Dr. Carl J. Wenning's Advice for |
Program Director |
Achievement and Goals
- Set high personal and academic standards for yourself, and live up to them. Listen to that little voice inside you that says, "I can do this." Believe in yourself. Realize that school is work; it's not play time. Settle for nothing less than your very best. Willingness to accept anything less than the very best too often becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Strive for an "A" in all your courses. If you fall short of an "A", you might earn a "B". If you fall short of a "C", you might earn a "D" or "F".
- Don't sacrifice major long-term goals for minor short-term gratification. Major gains are most often associated with long-term efforts. It is best to put off immediate gratification so as to achieve major long-term gains.
- Turn in only your best work. Avoid doing an incomplete, careless, or sloppy job; show pride in all your work. Your work ethic - and perhaps even your academic ability - is reflected in your work. Strive to impress those from whom you might later ask for a letter of recommendation.
- Remember that grades count. The best jobs with the best pay most often go to those with the best grades. High grades imply intelligence, personal excellence, and dedication to seeing a job well done. High grades can make all the difference in landing the ideal job or getting into graduate school at the institution of your choice.
- Seek out special opportunities. College is a time to expand your mind and your experiences. Select your general education courses wisely. Consider student research, field trip opportunities, or a new language. Choose courses that will expand your world; avoid taking courses merely because they are "an easy A" or a "blow-off course."
- Don't make important decisions without consulting a qualified authority. If you are uncertain about something, check it out before you decide. Your departmental advisor will probably be the best person to consult about academic matters. Jumping to rash conclusions based on incorrect information can cause you significant personal and professional problems. Talk with those who you trust before making important decisions, but make certain that those people are well qualified to give proper advice.
Studying, Learning, and Time Management
- Know what it takes to succeed. Success is a function of innate ability, learned ability, motivation, effort, and environment. How well you succeed will depend upon how well you take advantage of the relationship between the independent variables. Speak with your PTE coordinator to learn more about these important factors.
- Strive to understand. Don't merely memorize; seek to understand. You need to attempt to comprehend what you need to know and be able to do as a result of your education. So many people are satisfied with just passing a physics test. You should strive first to understand physics; the passing scores will then come along. Avoid surface learning; strive for a deep understanding. Strive to develop a conceptual understanding before attempting to solve textbook problems. Develop understanding of the problem-solving process before trying to solve problems; this approach is much more effective and provides time savings.
- Investigate learning and test taking skills. Educational researchers have studied what it takes to get ahead academically. Take advantage of what they can tell us.
- Avoid procrastination. Don't delay until tomorrow what you can do today. Work should come before pleasure. Manage your time effectively; set up a timeline for getting work completed in each of your courses. Set aside adequate time for homework, study, sleep, relationships, and work. You need not always finish every task all at once. Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare; slow and steady is often better than jackrabbit sprints.
- Persist until the very end. It's amazing how many A's turn to B's and B's to C's in a course, and this frequently occurs right at the end. A foot race is won only when a runner persists until crossing the finish line. Many races are lost because the runner didn't have that "kick" at the end. So it is with grades and course work.
- Break your large tasks down into manageable subtasks. Large jobs rarely can be completed at one setting. Tackle small parts of a large task each day; avoid cramming. Remember, you can write a 365-page book every year if you only write one page per day.
- Don't over-commit yourself. Mature students always take responsibility for their actions – all of them. Some students will commit themselves to more work than they are capable of completing. Don't let this happen to you; you owe it to others to be honest to your word.
- Get a job. Studies show that students who work from about 8-10 hours per week tend to organize and spend their "free" time more wisely. Overworking or not working at all sometimes can be detrimental to personal and academic success.
- Don't ignore or deny your personal and academic problems. Problems will often get worse if they are not directly addressed in a timely fashion. Procrastination in any of its many forms can lead to a small problem getting much worse. Confront your problems head-on, and get help when you need it. Speak to your course instructors, your advisor, or your parents.
Professional Development
- Seek to improve your science content knowledge every day. Becoming a teacher is more than just taking a few courses. To be a teacher you need to be a well-rounded person as far as science knowledge is concerned. Just to pass the state content area exams for science teachers (including physics, biology, chemistry, environmental science, and earth & space science), you need to read widely. I strongly suggest reading Science News, The Physics Teacher, and The Science Teacher found on the book rack in MLT 307B. Some of these publications have online versions; check them out.
