Editorial Welcome
Humor Column
Problems that Lead to Slow Reading
A Secret Tip for Good Writing
Combating Groupthink
Brainteasers
Catch the Last Issue!

Welcome to the January/February 2007 issue of the new Learning Center Exchange!

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Editorial Welcome

By Mona Pelkey

Happy New Year from Your Friends at LCE!

We have some exciting articles for you this month, spanning a wide range of topics. Do you teach reading efficiency, or do you have students who need a speed reading course? Dennis Congos has prepared a comprehensive handout to help students who read too slowly to self-diagnose and treat the causes. Do you have writing students who think Wikipedia is the best thing since the invention of the iPod? Then you must read Julianne Scibetta as she explores student groupthink and makes suggestions for exploiting this phenomenon in the classroom. And do you remember the old adage, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?” Kyle Cushman shares suggestions to help Jack become a better creative writer...
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In the Spotlight: Humor Column

By Barbara McLay, University of South Florida

Problems that Lead to Slow Reading

By Dennis Congos, University of Central Florida

This handout is designed to help identify and eliminate problems that lead to slow reading. To get the most out of this exercise, take a sheet of paper and draw a line vertically down the middle. As common causes…
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Sometimes You Have to Laugh

The first class I took when I began work on my master's degree was statistics. I wanted to get the worst out of the way first. I figured if I couldn't get through the hardest class, I would give up the whole idea of a master's degree early on. Even though I tried to read the textbook before lectures, I could not understand half of what the professor thought he was teaching us. To begin the second class, he talked about critical t's and obtained t's, put some confusing numbers...
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Understanding Today’s Students: Combating Groupthink

By Julianne Scibetta

A Secret Tip for Good Writing

By Kyle Cushman, Vermont College of Union Institute and University

Were you one of the people blindsided by Time Magazine’s 2006 Person of the Year issue cover? I was – blinded, that is – by the shiny reflection, at least. Their whole concept of the consumer being the main focus is an exact reflection of the world that today’s students have lived in. It is a confirmation of the truth they have heard their entire lives – it’s about you, you, you. They/we control the media, advertising, the course of human events, and yes, even ...
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Shhh…this is the lesson that many writers struggle to learn, the lesson that teachers never share (probably because they never learned it), and if anyone asks, I will deny that I told you any of this. Lean in close...
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Brainteasers: January/February 2007

Compiled by Julianne Scibetta, Albany College of Pharmacy

A belated entry for October’s teasers - thanks to Bruce Epps for his epic lists of answers!

November/December saw many more people eager/dreading the holidays, and place settings… A great big shout-out to Karen Carmichael, Cyndi Levis, James Jesse, Robert Biviano, and Christine Lashua for all correct answers to the brainteasers.

1. The snowman melted! (Here in the Northeast it seems to be a thing of the past.)
2. The man had already put his milk and/or sugar in the coffee.
3. Cathy’s Thanksgiving Problem: I found at least five different ways to solve this problem, not including the solutions presented by everyone above. Perhaps it was, as James Jesse wrote, “deceptively easy” on purpose.

Next round….

1. At the end of 2006 we saw the price of the metal of coins become more valuable than the coins themselves. What’s the largest amount of money you can have in change and still not have change for a dollar?
2. DIY Sudoku: Arrange the numbers 1 through 9 on a tic-tac-toe board such that the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal add up to 15.
3. You've been sentenced to death in an obscure foreign country which has a strange law. Before the sentence is carried out, two papers -- one with "LIFE" written on it and one with "DEATH" written on it -- are folded up and placed in a hat. You are permitted to pick out one of the papers (without looking), and if you choose the one with "LIFE" written on it, you are set free. Otherwise, the death sentence is carried out. On this occasion, a mean-spirited guard, bent on your demise, has substituted the paper with "LIFE" written on it with another one with "DEATH" written on it. This person gleefully informs you of what he has done and that you are doomed to die. You are not permitted to speak to anyone about this misdeed, nor will you have a chance to switch the papers or the hat yourself in time. How will you avoid certain death?

Please submit your answers to scibettj@acp.edu. If you have a great riddle or teaser you’d like to share here, send them here!

Questions taken from Brain Food.

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