Rick Dollieslager Thomas Nelson Community College, Hampton, Virginia For Cengage Learning

“Soft Skills” = Success in Life Developing responsibility through course activities and graded assignments:  Syllabus building  Base Group establishment  The late paper case study  Professional behaviors work sheet  NQAs

Copied from ENF 003 course syllabus (English Fundamentals 3, integrated reading and writing instruction) Expectations of Students (Compiled and agreed to by Mr. D. and the members of the class) In order to be successful in ENF 3 and ENG 111, we agree to do the following:  Show up on time every day  Be prepared with all homework that is due... Following group discussion of student success behaviors, finish this section of the syllabus in class Expectations of Mr. Dollieslager (Compiled and agreed to by Mr. D. and the members of the class) In order to facilitate your success and support your academic achievements.I agree to do the following:  Be prepared for class  Maintain my office hours, f2f and virtual, at the agreed upon times of _______________... Following group discussion, finish this section of the syllabus in class Classroom Deportment (Compiled and agreed to by Mr. D. and the members of the class) In order to foster success, it is my responsibility to maintain a safe, learning-centered environment in which every student can participate and develop the skills necessary to be successful in ENF 3 and ENG 111. I take this responsibility very seriously, and we will all agree to the following classroom behaviors in order to respect everyone’s right to learn the course objectives and to support each other in achieving them.  Turn off your cell phone during class  Listen actively when your class colleagues are speaking... Following group discussion, finish this section of the syllabus in class

 Establishes students’ responsibility for their own learning outcomes  Requires and initiates active involvement of the students in their desired outcomes  Connects the students to their colleagues and professor through common goals and agreed-upon behaviors  Posits a de facto course conduct contract between student, teacher, and class colleaguesa de facto course conduct contract  the-creative-classroom.html the-creative-classroom.html

COOPERATIVE BASE GROUPS: MEMBERS MONITOR EACH OTHER’S ACADEMIC PROGRESS AND MAKE SURE ALL ARE ACHIEVING.  Long term (an entire semester) heterogeneous (in terms of academic achievement and motivation) study and support groups with stable membership that meets on a biweekly basis.  Members encourage each other to master course content and complete assignments  Members check to see what assignments each member has and what help they need to complete them  Group discusses assignments, provides information about what a member missed or misunderstood  Help each other with test prep.  Go over missed questions after tests and/or quizzes  Help with proofreading and editing essays and covering math homework  Call and absent members

DID I MISS THE BOAT? THE LATE PAPER THE LATE PAPER CASE STUDY  Who is responsible for Kim’s failing grade: Kim? Prof. Freud? Kim’s husband? Her classmate? Freud’s secretary?  Discussing the case study, students see responsibility means making wise choices.

THEY CHOOSE WHEN TO USE IT ONE CHANCE/ONE CHOICE: NQAS NQA: No Questions Asked This coupon entitles the bearer to turn in ONE assignment up to one week late, with no questions asked and no reduction in grade. Assignment: _______________________ Date: ________ Signature: ___________  One-time use of No Questions Asked coupon  Makes up one late assignment  Understand that this is their single late submission; no others can be accepted.  Add your on stipulations to the coupon (time-out date, extra credit for not using it, etc.)

PREPARING FOR A PROFESSION BY ACTING PROFESSIONALLY IN CLASS USING MODELS AND RUBRICS  Continuous improvement model  Self-assessing  Assessing peers  Teacher assessment  Mid-term  End-of-term  Assessing growth and progress  A professionalism rubricprofessionalism rubric

TEACH GOOD NOTE TAKING INTEGRATE STUDY SKILLS INTO COURSES  Teach Cornell notes format  Collect and grade notes  Allow open notes testsopen notes tests  Teach SQ3R readingSQ3R reading  Use math journalsmath journals  Use grammar journalsgrammar journals  Use ChunkingChunking