Midterm Blog Recap and New Assignments

Last week's blog posts on "going outside your comfort zone" were interesting and entertaining to read. They produced some of the best writing of the semester. Some students went to scary, Halloween-related events, some went to college parties, one changed a diaper, and one went bowling (all potentially fright enducing depending on your personality). But most of the posts concluded that overcoming the initial fear was worth it, and sometimes even fun. This quote from Julie's blog sums up that spirit found in a lot of this week's posts:

"Dance in the rain. Never give up on yourself. Don’t be afraid to come alive. The answers are everywhere."

The midterm grade reflections were a mixed bag. I was glad to see that a significant number of students were in good shape, had been working hard, managing their time well, putting in a lot of effort, and were reaping the benefits of that hard work with good grades so far. Most noted that they planned to continue with that regimen in order to ensure that they kept up those grades through finals. A significant number of students also reported that they weren't satisfied with their midterm progress, but most planned to "buckle down" in order to try to bring those grades up by finals. I am hoping that everyone will take that seriously. Midterm is not too late to bring up grades, but only if you work even harder to compensate for a weak start to the semester. That means you have to actually follow through on all your resolutions and good intentions, not just talk about it. For example, as much as I was glad to read about every all the formidable work-habits goals set in this week's posts, I was dismayed that 14 out of 37 students did not complete one or both blog posts this week (and remember that both 0% and 50% register as an F). I recognize that Inquiry 101 is not the sum of your lives, but 14 Fs in one week is too much, especially for those trying to maintain high grades or bring up low grades.

In closing, I want to steal an image from Lyndsay's blog which captures the theme of the semester: the challenge of trying to study hard and get good grades while also adjusting to independence and leaving a little time/space to discover yourself...



This week's blogging assignments:

1) Write a post that follows up on Tuesday's discussions of the articles on grade inflation, etc. Don't just recap what was said in class; try to take the discussion further in some way and add new information or ideas.

2) Do something this week that helps relieve stress, and blog about it. Relate your own experience but also try to give your readers some good, new, ideas about stress relief.