Personal Narrative: Improving Study Skills

I have truly enjoyed writing for most of my life and after this class I will continue to enjoy writing hopefully with more skill. I have always viewed myself as a fairly strong writer and this class has reaffirmed that for me, but it has also shown weaknesses in my writing. As an introduction level class this has been one of my favorites; at some point I will take a higher level, even though it is not required for my major. Even though this class is almost over I am continuing to learn. I also love that this class will help me with literally ever other class in my college career. I am not a particularly strong reader, but as my writing skills improve so do the reading skills. While in this class I have learned a lot about everything from what I can improve, to subjects that interest me, and constructing a successful paper.

Arriving in this class I didn’t really know what to expect, and having a fragile background in English I was a bit concerned on how I would perform. Carrying over twenty years of discouragement stemming from my high school years, I thought I knew enough but came to the realization I didn’t. After a few weeks of settling in to class it felt like doors that I didn’t know how to open could be now opened and ignited my desire for more knowledge. For the first time in my life I was excited to learn English and eager to use it. My reading was above normal along with my vocabulary, however my grammar, and writing structure was my weakest point and that’s what I wanted to focus on.

Throughout my educational experience I noticed the discrepancies with regard to the advantages my peers possessed. In high school as I began exploring what career I wished to pursue, I experienced inferiority as my classmates who’ve taken the ACT three times, visited college campuses, and have had resumes ready since the 6th grade unintentionally mocked my lack of college-readiness. However, my ignorance wasn’t intentional, my parents never reached a high school education in Mexico, they couldn’t pass down SAT tips or acquire internship opportunities for me. I realized it's vital to pick up the pace to avoid being left in the dust akin to countless others in my situation. Henceforth, this statement resonates with my experience, I interpreted

There is of course also the issue of a different class style to grow accustomed to. It stands to reason that my strategies for taking notes during lectures would need work as lectures will become a commonality for me as a college student. The book mentions using the note taking process that works best for an individual and does not attempt to assign the label of best to any of the methods listed, because ideas are tools after all. The book also mentions the importance of each step of the note taking process and this seems to be where the most work is needed for me. At times certain steps are skimmed over and a greater attention to detail could assist me with learning more from my notes, and this is perhaps the biggest thing that can be taken from the book, and it does apply solely to note taking

In this class, I have learned many new skills to improve my writing, and I have also learned new grammar rules. In regards to my writing, I have learned the importance of freewriting when beginning to write a paper. Additionally, I now know to allow ample time for revising and editing because I can look at my work critically for mistakes and make necessary changes. Furthermore, I have learned about grammar rules such as pronoun-antecedent agreement. This rule is something that I know subconsciously, but being made aware of it has allowed me to find mistakes I make more often.

I believe I have grown a lot since the beginning of this course. My writing was severely lacking grammar and punctuation. I didn’t use any punctuation other than periods and very few commas spersed throughout my papers. My papers still need help in that area, but I have improved. I now know where they need to go and when it’s appropriate to use them. My papers aren’t exactly flawless but they are better than before. I would write how I speak at times and I knew it wasn’t right, but I would still do it because it allowed my papers to flow better in my mind. I read my papers out loud to help avoid my problem with writing how I speak. I’ve learned my writing style in this course, or lack thereof. I found a program that would benefit me now and

Physics has been both a challenging and deeply beneficial course. The reason this course has been difficult for me isn’t because it is an AP class. It also isn’t because I am only a sophomore, my age has no real impact in this instance. This class has been difficult for me because it presented several ideas in ways I had never challenged before. It has truly made me question my way of thinking and has opened up my eyes to the world around me. Some of the things I’ve learned in class I’ve already observed before but never knew why. Other things I’ve been blind to and finding out the truth gives me a whole new perspective. I have had to retrain my brain out of its misconception of reality. Learning something entirely new is easy. The real challenge occurs when you have to forget what you thought you knew and replace it with something entirely different.

