Tag Archives: Mentoring College Students

Is Passing The Course Enough?

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© Stephen Coles on flickr

Having been in higher education for almost forty years, I have heard many reasons for students to go to college – some good and some not so good.  The focus is pretty much on getting a good paying job after graduation.  To do that, students take and pass courses until they’ve completed their requirements for graduation, so this is the focus – not learning anything or being able to use what was learned in the real world or even how to use it.

As an educator, I think we must shoulder some of the blame for this.  Too often, we present information to the students without really helping them understand why it’s important other than that it may be on the next test.  Because of this, the students retain information well enough to repeat it on the test and then forget it never really understanding its value.

This is not what we should do and this is not how learning takes place.  I tell my students that they are smart enough to learn the material, my job is to put it into context for them so they know how it fits with what else they should have learned and how to use the information after they graduate.  Put another way, I want them to be able to recognize an application of knowledge they obtained and know how to use that knowledge to solve real world problems and answer real world questions.  In the long run, this is what makes them valuable to an employer and to society in general – not what grades they got in college.  A few years after graduation, no one will ask them about their college experience any more.  They will want to know what they’ve done with what they learned since graduation.  Graduating may get them employed but what they learned while they were in school and how well they can use it will keep them employed.

Is An Ivy League Education Really Worth It?

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From the U. S. Department of Education on Flikr

Should you send your son or daughter to an Ivy League college or university or another high quality school that does not have the prestige or the cost of the Ivies?  This is a question parents all over the country wrestle with every year as decisions about where students will be in the fall are made.  The choice of a college or university depends on many things the most important of which is the student.  Each family should send their son or daughter to the school the fits him or her best and that fits their budget for college.  In Ivy League or Bust? , Kristin Battista-Frazee’s recent article on Huffington Post does an excellent job of setting out the factors to be evaluated when making this important decision.  I strongly recommend that you read this article before deciding on a college or university.

 

 

How To Reduce College Dropouts

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Dropout PictureFollow the link below to read an interesting article on what some universities are doing to significantly reduce the number of students who start but don’t finish college.  How do you think these strategies would work at your college or university?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/opinion/sunday/what-can-stop-kids-from-dropping-out.html?_r=0

The Virginia Festival of the Book – A Wonderful Experience

Coaching, Events, First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Media Appearances, Mentoring Students, Success In College, The Costs and Benefits of Higher Education, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In March, Donna and I were presenting authors at the Virginia Festival of the Book.  I participated in three events.  On Wednesday March 16th, I talked with fifty students at Albemarle High School about preparing for success in college.  Several of the students told me how much they appreciated the advice and how I shared it with them and the teachers were glad to hear their messages reinforced by someone the students enjoyed listening to.

Wednesday evening, I was one of two panelists discussing the adolescent mindset and the best ways to help students prepare for and have a successful college experience leading to graduation in four years with good grades and good job prospects.  There was a standing room only audience who had sons and daughters in college or preparing to go so they were quite interested in our presentations.  They demonstrated their interest by purchasing all the books I had brought for sale!

Finally, Sunday morning I briefly discussed College In Four Years at the Links of Charlottesville brunch for Festival authors who wrote books relevant to African Americans and/or people of color.  I told the audience of 200 about the value of the book for students and parents and how it could be instrumental in helping them work together for success in college.  The message resonated with them and they also purchased every book available for sale.

In addition to these presentations, I will be sharing more information with students in Charlottesville high schools in May.

Needless to say, I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in the Virginia Festival of the Book and thrilled with the reception College In Four Years got at all the events and with an opportunity to share information with more students in May.  Take a look at the pictures below from the events.

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The beginning of a great event!
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My talk with students at Albemarle High School.
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The Sawyer Authors!
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My panel discussion on the teenage mindset and higher education with Dr. Florence Jensen (The teenage Brain: Planning for Success in High School, College, and Beyond) and our moderator Ms. Elizabeth Benedict.

