I was reviewing some of the videos available through Mentor Commons to find one I thought you would find helpful and I ran across this one. It is about 18 minutes and I definitely think you will find something useful here.
You can access it at this LINK.
Blessings,
Rick
Sent by a Chattanooga Student:
To my esteemed instructors & staff at Belhaven,
I want to thank you for the significant impact you have had on my heart, my mind, and my spiritual growth over the past four years during my undergraduate studies. You inspired me to take each subject into my heart, infusing each one with a biblical application that brought meaning and importance never before seen. You helped me to assign words to my Christian worldview, and to embrace my biblical beliefs boldly. You pointed the way for me to look back at my life, to identify how my worldview was formed and to appreciate the gifts I was given in my upbringing. You were patient when life got tough and I needed Grace on a deadline here and there. You directed me to the One who would provide exactly what I needed in every course, every day, and every week. You helped to identify the talents God gave me and encouraged me to believe it is never too late to become the person He planned for me to be. You gave me a safe place to be in community each week, in prayer, in vulnerability with one another, and in trusting friendships.
Because of you, I became a more effective employee, a more compassionate friend and a closer-walking disciple of Jesus. The BSM diploma and the James W. Park award are humbling honors I will always cherish, but they hold more meaning because of the many ways my life was enriched by you.
Thank you, and God bless you,
Susan (Scarbeck) Anderson
Dr. Darrell Baughn, a Full-Time Instructor at Jackson/Lefleur shared with me a powerpoint presentation he uses during all his courses to introduce students to writing expectations. You can find the file here if you would like to use it: APA GUIDE.
A week ago I heard about a student complaining that the Instructor was grading too hard on the writing, instead of focusing on the content. Obviously, the Instructor, in this case, has made the important connection that unless the writing is done right, the content likely won’t even be read in a real-world context. We have to reinforce an emphasis upon writing across the curriculum and ALL of us have to hold this line. To do less is to graduate students who simply won’t succeed in the workplace because they cannot write clearly and with appropriate grammar.
Whether you use Dr. Barnes material above or the other resources which have been shared through these blogs and webinars, please make sure in EVERY course you teach that you set the standard, and then hold the students to that standard. To do anything else is to let them down, and to fail in our mission.
If you have something that you use to reinforce the importance of writing with your students, please share that in reply to this post.
I posted this initially in April of 2017 but I thought I’d share it again since I believe it can be an exceptionally good way to review for tests, not to mention reinforcing information in a way that engages the students and creates a little fun along the way:
I know you are always on the lookout for an activity to use after 9:00 that will actively engage students and make that last hour meaningful.
Here is one activity that will do that. Kahoot. Kahoot is a classroom engagement software that is free to instructors and provides an interesting way to engage students in content. I’ve included some links to a couple of tutorials about how to use Kahoot below.
It will involve you setting up the activity in advance but on the plus side, it can be used over and over again as you teach the class. This would make a great test-review session and could spark some interesting discussion as well. Don’t be put off that the tutorials are based on secondary education models – this will work just as well for adults in that last hour of class. I’ve been in a session when this was used and I can personally vouch for how effective it is.
Please post a reply to this if you use it and let me know how it went.