By listening to the teacher and understanding what is teacher asking me to do, helped me to become a better learner. This is the way I used to get better on collecting notes.

My first semester of college, I detached my retina and underwent emergency eye surgery two weeks before finals. The surgery restored my vision, but I wouldn’t be able to do strenuous activity or read for two weeks. I wanted to make a full recovery, however I also wanted to take my finals, and receive high grades. My doctor understood how important my classes were to me, and we created a plan where I would be able to take my finals, and still make a full recovery. The first week, was rest with no reading, but my family could quiz me. During the second week, if my eye felt okay I could read in short segments. Finals week, I could take my finals but no extra activity. My professors and I worked to make a similar agreement to cover the material

My Catholic high school tried to expel me when I came out. It all started junior year when one of my classmates asked me if I was a lesbian. No one had actually ever asked me before, so I saw it as the perfect opportunity to finally get it off my chest. Of course there was scandal because it was high school and I was the first person in my grade to come out. A few people approached me with reverence, they thought what I had done was courageous. When the hype and gossip died down is when things took a turn for the worse.

I have faced many challenges in my pursuit of my post-secondary education, the main obstacle being financial support. I come from a family of four, technically three after my parents divorced. my mother is a single-mom supporting two daughters who both go to post-secondary school. My mother has supported me my whole life paying for swimming lessons, soccer training, clothes, and other expenses. Therefore, I have worked my hardest this year to pay for my tuition, rent, and other expenses by myself. I want to take off some stress and pressure that my mother feels to try and support my sister and i, all while paying for other bills. In other words, I want my mother to not have to worry about paying fro my tuition or rent, until I absolutely need

This semester is going good so far, but it could be better. I am getting better with completing all my assignments on time which was sort of a hassle for me last semester due to procrastination. I feel that I am managing the overload better than last semester which is great because I am taking more and harder classes. It does get overwhelming at times, but it's nothing I can't overcome or handle. I am managing the materials in my class good and I am able to understand it as well. I'm taking more classes that have lectures, so I am also able to pay attention in class and not day dream which was something I used to do. There are times where I won't understand some material, so I would either ask questions or go to tutoring outside of class, which

Guided notes are given to the students by the teacher, and are outlines of either the lectures or the chapters. Guided notes contain the main ideas and spaces for students to fill in additional details (Simonsen et. al., 2008, p.360). Guided notes help the students focus more on the important and useful parts of the lessons and lectures, and pinpoint exactly the information they need to know for that lesson or lecture. I would incorporate this teaching strategy in my future classroom, because of the attention it focuses on the most important information. Sometimes, lessons unfortunately drag on, with the majority of the information not being used after the lesson is actually over. For students, being able to remember the key concepts from the lesson will be more beneficial to them as well. This would also increase on task behavior, because it allows the students the chance to focus on the notes provided and listen carefully to the teacher as they try to fill out every missing piece of the notes, that they do not have the time to get off

I don't know how I learn the fastest because I always have a hard time learning something new. I have a hard time remembering what I write down unless I just wrote something. I find it easier to learn things when something is written down. Visualizing does not help me at all. I try to work as fast as I can, but I work pretty slow in class because I have a hard time listening to what the teacher just says, and I also have a hard time trying to remember what the teacher just says. I do not like working with other people, I would much rather work alone because I don't like talking a lot with other people. My difficulties trying to listen and remember what the teacher is saying interferes with my learning. I speak spanish and english. I do not

English 101 was a challenging course. A constant stream of reading and writing lead to a demanding yet rewarding semester. The variety of texts read and written about provided a plethora of life lessons and demonstrations of values. Now at the end of the course I find myself a better student and writer. The texts themselves were not influential to my growth as a critical reader or college student. Rather, it was my own analysis of the texts that allowed me to consider other perspectives on technology use in the classroom and the importance of revision when it comes to school work.