General

Why You Fell Just Short of Perfection And Got the Wrong ‘A’. What To Say When You Do.

Posted by on Jan 8, 2013 in Communicating with Professors, General, Interpersonal Communication | 20 comments

(Happy 2013, my fantastic blog audience! I am back and can’t wait to interact with all of you! As students return to school, some are rebounding from grade goals that weren’t quite met. I struggled with my return topic because this post–“You Failed Your Class… Now What?” –from 2011 on the old Blogger site had over 2,000 hits in a two week period. I worry about so many students concerned about failing grades. I promise to cover that topic further in many upcoming posts. Let’s start on the opposite side, which can be frustrating in a different way: When you are thisclose to getting a 4.0, but you don’t. What then? Once...

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Farewell for Now, Updates, and What’s to Come in 2013

Posted by on Dec 21, 2012 in General, Interpersonal Communication | 10 comments

To my incredible blog audience, I finally concluded my term and then realized that I was in some pretty big need of decompression. I wanted to write a note to say farewell for 2012 and to express my tremendous appreciation to you for being with me through this past year. I started The Chatty Professor in April 2011. During 2012, particularly in recent months, 3,000 – 4,000 visitors per month seemed to be finding their way over. I have no idea from any kind of analytics perspective if that is good, bad, or indifferent, but the thought that my niche blog could possibly be reaching that many people astounds and humbles me. I am thankful to each and every one of you...

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Before You Demand What You Believe You Deserve, Ask Yourself These Questions

Posted by on Dec 4, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General, Interpersonal Communication | 35 comments

(End of term craziness is here! My last post involved students talking to their professors about grades before the end of a term. This post reflects the next stage of that conversation. I have to believe that some of this advice translates to workplace evaluations, too). Can you feel an uprising afoot? I’m not talking about lingering sourness from those dissatisfied with national or local election results. I’m talking about students who are calculating/seeing their final grades and thinking (in a huge huff!), “I don’t deserve that!” Yep! Floods of students around the country will e-mail and suddenly storm professors’ offices about...

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Mini-Post: The College Conversation That I Hope Parents & Students Will Have This Thanksgiving

Posted by on Nov 21, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General | 6 comments

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:...

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Good News: One Prof Apologized; Bad News: Another Answers E-mails on Mondays and Thursdays

Posted by on Nov 15, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General, Interpersonal Communication | 12 comments

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...

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When Rude E-mail Responses Shut You Down, Say This to Get Back to Work

Posted by on Nov 13, 2012 in Communicating with Professors, General, Interpersonal Communication | 15 comments

(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...

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