Message to My Classes

Learn.  Have fun.  Both are important.  The two are not mutually exclusive.  Learning does not have to be drudge ‘work’.  You CAN choose your feelings toward learning by evaluating your beliefs about learning.  Learning is not something I do to you.  Learning is about YOU, your life, and the person you are becoming.  What you learn will define where you will fit into that network of family, friends, associates, neighbors, etc. we call society.  Learning is about maturing intellectually, emotionally, and socially.  To the extent you fail to develop yourself, the world is a poorer place.

Even a computer class? Yes.  70% of all jobs require some computer knowledge.  Beyond the obvious, immediate, utilitarian value of learning and studying, all learning builds intellectual capacity.  The more you learn the better able you are to acquire additional knowledge.  Just like lifting weights and exercising increases an athlete’s capacity to perform his/her chosen sport, studying academic topics enhances one’s ability to acquire complex thinking skills.  Your success in your chosen career depends on you your ability to think and your attitude toward learning.  If you will believe this, you will love to learn.

Your economic well-being hangs in the balance of your attitudes toward learning.  Knowledge becomes obsolete quickly.  Competition for jobs is fierce.  High tech manufacturing jobs and information-processing jobs are under attack from China, India, the Pacific Rim.  Employers evaluate the cost and productivity of workers and decide where they will build plants and whom they will hire to provide needed services.

Bottom line:  Jobs for the unmotivated, unskilled, and ‘unthinking’ are diminishing in terms of numbers and wages.  We have a word for those kind of people: LOSERS.  Your future is, indeed, yours for the making.  You deserve to be a winner. Only you can make that happen.

So, here are some expectations:

First of all, some philosophical ones.

Find your own motivation.  I will do my best to make things interesting, but if I can’t make it interesting to YOU, you have to make it interesting to YOURSELF.

Think. Think Hard.  Imagine the Olympic athlete dedicated to their goal; Sweating, straining, enduring pain for the reward of a medal.  Nothing  truly worthwhile in life is accomplished without prolonged effort.

Care.  Especially care about yourself and the people around you.  I sigh whenever I hear someone say, “I don’t care.”  The richness of your life is a function of the quality and quantity of those people, ideas, and things about which you care.   

Now some practical expectations:

1.       Be here.  Why?  See page one!

2.       Be on time for class.  Log-on the network as soon as you get here.  If you’re late, sign the tardy log.  We’ll be following the school’s tardy policy.

3.       When I’m talking, you be quiet!  I don’t mind if you talk quietly. Helping each other is a good thing (except copying on tests and individual assignments!), but I CAN’T STAND too much chaos!  Please don’t make me scream at you to get your attention.

4.       Wait until ‘non-instructional’ time to request a potty break.  I know the restroom situation is ‘critical’.  I’ll let you go-just wait for a lull in instruction!

5.       When taking a potty breaks, attending counselor appointments, etc. take a hall pass, sign the ‘out of class log’ when you leave and record your return time.

6.       Keep food and drink away from the computers.

8.       Clean up after yourself. 

9.       Don’t line up in anticipation of the bell.