Posts by ebremen
Mini-Post: The College Conversation That I Hope Parents & Students Will Have This Thanksgiving
To all my treasured blog readers, I hope you have a magnificent holiday! I wish you all abundance. I was thinking about all of the students who will be visiting home or even speaking to their parents from afar during these next few days. Inevitably, this seemingly benign, but potentially charged question will arise: “How’s college going?” or “How are your classes?” Now if college is going great, then a wonderful discussion, right? (Too fuzzy?). If things aren’t going so well, then the conversation could become tense, uncomfortable… disastrous. And who wants that? So I have two requests during this holiday: First, for parents:...
Read MoreGood News: One Prof Apologized; Bad News: Another Answers E-mails on Mondays and Thursdays
I’m going to jump right into this post… It will take a couple of twists and turns, so hold on to your handrails. First, so honored to share this #STNT review that will only be available publicly by Teachers College Record (Columbia University) for a limited time before it goes password-protected. Message me for an exam copy of #STNT if your college would like one! Now, an inspiring update about the student who was upset over abrupt e-mails from the professor: “Ellen, I appreciate your response. I feel reassured that I had a right to my feelings. I took your advice and contacted the professor. I worded the e-mail as you recommended and I couldn’t...
Read MoreWhen Rude E-mail Responses Shut You Down, Say This to Get Back to Work
(I’m checking on the student who missed three weeks of class to see if they met with the professor. I’ll update as soon as I know, but I hope there is a favorable outcome. Here is a recent write-in that I’m also escalating because as the term closes in on all of us, e-mails between student and professor become more abundant. It’s easy for curtness to become the norm… even when that may not be the intent. Here we go…) Ellen, I am taking a class where I don’t feel like I e-mail the instructor much at all. I don’t want to overreact, but I am very upset by the responses I’m receiving. I’m trying to be congenial in...
Read MoreStudents, If You Are Facing This Situation, Run and See Your Professor NOW!
(I hit a grading wall and there went my blogging rhythm this week! Quick news that made me feel very honored: Say This, NOT That received its first peer-reviewed journal nod from The National Academic Advising Association: “…should be required reading for first year seminars and campus orientation classes.” Yay!!!!! Here is the full review and if your campus would like an exam copy, message me at chattyprof@gmail.com and I’ll send word to my publisher. Now, on to today’s post: The NACADA review discusses the increasing disconnect between students and campus professionals. Well, a student wrote to me with a huge disconnect, albeit...
Read MorePart 2: “Some Professors Suck!” – Being New and Only Using The Book
I’ll dive in and continue our discussion that we started the other day by the parent and the student about a) why some professors seemingly refuse to help; and b) why some professors suck sometimes. I received some great comments on that post and here are some comments from Twitter: From @Joeymom: As a prof, I agree. Some profs suck at teaching. Many are trained in their field, but have zero training in education. From @PopoagieForever: This is sometimes true and sometimes a sign of a lazy or unqualified student. From @CatalyzedLeader: That’s because 95% of doctoral programs involve no TEACHER TRAINING! I sought it out to make sure I was educated. I love it,...
Read MoreBuy the Book!
In Say This, NOT That to Your Professor: 36 Talking Tips for College Success, an award-winning, tenured communication professor takes you “inside the faculty mind...Click here to Buy on Amazon
A tenured professor of Communication Studies helps students correctly--not cluelessly--speak/deal with those who teach them.
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