Back to School for GrownUps

So ….our Reading Week is over and it’s back to school for this (supposedly) mature student…. we drove up today and are back at the motel…. with only 6 weeks to go now though!

It does not seem possible….SO much to get done yet…. 3 big papers, 2 more seminars, 3 small papers, and a research proposal …. and then there is all the teaching & marking stuff yet as well. Doing Twelfth Night tomorrow night and haven’t even read it yet! Bad flit! 

I will get it done though …I always do :) 

Would have worked on that tonight but I’m giving a seminar in the morning so that had to come first. And besides, we had a research meeting tonight; didn’t get back to the motel until almost 10. 

I will do the seminar in the morning, read Twelfth Night over lunch (already read the intro and all that fun stuff) …and then spend the afternoon finishing up with the marking of essays about Huckleberry Finn . 

Have been rather disappointed, on the whole, with the Huck Finn essays … me, by the time I’ve done 3 essays for the same prof, I generally have them pretty much figured out…. I tend to be very good at using the feedback I get so that each subsequent assignment or essay garners a higher mark. Perhaps that it one of the things one is more likely to do as a mature student?  I don’t know…I do know that I have been spending a lot of time providing feedback on each essay I mark and it doesn’t seem as though it is being used. 

Was getting very frustrated and cranky about it when I was marking the other day (which is why I stopped - not good to mark when you are cranky ) …. less so now… but it is something I think that I will spend some time talking about in my seminars tomorrow evening.

You probably already know that people do not all learn the same way. Some of us tend to be more auditory; some are more visual, and some people learn by doing…and all to varying degrees.

Knowing where you fit can be helpful - not just in terms of helping you to DO what you need to do in order to learn effectively, but also in making decisions about the type of program or course to take, or what sort of learning situation, in other words, you should look for. And, of course, in figuring out what sort of career you might do well in, as well.

If you are strictly a hands on type of learner, you are probably going to be frustrated as all heck in course that is all lecture. Most profs SHOULD have enough sense to know that in any class groupings they are going to have students who learn better in each of the areas - but not all subjects lend themselves easily to all styles of learning …and not all profs are skilled at finding ways to change it up to accomodate everyone.

There are bunches of online versions of tests to tell you your learning style - but chances are you already have a pretty good sense of what works for you.

Those of use who are more hands on tend to be bored by lectures; those who fill their notes with drawings and diagrams are propably more visual than others, and so on …

There are a number of different inventories and measures available… some that are more detailed than others - and some online sites that are clearly more interested in selling you stuff than in actually telling you anything useful about your learning styles. Here are a few that seem more useful than some:

• Abiator’s Learning Styles Inventories Tests - the ones I tried were straightforward - no registration required.  Information provided for both teachers and learners.
• Learning-Styles-Online.com also includes information and tests - their tests differ in that they offer a graphical, detailed representation of where you fit. You are required to register to get your results, but while they would like you to buy full access and a manual, they do provide you with the basics with the free membership.
• Dr. Richard Felder is a prof at North Carolina State U, and his site, while rather academic and uh… plain (as in visually B O R I N G) does include bunches of information about learning styles, especially the Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (go figure ). The inventory itself is here , and no registration is required.

So - what is your learning style? And what strategies do you use to make it work for you?

Well duh… of course they do!

How much depends on how neurotic you are though - and on what your long term goals are.

There tends to be a huge difference in how kids just out of high school and mature students perceive grades.

Among many of the young ‘uns I’ve talked to, they’re pretty happy with anything that is a pass. Yikes!

Me, I’m high on the neurotic scale - and my long term goals include convincing other people to pay for me to keep going to school, so that works for me. In order to even apply for most of the government scholarships for grad school here, you need to have an overall average of 80% or better.

You can be damn sure that I make sure that my overall average never gets below that cutoff.

Which is not to say that every single one of my marks will be an A. Much as I might prefer that, in some cases, it just isn’t possible.

Some profs just don’t give high marks, for starters. I’ve had some that considered 85% to be the highest possible marks. I do not like that much!

Some subjects just are not my strong suit. I was thrilled when, in my first semester of Computer Programmer Analyst, I managed a 66% in Algebra - I worked harder for that 66% than I’ve ever worked for any of my As in English. I SUCK at math! Well, not so much at the basics… but Algebra is so not my thing.

How important are your marks to you?

Woo hoo!

Definitely cause to celebrate!

My morning class tomorrow has been cancelled…and not only that, but we get a week off from reading/writing a commentary…which, since we get a week off the week after next, means I have more than 2 weeks before the next one is due.

I shall, however, keep doing them …. at least one, if not two …. and then I’ll be ahead and not have to worry about them. That works for me.

Also knowing that I don’t have to get up early and manage a 12 hour school day (plus 2.5 hour drive home) …makes me very happy

Can’t wait for Reading Week …. got TONS of stuff I want to get accomplished that week… which will hopefully make the rest of the semester go much easier.

Have got topics sorted for all but one of my classes’ major papers… I need to come up with a plan for that one too ….and then get going on all of them. They are all due the first week of December. But if I leave them all until then, it will be WAY too much stress…and none of them will get done well enough.

Planning ahead… it makes a huge difference!

What does my new favourite restaurant have to do with back to school?

It’s close to my campus - and it has great wireless Internet!

I’ve been in Peterborough for 4? 5? weeks now, and really not found any place that stands out to eat… kill time between classes… whatever. There is a little Chinese buffet right near the campus but while I like their hot & sour soup, it’s not the sort of place that I’d be comfortable taking my laptop and doing homework - or blogging - or whatever.

Today my a.m. class ended early, so I drove up in the other direction … saw a sign for Boston Pizza. I don’t typically go to BP unless it’s Tuesday - I like their pastas, but it irks me to pay more for them any other day than I would on a Tuesday. But what the heck … I had time to kill.

So … here I am … very happily ensconsed in a booth with my laptop and my coffee. Had the lunch special pasta which was ok - not as good as some of their other pastas but cheap and filling …and did I mention they have GOOD wireless? And they don’t seem at all inclined to hurry me along … have paid and all, but the waitress has been keeping my coffee filled up for me.

The motel lost its DNS server at about midnight last night… no Internet … and it still wasn’t working by the time I left there this morning… hope they sort it out before I come back next Monday.

I actually briefly contemplated staying over this week even though the field trip that WAS going to mean I’d had to go moved … but between no Internet and a phone call from Ross last night just because… decided to ignore the fact that I really am not feeling 100% and drive home tonight anyway.

Hence the need for coffee…. lots and lots of coffee.

Too bad BP doesn’t have a few motel rooms attached - it would be the perfect student housing for me Well …aside from the nonsmoking thing, that is.