Col_101

On my first day of school I felt like I was a kindergartener going to school for the first time; I was nervous, I didn’t know where to go, and I didn’t have any friends in any of my classes; I kind of felt like I was going to be overwhelmed by my freshman year of college. My College 101 class showed me that this semester I would not only be learning about biology, psychology, and composition; I would be learning how to be a college student. So far my college experience is a great one. I have made a few new friends and I am getting good grades so far. Even though I am doing well, College 101 has given me some new tools to get more out of my college experience. I learned ten step to become a “giant success” 1. Master the material, 2. Come to grips with my abilities, interests, and values, 3. Fine-tune my computer skills, 4. Hone my communication skills, 5. Actively engage in exploring career options, 6. Get involved, 7. Give back to my community, 8. Work as an intern during the summer, 9. Expand my diversity, 10. Take advantage of campus career center. All of these steps along with other college 101 lessons have geared me in the right direction. Over eighteen years I have learned that the decisions you make throughout your life are influenced very heavily by what your values. Identifying and understanding your own values is necessary in order to understand your current position and help you make adjustments to achieve the balance you desire. In psychology class we took a personality test and were spilt up into groups based on our results. In these groups we were asked to list our values; my group listed: education, being punctual, honesty, compassion, and family. I can see how these values shape my personality and behavior because in school I am a very hard worker and I want to learn. I try to be honest and rarely lie and when I need help I turn to my family for advice. In College 101 I learned that “learning” is a lifelong process; once I am done with college does not mean that I am done learning new things. I was also taught about many college resources; perhaps the most important resource I have learned about in my College 101 class is I am able to access Moraine Valley’s library online. I have already used this resource twice for a psychology paper I am writing. Without this resource writing my paper would be very difficult because I would have to make time to go to a library and then spend extra time searching for the books or articles I need. Another valuable piece of information I learned about was the Academic Advising Center. The Academic Advising Center can help me choose the right classes, ensure my classes will transfer to the four-year college of my choice, and explore my career options. I plan to transfer to Naropa University and eventually become a dance therapist. My hope is that over the next two years the academic advisors can help me choose the correct classes. I have also been to the writing center to revise a composition 101 paper just last week. It was very helpful and I got great feedback. It was a quiet and very easy to concentrate in the writing center. During this class I have noticed that my study habits are not as good as I thought. I tend to procrastinate when I have to write a paper or study. I need to learn to prioritize. I have started to use a calendar and it has become a lot easier to keep track of what I have to do. The next step I need to take is understanding the difference between “important” and “urgent”. I need to realize that there are important tasks that I need to get done; however, there are more urgent tasks that I must get done now. I have set a few realistic goals both educational and health wise; with the help of prioritizing and scheduling I plan to transfer to Naropa University in about 3 years. I plan on completing my courses at Moraine Valley in 2013 then I would like to take a year off of school so I can work to pay for Naropa. I also intend on losing 30lbs. within the next 5 months. I believe that managing my time and completing priorities I will achieve my goals. Developing critical thinking skills will help me make better decisions about my education and my life. Because of critical thinking I am able to develop a higher order thinking ability. Critical thinking gives me the tools to look as problems in a different way. Critical thinking can help me: focus on relevant issues and problems, gather accurate information, understand and organize facts in a logical manner, look more deeply at problems, improve my problem-solving skills, and detect bias perspectives. When we did some brain teasers in class I was so frustrated because I kept looking at the problem the same way. I learned that when I engage in critical thinking I need to; understand and use emotional intelligence, look at things differently, relax (do not get frustrated), ask questions, problem solve, evaluate results, distinguish fact from opinion, seek the truth, and finally think creatively and be resourceful. I am thankful that I was able to take this College 101 class. This course has made my transition from high school to college a lot easier. I learned that I need to prioritize better and that there are many resources and tool that I can use to better ensure my success in college. In this class I also learned that I have more of a musical/ rhythmic intelligence. This made sense because I tend to learn better if I study with music or when I am able to make a little song to remember the material. I am also able to know a song after hearing it once. I am an auditory learner which means I prefer verbal instructions, I read out loud, and talks out problems. With all of the new things I have learned in this class I am sure that I will be able to make better and more informed decisions about school, a career, and my study habits.