It's the first week of the semester. A fresh start for students, new classes, new instructors, new chances to start off the semester on the right, or wrong foot. I have two tips for how to start out the semester to improve your odds of success.
1) choose where you sit in the classroom very carefully. After years of teaching I can predict students final course grades based on where they sit. Students in the front couple of rows and on the side of the classroom closest to the podium get As and Bs. Students in the middle get the Cs. Students in the back and closest to the door tend to do the worst.
There are exceptions - in my larger classes there is always at least one students who sits in the back and makes an A and at least one student who sits in the front and struggles all semester.
Which is the cause and which is the effect? I'm not completely sure. Perhaps the students who choose seats in the front are the type who also put in a lot of effort outside of class (I think that's true for most of them). I do know that the ones who sit near the back don't pay as much attention during lecture and I often spot signs of texting or working on assignments for other classes. It's much harder to be distracted when you're right up near the instructor.
So, just want to pass? Sit wherever you want, but if you want an A or if you know you're likely to daydream and miss important material, sit up front and make friends with the other front of the classroom students and form study groups.
2) Read the syllabus. I know, I know, most of the material in there is boring boilerplate. But the stuff that's in there is in there for a reason and that reason is that some student before you messed up and did poorly in the class as a result. And I would really, really like every student to succeed. Really. So copy the dates of quizzes and exams into your calendar so you don't miss them, make sure you know all the ways you can earn (or loose) points and pay attention to the study suggestions.
If every student in my class earned an A I'd be thrilled. But I'd settle for students learning basic business etiquette. You know, arriving on time, staying the full length of class, not causing disruptions for the other students and writing complete sentences in emails. That's stuff that will help anyone be more successful in their careers, whether they remember any biology or not.
Let me finish with a cat picture. Because this is the internet and it is ruled by cats.
all true.
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