Learning Profile

#1: We pretty much only read the chapter titled 'Engage." From this chapter I learned how different college was from high school and how focused the student needed to become in college. The biggest difference between college and high school that I have found in this chapter is the one on one attention that you do not get in college, and also that college is a choice while high school was not. This is where time management comes in for you to succeed. I learned ways to help you study such as the SQ3R method ( Scan, Question, Read, and Recite.) You should also surround yourself with positive people whom carry high self-esteem and not only believe in themselves but you as well, because if you don't have people that believe in you, you will go no where in life, but that believing needs to start with you. You should learn not to bring yourself down, give yourself credit for making it this far and that you are continuing on your journey called life. You need to believe in yourself and focus on what you want out of life in order to be successful. Success and self-motivation is only two ingredients you need for your career in college.
#2: I feel that my strengths as a learner have greatly increased in the transition between high school and college. I think this may be in part to the ability to choose what I take and what I do with my life. If I stayed consistent with how I was in High School, i would not be successful in college. I feel my strengths are being organized, keeping a daily agenda of the happenings/assignments in not only school but life, setting specific times aside for homework, being focused, motivated, ambitious, mature, and staying persistent. With all these strengths, i feel I could teach incoming college students how to change their habits of slacking off, as college leaves little room for that. I feel I could teach the incomers how to become more organized and excited about their life in college as a learner. I have had to become strict with myself about my schooling. As i will soon have a new baby here, I am changing my ways and adapting to as if it were already here because I know if I don't, college will not become as fun as I hope and want it to be. After all college is a choice, and should be fun!
#3: I feel my number one weakness as a college student is procrastination. There are sometimes that I tell myself I need to do my homework, yet feel unmotivated, causing me to wait till last minute to accomplish the task. By me procrastinating, I feel that I do not give my assignment the 100% of energy that I should to achieve the best grade possible. Another weakness is the amount of reading. I do not know about you, but I cannot sit a read something that does not interest me. When I was asked to pick a parenting topic to read a book about and do a book report I had to think. And finally I cam to the conclusion that I wanted to learn about child abuse because of the fact my niece was physically abused. I found that interesting and could not put the book down. However, reading stories or essays about gun control that was assigned in my English class was hard because that does not interest me. Sure, its an important topic, but really, what can I do about it? I feel that If I am interesting in the topic being read about I will obtain a better grade on a paper because I have feelings about it. Another weakness is boredom. I easily become bored when the class speaker, or any speaker in general is babbling on about a topic I could care less about, like reading a topic not interesting, I get bored with a speaker that is not interesting and will miss points they will more than likely test on at a later date, which causes me to do "not so great." So all in all, I feel that these are major weaknesses and if I don't achieve a grade I want in an assignment or class, these reasons would be why.
#4: I believe the skills that I learned in the class are by far extremely helpful and I will carry them on throughout my high school career. The class really opened up my eyes to time management skills and I have slowly been applying them to my everyday life. Before this class, I never really kept an agenda, i just went off of my memory of what I needed to do for each class, and that was not the best idea because I could have forgot and then watched my grade fall. Also, I have set times and days to focus on my homework, and if I didn't happen to have any, I studied the next chapter and got ahead so that I could leave room if I got sick or had an emergency. Time Management is probably the most valuable skill I attained from Student Connect. Another item that tops my list of things I learned are the resources that the library and school offers students to help them achieve in classes, even if that have not managed their time well. I learned how to actually use the many resources, and for the first time I checked put a book from the library at the college. I was amazed by the variety they offered to help any student with any project.
#5: I believe all of the assignments were of help in one way or another. Each blog assignment helped me realize why I was in college and what I need to change about myself to succeed in not only school, but life as well. I really enjoyed the Ultimate Speed Reader assignment because that is one skill I need to work on. Sure, I can read, but I'm not up to par on my reading speed. Most, well, all of my classes have me reading at least a chapter a week if not more and I am slow. I am not a big reader of text book material, but I need to read it in order to obtain a good grade and to understand what I am supposed to be learning. I will find myself reading one chapter out of a text book non stop for two hours because I feel so slow. I believe the program helped me not only read faster, but actually understand what I was reading. I also enjoyed being able to do my articles online because I write better online than I do in pen or pencil. Sure, I could write this same thing, but it would take me forever and this is pretty much what all of my teachers are requiring is typed work so as I would write my blogs my typing speed got faster and more accurate.
#6: Like I said before, I believe each assignment we did in class was of some help. I really liked that we did our assignments on a blog because we are all "tech kids." It's nice to see a teacher who is willing to adapt their curriculum to students these days. Last semester I was enrolled in a student connect class and I was so bored that I just quit going, even though i knew it was required. I believe the projects and assignments and discussion in the class were fun and informational, and it helps when we have a teacher that is interactive with us. My favorite thing about this class was how the students were allowed to interact with each other and the teacher was always there to offer pointers. I loved reading the stories of the illiterate because there are so many of those people in this country and it is sad to me. I do not know how much I can say it but having the majority of our assignments on the computer was a huge help. Being able to be ourselves also helped me where I was not so bored. I was able to be who I really am not only in class but in my assignments as well, and to me that is really important.
#7: Future students should know that although they may think that this class is pointless, if you stick with it you will learn many skills that you can use through college to help you become successful. This class will open your eyes to your weaknesses and your strengths. This class helped me focus on what I needed to better about my study and life skills to become a successful student. Student connect will help you bridge into college life, because weather you want to believe it or no, college life is completely different from high school or, if you have not been in school for a few years, a lot has changed. Student Connect offers a variety of activities and assignments to help you achieve your goals in college and spending only 2 hours a week for 8 weeks is not that demanding. Sure, it may seem pointless and boring at the beginning, but seriously, what class is not boring during your first week? My suggestion to you is attend classes, manage your time, and do your homework, with those three ingredients you are bound to succeed, and don't be afraid to ask for help!! Not only ask for help form your teachers, but peers as well. Your peers can probably help you in a way you better understand than a teacher can, but that is just my experience.
#8: I believe the thing I will take from this class is the time management skills I learned. I believe I can put this into use in school, work, and social life. I have always watched these people on T.V. use agendas and always say "I'll pencil you in." now I understand what they mean. I always find myself writing down days and times to see friends, I make sure I write down ALL my assignments, even though they are done in class, and whatever I need to do for work. I also use my agenda for my doctor appointments and any other even going on in my life, even if I just have an important phone call, like calling my doctor to send a referral to my OBGYN. Keeping all this written down not only keeps me sane, but also help if someone calls me and tells me that I didn't do something or what not, i can go back into my agenda and see when I did it or realize I forgot. All in all, Time management is a very important lifelong skill that everyone should learn. It WILL indeed help you in the long run! So go get those 5 dollar agendas and start managing your time!