Before the Term Starts

Getting on the Payroll

Student Financial Services requires certain paperwork before we can hire and then pay you for your work in the program; we cannot even allow you to work before you are officially on our payroll. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have completed the necessary paperwork, by looking at Student Financial Services Policies and Proocedures. If you need to complete a Work Transfer Form, print out the form, have your “current” employer sign it to indicate you’ve been released, and bring it to Robbie Groth, Scoville 202. Robbie will help you with any questions about your work contract with our department.

Timesheets

Student timesheets are completed online.  You will receive notice from Payroll to complete and sign your timesheet.  This must be done on a timely basis.  Please access your timesheet each time you work and document your hours.

You may not get paid in a timely way if you sign your timesheet after the Business Office's deadline.

You are paid for all training and meeting times, up to the limit of your contract. It is your responsibility to make sure that you do not exceed your contracted hours.

Disciplinary Procedures

From Campus Employment for Students: Policies and Procedures

If you are not showing up for work, or are not completing your work satisfactorily, it is the right of your supervisor to terminate your employment.

Procedure for Terminating Student Employees:

Verbal warning and discussion of the problem. If your supervisor is not satisfied with your attendance record or job performance, they should discuss the matter with you, and detail exactly how they expect you to correct the problem(s).

Written warning. If the problem continues, your supervisor has been asked to issue you one, or preferably two, written warnings stating precisely what the unacceptable behavior or performance is, exactly what change is required on your part, and a date by which your behavior or performance must improve in order to prevent you from losing your job. A copy of each warning letter will become a part of your permanent file in the Dean of Student’s Office.  It is up to each supervisor to decide how many written warnings they will issue before terminating your work assignment.

Termination. If your attendance or job performance still does not improve, the supervisor has a right to terminate your employment.

If a supervisor has terminated you, you are not allowed to accept any other campus employment for the remainder of the term in which your termination occurred. You may work on campus during the remaining term(s) of the academic year, but will be treated as a non-aid student without a work assignment and will be required to wait until after the first week of classes each term before seeking or accepting campus employment.

We have rarely had to discipline or release a prefect. If a problem arises, we follow these procedures: (1) an oral warning for a pattern of poor job performance (e.g., poor attendance in classes, cancellation of prefect sessions, violations of confidentiality agreement [see Appendix for this form], lack of communication with professor and/or your prefect supervisor), (2) a written warning if the pattern continues, and (3) dismissal.

Supervisors

The Academic Support Center, which is located in the Division of Student Life, runs the Prefect Program. The Prefect Program supervisors are Russ Petricka, Supervisor of the Math Skills Center; and Kathy Evertz, Director of the ASC. You’ll report to these supervisors, not the professors of the courses for which you are providing support. Your prefect supervisors are the ones responsible for hiring, training, and supervision.

Supervisors assign prefects to specific classes. A professor may want you for a specific class some term, but the supervisors make the assignments (taking the professor’s wishes and your own into account).

Your supervisor is a resource for you. Call Russ or Kathy when you:

• have too little or too much work
• had a wonderful prefect session, and want to tell somebody
• have a challenging student or situation in a prefect session
• got a compliment from a student or professor
• want to talk about how to organize a prefect session
• want a letter of recommendation
• aren’t satisfied with your own performance
• want him or her to observe a prefect session
• need some advice on how to manage your time and your academic life
• have too few or too many students in your prefect sessions
• are uncertain about something a professor or student asked you to do

Introduce Yourself to the Professor

• Visit the course professor prior to the start of the term to:
  • learn about the course requirements
  • request a copy of the syllabus and the course text(s)
  • arrange to introduce yourself and the Prefect Program to the class during the first week of the term, and to have students complete and return the Beginning-of-Term Survey
  • request that the professor: (1) add you to the course email distribution list and/or course Moodle, and (2) provide you with a copy of the class roster so you can set up your Excel attendance spreadsheet
  • ask the professor if he or she has any questions or expectations about what you will or won’t be doing during the sessions. You might ask more specifically about:
    • handouts or practice problems or quizzes that you might like to create along the way
    • use of old exams/quizzes/study guides
    • the professor’s own review session schedule
    • whether you can/should ask questions during class

Tasks to Accomplish During the First Week of the Term

• In the first class, make a short (5 minutes) presentation about the Prefect Program and distribute handouts about the Prefect Program, which you received in your mailbox (if you’re a returning Prefect) or at New Prefect Training. Here’s a sample of what it looks like.
  