- Read several good physical science textbooks. Physical science textbooks intended for general science students (especially the older textbooks) are often written to provide clearer explanations that provide excellent background for physics and chemistry teaching. The subject matter is often more integrated, includes more examples, and suggests more experimental activities than in a more traditional physics textbook. Build physical science textbooks into your regular reading program as soon as possible. Such an effort might well pay dividends in the traditional physics courses you will take as part of your physics teacher education major.
- Seek to learn more about teaching. Professional development as a teacher is a lifelong process that begins now. Make a point of subscribing to free online versions of Education Week and Teacher Magazine. Sign up with the Illinois State Board of Education to get their weekly updates. See any of your physics teaching methods courses for information about online publications.
- Become an departmental assistant. Each year the Physics Department hires more capable students to be teaching assistants. These assistants help with grading, proctoring computer labs, or work in physics labs. You might also want to become a research assistant in one of the several faculty research labs in the department.
- Begin now to develop a physics teaching resource toolkit. Now and graduation, collect physics teaching resources that you can use as you student teach and during your first few years of teaching. You will be amazed how helpful this can be as you prepare both lesson and unit plans.
Personal Development
- Make yourself a well-rounded person. Consider all four dimensions of life as you strive to educate yourself – physical, spiritual, intellectual, and social. Spend time each day developing each of these four dimensions.
- Take responsibility for yourself. When some students begin college life their sense of personal responsibility seems to disappear. Parents or guardians are no longer "cracking the whip" making certain that everything is getting done correctly or on time. That work is now the responsibility of the student. Failure to recognize this fact has resulted in even some of the best high school students failing as university students.
- Get to know a wide range of people – faculty, staff, and students. Networking is important. It is often true that who you know is just as important as what you know. Use your acquaintances to advantage, but don't take advantage of them.
- Meet with your departmental advisor early on and frequently; he or she can provide valuable and timely advice.
- Get to know your teachers; just because they might have a Ph.D. is no reason to believe that they are not interested in you as a student.
- Get to know the majors in your field, and form a study group.
- Choose your friends wisely. Friends can support you in your efforts to maximize the benefits of a college education. Friends too set on having a good time at the expense of a good education can be seriously detrimental. Get to know people who express high social, academic, and personal values.
- Express your appreciation. When others do something nice for you (e.g., fix a problem, provide you will important information, give you timely and helpful advice, go the extra mile), be certain to thank them sincerely. How many faculty and staff members have become less helpful due to the apparent lack of appreciation of students will never be known. Rest assured, however, that even a small word of "thanks" can make a difference in their day.
Personal and Professional Integrity
- Don't give up without first asking for help. The reason you are in college is to learn something. Therefore, you are expected not to know. If you are having difficulties because you don't know something, be certain to review your assigned readings, and ask peers and teachers for their assistance.
- Honesty is the best policy. Avoid cheating in all its forms – collusion, plagiarism, copying, etc. Students who cheat seriously fail to learn what is oftentimes important, and this doesn't help them in the long run. Sometimes the only things they do learn – after getting caught – is that cheating doesn't pay.
- Integrity counts. It is easier to retain your integrity than trying to reclaim it. Failing to complete reading assignments, turning in poor quality work, missing important deadlines, cheating, and failing to contribute meaningfully to class activities are all examples of failed integrity. It might cost you something to do a job right the first time, but it will cost you a lot more to do the same job after you have failed to do the right initially.
- Respond to important communications. You physics adviser in particular has your academic interests in mind. Never ignore e-mails from you advisor and other important persons in your academic life. Be certain to schedule and keep advisement appointments.
- Letters of recommendation. Teacher candidates invariably will ask for letters of recommendation from teachers and program coordinators. Writers of these letters can't help but recall and take into account personal and professional failings when writing these letters. Personal and professional integrity are considered when one writes such statements as, "I X recommend this teacher candidate, and do so with Y reservations." The X and Y are modifiers that can make all the difference in landing that job or not.
(Last updated 8/15/2009)