Learning Profile

Something that I knew I already had as a strength was motivation to do my homework. I know that in order to get what I want done in life, I have to do the work to get there. So I do not consider myself a slacker at all; I always get my work done no mater what is takes. I don’t know if it is something that comes easily to me or not; at times I have to push myself. I just consider it something inside of me that maybe some people do not have. So I think being able to have that motivation helps me with my study skills. I do whatever it takes to get my work done, so if that means, keeping the TV off to help concentrate, then I do it. What I would tell any person that is wanting to get through college is to identify their strengths by recognizing what helps them best with studying. If music helps you study, then use music. But if you are having a hard time finding what helps you study, I found a great website that plenty of students gave a lot of helpful hits of ways to study.Study Tips from Students
Through this course, I did find I had some weaknesses. I thought that I was a good reader, but I guess I still have some work to do. I noticed a lot of other people in the class could read better than me, meaning that they could read faster, and probably at a higher reading level than me. Through high school, I only liked to read books that I enjoyed, so I probably did not expand my horizons enough. So a lot of my problem now if I am not reading something that I do not like, I will not pay attention to it, or try to absorb what I am reading at all. The thing is though I am having to read things now regardless if I like them or not and it is taking me at least three times to read it to absorb it into my brain because I have to learn it. But I am trying to pace myself the best that I can, and concentrate on my reading. I have to tell myself, I want to learn this, and this is for my education. I found a site that was helpful for reading in college. Providence College - Reading Comprehension Tips and Speed Reading Strategies
I have learned a lot through out this course. Not only have I learned a lot about myself and my abilities as a learner, I have learned about other people too. Things that I know now, that I didn’t know before, are new ways to study, look up information on the Internet, and make it more efficient while doing it, and finding better ways to read. I would say what was the most helpful was the reading skills part of the course because it opened my eyes to a problem that I thought I didn’t have. I know now I need to improve my reading skills because it will help me make my way through college. This subject matter stuck out the most to me because it was the biggest challenge for me through the whole course.
I liked all the activities that we had in class because that was the part where I got to know more about other people. This one of my only classes where I have learned about other people, and I find it interesting because I want to go into Social Work. At the beginning of the course I liked it when we all played that game where we had to choose either one thing or the other. It made me see how diverse our school is. Then about it the middle of the course one day we had a group discussion about personal experiences with alcohol. I found it interesting listening to people’s stories, and hearing what all people had been through just at this young of an age. Then near the end of the course, we watched a video on Sam Spady’s alcohol overdose. That story touched me because it is so heart breaking what happened to her and her family. It is so tragic that things like that have to go on. She had so many things going for her, and peer pressure is what partly ended her life. I actually lived in Colorado around the time when this tragic event happened, and I heard her parents speak at the church I attended. I was very sad, but they are out there telling the story to maybe help prevent it happening to other people, like it happened to them. Since social work is what I want to do, I find these stories interesting, and maybe one day I can help prevent them myself.
On how well the course went, I think it went very well. I do not think anything needs to be dropped because everything in the class has been helpful. To me, I think what needs to be kept no matter what is the reading skills portion. Even though it was something that was not that enjoyable, it was something that was very helpful. I think it could be something that a lot of college students will find they will need because they may realize that maybe their high school reading skills may not be good enough for college. I think all the methods were fine, I think it is really just up to the student whether they want to be apart of class or not. I thought the activities were all good, that’s why I think maybe adding in a few more activities would be good for the class because learning about others and their experiences makes it a better learning experience for the class. I think everything was evaluated fine, all in all I think the course was set up very organized and good for the class.
To all students that take this course in the future, the first tip of advice I would give you is take this class seriously just like all your other classes because you have to do work. Once you have the motivation to take this course, I would say you are good to go. You will meet a lot of people in your class by getting to know them. You will do cool activities with your classmates, so I encourage you to get involved, because the more you open up, the more they will. As far as individually work goes, she will have a syllabus for you to follow. I will say this now, DO NOT GET BEHIND. As long as you get stuff done on the due date, it should not be that bad, but if you skip a blog or two, it is going to feel like a ton of work. I would also pay attention to the activities that are individual in class. For example we had this reading skills day where we got on lap tops. I found it very helpful. In the class there is also going to be some presentations that are interesting that you might be able to relate to. All in all it can be a very helpful class if you want it to be. By the end of the course you may realize you had skills you did not have before.
Now that I have taken this course, I am going to take what I have learned from this class into everyday living. I know that I needed this class to help me get through college because without my new reading skills that I now know I need to work on, I would have struggled really bad all the way through college. I will need reading skills to help me study for tests, to read books for literature class, and for any other kind of additional information reading could provide me. Once I am done with college, I will need to have reading skills. When I go into Social Work, there will be plenty of times I will need to read for information in my job. I will then have the skills to do so. Even someday when I have children, I can help them develop the right kind of reading skills they need to have to become successful. I believe you can only become successful with good reading skills.