• Distribute and collect--on the same day--the Start-of-Term surveys, which will allow you to decide what days and times are best for your sessions. If you are a returning Prefect, copies of the survey appear in your mailbox. If you are a new Prefect, you’ll receive copies during New Prefect Training. Here’s a sample of what it looks like. Each survey gives us some important information.
• The student’s degree of interest, because want to make sure that the session schedule is convenient for the students with the greatest interest in attending a session
  • The student’s schedule
  • Ask the students to return the surveys to you right away. You will get considerably fewer surveys returned if you wait until the end of class (they’ll just leave them under their chairs, etc.).
• Create a prefect session schedule on the basis of students’ time preferences, focusing on the students most likely to attend sessions.
  • Put simply, try to set up a meeting time when the most students who express interest are free. We have not yet learned of a student with high interest who was not able to attend because of an unavoidable schedule conflict. Of course, students may change their schedule after turning in the survey, but we assume that students will organize their schedules around their highest priorities.
• Reserve a room for your Prefect sessions, using the online reservation form: http://revproxy-admin.carleton.edu:36318/Default.aspx
  • See the bottom of the form for instructions about activating your account: you have to send an email, or you can call Noel Ponder at x7185. Be sure to include course number, as well as your email address for any questions.
  • Once you have an active account, return to the URL above and click on the tiny type in the upper left-hand corner that says “Reservations.”
  • To learn what kind of equipment a building or room has (e.g., a connection for a laptop), or whether a room is handicap accessible, go here: http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/peps/equipment/
• If you have any troubles with the reservation process, contact Noel Ponder at x7185 (or stop by his office in the lower level of Sayles-Hill).
• Announce the schedule, room, and topic of first session during the second class. Send an email reminder to the entire class, telling them where and when you’re meeting, what you’d like to review, and that you’re available for one-to-one tutoring (up to the limits of your work contract). Click here for sample emails from previous Prefects.
• Copy Kathy Evertz (kevertz@carleton.edu) and Russ Petricka (rpetrick@carleton.edu), as well as the professor whose course you’re supporting, on all emails you send to the class.
• Create an Excel spreadsheet, using the course roster you received from the professor, to keep track of attendance at your sessions.
• Prepare and conduct your first prefect session.
  • Generally speaking, student attendance at prefect sessions is driven by the needs of the moment. Students will come if graded homework is due the next day, they are preparing for a mid-term or final, or if they are failing a course. Because graded homework is frequently not assigned the first week or two of classes, attendance at prefect sessions the first two weeks is generally very light.
  • However, the very lack of immediate demands opens up some opportunities. The first two weeks are an excellent time to:
    • review materials from a prerequisite that will be important
    • go over the syllabus and explain how the course is put together and why it’s arranged that way
    • talk about what constitutes good lecture notes
    • share practices that will assist students in studying effectively
    • get to know some other students in the class

More About Your First Few Sessions

Put the topic(s) for the day on the board. Circulate the sign-in sheet as students arrive. Make an effort to learn students’ names and consider ways to help the students learn each others’ names.

At the first couple of sessions, it’s important to shape people’s expectations:

• You are there to help them learn, not to re-lecture or just answer questions
• They should come prepared, having done the reading and homework
• All students should be encouraged to and given low-risk opportunities to participate
• You are willing to spend some time one-on-one, before or after the prefect session, if you have the time

Even though you have come with a plan, check in with the students to make sure it’s what they think they need. In the first session, you might want to “check in” about their experience in prerequisite courses. What, in hindsight, gave them the most difficulty? What will they need to review for the present course? During your prefect sessions, you might try asking:

• each student to write down a question (or a problem) that remains
  unresolved, then write each on the board
• if a short quiz or problem would help them see what they do and don’t know
• them to volunteer questions about the reading/lecture/problem-set

If you have guessed right (based on your own experience with the class and conversations with the professor), the students’ concerns will match your own preparation. However, if there is a mismatch, and you think the students’ concerns are just as compelling, be flexible. Go with their agenda.

The Focus of the Session

Many things can and will happen in the heart of your prefect session. The first prefect session(s) may be a little unusual, since there isn’t a lot of material/homework to look at and the first quiz is a few weeks away. However, there are some habits that you should get into now:

• Invite students to go to the board. The chalk is like a TV remote control: the person with the chalk has the power and is doing the learning. See how many sessions you can have go by without your going to the board.
• Address students by name and have students address each other by name. If the prefect sessions aren’t informal and social, they won’t be successful.
• Answer questions by re-directing students to the source(s) of learning. If the answer is in their notes, re-direct them to their notes. If it’s implied in a graph in the textbook, have someone recreate the graph on the board and explain/discuss it.
• Diagnose student questions. If someone can’t work through a problem or understand a concept, spend some time finding out why. Give them strategies for making progress on their own, especially when they are stuck.

Ending the Session

An effective closing:

• provides you with the space to look both back and forward
• gives the students something memorable to take with them
• reminds students of upcoming sessions, quizzes, etc.
• lets students know that it’s OK to get up and leave

More on Creating an Email Distribution List and Your Excel Attendance Spreadsheet

These tasks aid in communication and record-keeping.

The distribution list will help you to stay in touch with your students, Kathy, Russ, and the professor. Use the list to remind students of session times and places, announce session topics, and let them know of any schedule changes. You can also use the list to give well-timed advice and encouragement.

The spreadsheet is very important to us as we assess the program at the end of the term. Ask the professor for a class roster, minus students’ social security numbers (you need only their names). Put these names on an Excel spreadsheet and use it to maintain attendance records. At the end of the term, you’ll e-mail it to Russ and Kathy as an attachment. See Shannon Carcelli’s Data Analysis: 2004-Spring 2006 report, which you received copies of in your mailbox (if you’re a returning Prefect) or at new Prefect training (if you’re new).

Confidentiality

This is a good time to remind you that you have agreed to keep academic records confidential. These records include anything you see on the course roster and in your prefect sessions. 

Some Final Remarks

We can’t anticipate every difficulty that you might run into. We expect that you will exercise your good judgment, act in a principled fashion, and communicate with your supervisors and fellow prefects when you are uncertain about what to do.

Thank you for participating in this program! We want to support your success as a prefect. If you need or want any kind of assistance, just ask Russ Petricka and/or Kathy Evertz.