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G-ID101 D: First-Year Seminar

Fall 2009-Spring 2010
Mondays 11:30---Location: Mohler 235

Instructors:
Bruce Clary, Adviser Tabatha Surveyor, Mentor
Office: Mohler 201 Dotzour 117
Campus Ext: 2530 Cell: 405.824.2648
Direct: 242.0530 roxy_surveyor@yahoo.com
Cell: 620.755.2501 survtab@bulldog.mcpherson.edu
E-mail: claryb@mcpherson.edu
http://wwwi.mcpherson.edu/~claryb

Requirements Met:
G-ID101 First-Year Seminar is a 2-credit, General Education course, required for all
first-year freshmen.

Disability Services:
If you have any disability that prevents you from doing your best work in this course,
it is your responsibility to inform the instructor or the college administration, via
Kevin Hadduck, Director of Academic Development, Royer Center, Miller Library,
ext. 2507, or hadduckk@mcpherson.edu

Texts and Supplies:

Cohen, Harlan. The Naked Roommate and 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into in
College. Sourcebooks, Inc. 2005.

Course Description and Goals:

The course involves a variety of major emphases: 1) From freshman orientation on,
students will learn about the McPherson College community. Significant attention
will be given to the college’s mission and identity as a liberal arts, Church of the
Brethren college and to campus resources and traditions. 2) Students will address
personal success issues, including those pertaining to dormitory life, relationships,
health and wellness, stress and money management, and personal and professional
communication. 3) Students will learn academic success strategies, including time
and task management, learning styles assessment, study and note-taking skills, test
taking skills, and library/information literacy. 4) Students will engage in professional
success strategies, including goal setting, choosing a major, connecting majors to
careers, and exploring career directions. In the fall, students will begin a degree plan
and portfolio, which they will complete in the spring. Also in the spring semester,
students will revisit time and task management issues and personal and academic
success issues as needed. In the spring, students may begin exploring the topics of
reading and writing within the academic disciplines. 5) Emphases in the spring will
also include the completion of a service project and follow-up reflection
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Course Objectives:
1. College Mission and Identity: Freshmen will learn…
• The mission of McPherson College and how that mission shapes the
identity and values of the college community and informs the academic
curriculum.
• What it means for a school to be a “liberal arts” college in a Church of the
Brethren context.
• What curricular and co-curricular opportunities and resources are available
to them.
• What campus resources are available to them that can enhance their
personal, academic, and professional success.
2. Personal Success: Freshmen will learn…
• The challenges and opportunities that face them personally, so that they
can successfully build healthy relationships in their dormitory life,
personal life, and social life.
• The basics of time and task management, as well as stress and money
management.
• The basics of good physical, mental, and spiritual health.
3. Academic Success: Freshmen will learn…
• A variety of academic success skills that will prove helpful to them in
their individual and group study efforts and in the classroom.
• FThe basics of information literacy, in terms of library and internet
research.
4. Professional Success: Freshmen will…
• Build a Degree Plan and Portfolio and thus come to understand the full
range of curricular opportunities and resources available for meeting their
graduation requirements.
• Explore short-, medium-, and long-term academic and professional goals.
Such exploration will include learning how to choose a major and
connecting a major to career possibilities.
5. Service: Freshmen will…
• Complete a service project (most likely in the spring).
• Engage in reflection upon the service work done and the value of such
work to them individually and to a community.

Grades

Attendance (including convos): 20%

Readings and Follow-Up Discussions/Quizzes/Written Response: 40%
(including May Letter, Quizzes, Assessments, etc.)
Degree Plan and Portfolio (including Kansas Pipeline/Kuder assignment): 10%
Library and Information Literacy Assignments: 20%
Final Self-Assessment: 10%
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Projected Course Schedule

In addition to the topics below, reading assignments from The Naked Roommate and
study questions will be assigned for most class meetings. The readings and study
questions for the next class meeting will be announced at the preceding meeting. All
additions or changes in the schedule below will also be available on the class web site,
wwwi.mcpherson.edu/~claryb/id101d.

8/31 Intro to Course / McPherson College Mission: What It Means for Freshmen /
Define “College Life”—Challenges, Opportunities, and Campus Resources /
Review Email Assignment / Assign May Letter
Cuseo, Ch. 1; Cohen, Chs. 1, 5, 7, 13

9/4 11:30 a.m. President’s Opening Convo (be sure to take student ID to convo)

9/7 Academic and Personal Success: Define and Explain the Value of “Liberal Arts”
/ Dealing with Parents, Roommates, and Dormitory Life
Cuseo, Ch. 2; Cohen, Chs. 1, 2, 3

9/14 Personal Success: Professional Communication Essentials—Best Practices at

McPherson College / Personal Communication Essentials
Cuseo, Ch. 11; Cohen, Chs. 3, 4, 8

9/21 Personal Success: Health and Wellness (Physical, Mental, and Spiritual) /
Campus and Community Resources (Tom Hurst and Kelli Johnson present in
Mingenback Theatre)
Cuseo, Chs. 12, 13; Cohen, Chs. 9, 10, 11

9/26-27 Scottish Festival (our service project!!)

9/28 Academic Success: Introduction to College-Level Demands (Study, Time, and

Testing)—Reality Bites / Campus Resources / Preview of Homecoming—What
It Means at McPherson College
Cuseo, Ch. 1; Cohen, Ch. 7

10/2 Honors Convo / Alumni Panel Discussions (be sure to take student ID to convo)

10/3 Homecoming and Family Weekend

10/5 Academic and Personal Success: Best Time and Money Management Practices /
Assign Online Learning Styles Assessment
www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
(Follow links at end of completed inventory for discussion materials)
Cuseo, Ch. 10; Cohen, Ch. 7, 12
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10/12 Academic Success: Review Learning Styles Assessment / Best Note-Taking and
Test Preparation Practices / Assign Online Kuder Assessment
Cuseo, Chs. 4, 5; Cohen, Ch. 7

10/19-20 FALL BREAK

10/23 11:30 a.m. - C. L. Lindsay Convocation, Safety on the Internet (be sure to take
student ID to convo)

10/26 Professional Success: Goal Setting / Review Kuder Assessment / Choosing a

Major or Being Undecided) / Intro to Degree Plan and Portfolio Concept
Cuseo, Chs. 3, 9; Cohen, Chs. 5, 7

10/28 Assessment Half-Day (C-BASE required for all freshmen)

11/2 Professional Success: Spring Enrollment Issues / Graduation Requirements /

Moving from Major to Career—What Careers Follow My Major? (Karlene Tyler
and Chris Wiens Present in Brown Auditorium)
Cuseo, Chs. 3, 9; Cohen, Chs. 5, 7

11/5-9 Spring Enrollment due for Freshmen

11/9 Personal Success: Dormitory Life, Diversity, Social Pressures, Etc.—As Needed
Cuseo, Chs. 8, 12; Cohen, Chs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13

11/16 Academic Success: Best Test Preparation and Test-Taking Practices

Cuseo, Chs. 4, 5; Cohen, Ch. 7

11/23 Academic Success: Library and Info Lit / Academic Honesty

Cuseo, Ch. 7; Cohen, Ch. 7

11/25-29 THANKSGIVING

11/30 Academic Success: Library and Info Lit / Critical Thinking / Promote the
Holiday Dinner
Cuseo, Chs. 6, 7

12/7 Personal Success: Stress Management and Emotional Health Revisited / Review
of Semester Essentials—What Have You Gained? / Looking Forward to Second
Semester
Cuseo, Ch. 13; Cohen, Ch. 14

12/14-17 Final Exams (none scheduled for FYS)