12 Things You Can Do To Increase Your Success in Freshman Composition
We read that in the latest study by the Institute for Higher Education, Leadership & Policy at Cal State Sacramento that only 30% of California community college students are transferring or getting their degrees. We have a real challenge in the community college if 70% are falling by the wayside.
There are several reasons for so many students being at risk for failing. Here's one:
At a recent meeting our Dean told us that 85% of the student body come to our college with severe grammar deficits.
Imagine the intimidation a new college student feels with severe grammar deficits and knowing that 70% of students will not transfer or get a degree.
It's like showing up to a jiu-jitsu tournament against blue belts and you know you only have a white belt.
From what I’ve observed in the classroom, here are 12 things you can do to improve your chances of succeeding in freshman composition.
One. Shut off your cell phone.
Nothing signals disrespect to the instructor and other students who show an unhealthy dependence on their phones.
I promise you college instructors notice students who are on their cell phones and appreciate students who are not.
The cell phone prevents you from being in the habit of focusing on one thing. Scattered attention and multitasking kill composition success.
Two. You need to not be ashamed for showing up to class without grammar skills. We all have to begin somewhere.
Your white belt isn’t just your skill level. It’s your maturity level. I went to college at 17. I was in remedial math and English. I dropped some classes. I received a letter warning me that if I didn’t improve my scholastic performance, I would be put on academic probation.
The letter did two things: Scared the hell out of me. The fear was an invaluable motivator.
The letter did a second thing to me: It injured my pride. My failings as a student had resulted in a day of reckoning. I was accountable for improving my performance or I’d suffer the humiliation of being suspended from college.
White belts like myself are going to suffer fear and humiliation. It’s part of the growing up process.
Three. You Need to Reinforce Classroom Instruction
When I studied jiu-jitsu with Jener Gracie 13 years ago, I noticed something. The once a week lesson was worthless unless I showed up several days a week to spar with other students. You have to reinforce the lesson with repetition.
Having a lesson from your instructor is not an end; it’s a beginning.
You can reinforce your instructors’ writing lessons by looking up the same exercises in other books, the Internet, and YouTube videos.
I’ve had students tell me I didn’t understand the math instructor’s calculus lesson, so I studied it on YouTube and now I get it.
Four. You Need to Feed Off Your Strength
When you go to the gym and lose fat and gain muscle, you feel more motivated to return to the gym. It becomes self-feeding.
When you study martial arts and climb the ladder and experience more confidence, you are more motivated to continue.
You have to experience the same sense of self-improvement in college to stay motivated.
Because my students struggle with grammar at an excessive level, they get very discouraged. Often, their grammar gets worse, not better, further into the semester.
I have to remind them that they are improving in certain areas: Writing signal phrases, finding credible research, organizing their essays, following a sound argument structure.
Grammar remains the Achilles heel, but I have to show their strengths with their weaknesses.
Five. You Learn Not to Let Your Weaknesses Overwhelm You
There are grammar books with 5,000 rules. If you try to play catch-up, you’ll be overwhelmed and quit. Find out 3-5 grammar and punctuation mistakes you’re consistently making and attack those 5 mistakes.
Your goal for the semester should be to eradicate those mistakes.
90 percent of my composition students make 3 mistakes over and over: sentence fragments, comma splices, and noun-pronoun agreement errors.
If you’re a white belt in jiu-jitsu, you can’t expect to learn all the moves in 16 weeks. You learn the basics: Passing the guard, escaping a headlock, making an arm lock, performing a rear choke hold.
Likewise, in grammar learn the 5 things you’re consistently having trouble with.
Six. You Need to Re-Condition Your Response to Failures and Setbacks
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl teaches us that setbacks, conflict, loss, and suffering are inevitable.
Our overreactions or inappropriate actions to conflict become our enemy. In other words, we are own worst enemy.
As you struggle in a martial arts class, the sensei is not your enemy. You are at war with yourself.
In college, you become your number one impediment to progress.
