Blog #1

Ø List your own quote, favorite saying, song, or other expression of your feelings today.

Ø List initial observations of your new environment.

Ø List initial observations of your classes.

Ø What observations have you made about other students?

Ø About your instructors?

Ø What do you think will be your biggest challenge(s) academically this semester?

Ø Reiterate a term or concept you learned in Anatomy this week.

Ø List a few pleasant events that happened during your first weeks at NMU.

Ø List habits you already possess that make you successful in college.

Ø List habits (timewasters?) you can change or modify, or need to lose.

Ø Explain how you determine what to write down in notes during lectures.

Ø Based on your first readings in the TCB text, describe the differences between Active Learning & Passive Learning (reading, note-taking, etc..)

Ø Based on your first readings in the BT text, list TWO of favorite quotes and explain why they "speak" to you.

Ø Finally, name one goal (personal, academic, etc..) you have for yourself next week.

"Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that there is nothing important to do" - Anonymous

As I look around my new home, NMU, I realize that I have a new playground to leave my mark on. Whether one person remembers me or my name is remembered by all, I have still left my mark. And even though it is a big place I just have to remember that I have people cheering for me from in the stands. This is the place I'm supposed to be at right now, and I love it.

The classes are intimidateing at first, but when the Professor/Doctor/who knows what starts to speak I feel comfort, because I know that I can do it! I will survive! I went through four years of Calumet High and all that I learned there was to prepare me for the big scary world. And all my teachers back home have taught me well. I know what type of notes work for me best, I know what subject I have to work at hardest, and I know that I can do it!

As I walk to and from class I take time to see who is walking towards me, who is walking in front of me, who's biking past, and who is walking as fast as they can without sprinting to wherever they need to go. And as I do this I realize that they are in similar, if not the same boat as me. They are worrying on how they are going to pay for this, how they are going to juggle life as it comes toward them, and some are worrying about what happend last night, "I hope I didn't do anything I'll regret." But I know that they are the same, yet individuals, student, yet people, working as hard as they can, yet still having fun with it.

I realized that most of my instructors are here because they want to be, not for the money, well okay the money is a plus, but most want to teach us all they know about that particular subject so we can go out on our own and live happy successful lives. Some want us to struggle, but only because they want to "weed out the bad seeds", and most, if not all, would love to help you on whatever they can. They are there to help.

I think that my biggest struggle this semester will be, procrastination. I believe that I have learned this horrid skill from my mother. She has even told me that I get it from her and that she gets it from my grandfather. It will be a hard task but I believe that in the end I will tiumph over procrastinaiton.

Most of what I learned in Human Anatomy this week has been review for me. I took Anatomy in Highschool and boy am I glad I did. I would be flowndering right now trying to figure out what the whosits does what for the thingamajig? But luckily my teacher in highschool taught me well. She used everything to help us learn. She used visuals, memorization tricks, speaking the words out loud, and she even had coloring sheets. So hopefully I will do well on this class in the future.

The first time I opened my dorm room door I was, like lots of people, wondering where the heck I was going to put everything. And as my roomate and I were throwing boxes onto our beds so we could get another load of them two girls came flying from the bathroom to hug us and welcome us. They were our suitemates. They were the first people to actually welcome us to NMU. And that just made life for me and my roomate a little more easier then worrying on who they were and what they are like.

Some habbits that I have that will make me successful in college is that I know how to take notes that work for me. I had a teacher in highschool ask me if I was copying her notes because she was surprised at how orginized and how well I picked out what I believed was importaint. She was astonished to learn that I never even knew that we could borrow her notes to copy. I don't like to copy notes anyways because notes are helpful, but they only help me if I take notes from the book before hand and then go over them when the teacher lectures, then I can add little tidbits that I didn't take down, or that weren't in the book.

Again another habbit I need to lose is my procrastination. It is an awful habbit that wastes my time and everyone elses.

The way I figure out how to right down notes in class is to see what they emphasise, sometimes they have a little bit of strain on words that no one else seems to hear but me, and of course if they write it down on the board or overhead it is obviously importaint.

The differences between Active learning and Passive learning is that in active learning you are interacting with your professor and peers, where as passive learning you are just listening and taking note.

One of the quotes I like is the "I have a hard time with 'class participation' but I try to make up for it by talking with the instructor before or after class" - Sophmore, Psychology, Howard University, because I have a hard time with participation because I am not a very outgoing person, and I believe that if I talk to the professor just once I will be more comfortable to speak my mind because I know that person.
The other quote was "Even if I'd partied all night, I dragged my body to class. Other people's notes don't work . . . you have to hear it yourself." - Graduate, English, Indiana University, because it is true, even in highschool I struggled to keep with the teacher even if I copied notes. So I know its definently not going to work here.

One goal I have for next week is to do my homework first and Facebook second.