 

 

 

The Virginia Festival of the Book

Book Review, Events, First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Media Appearances, Mentoring Students, Success In College, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

VaBookFestival2016-OrigI want to let you know that I will be participating in the Virginia Festival of the Book later this month.  Here’s a list of the events, dates, times and locations.  I hope you can join me there:

Presentation of College in Four Years at Albemarle High School at 2775 Hydraulic Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901.  The presentation will be at 10:30 AM on Wednesday March 16th.

A discussion of College In Four Years as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book at 6:00 PM on March 16th at the Northside Library at 705 Rio Road, West Charlottesville, Virginia 22901.  The discussion will be from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM.

Participation in the 13th annual Celebration Brunch 11:30 AM–2:30PM at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel on Sunday, March 20, 2016 sponsored by the Links of Charlottesville where each author will briefly discuss his/her book.

Dr. Granville M. Sawyer, Jr. Appears on The Thornton Business Hour Wednesday, January 20, 11:00 AM, WOL 1450 AM

Book Review, Coaching, Events, First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Media Appearances, Mentoring Students, Success In College, The Costs and Benefits of Higher Education, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

Pat Thornton
I’ll be the guest of Pat Thornton, on her radio show, The Thornton Business Hour on WOL 1450 AM tomorrow January 20th at 11:00. You can also listen to the live stream at  http://woldcnews.newsone.com/ if you are outside of the listening area.

Pat and I will be talking about how to earn a college degree in less time with less stress for less money.  If you would like to leave a comment or a question that you would like for me to answer during the show please do so in the comments section below and tag it #ThorntonBusinessHour.

A Review of ‘Where Everybody Looks Like Me’

Book Review, First Generation College Students, Higher Education, Mentoring Students, Non-traditional Students, Success In College, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

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I just published a review of “Where Everybody Looks Like Me”  By Ron Stodghill on Afro.com.  You can read it at:

http://www.afro.com/where-everybody-looks-like-me-and-the-challenges-facing-hbcus/

Let me know what you think.

GradeUP! Challenge #24: When You Study – the How is More Important Than the What

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examsIn Challenge #23 I talked about the importance of diet, rest and exercise in preparing for your final exams. In this post – we get down to work. The first thing you should know is that how you study is more important than what you study. You know what was covered in your classes and what you need to know for your finals – at least you should if you’ve been taking the GradeUP! Challenge this semester! Now you’ve got a semester of material to study and the challenge is knowing how to study all it all to be ready for your tests. Here’s how you do this successfully:

  • Give yourself enough time to study. I put this first because many students are doing more than just going to school – you may be working one or more jobs and taking a full load this semester. You have to carve out more time at the end of the semester to study for your tests and this means making some tough decisions about how to balance work, school and your personal life. Put school first at this critical time in the semester, you can rebalance your schedule when finals are over.
  • Organize, organize, organize – spend time pulling together everything you need to study and organizing it so you’ve got what you need when the time comes. Two o’clock in the morning is not the time to find out you don’t have what you need to study for a test the next day.
  • Start out studying for understanding – not memory. Read and study to thoroughly understand what you’re responsible for. It’s much easier to remember material and concepts you really understand instead of unrelated facts, figures and formulas. The concepts you understand are the ones that stick with you after class is over. When you leave college and seek employment based on what you learned in college, this is what you’ll have to show for the time, effort and money spent in class this semester.
  • Use the study tips in GradeUP! Challenges #5, #6, #7 , #8 and #15 to make your study time count so, when you see test questions and problems based on what you studied, you’ll be able to recognize them and come up with the right answers.

All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week-by-Week page.

Be sure to take advantage of the free eBook giveaway of College in Four Years through Friday, April 24. You’ll find details on the eBook Giveaway here.

GradeUP! Challenge #23: Three Secrets For Successful Studying

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Good diet, adequate rest and regular exercise are as important to your performance in class as studying and understanding course material. Numerous studies tell us that you can’t think of these practices separately – like a three-legged stool, they support each other and you. Lack of rest robs you of the ability to process and understand what you’re studying and the ability to recall during tests. So, pulling that all-nighter won’t help you, it can only hurt you.

