As some of you may already know, this is my first year of college. I feel that my situation, while not unique, as there are many people my age that go back to school a little later on in life, deserves a closer look. I would like to ensure that my time at LaGuardia is productive, my schedule is well managed and that I have a good time as well. I want to get the full experience of college life, as well as keep my focus on the result, which is a satisfying career in animal services.
One of the things I believe will assist in this goal is to learn to adapt to the different teaching styles of my professors. I learn better in a structured teaching environment in which I am given very specific instructions. Creative freedom frightens me. This is especially true in mathematics. Not all professors have the time or the patience to teach this way. I understand that they have scheduled lesson plans as well as time constraints to which they must adhere. One of the ways I intend to resolve this is by getting tutoring. LaGuardia College offers many tutoring options. There is group study, where several students get together and work on a particular subject. There are tutors available in all subject labs almost every day of the week. For students, such as myself, there is a program for disadvantaged students called “College Discovery” that offers free one-on-one tutoring in every subject. I have also found that professors are a great source of information to overcome these obstacles.
Another thing that will help me to achieve my goals is to learn that criticism is not personal. School is a place of learning. Part of learning is receiving feedback. Feedback, as define by Webster’s Dictionary is “the transmission of evaluative or corrective information about an action, event, or process to the original.” If I have learned something incorrectly or there are ways I can improve, feedback should be considered a positive construction and not negative criticism.
Something else that may help achieve my ultimate goal is accepting my abilities as my abilities. I come from a very driven and well-educated family. I have a cousin, who has just entered graduate school. She is studying to get a PhD in Child Psychology. She is very bright and I tend to compare myself to her. We have similar academic personalities in that we are both perfectionists but she has more experience in the education process. I think it is best to learn from her study practices yet understand that we are two different people.
One more thing I think I can do to make this experience better is to engage more in class. I have found that in the classes where students participate, they get more attention from the instructor. This also can help to keep me from getting bored or distracted. I also feel that this allows the professor to gauge the level of understanding that I have on the subject matter. The only way to verifying whether the professor has made their point is to engage with me.
In closing, I have listed just a few of the goals I have set for myself so that I can have more fulfilling college experience. I have traveled a very long way to get to this point in my life. I still have a journey ahead of me. I do believe that with perseverance, good time management, academic self- esteem and a good plan, I can go very far.
Breakfast… I think a good breakfast every day would help too!
A very powerful essay. Great job. It seems like you're trying hard to improve your life. The ideas you have proposed to yourself will definitely help in the reaching of your goals. You should be very proud of yourself for having the desire to better yourself and having the initiative to return to school. You used good vocabulary and structured your sentences in a manner that makes it easier for the reader. From a brief comparison to my post, we have engaged in two completely different approaches to the same topic. You mentioned ways to improve your own education, while I mentioned a few ways of improving the entire educational infrastructure. I must congratulate you for your writing abilities. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHy Jo-Lynn. With your essay you teach us all a lesson of life, and I admire your strength and determination. I have to admit that your subject is very touchy, at least from my point of view.
ReplyDeleteLike a non native English speaker i found it very easy to follow your writing. The structure of your essay, as well as the vocabulary that you use are very easy to follow.
I only have to say that you should have made some references to Mr. Ken Robinson video and Dr. McCormick book .
Beside that I think that I am with you along the way...
:)))
This essay is really good too. it makes me feel like mines not going in the right direction!! but i understand what you mean, creative freedom scares me too. i'd rather have a set guideline and rules to follow & not have too much attention directly on me by my professors. also, im going for the same career!
ReplyDeleteits hard to try not to compare yourself to people who are close to you who you find yourself sharing academic abilities with. but i think your essay is amazing & you could pursue the same amount of education if you wanted. i thought it was awesome when you put the definition of feedback. i would have never thought to do that, & it also makes me personally feel less bad about constructive criticism. if anything you could have references the video or the reading, but all around I think its extremely good.
Jo-Lynn,
ReplyDeleteAnother week, another strong and moving piece of writing. You really seem to understand yourself and to be able to express who you are in a way that invites readers to really connect with you. As your commentators noted, I'd love to know what elements of the class texts/videos might connect to some of these discoveries. Focus on tethering your insights to the texts for the paper next week. Nice Job.