Academic Calendar

Looking at the academic calendar is one of the most important things to do at the beginning of every semester. This applies to all students, tutors, faculty, and staff members. Academic calendars can be found at:
Kingsborough Community College Academic Calendar
http://www.kingsborough.edu/sub-registration/office_of_registrar/Pages/academic_calendar.aspx

Baruch College Academic Calendar
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/registrar/due_dates.htm

BMCC Academic Calendar
http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/calendar/academic_calendar.jsp

City College of New York Academic Calendar
http://www1.ccny.cuny.edu/current/registrar/calendar/


Hunter College Academic Calendar
http://registrar.hunter.cuny.edu/subpages/academic_calendar.shtml

John Jay College Academic Calendar
http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/acalendar/EventList.aspx?fromdate=8/26/2011&todate=12/31/2011&display=Month&view=DateTime


Kingsborough Community College Academic Calendar
http://www.kingsborough.edu/sub-registration/office_of_registrar/Pages/academic_calendar.aspx

Queens College
http://www.qc.cuny.edu/registrar/calendars/Pages/default.aspx  (Click the correct semester under "Important Dates" section.)


I know of a tutor who, when he was still new to the college, did not know about the academic calendar. On one Tuesday that was a Monday schedule (as indicated on the academic calendar), he did not show up for the labs and workshops he was supposed to be teaching that day, because he did not know about the academic calendar and therefore did not know about the schedule change for that specific date.

Keep an eye on the academic calendar throughout the semester. Enter the holidays and the days of schedule-change into your PDA or organizer.

Make Room In Your Cup

"Make Room In Your Cup" is a "warm-up" reading I usually provide my students at the beginning of a semester. If you are one of my students and you missed this one or you have a friend who missed it in the first lab, it could be found at:

http://life.SpirFit.com/2009/07/is-there-room-in-your-cup.html

For professors, instructors, and tutors, feel free to refer your students to this reading. It's an easy reading designed to open the minds of students to various approaches, teachings, and strategies you will provide. In addition, it is an important life lesson for the students.

Day Before CATW or Standardized Tests

On the day before a standardized test (such as the CATW, CATR/ACT Reading, Compass Math Exam, SAT, ACT, and GRE), you should not be studying or practicing - as I've mentioned at: http://cuny.SpirFit.com/2011/07/day-and-days-before-standardized-test.html

On the day before a standardized exam, it's good to relax and do some inspirational reading (not related to the exam). The following are some recommended inspirational readings:

Facing Uncertainty - Opportunity in Disguise (Part I)
http://Life.SpirFit.com/2009/06/power-of-uncertain-part-1-opportunities.html

Facing Uncertainty - Do Not Fear the Unknown (Part II)
http://Life.SpirFit.com/2009/07/facing-uncertainties-part-2-do-not-fear.html

Facing Uncertainty - UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF YOUR MIND (Part III)
http://Life.SpirFit.com/2009/08/facing-uncertainties-part-3.html

Facing Uncertainty (Part IV)
http://Life.SpirFit.com/2009/08/facing-uncertainties-part-4-harnessing.html

How Do I Forgive
http://Life.SpirFit.com/2010/03/how-do-i-forgive.html

Dealing with People at Work
http://Life.SpirFit.com/2009/12/dealing-with-people-at-work.html

I'm Dying
http://life.SpirFit.com/2011/06/im-dying.html

Follow Your Heart, Don’t Live Someone Else’s Life
http://life.SpirFit.com/2010/10/follow-your-heart-dont-live-someone.html

Habitual Thoughts Determine What
http://spirfit.com/2009/05/habitual-thoughts-determine-results.html

Not Imprisoned by Our Past
http://www.myspace.com/constanzo/blog/164298676?MyToken=11305cd4-12b1-4da2-9b51-08aefe73f3fb

Don’t Leave the Great Project
http://Life.SpirFit.com /2010/08/dont-leave-great-project.html

Is There Room in Your Cup
http://www.myspace.com/constanzo/blog/278083247



From Other Teachers
http://www.innerself.com/Spirituality/becoming_spiritual.htm
http://www.franklincovey.com/tc/resources/view/art
http://peacepilgrim.com/book/chapt6.htm
http://www.drwaynedyer.com/articles/seven-secrets-of-a-joyful-life
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/richard_st_john_s_8_secrets_of_success.html
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/frankl.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/voices/frankl.html

Funny or Fun
http://www.myspace.com/constanzo/blog/502076264
http://life.SpirFit.com/2010/12/smashing-video.html

Pointers for the Day and Days Before Standardized Test

The following are pointers I've presented to students for preparation for standardized tests (including the CAT Writing and/or ACT Reading Exams). If I haven't presented this to you in person with full explanation of each point, some of these suggestions may or may not make sense to you. You'll just have to humble yourselves and take my word for it, if you want to improve your performance.

