General
Students, Before You Hide in Your Large Lecture Course, Read This
(I’m back a little late! My daughter started her first day of 4th grade, so my blog is a bit delayed. Quick news! If you are in the Seattle area: I will be making my first author appearance!!!! University of Washington Bookstore!!!!!! September 18th 7 p.m. Come visit! Yay!!!!!!! Okay, enough exclamation points. Let’s talk large lecture classes because I do not want you to disappear! Grab some tips!) Day #1 of my Intro to Comm class (Okay, and my Interpersonal Comm and my Public Speaking class): Pipe cleaner interviews. (Thank you, Kim Nehls from UNLV… Yes, I still do this activity 14+ years later!) Day #2, peanut butter and jelly activity...
Read MoreFreshmen: Wondering About Textbooks & What To Call Your Prof? Just Ask!
I think I’m going to pop an artery by the time I go back to school in late September. I already wrote about five college success tips that you don’t have to take. This was in response to college success advice that concerned me… remember? Now I’m seeing article after article of even more success tips for freshmen (and students in general) that I find incredibly overcomplicated. Why? Because the advice tells students what they should do six ways from Sunday… research this, look up that. The advice so rarely tells students to simply talk to people… to just ask questions! Should I be surprised? This piece in USA Today College about “what makes...
Read MoreWeek One College Students: Check Your Class Tech Today!
(Still in back-to-school mode here at The Chatty Professor, though I’m celebrating two exciting shout-outs this week: The Austin-American Statesman did a beautiful piece on Say This, NOT That, and I was honored to be in a KING-5 segment. But let’s get to important business–a recommendation I think is critical for all students and a first week tip I don’t think is discussed often enough…) Wonderful student, this could happen to you! Several years back, my campus implemented a college-based student e-mail system. That’s right. Gone were the days of bootielicious99983@xmail.com or viperbitesyou@xmail.com submitting e-mails that may or may not...
Read MoreWho Needs to Build Word Capital? We All Do! Here’s One Way…
(A bonus Friday post! My second book review! This wasn’t a genre of books I intended to review, but stay with me and see why I enthusiastically put these gems in my queue!) Full disclosure: I never took the SAT. I took the ACT back in high school and didn’t do so well. I took the GRE before grad school and let’s just say that it’s a good thing that my grad school entry wasn’t contingent on a high score (Just to save face here, I did beautifully in grad school). I’m a troubled test-taker and maybe some of you are, too. A while ago, I mentioned some books that are designed for skill building in the vocabulary portion of the SAT. Now...
Read MoreFive Must-Say Tips for Week One of College Classes
(Wow! I can’t thank everyone enough for the ongoing support for the grade dispute posts and also the incredible feedback for the post about college success tips not to take. I figured it would be a good idea to twist the latter topic to what college students should do now that we’re nice and early in back-to-school, so read on!) During my fifth visit to Women’s View Radio, I was recently had this call-in question, “What are the first steps that a student should take when going to college?” I’m sure that others’ answers would vary, depending on if you are living on or off-campus, if you’ve left home, etc., but as a prof, my...
Read MoreAnother Grade Dispute: When an A Isn’t Really an A
Here we go again! Remember the grade dispute that turned into a four-part series? How could you forget, right? Well, another interesting write-in, this time from a student at a major university. A different situation and for the sake of anonymity, I’m going to heavily paraphrase, but keep the general theme. One other note: At the end of this piece, I found an interesting link written by an attorney about “legally sound syllabi.” Very interesting! Are you ready? Let’s go…) Before I start with this student’s situation, I want to make a huge plea to all students reading this blog. Whether you are just starting college or you are knee-deep...
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.
Connect with Ellen