from California State University, Chico, a campus which is much larger than ours. As I look over their list, though, the only change I would make is the comment on class size: Here at Ashland, your class size is likely to be smaller than what you experienced in high school! The maximum class size for our course is only 15 students, which means that you really can ask a question and hope for an answer! (Though, of course, class sizes in other departments will be different from ours.) Two differences worth emphasizing Doing the reading In high school, you usually got the reading assignment, then were expected to go home and read it. Many students didn’t actually do that because the teacher would typically spend the next day telli...