"Don't Miss the Experience of Watching"-- Sonia Sotomayor 9I

Yesterday, I had the honor to attend the Sonia Sotomayor talk she did here at the Lyman Center.  The event started at 7 and was over a little after 8.   I really enjoyed her talk.  When she talks, she really understands what is being asked and goes above and beyond to answer it.  Listening to her answers, you can tell how genuine she really is.  For example, after she was done, she took the time to take pictures with the audience.

I liked her responses to the questions asked.  She talked about how she felt as though being a woman was being harder than being a minority.  That surprised me because I always thought being a minority would be tougher on a person, but her reasoning made sense. 

The best thing I got out of her talk was to focus on the experience and the process.  So many times life passes by in front of our eyes without us stopping to actually enjoy the process.  In college I don’t want to stand back and just let it go by.  I will make the best of it and appreciate the good bad and the ugly.

Hard Work Pays Off 9B

Since I was a little kid, I always just knew I was going to go to college after high school.  I have always dreamed of being an elementary school teacher as long as a special education teacher.  I never really thought about what college I would attend; I just knew I would go.  On April 30, 2013, I decided to attend Southern in the fall.  I didn’t know what it was going to be like, living away from home, keeping up with schoolwork, and making new friends.  Turned out, it has been one of the smoothest transitions I have had.  Although, it is hard to keep a balanced life, I feel as though I have done a pretty good job at it. 

This first half of a semester here at Southern hasn’t been as hard as I imagined it to be.  So far, I haven’t had any major trouble.  All my classes are going well except Geography and Conflict with Professor Hansen.  In this class, I find that there is no real order, making it hard to follow along and understand major concepts.  I failed the only exam that we have had, but have had 100s on any lab or quiz we have had.  I am not sure of my midterm grade for this class because he has yet to put it on banner web.  This is frustrating because he said he would post the grade by Monday at midnight, and he didn’t follow through with that.  I think I am going to go to his office hours to get that grade and learn how he suggests I study for his class.

Every other class has been tough, but doable.  I have all As and Bs, and I am happy with that.  I feel as though my hard work has paid off.  I want to continue doing well and putting in what it takes to make the marks.

The next half of the semester I want to keep my grades up and really try to make the Deans list.  I am going to socialize less and study more.  It will be hard because my friends are a minute walk away, but it will pay off in the end. 

College Thinking 9A

There are several major differences between high school and college.  The biggest adjustment has been the kind of work professors are expecting us to do.  In high school it’s all about written assignments that were to be handed in.  It was all based on fact and not necessarily on opinion.   College is completely different.  College is about thinking in a different way.  Critical thinking is the key to college success.  Critical thinking takes practice and is a lot more work than just learning and thinking about the facts. 

Anytime you learn something, your brain has to process the information.  For most, they just learn it for what it is and never really take the time to analyze it or break it down further to the point where they really understand it.  When you do break things down further, you are able to get the underlining meanings to things. Usually, the underlining meaning means more then what it would if just learned it literally.  By doing this, you are able to answer deeper questions and ask deeper questions.  Critical thinking is different for everyone.  When you think critically, you break down things in your mind so you understand it.  Some people call this “over thinking,” but over thinking can lead to great ideas. 

In the end, thinking critically takes a lot more time and effort.  I have noticed throughout this first half of a semester here at Southern I have been exhausted.  I have been asked questions that lead me to understand whats not being shown.  This is harder then I thought, but I think I am getting better at it.  When talking to one of my professors, I learned that this is because my brain is not used to thinking like this, it results to me always being tired.  She continued on to say that it gets much easier. 

Although, thinking critically takes much more effort and determination, in the end it pays off.  You become smarter and are able to learn in all different ways.  It’s worth it in the end!

Majors Expo 8I

         This past Wednesday Caitlin and myself attended the major’s expo located in the Adanti Student Center Ballroom.  I was really happy I chose to take a walk through because since I can remember I've wanted to be a teacher, however now that it's decision time, I don't really think I want to continue with that.  After walking through the expo, I now think I am interested in social work or speech pathology.  I really like the idea of working with children. This way I can work with children without having all the extreme governmental regulations.  I now realize I have way more options then I ever thought I did.      

Vocab 101 8V

Mastery: comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject or accomplishment

Mastery isn’t something that happens over night.  This is something that is hard for most people to understand especially when our world is so focused on being “successful.”  I feel as though we need to start focusing more on the process of becoming successful rather than what happens from it. 

Lodestar: something that serves as a guide or on which the attention is fixed.

            A lot of the time school is used as platform and they don’t really do anything with that platform.  I think school needs to guide people to realize what’s really important and how really just learning something doesn’t build the platform unless something is done with it. 

Justest: based on right; rightful; lawful: a just claim. 

            This word symbolizes that sometimes doing what is right is harder, but almost always the better choice.  When you do what is right, there is no regret involved.