1) The themes in the book, are very good topics concerning college life and what to expect. Reading this book has been very helpful in properly introducing my lifestyle to adjust to the common college life. The first topic is engage. This chapter simply answers questions like, "Why am I here?" and "What am I expected to get done and how, here at Butler?". The second chapter is called persist. Persistence is very important in college. This involves all issues from your grades to managing money while you stay here. Thirdly, prioritize, is the next chapter. This is a very important chapter involving how you must spend your time in college. It discusses many issues that students face here at Butler. Read is titled in the next chapter. Here, the book simply talks about how important improving your comprehension skills are and how to properly develop those skills. Next, the chapter learn talks about how to establish your own learning style and maximize it's potential. Along with learning, recording is another important aspect. Properly taking notes and listening to instructors is crucial in your education. With these two, also comes the remembering part of college. You receive a lot of information throughout the day, and are literally expected to regurgitate that information on a test later. To properly take these tests and give yourself the best chance, you must asses yourself and develop good test-taking techniques that work for you. The next chapter is called think. Going through college with an open mind will allow you to think clearer and overall absorb more information in your experiences. With all of these ideas, the final message is labeled prosper. With everything learned, use this knowledge to prosper and follow your dreams.
2) I think that throughout my life as a learner, I have many strengths and weaknesses. I try to focus on my strengths but at the same time, I try to identify the weaknesses and make them into strengths. Some of my strengths include: good note-taking, good listener in class, and I enjoy acquiring interesting knowledge about certain subjects. Some activities that come easy to me include activities done outwardly to the class. A lot of these include group activities. I like to talk aloud with other students and get their ideas as well. Another helpful activity is one similar to one we had done in this class. The teacher had asked us certain questions and we had responded. She then wrote down the answers on a board and we discussed them in class together. I think that the two classes I enjoyed the most this semester here at Butler, would have to be Calculus and Psychology class. I think that in this class, it is a give and take relationship; you get out of it as much as you can give to it...
3) Acknowledging ones weaknesses can be a very difficult thing to do. You have to fully examine yourself and dissect all that you do. As a learner, I have many distinct weaknesses that I wish I would not posses. I think that a major one would have to be my study habits. I find it very difficult to sit down and study a subject freely. If I do this, I am most likely being forced to do so. I wish I was a better studier habits and had more determination in more subjects to actual try harder. Though most of the time I fill that time with practicing baseball, lifting weights, or hanging out with the guys. Obviously, studying for tests is almost a never in my world. When I go on to another college (hopefully) I hope I will have established some sort of studying habits.
4) Throughout this class this semester I feel I have learned many things that I did not know before. I feel I have grown as a student by taking this class. I wish I would have taken this class in the first part of the semester, so I could have used some of this knowledge to help me begin my college career. I know that when I had begun the class I did not know many people in it. I know that I have met many new people and have grown to understand their ideas. In class, we talked about many issues throughout the world and how we could try and change the outcomes of some of those topics. I grew an understanding for some major issues facing the world today. I know that the activity we had done on the computers was a difficult assignment for me. The assignment was to successfully complete a speed reading program so that we may improve our reading speed and comprehension at the same time. I am not a very fast reader, so it took me a while to finally pass all of the tests. I think that this program had really helped me on my reading. I enjoyed that part of the class, throughout the semester.
5) In this course I recognized and related to many topics talked about. The book did a good job of presenting these ideas and talking about them. I think that the ideas about school and learning how to apply one’s self in college were very helpful. I especially liked the chapters talking about your study habits and taking notes. I found that I could relate my personal problems with these chapters. One of my biggest weaknesses in school is staying focused and getting my work finished. Also, in class we would talk about world problems and controversial issues. I think that this really opened my eyes to a new light. I saw how much other people really cared about these issues and wanted to actually change them. I did not think that a lot of kids, my age, were very active on those issues.
6) The content we covered in this class, like I have said earlier, was very beneficial and I think was a very good criteria to talk about. Mostly, I think the book did the most for me. With each chapter I feel I could really relate myself and apply myself to each. One thing that could maybe be dropped would be when we talked about how to improve our reading skills. It was nice to have been shown that program in class, but I felt that a lot of the people did not take it that seriously. If it was a grade, then I think people would have gotten more out of the assignment. There were many different methods used in class to help us apply ourselves better. Some of these, on the other hand, were not very beneficial and did not seem to work as well as others. An example would be when we had group assignments. I think that, while in groups, I had absorbed more information and applied myself better. I felt I could relate to others ideas and grew learning them as well. I would not change many aspects of this course. I think that the class was fun and it was a good mixture of different learning strategies.
7) Honestly, this course is not very difficult if you do what you are told and manage your time correctly. This course, I think, was mainly about doing the reading assignments and completing all of the reflections on time. The class can be very difficult if you fail to do both of these things. You may catch yourself doing the assignments late and not having time to finish them all. I am a perfect example of that mistake. I waited till the last minute to type up most of my information - including the biggest assignment that is worth the most points. A very important mind set to come into this class with is one I have mentioned before in my previous paragraphs. If a student taking this course does not put much effort and time into the assignments, he or she might not get a positive response from the class. Like I have said earlier, you get as much out of this class as you can put in. Being open to growth can be a very powerful attribute and can lead to receiving a better education throughout your years.
8) Over the second half of this semester I felt I have grown as a college student - in many aspects. Through reading the book, I feel I have been properly introduced on how to manage my time carefully in the college life. With each chapter, a new topic was introduced and I learned something different. I especially liked the topics about having to cope with changes and learning to adapt to different classes. I think that the one thing I need to work on the most, is my time management. Also, I think I met a lot of new people in the class. I think that meeting new people is a fun thing to do. I probably have met about 3-4 new people and I actually recognize them around campus and I say hello. I think that meeting people is very important in my growth as a college student. Completing my assignments have helped me as well. I think that learning how to manage my time correctly and completing my assignments on time has taught me that I needed to do my work in college. Lastly, my teacher has been that best part of this whole experience. I really enjoyed taking this class with Sonja as my teacher. I do not think I would have gotten the same response out of this course if I did not have her as my teacher.
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