By Col. Phil McNair
Contributor, In Military Education
Last month I wrote about being smart in your classes and giving your professor what he wants. In other words, watching out for the seemingly small stuff like administrative directions that can cost you points and potentially lower your grade on an otherwise well executed assignment.
Let’s expand on this concept and take a look at other classroom tactics you can use to your advantage.
As a student with military training and experience you are probably more prepared for success in college than you realize. You know how to follow orders. You know how to plan and execute actions to accomplish the mission. You are disciplined and motivated to achieve, and you don’t back down under pressure. You may even have leadership experience, or at the very least have witnessed leadership in action. OK, so how does that help you in the classroom?
I suggest that you start thinking of your classes as military operations. If you are taking one class at a time, consider it a mini-operation. Several classes together are like a small campaign.
What’s the first step in any military operation? Planning, of course. Before you embark on your mission spend a bit of time thinking about what you want to accomplish and what resources you have to do so. Perhaps most importantly, do you have the time available to devote to your courses during this period? You might be surprised how many military students start a class when they have a deployment or key training exercise scheduled right in the middle of the semester. Don’t set yourself up for failure by overloading yourself during a time of stress and competing demands on your time. After all, it’s easier to postpone a class than trying to recover from a bad grade.
Now you’re ready to get into the details of your operation. Get out your calendar and map out all the critical dates important to your mission. Deadlines for selecting and registering for the course(s) you need, when you need to buy books, when you must take care of paying tuition or submitting your paperwork to your education services officer and class start dates. Sit down and think about all the things you must do before class starts, and note them on your planning calendar.
Once class begins, or perhaps earlier, you should have access to the syllabus for each course. Think of the syllabus as the “Operations Order” for the course, and with it your planning can jump into high gear. Read each syllabus carefully and note on your calendar what must be accomplished every week in every course: reading, posting comments to discussion forums, tests and quizzes, writing assignments and other projects. Use different colors for each course, and highlight significant requirements such as mid-term and final exams and research papers.
The course syllabus, like a true Operations Order, contains all sorts of valuable information you should pay attention to in addition to dates and milestones. While a portion of the syllabus will most likely be boilerplate language about school policies, grading scales, acceptable behavior, and where to go for technical support, look for nuggets of importance. In particular, watch out for how assignments are weighted towards your overall grade. In other words, which assignments count the most? Those should become your key objectives, and you should circle those on your planning calendar.
Also look for assignments that will require extra time to complete, such as research papers or projects. These are probably the ones that count the most towards your grade, so you should read the instructions for each of them right away. Do not wait until the last week of class to read about the professor’s expectations for your research paper. Allow yourself sufficient time throughout the course to work on these key assignments so that you can prepare a draft of your work and revise it as you go along. Professors can tell when you have thrown something together at the last minute, and the resulting grade is usually not good.
Next month we’ll cover more classroom tactics and talk about how you should attack each class once you step through the door on the first day, whether physically or virtually. Meanwhile, keep your head down and stay safe out there, wherever you are!
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