Overview of My Strengths in Education

According to the quiz we filled out to calculate which strength ours is, my result was auditory. This wasn’t a surprise to me due to the fact that I also use classical music while studying. Or music that doesn’t have lyrics. Typically, I have a hard time focusing, but with a constant noise in the background, it helps me to focus on what I happen to be reading.

My second highest result was visual. I recognize this in the past with my U.S. History class I took in High School. Whenever our teacher would use PowerPoints with photos to present a topic, I associated them with the information. This helped me later whenever I would refer to my notes and the textbook. In the PowerPoint presentation, our speaker also talked about the effects of caffeine. Coffee being the biggest issue. While coffee in small doses isn’t detrimental to your studying, over consumption can be. I never see a student on campus without coffee. Or a thermos which I assume is filled with coffee. I myself drink about two to three cups per day. What I understood from the way she explained the caffeine effects of coffee, is that it causes your brain to go spastic. Almost alike the effect sugar has on the brain. Thus, causing unnecessary anxiety and restlessness. After learning this, I began to notice how coffee made me feel. I had two cups on Saturday to help me wake up, and I began to feel restless and anxious to get my Math project completed. She explained that Green tea, or decaf tea options are a better choice. From the senior student’s presentation, she also spoke about the best time to study. She explained why and how studying in the morning is the best time to do so. In the morning, your brain is just beginning to “wake up”. You have a fresh start, rather than if you began studying in the afternoon where your body is winding down for sleep.

This weekend I’ve been working entirely on Math and English assignments. I started each morning working on them, and my work and focus was greatly improved. In college culture, all-nighters are a problem. Either from the student not managing their time wisely, or procrastinating. This causes the student to cram, which then results in them not retaining any of the information they studied. It’s best to plan way ahead, to organize your assignments, and to look over your notes piece by piece. The speaker also provided a handout on different methods of organizing notes. Organization with notes is also very crucial to how effective your studying will be.

My plan to improve my studying is to write my notes more effectively. The transition from High School to college can be jarring. In the sense that, before you were accustomed to copying whatever you read on the board. While in college, you need to write important and key phrases your professor might say during lecture. In addition to what’s on the board or what they write. I also plan to use one of the models on the note taking handout the senior student provided us. I think it will be very helpful with organizing my notes, and making a note taking plan that is effective for me. While studying has never been a difficult task for me, retaining information has been. I think with improving my overall note taking, organization, and memory-aiding tools, my studying process will improve. The topic of sleep. “No sleep” is the mantra of many college students across the states I’m sure. But sleep is vital to your academic success and overall wellbeing. Your brain simply cannot function on two to four hours of sleep. In the presentation, our speaker explained to us that eight hours is the goal for sleep every night. I think the main reason students don’t get enough sleep is either from poor planning, procrastination, or just poor choices in general. Looking at your phone at night, and leaving the t.v. on effects your brain to where you won’t get a good night’s sleep. Poor planning can also leave you with a sleepless night if you’re writing a paper until three a.m. Poor planning goes hand-in-hand with procrastination.

So, if you aren’t managing your time wisely, then you’ll be miserable trying to rush to get your assignments done at ungodly hours. There are so many tools on, and off campus that you can try to make your time at college easier. There will be times when you have to multitask, and carry a heavy workload. But what makes the difference is your time management, planning, and organization. I believe every student should have a planner or an agenda to organize their assignments. The speaker even handed her planner around to show the class how she organized her planner. With organization, proper time management, and sufficient sleep, you will be a successful student. In my planner, I may write the same assignment down multiple times. Repetition is what helps me to remember things. Also, like the speaker, I highlight different assignments in different colors. The bright, and varying colors help me to pick out which assignment is which. So that all of them don’t run together and appear like a big mess. Your college success is all up to you, the individual. There are many resources to help you, you just need to ask!