Last Week's Assignment -- don't let this post confuse you!

Some students are still saying that they never received last week's assignments (those due this past Mon and Wed). Therefore, I am posting them here in order to try to clear up confusion and will accept late posts this one time until Sunday. Next week's assignments are located in my previous blog post (scroll down), so don't let this reverse order confuse you.

Last week's assignments:

1) Write about the time management self-study you have been conducting and what you found out about how you spend your 70 hrs of "free" time. How many hrs do you spend doing homework/studying? What are your biggest distractions? What do you spend the most time on? How do you feel you need to change or improve your time management habits?

2) I would like you to think of an interesting questions that you would like to know people's opinions about. The questions should be drawn from class discussion and readings (for example, questions about the purpose of education, about technology and its advantages and disadvantages, about motivation, perseverance, mastery, etc -- anything interesting that you have thought about in these past few weeks that relates to our course, the more interesting the better). Ask your questions to a group of your peers (maybe 10 people) and see what they say. Blog about their answers and what you think about the question and answers, what the answers reveal to you in a "bigger picture" sense.

No right or wrong answers as always, just more interesting and less interesting possibilities.

Blogging

I have been enjoying reading all of the class blogs. We have a new blog added to our collection on the sidebar, written by Mike, our staff/grad student mentor. It is the top blog listed, so check it out.

Next week's blogging assignments:

1) All of the carefully balanced time management plans we have been constructing can be undermined if you get sick. Many college students run into problems getting all of their work done if they also have to miss class and fight off a virus or infection. In this blog, discuss strategies you employ (or do some research if you're not sure) to try to keep yourself in good health while in college. What are the most important things to remember in keeping healthy and what should you do if you start to feel sick?

2) One of the biggest challenges in general for college students is battling stress. Stress also affects health since it can weaken your immune system. Do something this week that helps relieve stress, and blog about it. Relate your own experience but also try to give your readers some good, new, ideas about stress relief.

Exercise relieves stress!

The FYE program just sent out this message:

Interested in playing sports but not quite at the varsity level? Why not come check out the Club Sports Expo tonight in the Farnham Program Room from 7 to 8:30. Sign up for a sport you play well or learn what it takes to do something you've never tried before! Either way, we're sure you'll have fun!

Class tomorrow

Bring your questions, comments, etc from the last week. See you then.

Reading Outside of the Box (or syllabus)

I found two interesting readings that relate to discussions we've been having lately.

1. Don't Eat the Cupcake

This article from NPR.org discusses a new book called Willpower which focuses on the muscle power it takes to delay gratification, to not eat the cupcake, for example. Unlike the marshmallow experiment, however, this book suggests that this skill is not set in stone but can be learned, and improved upon with practice.

2. When We Don't Succeed, We Try Harder

This article from The New York Times asks us to think about the role of failure in our eventual success. The process we go through when confronting something difficult, failing, reapproaching the problem from another angle, working harder to overcome it, and perhaps learning something along the way is one that changes us in profound ways. Isn't that much better than having success handed to us? But then why is it so hard to embrace failure, or sometimes even embrace challenges that might lead to failure?

Next Week's Blogging Assignment

Blog #1: Browse through various professional blogs on the internet. You may already read some or you may have found some from the very first week's assignment for creating a blog or you might google an interesting blog (ex. skydiving blog) and see what you come up with. I want you to find two professional blogs that are both interesting to you in some way but are both different from each other in some way. Write your post with the purpose of introducing your readers to these two blogs, writing a little about what the blogs are about, discussing the style of writing and/or visual peresentation of each blog, why they interest you, and what others might find interesting about them.

Blog #2: Browse through the list of student blogs on the sidebar of my blog. Find 3 examples of posts that would be ranked "A"/excellent in your opinion and explain why. While you are browsing, leave some comments or questions on other people's blogs to start a larger conversation on these topics (also since you need to leave 10 comments by the end of the semester, and this would be a good opportunity to start).

“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” -- Jonathan Swift

This past week in class, we talked a little bit about the importance of the learning that happens outside the classroom in college, and I wanted to extend our discussion because I think it's very true. Getting involved in clubs and organizations can help you learn leadership, networking, organizing, community outreach, skills in your major or interest areas, and more. But learning outside the classroom is also very real in terms of academics and the courses you take in college. Much of your education is self-education, the kind that happens outside of class, what most students call "studying."

When people say "studying," do they mean reading, or reviewing notes, or something else? What do professors mean when they say that they expect students to be doing 6 hours of homework per week but the syllabus doesn't show any actual assignments due on that week? What are you supposed to be "studying" for 6 hours?

In college, there is often a lot of invisible work expected (as opposed to papers or projects which seem like visible work to me). Some of the invisible work involves not simply reading the assigned chapters to be familiar with them or even simply reading for information; instead, it is the kind of reading and annotating and processing and thinking that can bring real understanding of the concepts you're reading about to the point where you can engage with, talk back to, synthesize, apply, etc.

Ok, but how do you do that? And if you've never been expected to have done that before, how do you know if you're doing it right?

As with most things in college, there is no one set formula that works for everyone, and part of your job in your first year is just figuring out what works for you. But here are a few strategies that you can try out:

1. Read assignments more than once. The first time you read it to know the gist of it, read for information. The second time, you read to begin to understand the finer points and subtleties. The third time, return to a few interesting and/or difficult passages to analyze and puzzle through.

2. In taking notes, make sure you have the different layers of thinking (higher and lower) represented in your notes. You should have some of each of the following represented: information or facts pulled out, comments and connections, and inquiry questions. If you take your notes in the margins of a reading, maybe afterward pull them out and classify them into this lower-to-higher level system. Or if you take notes in your notebook, use symbols or colored highlighters to classify them.

3. Dig deeper into the concepts by researching about the author or the context or unfamiliar terminology. This will allow for a broader understanding of what you're reading.

4. Expand your knowledge base even more by comparing the reading material to previously assigned texts, putting them into conversation with one another within the course but also putting your readings into conversation with other material you're studying in the university as a whole. This tactic will help you see the connectedness between the disciplines at the university, and that helps your brain make sense of all of the information you are processing.

5. Before you put a reading to bed, consider the "So what?" and "Why is this important?" and "What can I learn from this?" questions. Try to anticipate what the professor might ask about the reading on a quiz or exam or writing prompt. Try to think of good inquiry questions that will make class discussion about this reading interesting and productive and enhance learning.

Try these strategies (as well as your own or ones you have gained from this week's reading assignments) for reading with the goal of in-depth understanding of the material and see if it makes class discussion or lectures more meaningful or engaging. See if this helps you also have more of those "lightbulb moments" as you progress throughout the semester. Then you'll know that you are truly becoming educated rather than simply filling time or fulfilling requirements.


*image by Ramona Forcella