G-id101d Syllabus

-1G-ID101 D: First-Year Seminar Fall 2009-Spring 2010 Mondays 11:30---Location: Mohler 235 Instructors: Bruce Clary, Adviser Office: Mohler 201 Campus Ext: 2530 Direct: 242.0530 Cell: 620.755.2501 E-mail: [email protected] http://wwwi.mcpherson.edu/~claryb

Tabatha Surveyor, Mentor Dotzour 117 Cell: 405.824.2648 [email protected] [email protected]

Requirements Met: G-ID101 First-Year Seminar is a 2-credit, General Education course, required for all first-year freshmen. Disability Services: If you have any disability that prevents you from doing your best work in this course, it is your responsibility to inform the instructor or the college administration, via Kevin Hadduck, Director of Academic Development, Royer Center, Miller Library, ext. 2507, or [email protected] Texts and Supplies: Cohen, Harlan. The Naked Roommate and 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in College. Sourcebooks, Inc. 2005. Course Description and Goals: The course involves a variety of major emphases: 1) From freshman orientation on, students will learn about the McPherson College community. Significant attention will be given to the college’s mission and identity as a liberal arts, Church of the Brethren college and to campus resources and traditions. 2) Students will address personal success issues, including those pertaining to dormitory life, relationships, health and wellness, stress and money management, and personal and professional communication. 3) Students will learn academic success strategies, including time and task management, learning styles assessment, study and note-taking skills, test taking skills, and library/information literacy. 4) Students will engage in professional success strategies, including goal setting, choosing a major, connecting majors to careers, and exploring career directions. In the fall, students will begin a degree plan and portfolio, which they will complete in the spring. Also in the spring semester, students will revisit time and task management issues and personal and academic success issues as needed. In the spring, students may begin exploring the topics of reading and writing within the academic disciplines. 5) Emphases in the spring will also include the completion of a service project and follow-up reflection

-2Course Objectives: 1. College Mission and Identity: Freshmen will learn… • The mission of McPherson College and how that mission shapes the identity and values of the college community and informs the academic curriculum. • What it means for a school to be a “liberal arts” college in a Church of the Brethren context. • What curricular and co-curricular opportunities and resources are available to them. • What campus resources are available to them that can enhance their personal, academic, and professional success. 2. Personal Success: Freshmen will learn… • The challenges and opportunities that face them personally, so that they can successfully build healthy relationships in their dormitory life, personal life, and social life. • The basics of time and task management, as well as stress and money management. • The basics of good physical, mental, and spiritual health. 3. Academic Success: Freshmen will learn… • A variety of academic success skills that will prove helpful to them in their individual and group study efforts and in the classroom. • FThe basics of information literacy, in terms of library and internet research. 4. Professional Success: Freshmen will… • Build a Degree Plan and Portfolio and thus come to understand the full range of curricular opportunities and resources available for meeting their graduation requirements. • Explore short-, medium-, and long-term academic and professional goals. Such exploration will include learning how to choose a major and connecting a major to career possibilities. 5. Service: Freshmen will… • Complete a service project (most likely in the spring). • Engage in reflection upon the service work done and the value of such work to them individually and to a community. Grades Attendance (including convos): Readings and Follow-Up Discussions/Quizzes/Written Response: (including May Letter, Quizzes, Assessments, etc.) Degree Plan and Portfolio (including Kansas Pipeline/Kuder assignment): Library and Information Literacy Assignments: Final Self-Assessment:

20% 40% 10% 20% 10%

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Projected Course Schedule In addition to the topics below, reading assignments from The Naked Roommate and study questions will be assigned for most class meetings. The readings and study questions for the next class meeting will be announced at the preceding meeting. All additions or changes in the schedule below will also be available on the class web site, wwwi.mcpherson.edu/~claryb/id101d. 8/31

Intro to Course / McPherson College Mission: What It Means for Freshmen / Define “College Life”—Challenges, Opportunities, and Campus Resources / Review Email Assignment / Assign May Letter Cuseo, Ch. 1; Cohen, Chs. 1, 5, 7, 13

9/4

11:30 a.m. President’s Opening Convo (be sure to take student ID to convo)

9/7

Academic and Personal Success: Define and Explain the Value of “Liberal Arts” / Dealing with Parents, Roommates, and Dormitory Life Cuseo, Ch. 2; Cohen, Chs. 1, 2, 3

9/14

Personal Success: Professional Communication Essentials—Best Practices at McPherson College / Personal Communication Essentials Cuseo, Ch. 11; Cohen, Chs. 3, 4, 8

9/21

Personal Success: Health and Wellness (Physical, Mental, and Spiritual) / Campus and Community Resources (Tom Hurst and Kelli Johnson present in Mingenback Theatre) Cuseo, Chs. 12, 13; Cohen, Chs. 9, 10, 11

9/26-27

Scottish Festival (our service project!!)

9/28

Academic Success: Introduction to College-Level Demands (Study, Time, and Testing)—Reality Bites / Campus Resources / Preview of Homecoming—What It Means at McPherson College Cuseo, Ch. 1; Cohen, Ch. 7

10/2

Honors Convo / Alumni Panel Discussions (be sure to take student ID to convo)

10/3

Homecoming and Family Weekend

10/5

Academic and Personal Success: Best Time and Money Management Practices / Assign Online Learning Styles Assessment www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html (Follow links at end of completed inventory for discussion materials) Cuseo, Ch. 10; Cohen, Ch. 7, 12

-410/12 Academic Success: Review Learning Styles Assessment / Best Note-Taking and Test Preparation Practices / Assign Online Kuder Assessment Cuseo, Chs. 4, 5; Cohen, Ch. 7 10/19-20 FALL BREAK 10/23 11:30 a.m. - C. L. Lindsay Convocation, Safety on the Internet (be sure to take student ID to convo) 10/26 Professional Success: Goal Setting / Review Kuder Assessment / Choosing a Major or Being Undecided) / Intro to Degree Plan and Portfolio Concept Cuseo, Chs. 3, 9; Cohen, Chs. 5, 7 10/28 Assessment Half-Day (C-BASE required for all freshmen)

11/2

Professional Success: Spring Enrollment Issues / Graduation Requirements / Moving from Major to Career—What Careers Follow My Major? (Karlene Tyler and Chris Wiens Present in Brown Auditorium) Cuseo, Chs. 3, 9; Cohen, Chs. 5, 7

11/5-9 Spring Enrollment due for Freshmen 11/9

Personal Success: Dormitory Life, Diversity, Social Pressures, Etc.—As Needed Cuseo, Chs. 8, 12; Cohen, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13

11/16 Academic Success: Best Test Preparation and Test-Taking Practices Cuseo, Chs. 4, 5; Cohen, Ch. 7 11/23 Academic Success: Library and Info Lit / Academic Honesty Cuseo, Ch. 7; Cohen, Ch. 7 11/25-29 THANKSGIVING 11/30 Academic Success: Library and Info Lit / Critical Thinking / Promote the Holiday Dinner Cuseo, Chs. 6, 7 12/7

Personal Success: Stress Management and Emotional Health Revisited / Review of Semester Essentials—What Have You Gained? / Looking Forward to Second Semester Cuseo, Ch. 13; Cohen, Ch. 14

12/14-17 Final Exams (none scheduled for FYS)