Professor Elam

Thursday July 23, 2015

It happened again as it does so many times. The class showed up but near no one had read the chapter. Nor had they attempted the problems. So the class was unable to follow what I was doing as I repeatedly filled two boards with solutions. 

This is a waste of our time and your money. I was going to write an essay on the importance of class preparation but first I wandered over to Kirk Tuck's fine blog Visual Science Lab. He had a post titled 

Showing Up Ready to Shoot Means More than Just Packing Gear

Kirk is a pro photographer based i Austin. His blog has attracted millions of hits from all over the world. 

His point is that one does not just show up with camera and lights in hand for the shoot. There is much much more involved in preparation for the shot. Here he describes what he did preparing for a food shot for the Hilton in Austin.  He makes his point well. One can readily grasp why he is a successful photographer. 

And it matters not what the topic is, photography, tennis, golf, making movie, or studying accounting. Preparation is the key. 

Our new President is focused on a a Model for Student Success. I don't know what her model will finally look like but we can easily identify many necessary components. 

Get familiar with the syllabus.

Read the book, take notes, outline the learning objectives

Work the sample problems until you can complete them without look at the answer. 

Bring questions to class. 

Read other accounting blogs

Subscribe to e mails from accounting firms. 

Join a professional accounting group as a student member, you will receive loads of great information in their e mails.

Read the websites of accounting firms that offer free information which is constantly changing. 

And be sure to read Kirk's post. Notice how thorough he is.