FROM NOW UNTIL 24 HOURS BEFORE THE TEST (APPROXIMATELY TWO DAYS BEFORE TEST)
Prepare as much as you can. For the writing test, practice writing clearly and persuasively. Do CATW practice within 90 minutes for each practice prompt. Just like a SWAT team or a military unit preparing for an operation by doing simulated drills, you should be doing CATW drills or simulation. Do each CATW practice within 90 minutes. (If you are practicing for CUNY ACT Reading, you have unlimited time.)


ON THE DAY (24 HOURS) BEFORE THE TEST
• Do NOT study or practice for the CATW/ACT the day before the test.
• Do NOT party or engage in similar activities
• Plan to sleep enough hours the night before the test. (For example if the test is on Thursday, don’t take a long nap in the afternoon on Wednesday if you know that will keep you from sleeping on Wednesday night. "Know thyself."
• Make it a calm relaxing day. Examples of good things to do the day before the test:

- Prayer
- Meditation
- Read inspirational or motivational materials
- Watch inspirational or motivational movies or TV programs

• Prepare everything you need to bring for the test as instructed by your professor (pens, pencils, watch,…) Prepare some hard candy (like Life Savers) to bring to the test for fueling the brain with sugar during the test.
• Know exactly the location of the test and arrange how you will get there. THE MORE PREPARED YOU ARE, THE LESS ANXIETY YOU WILL HAVE.

DAY OF THE TEST
• Keep drinking lots of water until 45 minutes before the test. (Lack of water may cause a decline in brain function.)
• Bring all you need to bring (according to your professor).
• Get to the testing site AT LEAST 30 minutes early.
• Relax. You’ll be fine. Whatever happens, it won’t be the end of the world.
• Before the test, go to the bathroom and empty your bladder and/or bowels. (Do so ahead of time. Don't be late to the test!)
• During the test, always keep a piece of hard candy in your mouth to keep fueling the brain. Do not chew the candy, but let it release sugar slowly and gradually (Do this only during a test. It helps in the short term, within those 90 minutes, but it's not a healthy practice for the long term.)


Copyright: © 2005, 2011. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.org/Academics and CUNY.SpirFit.com



Keywords: Standardized Test Preparation, CATW, Day before test, Test preparation pointers, ESL, English, , CUNY, Kingsborough, Hunter, Baruch, CCNY, Queensborough, Brooklyn College, BMCC, writing, revising, paragraph

Introduction to the CATW - The Friendship Bond (Part 1)

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Whether you are completely new to the CATW or you're quite familiar with it, this lesson will be helpful to you. Read the following and write your essay according to the writing directions.

The Friendship Bond

Friendship appears to be a unique form of human bonding. Unlike marriage or the ties that bind parents and children, it is not defined or controlled by law. Still, friendship fills a key role in our lives; it builds feelings of warmth and love between two people. In order for this to happen, the two most important building blocks of friendship are trust and acceptance.

A recent survey in Psychology Today questioned over forty thousand readers about what they looked for in close friendships. The survey participants stated that they valued, above all, loyalty and the ability to keep secrets. When commenting on friendship in general, similar words and phrases were repeated: "trust," "honesty," "accepts me even when he doesn't totally approve," "supports me," and "understands me." Learning about why a friendship ends can also give us valuable information about what we value in our friends. When asked why they ended a friendship, readers most often gave as their reasons feeling betrayed by a friend and finding out that a friend had very different views on issues that they felt were important.

Social psychologists have a theory for why trust and friendship seem to go together. Trust allows you to open up to another person and reveal the parts of yourself that are vulnerable. If the other person continues to accept you, then liking and affection will deepen, as well as trust. According to this theory, both members in a friendship must be open with and trust one another for their relationship to become deeper.

Excerpted and adapted from Parlee, M.B. (1996). The Friendship Bond. In W. R. Smalzer, Write to be Read: Reading, Reflection, and Writing. (pp. 69–71). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Writing Directions
Read the passage above and write an essay responding to the ideas it presents. In your essay, be sure to summarize the passage in your own words, stating the author’s most important ideas. Develop your essay by identifying one idea in the passage that you feel is especially significant, and explain its significance. Support your claims with evidence or examples drawn from what you have read, learned in school, and/or personally experienced.
Remember to review your essay and make any changes or corrections that will help your reader follow your thinking. You will have 90 minutes to complete your essay.

