Backseat Driving

Forty miles into the trip and I'm on the phone looking for something we left in the hotel last weekend in Dallas. Not a good start.

Sticks, stones and words that hurt

One of my new students this semester loves to read. That shouldn't be such a surprise. After all, I teach college classes, which require hours of reading. When I ask my students each semester about their reading habits, many of them say they don't like to read. Two recent studies confirm the value of reading for children as well as adults.

Of course, I came across this information through my reading. A newspaper columnist last week wrote about a study comparing early language development in professional, working class and welfare families. Children from welfare families had smaller vocabularies and received fewer statements of encouragement from their parents than children from working class or professional households. The study revealed that by age four, children from homes where parents were professionals were exposed to 30 million more words than children from welfare families.

Teachers and schools are held accountable for student performance. Maybe it's time we started holding parents accountable for those crucial early years of language development.

Another study that followed a group of nuns for many years revealed that the complexity of thought is a factor in Alzheimer's patients. The nuns whose language development was more extensive at a young age had less risk of contracting Alzheimer's disease as they grew older.

We've all heard the saying that "a mind is a terrible thing to waste." Reading to young children unlocks their potential. Words do matter, and words of encouragement and praise are important.

Who makes the rules?

Panola College has a smoking policy that prohibits smokers from lighting up within 25 feet of a building entrance. The policy was approved by the board but has not been enforced...but that is changing this month.

I hate smoking so I'm all for the new rule. Smoking infringes on the rights of nonsmokers because it fouls the air. Students who smoke probably don't realize that the odor permeates their clothes, backpacks, hair and breath.

The rule will be inconvenient for smokers who will have to stand outside or sit in their cars to smoke, but it will bring a breath of fresh air and less litter to our campus.

Two weeks in...

What is it that's so exhausting about starting a new semester? New kids on the block don't know the difference between the MIL, MAR, RHEA, GUL and STU buildings. High school students are on campus from 8 to noon.  Late registration ended yesterday, so we're really just getting the semester started.

Planning your life around a college semester works great, until the unexpected happens...illness, death, accident or some other disaster disrupts the ordinary routine of a 16-week term. To the people at a community college, you're more than just a number, so when these things happen, talk to someone about your options. Stop by the office of Student Success in the Miller Administration Building and ask to talk to an advisor, or talk to your professor.

Let's hope disaster doesn't strike you this spring. Let's hope inspiration strikes you and energizes you to approach your courses with excitement and enthusiasm. Here's hoping Spring 2010 turns out to be a great semester for you!

Resolutions, anyone?

How are those New Year's resolutions coming along? College students coming back from their much-needed holiday break will have a fresh start on making the most of college. For many, the spring semester offers a time to learn from the mistakes of the past.

We can all learn from our mistakes, no matter what age. That's why we have the term "lifelong learning."

The best advice I can give college students, especially scholarship students, is to sign up for at least 15 hours. That way, if you realize you aren't doing well in a class, you can drop it and still be considered a full time student with 12 hours.

Spend some time outside of class reviewing the material or researching the subject on your own. Look for ways to expand your horizons.

Open yourself up to people who aren't just like you. The world is a big place full of interesting people who don't share your background.

Try to be a friend to a shy person -- sometimes these people turn out to be great friends. Look around the classroom and reach out to someone.

Check out the library. Walk around inside this great new space, check out the books and other resources available to you, and spend some time on our library's website.

Go to some basketball and baseball games, attend the plays and concerts on campus, join a club or go to a Student Government Association meeting. Don't let yourself be just a PCP (parking lot, classroom, parking lot) college student. You'll miss out on too many opportunities!

Make an appointment to visit with your instructors. Get to know them and let them get to know you. We may be able to steer you in a direction you've never considered or help you find a way to move ahead in your chosen field.

Think about where you are going with your life. If you've made some poor choices in the past, make a vow to change the behaviors that led to those choices. Think about how you'd like to be remembered by the people who know you. Have fun, but not at someone else's expense.

So here we are entering a new decade. Let's all make the most of it!

Holiday Hysteria

What is it about the holidays that makes us crazy? Why can't we just relax and enjoy being with family and friends that we haven't seen in months? Who cares if the bathrooms are spotless...OK, I care. Ah, there's the problem. I need to just chill out, but it's so hard when people are coming to my house for Thanksgiving. These people know me. They know I am not Suzy Homemaker. That gene thoroughly infused my older sister Dorothy and apparently skipped right over me. I didn't get any curls, either, but I'm not complaining. I'm glad I'm getting this craziness out of my system on the eve of Thanksgiving. I'll be OK by tomorrow when everyone arrives and we sit down to smoked turkey, ham, pecan pie, sweet potatoes with marshmallows and all those other wonderful Thanksgiving treats. My advice is to forget about cleaning...as long as the food is good and the TV can pick up the football game, everything will be fine! Happy Thanksgiving! And on Friday night, the Carthage Bulldogs travel to Corsicana to play Caldwell. Go Dawgs!

What's in a name?

The English professor I love knows far more about Shakespeare than I, but when I had to come up with a name for my new blog, I remembered these lines from Macbeth:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

I teach communication at Panola College in Carthage, Texas. I'm lucky to have great students, and we really learn from each other. It's so much fun to watch these young men and women grow in knowledge and maturity over the months they are in my class. I share their joys and sorrows and try to nudge them along that long and winding road that they must travel to grow up.

We have spent the last four months working toward developing a new way to communicate with a redesigned online newspaper, The Pony Express Online. Our goal is to jump right into this new world of converging media without losing the character and history of a student newspaper that was established in 1948 when Panola College was founded.