5V Vocab 101

Agency: “a thing or person that acts to produce a particular result.”  This word has a lot to do with my studies here at Southern because unless you are driven to work hard you will not succeed. As a student I need to take the initiative and be proactive in order to get what you want.

Proponent: “champion, supporter, backer, promoter.” This word represents how you will feel when you get what you’ve always wanted completed.  The feeling of completing something and doing something you like could be a motivator to get what you need to done.  In life, you always need to be able to propose the ideas you believe in and be able to back it up.  That’s an important quality for life. 

Abashed: “cause to feel embarrassed, disconcerted, or ashamed.”  This word is important to remember when asking for help or asking questions.  There is never a reason to feel embarrassed when you don’t know something.  It is better to ask than to no know and do poorly on something else because of it. 

                             

5I Media In Every Day Life

Monday, September 23^rd, I attended a Media Studies event where we learned about how the media displays men and woman.  During this event, we cut out magazine clips of how we thought the media displayed women and then we pasted it on a poster board.  At the end of the activity, there was a collage made up of how the students perceived men and women in the media. Displaced on the collage, were stereotypical representations of what the ideal man and woman are supposed to look like. Undoubtedly, in reality not many people tend to fit such expectations that society puts on us.  The most important lesson that I learned out of this experience would be that we must define ourselves and not let others pass false judgments.

 

5B New Schedule

Taking my time to do assignments so I hand in my best work has seemed to be paying off.  I feel way less stressed and its not as overwhelming trying to do it all in one sitting.  I think time management is the key to success in college. 

This week there was an assignment to keep track of what we did during the week.  I never really realized how much time I wasted just doing nothing.  From this time study, I definitely learned if I organized my time better I could be so much more productive.  At night, I would spend hours just scrolling through my iPhone screen when I could have used that extra time to get ahead in my classes.

I am trying to be more focused on school, but its hard when there are so many distractions.  I think if I made a schedule for myself, my work would be much better quality.  My schedule would include the following: study time, nap time, and specific time gaps for even socializing with friends. For example, I try to complete tasks that need to be done right away that have set due dates first. Then I take time after all my work is done to sit back and relax. Time management is the key to success in college.   There are things that need to stay balanced in order to not go insane.  I am somebody who cannot go without sleep.  If I don’t receive my usually eight hours of sleep I cannot perform to the best of my ability. When it comes down to it, I try to prioritize my tasks. I usually try to stay organized by writing things down in my assignment pad, setting reminders in my phone, and even just keeping track of my progress. I get a thrill out of checking off a task on my to do list.

5A Is This Really College?

These past four weeks have been tumultuous to say the least.  I am having so much fun living here, but it’s a major adjustment that I am still not used to.   I am used to having my own space where I am able to do what I want to do without considering anyone else.  Besides the living situation, the hardest adjustment so far is my mindset.  I was so used to getting good grades without having to put much effort into it.  I have quickly realized that in college, you cannot just slip by with the bare minimum.  The first two weeks I would say were fairly easy and didn’t take much time or preparation to do well.  After the second week of classes, I suddenly found myself swamped with a lot of reading and writing of all kinds.  It was really difficult to keep track of everything that was due and when.  I noticed a lot of the written homework assigned was not collected or looked at by the professor. 

            Schoolwork tends to be that one thing I could find 100 things to do before I chose to actually sit down and do it.  I procrastinate until I can’t.  Through this past month, I have found that I can’t just sit and do homework all day.  I get bored and find something better to do.  With that being said, I have tried to start things early so I don’t have to complete things in one sitting.  This makes getting things done a lot easier.  However, this means I have to have good time management skills. 

It all starts with being organized.  I have started using my laptop and putting reminders on it which pop up to remind me of homework that may be due in a week.  I complete a little bit of it and then when I get bored or distracted I stop and do something else.  When I become distracted it’s usually because I have completed a thought and am lost as to where to go next.  I tend to stop and then come back to it once a new idea pops into my head. 

Websters Dictionary 4V

Delayed gratification, or deferred gratification, “is the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward.”  This is really important in school because the more you actually retain the information being taught the easier it is to want to learn.  Yes it takes a lot more work, but in the end it pays off.  All the long hours spent away from friends and family to do the tedious homework and studying actually pays off in the end.  Just like for those kids not eating the marshmallow actually paid off in the end. 

Stratagems: “trick devised or used to attain a goal or to gain an advantage over an adversary or competitor.” Everyone has his or her own way of getting their schoolwork and studying done. When you have your own tricks that work for you everything works out. 

Contrivances: “a plan or scheme; expedient.”  This word is important because it is important to make a plan in college and stick with it.  When you stick to a plan you are more likely to have time to fit everything you need to in.  More times then not, when a lot of school work piles up people want to run the other way and they end up procrastinating, but when you stick to a plan you are less likely to get stressed.

*http://dictionary.reference.com/