When my daughters have tantrums, if I overreact with rage, their tantrums last longer. I simply compound the craziness. If I stay calm and composed, I can minimize their tantrums.
I’ve learned over the years to control my response to their tantrums, not because I’m mature, but because I’m selfish. It’s in my self-interest for them to get over their tantrum as soon as possible.
Seven. Get Rid of Energy Vampires from Your Life
The sensei wants his students to focus, which means excluding distractions or what I like to call Energy Vampires.
The one thing that impresses me when my girls are in the dojo is the silence. A lot of their exercises are done with mindful silence. That’s why there are no cell phones allowed, even in the lobby.
Go home and make a list o Energy Vampires:
Reading consumer reviews all day on the Internet. You could spend a whole day reading Amazon and other reviews of digital cameras. You could burn a day on the Internet easily.
Answering texts.
Answering social media messages.
You could burn a whole day texting and gossiping with friends.
Hanging out with associates from high school who are content with being 16 years
old for the rest of their lives.
Speaking of friends, some people you associate with from high school may not be on your college track. They may not be as mature as you. They may be in the Life Is a Big Party phase of their lives.
Most likely they’re Energy Vampires. You need to cut your ties from them. It may be cruel, but it’s the only way for you to survive.
The more Energy Vampires you identity and get rid from your life, the more you’ll be able to focus on the getting more knowledge, getting more independent, and getting more advanced in your climb up the educational ladder.
Eight. Learn That You Can’t Improve Your Skills Without Changing the Whole Person
In martial arts, the skills improve along with the person’s maturity. One doesn’t happen without the other. This is one reason martial arts are so popular with parents.
Often, your maturity will result in your losing some of your friends who didn’t mature. You may feel guilty for abandoning them, but you shouldn’t. They’ve made their choice.
One of my students wrote about this: A friend dropped out of college to work 3 jobs so he could make his BMW payments. He drove the BMW to the front of El Camino on Crenshaw and was screaming at his friends to look at his new car. My student said he and his friends had to rush to their English class and the BMW owner was all alone in the parking lot with no one to admire his new set of wheels.
Nine. You’re Not Alone in the Dark Woods. We start at the bottom.
We’re in this together. We work as a community. We’re interdependent on one another. We ask question. We’re fighting for the same end. We want you to have a higher belt so you can go to the next level. Your teacher is not your enemy or antagonist. Your teacher is your sensei who wants you to have the required skills to get a higher belt.
Ten. You Have to Show Up On Time Every Time: This speaks to accountability, respect, and dedication.
If you don’t show up or if you show up late, the sensei doesn’t want you there. There’s a long line of students who want to show up on time every time. The sensei doesn’t have time to waste.
I can tell you after 30 years of teaching there’s a huge difference in student performance between those who show up on time every day and those who don’t. Just the show of respect alone is huge. But this respect translates into higher performance, listening skills, and turning in assignments on time as well.
It would be nice if the community college were this Giant Martial Arts Studio. That’s not going to happen, but you can approach it like one and you’ll be all the stronger for it.
Eleven. If You’re Afraid of Taking a Writing Class, Embrace the Fear.
Fear can be a motivator. When I was 24 and working as a part-time English instructor, my high school buddies praised me, but I told them to quiet down. I was scared. I didn’t show great discipline. Fear compelled me to do what I had to do. I didn’t see any options other than finishing college.
I have a lot of fearful, anxious students who come up to me and say, “McMahon, I’m terrified. I don’t think I can do this.”
Usually these students do rather well.
It’s the calm students who sleep walk through class who fail.
Who would you rather be, the fearful student who does well, or the calm, zenned-out student who fails?
Twelve. Finish Your Essays Early and Read Them Aloud in Front of a Mirror.
I’ve taken surveys of my students. I will ask them who proofread their essay, and about 10 percent will raise their hand. The other 90 percent procrastinate, wait till the last minute, to rush an essay, and they wonder why they’re not improving. Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Comments