Time & Money Down the Drain

Recently I’ve overheard and had discussions with several students about skipping or missing class. For the Love of Pete – do not do this!

First, you cannot learn from the instructor if you are not in the class. Do not trust your classmates to take notes for you. What if there is a pop quiz the day you failed to show up? I had an instructor who gave pop quizzes – question #1 was ‘what is your name.’ You had to be there to get the points. Do you want those extra points? Additionally, you need to be present to take in the material the instructor is sharing with the class.

Second, you must get up for an 8am class if you signed up for an 8am class. That’s the way the cookie crumbles people. Getting up for an 8am isn’t the hard part – getting to bed earlier enough is. As I have repeatedly said, this is your educational career and you have to do your best so your employment career can be the best. No more of this “when I get into the real world I’ll get up for 8am” stuff. This is the real world; this is your world.

Finally, you or someone who loves you is paying for you to be here to obtain the knowledge from your instructors. Have you ever thought about it and tried to put a dollar amount on your class period – or skipped class? Luck for us, someone else has (link below). If you skip 13 classes a semester that easily converts to $2,400.32 or $184.64 per class missed. Count up the number of classes you have skipped this semester … now think of that in terms of dollars lost.

With the exception of family emergencies you should be in class all the time. The only excuse absence is coughing up a lung.

http://www.studentscholarshipsearch.com/tips/cost-of-skipping-class.php

Important Notices 

Juniors,

Professional Development II was moved to avoid conflict with Polymers. And the Advanced Metal Casting Lab offered on Wednesday has been pushed back, also to avoid conflict with Polymers and to allow plenty of travel time to the foundry.

Important Dates

• Now – October 29, Course Request
• Now – October 29, Course Request Meeting Time
• This is a required meeting time.
• October 29, Walk-in Only
• Last day of Course Request. No appointment needed.
• October 30 -31, Nothing Scary about Advising
• Food & Games

Helpful Tools

Last week we covered the characteristics people in the team should have to make up a good team. This week I want to examine the specific roles that the people must carry out. Roles are very different than characteristics - these are assigned jobs or hats the team members will wear for the duration of the team. Just as with the characteristics, no one person should be all of these things.

• The institutional memory.  Remembers what the organization did last time this situation occurred.  Has been around long enough to know what works and what doesn’t work.  Can name the events and the players from the last time around.  Can be very helpful in preventing repetitions of past failures.  Can be a hindrance to progress by dredging up old ghosts.  Needs to understand the benefits of learning from the past, but also needs to understand that new solutions sometimes benefit from the successful parts of past solutions.
• The disinterested party.  Doesn’t go to either pole when others are dividing into opposite camps.  Listens to what is being said and raises questions that may help bring people back to the center of the issue. 
• The devil’s advocate.  When the team is moving too easily toward a course of action, raises non-threatening but provocative “yeah, but...” and “what if...” types of questions.  Slows the team down when it is moving too rapidly toward an expeditious action.
• The clarifier.  Helps the team when it is bogging down in detail by identifying key issues that must be addressed.  Stands back from complex discussion and then is able to jump in and synthesize discussion into a series of clear options.
• The reality checker.  Steps outside of the team and its processes, referring to the larger organization and its goals, then returns to say,  “Hey, guys, we’ve lost sight of something fairly important.”
• The whip.  Helps the group to realize it has spent long enough on one phase of the project and is ready to move on to the next. 
• The cheerleader.  Helps the group to realize when it has reached a milestone and suggests ways to celebrate success before moving on.
• The organizer.  Recognizes when the group is bogging down on details and suggests ways to complete sub-tasks expeditiously in order to move on.
• The summarizer.  Recognizes when the team is bogging down on discussion about its tasks and is able to draw a succinct picture of where the group can go next as a result of its past work.
• The healer.  Recognizes when disputes have slowed team efforts and is able to calm fears, assuage hurts and mend differences.
• The record-keeper.  Is able to remind team members, when tasks become complex and people lose sight of the objective, of data-points that were important and decisions made previously that are driving current activity.
• The problem-solver.  Identifies issues that have slowed team progress and seeks data or support from outside the team that alleviates the problem and allows progress to continue.

Imagine the type of team you would have if you had an record keeper and a organizer but no whip?

http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/publications/reputation-management/SelforTeam-Part3.htm

Random 

Halloween is thought to have originated around 4000 B.C., which means Halloween has been around for over 6,000 years.

Ut Prosim

Every year I volunteer time at the Montgomery County Christmas Store giving to families in our community. Volunteers are needed from December 10 – 14. If you are interested in volunteering please contact me.

http://www.mcchristmasstore.org/

Sandbox

My Schedule 

Scheduled meeting times are available 10-11:30 & 1:30-4.

To schedule a meeting please log into your Scholar account. Under the MSE Undergraduate Advising Tab use the sign-in tool to select a meeting time. Please know it will be necessary to click on “expand all recurring meetings” to see all available dates, then click on the date you would like to schedule a meeting and the available times will show. Currently, meeting times are available through the end of October.