Thanksgiving

President Lincoln's Proclamation came out after the Battle of Gettysburg but before he issued the Gettysburg Address.

___________________________________

Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. 

Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. 

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

"I can't."

Often, my nearly four year old son will tell me he cant do something. And usually he will utter that phrase before even trying. I have tried to curtail that way of thinking. "I can't" is defeatist.
I can't" is negative. Successful people are neither. I hear that same defeatist phrase from many of my students. And so I have been thinking about that phrase and I think I know what is really going on.

When my son says "I can't" he does not man that he is incapable of performing a task, but rather he is uncertain how to begin. As I teach him to tie his shoes I just do not tell him to watch me. Instead I break it into steps. For a week all he does is cross one lace over the other. And then I ask him to please do the first step in tying your shoes, and he does.

I think its the same with undergraduates. Undergraduates certainly have the ability to complete any task. Ijust think that they do not know how to start the task. And while some of my colleagues might conclude that how to start any task is covered in the syllabus, I think they might be missing the point. How to start is not a hard skill. How to start is a soft skill. Children have to be taught the steps to tie their shoes. One step at a time. Children have to be taught how to compete any task and at various ages children are able to figure out some stuff on their own.

Thus I have concluded two things: 1) Undergraduates lack the soft skills necessary to succeed and in this case the soft skills is how to ask for assistance if they cannot figure out how to complete a task. Maybe the "You can do anything" parenthood mantra of the last 20 years has sunk so deeply into the psyche of teenagers that when they come face to face with a task that is truly difficult they just quit. They lack the grit. Grit is another soft skills. So, maybe those who say "I can't" just do not know how to ask for help because they might not know how to even begin to accomplish a task. And, 2) "I can't" means "I am afraid of failing and if I try and do not succeed I will have nobody to blame but myself and therefore I just will not even try."

I do not care for the phrase "I can't." I teach my son how to avoid using that phrase and I work to get my students to understand the difference between "I can't" do something with "I can't" figure out how to properly start something.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Success and Failure: Choice or Chance?

Until recently, I told my students that if they want to succeed all they have to do is what I did to succeed. That is a common perception in American society. Success can be achieved by "doing what I did.' Success is contagious. The "If I did it, you can do it" philosophy." The other adage we are told is that if you "work hard" you will  succeed. [Thus suggesting that if you are not succeeding in life it is because you are not working hard enough.] For years I bought into those assumptions. 

I was so focused and dedicated to my success that I completed my BA in two years, my MA in one year, and my PhD in four years. That's three degrees in seven years. I allowed nothing and no one to get in the way of my success. I fully embraced a "Damn the torpedoes!" mentality and I developed a tenacity of purpose seldom seen by fellow classmates.   

I emphasizes this aspect of my backstory to my students for over a decade. I told them that i expect them to also allow nothing and no one to get in their way of success - to do what i did. The "If I could do it, you can do it" mentality.

Then recently I began to reflect on my personal story of success and I've concluded two things. First, the "just do what I did to succeed" is rather paternalistic, self-serving, and inaccurate. Second, I forgot how much chance, or luck, played a major role in my success.

While I dedicated every day to doing what I needed to do in order to further my academic goals, and so the idea of choice cannot be ignored, chance or luck seemed to play an equal role in my success.

Right out of high school I enrolled in my local community college. I rarely attended class and when I did I did not take the topics of the day seriously, thus I failed every class. I then enlisted in the US Army. One of the benefits of active duty service is the GI Bill and one part of the GI Bill is the college saving fund. The college fund part of the GI Bill changed over time. When I was in the Army, we had the Montgomery GI Bill. And under that benefit for every $1 I saved to my college fund, the federal government put $2 in my college fund. By the time I received an honorable discharge I had a college fund slightly above $30,000 (that was in 1990 -in 2016 that figure would be a little more than $55,000). I would guess that the average college student does not begin his/her post secondary school with a $55,000 war chest. It was chance, or luck, that I had the opportunity to build a college savings fund.

Having that money meant I did not have to work full time in order to pay for everything and thus I could spend 100% of my time focused on my studies. And to save money I went back to that community college that I flunked out of 11 years prior. Now I did get a part time job working for the theater department to earn money for non essentials.

Another example of chance of luck was my housing situation. My parents lived between the community college and the University of Washington in a quiet neighborhood. They decided to move to Arizona, however as they were under 65 if they sold their home and moved out of state, the state would tax the profits of the sale. So my parents asked me, who was homeless due to a divorce, to move into their house and in exchange of taking care of the upkeep, I could stay for free. I'd guess that the average student doesn't have free housing (almost free as I split the utilities with my younger brother who was still living at home). Without having to pay for housing, my GI Bill college fund could go even farther in supporting my goals. Another example of chance or luck.

Then there were all the professors and staff who helped me to succeed such as Dr. Fowler who allowed me to enroll in his doctoral dissertation writing seminar as an undergrad. That lead to another grad class as an undergrad which lead to a Constitution law class at the UW Law School while I wrote my MA thesis. Then another professor at the UW knew a prof at WSU and they helped me to get into the WSU history program as a doctoral student.

Then when my dissertation adviser needed a warm body to fill in at the last minute for a panel on world human rights I said sure. Well the History Department chair was in the audience. He liked my presentation and so he offered me my own class: the first part of Western Civ. That led to classes every semester. Most of my colleagues never got one class, but I had six before I was awarded the PhD.

In retrospect there were dozens of people who helped to succeed. And so, I hope that I am one of the many faculty and staff who are there when our students need help in succeeding.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

20 Tips for Students

Lisa Micele, director of college counseling at the University of Illinois Laboratory High School offers success tips on a recent interview on Here and Now with Jeremy Hobson, NPR, August 25, 2016.

1. Be a self-advocate. Have a voice and state what you want and what you need. Ask for things. Ask for help. Reach out to people.
2. Get to know your Professors, Resident Advisor and meet with your Academic/Faculty Advisor(s) regularly.
3. Step out of your comfort zone, and sign-up for ONE new activity! Try something different.
4. There is no shame in being "undeclared." College is a time to explore. Embrace it. Take time to select & confirm your major.
5. Consider study abroad. Take advantage of all your college has to offer.
6. Manage your time well.
7. Practice self-care. (Eat well; exercise; make time for yourself; sleep!)
8. Consider taking some general education classes at your community college during summer – to free up your schedule and save money.
9. Know the many resources on your new campus. You are paying a student fee for services. These include: wellness/mental health supports; academic resources; career services; peer assistance resources; cultural resources.
10. Adopt a Growth Mindset: embrace challenges; persist in the face of setbacks; know that effort leads to mastery; learn from constructive criticism; find lessons/inspiration from others (Carol Dweck, Ph.D.)
11. Make academics a priority — always attend class, but plan a balanced life filled with social activities as well.
12. Follow your moral compass.
13. Seek comfort from family & high school friends while making a real effort to reach out to new friends.
14. Be realistic. You will make mistakes. You will be confused and overwhelmed. College is an exciting time of change; meeting new people; self-discovery. Embrace the highs & lows.
15. Reduce your social media presence OR when you post, be REAL!
16. Don’t spend too much time being “distracted” by technology.
17. Explore your new campus! Find places you like to study; restaurants you enjoy; events in the surrounding town.
18. Be comfortable saying “No” to bad choices and over-extending yourself.
19. Communicate with your family about keeping in touch/planning visits to campus or coming home. Be proactive and discuss expectations.
20. Enjoy the journey. Be good to yourself. You can do this!!

Success Does Not Happen By Accident

Student success and student retention have always been the hallmark of my academic career. Trying new ways to reach students is essential and part of my plan to help students reach their goals. And of course students themselves need to develop their own plan for success. Unless you become economically successful due to your parents dying and leaving their fortune to you or you are lucky to win the lottery, everything else in life needs a plan in order to achieve success. Yet the singularity of having a plan does not necessarily lead to success. And of course chance plays a role (that's the subject of my next post).

Plans are detailed, specific paths towards success. Plans include both benchmarks as well as alternative routes for when (not if) some thing or some one temporarily takes you off your path to success.