I learned this the hard way, I once stayed up until three in the morning studying for a math exam. I was alert the whole time pumped up on adrenalin and caffeine, but I wasn’t learning anything. I got a seventy-six on my exam. I could have gone to bed at ten thirty and done that!

Staying up late wasn’t the only mistake I made.The sugar and caffeine I consumed kept me awake alright but they also caused me to “crash” later, just about the time I was taking my exam. The tiredness and fatigue came over me so quickly, I almost fell asleep in the test. This is definitely not the way to go. You’ve got to put the right foods in your body to work for you or you’ll  pay the price at the worst possible time.

The last critical piece here is exercise. As little as fifteen minutes a day can help keep you refreshed and ready to study productively. An uninterrupted cycle of study and work with no chance to stretch your muscles and get your blood flowing  wears on you down. Every hour you keeping going becomes less productive; you accomplish less, learn less and are less prepared to use what you once knew on your tests. Taking time for brief period of exercise is time well spent.

Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your study time now and in the future:

  • Plan your preparation for final exams now so you have enough time to study and stay healthy – be honest with yourself about what you can do, not what you hope you can do.
  • Schedule in study breaks so you have time to eat a healthy meal and walk around a bit to loosen up your muscles and refresh your mind – you will learn and retain more of what you study.
  • Remember, you can’t study or work all day and all night and expect to be successful at either – that’s just wishful thinking.
  • Use the study techniques I shared with you throughout the GradeUP! Challenge – they’re all available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week-by-Week page.

A Special Thank You

To thank you for your participation in The College in Four Years GradeUP! Challenge, I am offering a free E-book version of College in Four Years: Making Every Semester Count, from Wednesday, April 22 through Friday, April 24. Click this link or simply log onto Amazon.com, search College in Four Years by Granville Sawyer and download the kindle edition for free.

I’d like to know what you thought about what I’ve shared from the book during the GradeUP! Challenge. Be it good or not so good, I’d greatly appreciate your leaving a review on Amazon, and if you’re a member, Goodreads. To leave a review on Amazon just click the customer reviews hyperlink just under the book title and that will take you to a page where you can leave your review. For Goodreads just access your profile, list College in Four Years as Read and leave me a review.

Thank you in advance for your review and for your participation in the GradeUP! Challenge. If you would like information and intermittent news about my upcoming events, giveaways, webinars, new resources or books, I invite you to join my Email List.

GradeUP! Challenge #22: The Gut Check

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©Jenn and Tony Bot on flickr
©Jenn and Tony Bot on flickr

The final series of GradeUP! posts are to get you ready for your final exams. I’m going to start with a way to test your understanding and readiness for any test, any subject, anywhere, anytime. I call it the “Gut Check” because it’s all about what you feel and not what you know. This may sound like an unusual  approach to test prep but trust me – there is no better way – the gut always knows, let me explain.When it’s time to be tested on what you know, you want to believe you’re ready, but how do you know? You’re probably thinking; study, take the test, get my grade, then I’ll know. Don’t rely on just want you think about your level of preparation, you need to know how you “feel” about it, that’s the Gut Check. Here’s how it works:

  • Once you think you have prepared well for a test, find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably and close your eyes.
  • See yourself in the moment of the test with the exam in front of you.
  • See your hand come down and write your name on the test.
  • Don’t think – just feel.
  • Does your heart start to race?
  • Do your palms get sweaty?
  • Does your butt pucker up a little?

All of these responses are triggered by the same emotion – fear.  Whether you want to know it or not, your heart and your gut are telling you the truth: you are not ready. You can’t think your way around fear. If you don’t work harder to get ready for your tests, you will go into your exams unprepared, nervous and unable to use what you do know. Be honest with yourself and use the Gut Check to know you’re ready for your finals and all tests in the future. If you want the truth, ask your heart and your gut because they will always be honest with you.

Look through the GradeUP! Challenges for information on how to prepare for a test if your Gut Check says you’re not ready. All previous GradeUP! Challenges are available on the GradeUP! Challenge Week-by-Week page.