After you’ve written the essay, go to http://cunyEnglish.blogspot.com/2011/07/introduction-to-catw-friendship-bond.html to view a sample passing essay and a failing essay. However, don't rush to the end of the tutorial because the whole tutorial provides very important CATW ba


Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.org/Academy/catw and SpirFit.org



Keywords: CATW, CUNY Assessment Test in Writing, New CUNY ACT Writing, English, rephrasing, 

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CUNY, Kingsborough, Hunter, Baruch, CCNY, Queensborough, Brooklyn College, BMCC, writing, Keywords: CATW, CUNY Assessment Test in Writing, New CUNY ACT Writing, English, rephrasing, CUNY, Kingsborough, Hunter, Baruch, CCNY, Queensborough, Brooklyn College, BMCC, writing, revising, paragraph

Introduction to the CATW: The Friendship Bond - Basic Tutorial and Sample Essays(Part 2)

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This is part 2 of this introductory CATW lesson. If you haven't written your essay in response to the "Friendship Bond" in part 1, please do so before you continue with this lesson.

Before going to the sample passing essay below, keep in mind that writing is very much like art and sports where there are many different ways or styles of approach. You must consider finding your own style of writing. It would actually be dangerous if you try to play "copycat" and write in a style that does not fit you.

Let me use an analogy to explain this. Let's say you are a chef competing in a cooking competition and your background is in Asian-style cuisine where as your competitor has more of a Euro-Italian style of cooking. If you unwisely decide to copy your competitor's Italian cooking style (without having been trained in such a style), you will lose. In the same way, you do not want to write like another writer of a completely different style just because their essay is passing. You must find your own style of writing. Experiment with different styles and methods in your English labs and classes.

If you've written an essay in response to this prompt on your own, a sample passing essay and basic CATW information can be found at:

http://jjc.jjay.cuny.edu/erc/act/writing/ex1.pdf


Copyright: © 2011. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.org/Academy/catw and SpirFit.org

Feel free to follow our SpirFit Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpirFit/141881909215772

Feel free to choose the “Subscribe” options on the right side of this page.


Keywords: CATW, CUNY Assessment Test in Writing, New CUNY ACT Writing, English, rephrasing, CUNY, Kingsborough, Hunter, Baruch, CCNY, Queensborough, Brooklyn College, BMCC, writing, revising, paragraph

CATW Practice - Boys and Girls Together

Boys and Girls Together, Taught Separately in School

Michael Napolitano speaks to his fifth-grade class in the Morrisania section of the Bronx like a basketball coach.
“You — let me see you trying!” he insisted the other day during a math lesson. “Come on, faster!”

Across the hall, Larita Hudson’s scolding is more like a therapist’s. “This is so sloppy, honey,” she said as she
reviewed problems in a workbook. “Remember what I spoke to you about? About being the bright shining star that
you are?” Ms. Hudson, who is 32 and grew up near the school, has a room full of 11-year-old girls, while Mr. Napolitano, a 50-year-old former special education teacher, faces 23 boys.

The single-sex classes at Public School 140, which started as an experiment last year to address decreasing test scores and behavioral problems, are among at least 445 such classrooms nationwide. “We will do whatever works, however we can get there,” said Paul Cannon, principal of P.S. 140. “We thought this would be another tool to try.”

“Before it was all about showing the girls who was toughest, and roughing up and being cool,” said Samell Little, whose son Gavin is in his second school year surrounded only by boys. “Now I never hear a word from teachers about behavior problems, and when he talks about school, he is actually talking about work.”

The nation’s 95 single-sex public schools — including a dozen in New York City —have many critics. Kim Gandy,
president of the National Organization for Women, said separate classrooms reinforce gender stereotypes.
“A boy who has never been beaten by a girl on an algebra test could have some major problems having a female
supervisor,” she said. While some advocates believe that girls are more likely to participate in class when no
boys are present — and that boys, particularly those from low-income families, tend to focus better without
girls around — academic research has not definitively confirmed this.

Jennifer Medina (New York Times, March, 2009)



Writing Directions
Read the passage above and write an essay responding to the ideas it presents. In your essay, be sure to summarize the passage in your own words, stating the author’s most important ideas. Develop your essay by identifying one idea in the passage that you feel is especially significant, and explain its significance. Support your claims with evidence or examples drawn from what you have read, learned in school, and/or personally experienced.
Remember to review your essay and make any changes or corrections that will help your reader follow your thinking. You will have 90 minutes to complete your essay.