The more detailed your plan, the more likely you will realize success because the more likely you are prepared to handle adversity.

For success in the classroom, the syllabus is that detailed plan. Or at least the syllabus should be detailed. I have reviewed syllabi of colleagues over the last 17 years which lacked specifics and details, and contained a whole lot of "TBD." That kind of syllabus does not promote student success.

I routinely receive feedback from students affirming the depth and scope of my syllabi. At least that's what successful students tell me. Every semester I try something new that I hope will increase student success. This semester, the summer of 2016,  I initiated a Gateway quiz. All of my classes have an online presence, from which students access assigned readings, multimedia such as my lectures, self guided tutorials on writing for history, how to cite, various soft skills, etc.

Students receive the syllabus however the rest of the class is locked to them until they have taken and passed a quiz on the syllabus. The syllabus contains apt he ten things I want students to initially get out of the syllabus from things that annoy me (get my name right) to major policies such as late work,  assignment requirements, and required readings.

Once students pass that quiz, the gates swing upon and the students gain unfettered access to the rest of the class. As this is only the third week into the first five-week summer semester, it is too early to draw any conclusions connecting that quiz yo student success. However this much I do know: out of 96 students, only four emailed questions to me on information that was found in the syllabus. So my working conclusion is that the quiz compelled students to carefully read the syllabus as evidenced by an exceptionally small number of questions on information covered in the syllabus (by the way, the questions those four students posed were on information also covered in the syllabus quiz, which they all passed before sending their questions to me).

I am hoping as so few students had questions on information covered in the syllabus, more students will succeed at each assignment and success will translate into self-assurance, which will propel the students to not just complete the next assignment but will facilitate completion at a higher level. Will the Gateway quiz result in an increase in student success? Vamos a ver! At the end of the semester I'll ask the students to take an anonymous survey and three of the questions will be on the Gateway quiz and student success.

I want students to succeed and thus I have created a plan to facilitate their success: the syllabus. However as so few students actually read the syllabus I had needed to come up with a plan that will hopefully further assist students to succeed by compelling them to read the syllabus. So I have a plan that supports my plan for student success.

Success does not happen by accident. Success takes a plan. And there needs to be occasional self-reflection or self-analysis of that plan to determine if the plan is indeed leading you to success.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Characteristics of Successful People

Over my experiences in the Army, in the private sector, and now as an educator/trainer, I've found that successful people demonstrate five characteristics:

Maturity
Dedication
Perseverance
Resiliency
Grit

And this is how I define those characteristics, based on my years of observing successful people:

MATURITY: having the mental capabilities to know correct from incorrect behavior; understanding consequences of actions and inactions; taking personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and words.

DEDICATION: Loyalty to a particular person, organization, or project for a particular period of time; unwavering support until the goal is accomplished,

PERSEVERANCE: Working to accomplish a goal regardless of the circumstances or difficulties;  to not quit or faulter even in the face of adversity.

RESILIENCY: Returning to the path of success after experiencing adversity or circumstances that result in a temporary set back.

GRIT: Tenacity of purpose; mental toughness; an unwillingness to quit.

Life is too complex to say that this one thing results in success or failure. However in my experiences inside and outside the classroom, successful people demonstrate maturity, dedication, perseverance, resiliency, and grit.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

In the beginning . . .

My name is Dr. Jim Ross-Nazzal and I am a professor of history and humanities at an urban community college.

This blog is intended for anyone interested in academia in general or community college in particular and incorporates my own community college students to my community college colleagues across the country. If you are interested in stuff and things, this blog might be for you!

 I am a published author in Mexican American history, women's history, US history, Middle East history, and World history.

The majority of our student population is urban, Latino, live in historically ethnic neighborhoods, and overwhelmingly are first generation college students.

I offer both parts of the US survey, Western civilizations, and World history. My specialized classes include Introduction to Mexican American History, Introduction to Mexican American Culture, Introduction to Africana/African American history, Minorities in the US, and Introduction to Humanities. And I offer classes both on campus and online.

Not unlike in my classes, your feedback, insights, and observations are greatly appreciated!