This will be the last homework free weekend for many college goers around the country. Holiday break is officially over and starting Monday, students everywhere will get a fresh start with a new semester.
I’m sure you all totally got this and you’ll be returning to classes in style with your new kicks, ready to start essay assignments the day they are assigned. However I have a few pieces of unsolicited advice to share with you.
Eye Contact
This is a trick I personally developed, less like a trick more like good manners–but check it out. So at the end of class, like the last few minutes, when your professor is trying to squeeze the few details about the latest homework assignment in, just sit quietly, make eye contact, and listen. You will notice that you are one of the few people doing so. Most students during the last three minutes of class are packing their books, checking the time, and texting who they will meet after class. Your professor has a bird’s eye view from the front. If you’re patiently paying attention in a sea of shuffling millennials, you will be noticed as a stand up person.
Visit During Office Hours
Most professors have office hours, a time when they make themselves available, so students like yourself can go bother them. Do it! The point of visiting them during their office hours, is for name recognition and to build some kind of repertoire. At the end of the semester when they are sitting down to mark final grades, don’t you want to be remembered? Even if you struggled in the class, if you made an attempt for help during office hours, you’ll come out with a better grade because of your effort. So I challenge you, go see each of your professors at least once, ideally twice this semester during office hours.
Always Show Up
Always show up people! Most of you the first day of class with search the syllabus scanning for that professor’s absence policy; and begin scheming your next “mental health day”. Just stop it. Always show up. Unless you’re truly sick with bird flu, always show up. Did you not complete the reading and have too much shame to go to class? Are you telling yourself that you’re just going to skip this one day, go to the library and catch up? Rubbish! You will just become anxious and more behind than you were before. Always show up. If you get called on in class: apologize for not doing the reading, DO NOT make an excuse, and participate extra next class. Believe me if you make “Always Show Up” your mantra, you’ll be thanking me when you actually have a day to lay out when something important comes up.
Be Hammock Ready
Keep your hammock and straps close by on your backpack! After class, take a well deserved break. Kick your feet up, drink your third cup of coffee, and catch up on that reading for your next class. Still living in the dorms? Get creative with your hammock in your 10 x 10 foot living space. Check out our hanging ki t and enjoy hamocking indoors on the reg. This way, you’ll never have to be too far away from your ENO hammock . After all, you do work hard, right?
