Do you make assumptions about people? I did…until one day that will haunt me forever.
My students get frustrated with group work when peers don’t contribute in a timely manner. Instead of communicating with their groupmates, they assume it’s laziness, or they don’t manage their time like they should, don’t take their classes seriously, probably were out partying late, etc.
I often know why those groupmates aren’t engaged as much as the others. Life is complicated.
Is this who you are?
When you’re under pressure, is your go-to strategy to lie or cheat? Here’s an alternative strategy. Like most of my advice, it applies to life, in general, not just to students.
We just need one person to not give up on us
I can create space and time. You can too!
Give yourself a little space to get it right!
New beginnings
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Grandparents ask this of young children who know nothing about the world. High schools pressure kids to decide whether they’ll go to college or not without teaching them what college is good for. College demands that kids identify their majors without explaining what all the programs are.
What I see, as a professor, are college students yearning to become, for example, nurses without having an inkling that poop is part of the job, or choosing to become math teachers because…well, what else do you do when you’re good at math? Students seem to know little about themselves and virtually nothing about careers.
Instead of asking kids about their future selves, we should encourage them to focus on who they are now. If they understand their strengths, weaknesses, preferences, needs, and values, they’ll be ready, when the time comes, to decide whether they want to climb power poles in blizzards or herd 7-year-olds, or whether they can handle cleaning up poop or firing people.
This is the first in a series of posts about how to help guide young people (or those young at heart) to get to know themselves better in order to help them find a career direction that might fit.
College like a Rock Star!
All too often students with great potential struggle with college, drop out, or miss out on the extracurricular professional experiences necessary for being a standout candidate for a job in their field, because they don’t know where to look for resources. This is especially common with students who are the first in their families to attend college.
These students often feel overwhelmed and lost in a university environment. Some are fearful of opportunities that sound unfamiliar or, worse, believe that those opportunities are intended for others, not for them.
I specialize in helping students find their place in higher education, make their education work for them, and help them get every dollar’s worth of their tuition.
In my 30+ years of teaching, I’ve helped thousands of students find their place in higher education. My greatest joy is when students contact me after graduating to ask for my advice in their new careers.
On Wednesday, August 23rd at 6:30 PM, I’ll be giving a free talk in the Training Room of the Merrimac Police Department at 2 Jana Way. I’ll be offering some advice on how to navigate college. There will be lots of time for questions.
If you’re nervous about going to college for the first time, I hope you’ll join me to learn how to step into collegiate life with more confidence.