reaction ofa student who hasn’t read it or even heard about it? What's the difference between a teacher
saying “Please turn in your papers so I can mark them” and “Please turn in your papers so I can read
them’? (c) Making tests work not only for measurement of learning, but for the review and reinforcement
of learning--The motives behind testing do vary.

6. Require that students’ correspondence with the college be literate. (Once, after I had returned a waiver
request which was riddled with writing errors, the student immediately sat down in my office and, without
aid of a dictionary or tutor, rewrote the petition, error-free.) Some of what passes for illiteracy is mere
care-less-ness. If in your college only composition teachers evidence they value literacy, that's a powerful
signal which students will pick up easily and quickly. If your school really wants to risk being radical, try
having all teachers demonstrate in their classes that they value literacy in both their students and them-
selves.

7. Offer a short class in study skills. Consider teaming it with a class in which attrition is usually high. Stu-
dents would enroll in both classes, and the teaching of study skills would be tailored for success in the
companion class.

8. During the first days, all classes should meet for the full scheduling period. No dismissing early for pur-
chasing texts or because all students are not yet enrolled; teacher-student time is precious. Spend some
time on ice-breaking activities which expedite learning students’ names, learning something about each
one, and helping students get to know the instructor. Activities which foster the forming of mutual self-
help study groups are especially valuable; community college students have minimum opportunities for
organizing such support groups. We should try hard to disregard the vestigal Puritan ethic which labels
these efforts frivolous. They're not. Making such efforts with empathy, naturalness, and humor, the out-
comes can predispose a student to want to learn in the class.

9. Don’t miss opportunities to compliment colleagues. If you’re an administrator and you learn of a faculty
member's special effort or success, send a note of congratulations and thanks. It’s much more fun than
writing another memorandum on registration procedures. If you're a faculty member and your dean (by
chance) does something right, write a note or make a phone call. Most of a dean’s day is filled with
agenda items which are less than pleasant. Help your dean keep his perspective by brightening his/her
day. Share pride in each other's successes. It helps make a joyful workplace.

10. Take or call; don’t send. If you refer a student to a counselor or to the library or to the records office or to
another faculty member, walk there with the student and make the face-to-face introductions. Many stu-
dents get lost, often to suit their own purposes, somewhere between the sender and the receiver. If
campus layout or time pressures absolutely forbid taking those few minutes required to walk with the stu-
dent, at least--in the student’s presence--phone the place he/she is to go or the person he/she is to see.
Then you can say to the student, “Mrs. Hardy is free now and is looking forward to meeting you.”

Details can make a difference. We cannot solve megaproblems without close attention to the “small stuff.”

Answer to the question in #1: Texts having the highest reading levels are most likely those used in nursing. Manuals used
in voc-tech courses are likely to be written at grade-level equivalents of 15-17. Other subject areas often have excellent and
appropriate texts written at the 10-12th grade level, but there are usually no substitutes for the actual technical manuals
which need to be used in voc-tech courses. tee
| DOUGLAS COLLEGE
John Weber
Dean of Instruction ARCHIVES
Central Oregon Community College ts

 

 

 

For further information, contact the author at Central Oregon Community College, 2600 N.W. College Way,
Bend, OR 97701.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor
October 19, 1984, Vol. VI, No. 28
INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin,

Austin, Texas 78712, (512) 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortium members for $35 per year. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg
Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and monthly during the summer.

© The University of Texas at Austin, 1984
Further duplication is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106X