Chapter 10, Communication and Relationships, October 29-November 10

The chapter on communication provided some ideas for improving communication. Are any of these ideas helpful to you? For the blog this week, make 1 post of 200 words or 2 of 100 words each. You can also comment or expand on another student's posting.

You can describe how you plan to apply some of the ideas in this chapter to improving communication with your children, boss, friends or parents or anyone who is important in your life.

You can also read the scenarios below and use your knowledge of personality type to suggest ways to improve the communication. You can comment on one or more of the scenarios.

Scenario 1 (E and I):

Mary and Carol are roommates and are discussing paying bills for the apartment that they share. Mary is upset because Carol paid the phone bill late. The more that Mary talks, the quieter Carol becomes. This causes Mary to become even more upset. Mary starts talking in a loud voice and Carol leaves the room. How can they improve communication?

Scenario 2 (S and N):

A sensing type and an intuitive type are on a first date. What is each likely to talk about?

Scenario 3 (T and F):

Rachel and Jim have been married about a year. Rachel complains to Jim that he never says, "I love you" anymore. Jim replies that he would not have married Rachel if he didn't love her. How can they improve communication?

Scenario 4 (J and P):

Students in a business class are assigned as a group project to design a business plan. This is an evening class and has mostly adults who have busy schedules with work, family and school. Mike is a highly motivated student who wants to get the group organized and complete the project quickly. Mike is getting irritated at John because he cannot decide on a topic and get going. John keeps coming up with different creative ideas for the business plan. John is getting irritated at Mike because he thinks that Mike is trying to control the group. How can this group work together to complete a successful project?

Test Taking Oct 22-28

Please read the chapter on test taking and make comments on two of these questions:

1. Students often say, “I am not a good test taker.” What ideas in this chapter would be helpful to this student?

2. What are some suggestions for dealing with text anxiety?

3. How do you study for a math test?

4. What is the ideal way to review for a test?

5. What are some disadvantages of cramming for a test and how can you avoid cramming?

6. What is your best idea for studying for exams?

Chapter 8, Taking Notes, Writing and Speaking, Oct. 15-21

This week read the chapter on taking notes, writing and speaking and then make two comments on any of these topics:


Psychologist and philosopher William James said, “The essence of genius is knowing what to overlook.” How can you take steps toward being a genius by being selective at school, at work or in your personal life?

Many students have difficulties with writing assignments because of writer’s block. Read the section on writer’s block in the text and comment on some ideas that you can use to overcome it.


Write some intention statements about what you will do to become a better writer or note taker.

Ask a question or discuss any aspect of college success that is relevant to your college experience at this point.   

Chapter 7, Improving Memory and Reading, October 8-14

I enjoyed reading about all your goals and time management strategies. Many of you have challenges with work, family, school and social life. Keeping your focus on your priorities, breaking the tasks into small parts and finding a reward will keep you on the right path.  For this week, read the following situations and comment on two of them using ideas from Chapter 7, Improving Memory and Reading. Have a great week.

1. You just read the assigned chapter in economics and cannot remember what you read. It went in one ear and out the other.
2. In your anatomy and physiology class, you are required to remember the scientific name for 100 different muscles in the body.
3. You signed up for a philosophy class because it meets general education requirements. You are not interested in the class at all.
4. You have a mid-term in your literature class and have to read 400 pages in one month.
5. You must take American history to graduate from SDSU. You think that history is boring.
6. You have been introduced to an important business contact and would like to remember his/her name.
7. You are enrolled in an algebra class. You continually remind yourself that you have never been good at math. You don’t think that you will pass this class.
8. You have noticed that your grandmother is becoming very forgetful. You want to do whatever is possible to keep your mind healthy as you age.

Chapter 6, Managing Time and Money, Oct. 1-7

This new chapter is about time management and is one of the most powerful chapters in the text. For this week's discussion, share one of your lifetime goals and describe the time management techniques you will use to accomplish this goal. If there are obstacles in the way, how will you deal with them?

For your second post, read another student's post and make a comment about it.  Sometimes it is helpful to read about other students' goals and how they are managing to accomplish them.    The first post can be longer and the second one can be shorter.

I will share with you one of my lifetime goals and how I used the ideas in this chapter to accomplish it. My lifetime goal was to write a book on how to be successful in college because I struggled as a young college student and learned how to be successful. Then I taught the topic for 30 years. I had some time off from work and set as my goal to write the text. I found myself distracted by things around the home. I would get up in the morning and exercise, make myself a nice breakfast, read the paper and do a few household chores. Soon the day was gone and I had not accomplished my goal. I decided to work on my goal first and then reward myself with exercise and other things that I wanted to do. It was just a matter of rearranging my tasks. I still found it difficult to get started. I used the idea of a leading task. I would just sit at the computer, fill my head with ideas and start to write. Then I would refine the writing the next day. Within 6 months I had the first draft of the text written. Today it is used in about 60 colleges across the country. The CollegeScope material is my latest project. Ok, I have shared one of my goals and how I accomplished it. Now it is your turn. Tell about something you accomplished in the past or something you hope to accomplish in the future. See if you can use some of the time management ideas in the text.