The
keys to using this strategy are sincerity, persistence,
and attentiveness. Show the professor that your inquiries
are sincere. Your only concern is doing your best,
not to earn "brownie points" or to be a nuisance (make
sure your body language and nonverbal communicate
this).
Also,
your professor will be caught off guard by your questions,
and some of his/her responses will be vague. Get the
professor to be as specific as possible. Don't settle
for study hard, work hard, listen well. Study what?
Work hard on what? Listen carefully to what?
Finally,
as you get the professor to open up, listen very carefully
to his/her responses. Listen between the lines, question
things you're unclear about, and write down everything
word for word. Repeat their responses to them if necessary.
Final
Comments:
Most
students who've tried this strategy are blown away
by the results. Think about it? If you're getting
information that all of your classmates don't have,
you've already guaranteed yourself a letter grade
better than most of the students in your class (given
you apply the information the professor gave you).
The
dangerous side of using this strategy is if you sought
out this information insincerely. DON'T, and I repeat
DON'T, ask your professor for this "secret recipe"
if you have no intentions of using it. The worst thing
you could do is get this information from your professor
and not do what he or she told you to do. You would
be committing nothing short of academic suicide. Harsh
assessment you think? Well, ask yourself, if you
were the professor, and a student tried this strategy
on you only to prove later that he or she wasn't sincere
about it, how would you feel? Not too good, would
you? Remember, teachers are human beings too.
However,
on the opposite side of that, if you diligently apply
everything the professor told you, you will save a
lot of time (no trial and error), you will have earned
a fan (the professor), and you will receive a higher
grade than you would have gotten otherwise (inside
information).
The
reason I like this strategy so much is not because
it guaranteed me a letter grade better than the average,
but because of the reputation I managed to build from
it. Just ask yourself, what do you think professors
thought of me after that first day of class? Do you
think they thought I was unmotivated, not committed,
irresponsible, not focused, not serious about my education,
or just like the "average" student? No, they thought
just the opposite.
Let
the truth be told, the only thing I truly wanted to
be called was "different." I just didn't want them
to think I was like every other student in the class.
Any other complimentary adjective they wanted to use
to describe me was just icing on the cake. Be different!
Professor
Inventory Exercise:
