«”No one becomes a better person by accident»
Plato
INSTRUCTION BOOKLET FOR CURATOR
Adaptation of undergraduate students for productive learning activity
There is no doubt, that well-thought work with students during their university formation is capable like pre-preparation of the plants to bring more tangible results in the formation of a true master of own trade.
As it often happens, young, not wise with life experience boys and girls come from school to another learning environment and they are not able to adapt effectively to the new regime- more independent with contradictory motivations- cease to strive for the best and choose priorities far from professionally oriented.
From this it follows that the most important focus in the work with yesterday pupils is to make advisably on cooperation of their adaptation to productive learning at university.
There raises a series of questions: what is cooperation, what is its practical content, how to start and in what order to implement? And who will assume the main burden of care in the crucial set of measures?
Answers for these questions are obvious, of course, they are curators, because they are those people who comprehend student’s life broader, that’s why curators can reach the highest success in “universitation” of the youngest educational team.
Each curator wants to find such methods and ways of the work which would guarantee maximum effect with minimum cost in the circumstances.
Experience shows that the first, most efficient step in this direction is collection of educational and relevant information on each ward.
The most relaxed and natural way of collecting information is a written survey at the end of the first introductory meeting with the entrusted team.
At the beginning curator presents, tell about herself as a part of university staff of teachers, who was entrusted to help students to be ready for the serious adult life. The curator gives her contact information. In a short way she tells about personal experience of becoming a student, all stages of professional growth, and vivid episodes from people’s life whose names are connected with the life of educational establishment. Then organizational information is given for wards (it is given printed or comments selectively by curator).
It is need to lay open some points:
How to orientate in location of educational objects and auditoriums;
Where stands with information are placed and how to read necessary information;
Where stands with basic and updated information for students are placed;
How attendance, data reporting and control regimes are organized;
What typical mistakes are made by fresher men and what reasonable relationship must be shown to different elements of educational process.
Without going into details (this meeting is not the last) it is advisable to remember that students will be informed many times by other teachers and also with seniors. The last ones are reduce the desire to intelligence. This fact is also worthy of mentioning it on the first meeting.
At the end each student gets questionnaire of the first-year student, it is necessary to fill it without missing a single item, and also to fill information upon parents:
First and last name of the parents;
Date of birth of parents;
Contact information (all phone numbers, e-mail, home address).
Periodically, for example, at the beginning of semesters, contact data personally improved as well as marital status, data on parents and employment.
Filled papers are clipped with stapler or kept in a separate folder and data is transferred to curator’s workbook. So curator is armed with a kind of informational matrix, which allows:
Expeditiously notify everyone about upcoming events or changed plans;
To inform beforehand about liability or demand in extra academic work;
To select qualified candidates for different assignments and appointments;
To formulate correctly arguments in group and individual work;
To determine adequately methods of pedagogical impact on a specific person.
By the way, ably selected monitor of the group may become a reliable assistant in informing of those who lost communications, also to clarify changing personal data.
In the course of following meetings the main forces of curator are focused on solving two tasks:
Quickly explain necessary information students and to get from them adequate understanding and proper execution;
To cooperate for development of solid cult of learning.
The first task requires a prepared form, where clearly recorded to whom, when and what was brought personally (if it is necessary – under recording, or in print type, in important cases – under signature in the form).
The second task – is the most important mission of the curator, which is impossible without purposeful preparation for each meeting with students.
A key role in this preparation is organization of address informational-psychological warfare. It implies:
A regular collection of information on progress in study and attendance (including being late);
Identification of the best and the worst in both categories (as diligence criteria);
Compilation of the speech abstracts, where summarizing of current or final outcome will be reflected;
Emanate from patterns of information assimilation, curator directs perception of listeners to constructive direction by the following methods:
Begins with negative, ends with positive;
While giving someone a negative mark, explains specific recommendation for improvement;
The most necessary information is outlined three times-fully, in examples and shortly;
Excludes himself and suppresses any other students in mockery on learning or diligent;
Diplomatically snipes , and also culturally affects self-esteem, joking on reckless and negligent.
A month or two after the group’s formation it is appropriate to conduct a small test- game: “Write on given sheets of papers three surnames in a column. On the top-your own surname, under it-that one, with whom you would go scouting, below-with whom you wouldn’t go scouting”.
If the analysis of gathered papers shows that students with negligent attitude to study owned leadership or (what is worse) diligent are rejected, it means that further work should be focused on all round neutralization of diligence at the first and multifaceted rise of authority at the second.
In this activity curator can be offered time-tested arsenal of incentives and penalties: a record in cards, admonishment, reprimand, severe reprimand, formal warning about probability of expel and as well as gratitude, certificate of merit, grateful letters for parents, presenting a memorable souvenir, a petition to the Head of university on presentation diploma and valuable prize.
No less important is impact in collective and through collective on student. As an example, we’ll show some realization methods of this recourse.
Dropped on negligence (breach) student is asked to stand up and in the presence of his friends to answer questions – first of all on the subject of his knowledge, if he knows exactly on what disciplines or themes he got behind, where he has absences, how many bad grades he has received for the previous period (what he has offended in particular and what consequence will occur or could occur). Then – how it is aligned with his beliefs and views on the life, how he justifies his personal immaturity in action. Then – can we assume that his comrades don’t have those excuses? The last question: how anyone can consider himself as adult or willed if he hide behind such excuse? In this case curator directs attention of listeners, subconsciously forming collective disapproval of educational negligence.
Negligent student (perpetrator) raised again but faced to group next time and asked questions in the same order and the offered new ones: what he expects in the worst circumstances, how he is planning to enter into adulthood, to earn his living, at whose expense he will live if his sustained negligence (inclination to violations) will remain in the future. For strengthening emotional impact of the word “negligence”, “carelessness” are interspersed seamlessly in curator’s speech with bright contextual synonyms. For example: lack of will, spineless, slipping into the abyss, unscrupulousness, infantilism, immaturity, inexperience, kindergarten logic, homegrown, inflated egos, etc.
Next time negligent isn’t raised, but members of the group are offered to ask series of questions: how hopeless is the student, can someone swear that these actions will not be repeated and won’t become worse, does anyone believe that he’ll be a host of tomorrow Kazakhstan. At the end of the discussion there variants of collective decision for voting: to record punishment, to give probation period, provide by diligent student for a short period, to present responsible teacher schedule of repayment of liabilities, to write assertion on his name, sealed with personal signature with indicating of taken obligations. Official record is written to improve psychological significance of the event in the course of meeting.
It is extremely useful to introduce elements of competition to the process of teaching. Rating of the diligence is announced in summarizing results (firstly called the weakest, and in the end – the strongest). A simple way to calculate the rating –is summarizing of all received marks with subtracting penalty points for each absence (-5), for each being late (-2), and for every penalty (-10). The first places are marked as providing of commensurate rewards as well as in oral form.
It is necessary to remember that at the end of the meeting must be positive, so meeting is finished by honouring and awarding of leaders of the study and public life, story of their visionary steps and moral –hustler qualities, Birthday greetings and good news.
As current term of the professionalism is EARLINESS, curator must keep track of negligence at the very early stages, while negative changes aren’t deeply entrenched.
There is no need to “fight with last ounce of strength” for leaving negligent in the ranks of the students: as statistics shows, among them are many students who are prone to avoid responsibility at all cost, therefore more demand in specialties without higher education. At this also should be stopped in the course of collective meeting.
So, early collection, processing and presentation of address information as well as purposeful cooperation of solid cult of learning is a serious guarantor of effective adaptation of junior students for productive professional education.