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.

Chapter 5, Sept. 24-30, Planning Your Career and Education

The chapter for this week is "Planning your Career and Education." It has some useful information as you think about your future career. Choose any topic below. You can choose 2 topics of 100 words each or one topic for 200 words.

Make a comment about how this semester is going for you. Are you facing any challenges or roadblocks? How can you deal with them?

Add your comment to another student's posting.  Can you relate to what they are saying and can you share similar experiences?

What is your generation? Baby Boomer? Generation X? New Millennial? How will your generation affect your future career choices?

Review the employment trends presented in the career chapter. How will these employment trends affect your future career plans?

What tips would you give to a friend before he or she interviewed for a job that was really important?

Go to www.assist.org and explore this site. This site is designed to help you understand the courses needed to transfer to a four year university. Share with the group what you found there.

Go to http://www.cuyamaca.edu/transfer_center and explore this site. This is our Cuyamaca College Transfer site. Share with the group what you found at this site.

Chapter 4, Sept. 17-23, Exploring Interests and Values

Hello Students,

For this week, choose any two topics below.

Comment on a successful decision you have made and how it matched your values.

Comment on an unsuccessful decision you made and how it did not match your values.

Comment on another student's post. Can you add to their comment or raise new questions?

Read the following 2 scenarios and comment on one of them. Based on the individual’s values, give your opinion about what would be the best decision.

Scenario 1: What should be my major?

Shawn is twenty years old and has completed two years of college. He has been trying to decide whether to major in engineering or music. He has completed all of his general education requirements as well as several courses in music, math, and physics. As a child, Shawn was interested in science and dreamed of making new inventions. He always took things apart to see how they worked. Math was always easy for Shawn, and he received awards for achievement in science. He also took part in band throughout his school years and learned to play several instruments. As a teenager, he had a garage band and became so interested in playing the piano that he spent two hours a day practicing. Shawn’s dilemma was that he was becoming stressed out trying to do both majors and
no longer had time to do well in both music and engineering. He also wanted to have time to get a part-time job in order to become more independent. Shawn’s top five values are being independent and living on his own, having a secure future, doing interesting work, achieving something important, and being able to relax. Based on his values, what major should Shawn choose?

Scenario 2: Should Maria continue her education?

Maria is a married mother of two young boys ages five and seven and a part-time college student. Maria and her husband, Juan, are very proud of their Mexican heritage and value their marriage and family. They both think that it is important for Maria to spend time with the children. Maria learned to speak English as a second language and has made sure that her children speak both English and Spanish. While the children are in school, Maria has been attending college part-time with the goal of becoming a teacher’s aide in a class for bilingual children. She has some experience as a teacher’s aide and gets a great deal of satisfaction from helping the children. Juan works in construction, and the family has sacrificed to come up with the money to pay for Maria to attend college. Maria has struggled to earn her associate’s degree and is proud of her accomplishments. She values her education and wants her children to do well in school. Now Maria is considering continuing her education to earn the bachelor’s degree so that she can become a teacher. She would enjoy having her own classroom, loves working with children, and would have a higher income as a teacher than she would as a teacher’s aide. Maria’s husband is concerned that she will spend too much time at college and will not be home for the children. He is also relieved that Maria has finished college and plans to work part-time to supplement the family income while the children are in school. Should Maria continue her education and earn a bachelor’s degree?

Week 4, Sept 10-16, Chapter 3, Learning Style

Remember to make 2 postings of at least 100 words each this week. You can comment on these scenarios using what you have read about learning styles and personality type, reply to other student's comments or write about anything related to college and career success.

1. You have just been assigned a 10 page term paper.
2. You have to study for a challenging math test.
3. You have to write up a lab report for a biology class. It incudes drawing of a frog you have just dissected.
4. You are taking a required course for your major and it is taught by only one professor. You dislike this professor.
5. You are taking a business class and have been assigned a group project to design a small business. It is worth 50% of your grade. One of the group members wants to control the group and the others seem to be rebelling.
6. You have signed up for an economics course and find it difficult to stay awake during the lecture.
7. You signed up for a philosophy course to meet a humanities requirement. The vocabulary in the course is unfamiliar.
8. As part of the final exam, you have to prepare a five minute presenation for your art history class. 

Week 3, Sept 3-9, Chapter 2

Remember to complete two postings of at least 100 words each week. Please read the chapter on personality before commenting on these scenarios. Keep in mind the theory that we are all born with certain personality types and there are no good or bad types. Each type has gifts and talents that can be used to be a successful and happy person. Relate your comments to the concepts in this chapter. Make comments on at least 2 of these scenarios. It is helpful to begin your thinking with identifying the personality types of the people involved.

Scenario 1 (Sensing, Intuitive): Julie is a pre-school teacher. She assigns her class to draw a picture of a bicycle. Students share their pictures with the class. One of the students has drawn a bicycle with wings. Another student laughs at the drawing and says, "Bicycles don't have wings!" How should the teacher handle this situation?

Scenario 2 (Thinking, Feeling): John has the almost perfect girlfriend. She is beautiful, intelligent and fun to be with. She only has one flaw. John thinks that she is too emotional and wishes she could be a little more rational. When his girlfriend tries to talk to him about emotional issues, he analyzes her problems and proposes a logical solution. His girlfriend doesn't like the solutions that John proposes. Should John find a new girlfriend?

Scenario 3 (Introvert, Extravert): Mary is the mother of 2 children ages 5 (daughter) and 8 (son). The five-year old is very social and especially enjoys birthday parties. At the last party she invited 24 girls and they all showed up at the party. Everyone had a great time. The 8 year old is very quiet and spends his time reading, doing art work, building models and hanging out with his one best friend. Mary is concerned that her son does not have very many friends. She decides to have a birthday party for her son also. The only problem is that he cannot come up with a list of children to invite to the party. What should Mary do?

Scenario 4 (Judging, Perceptive): Jerry and Jennifer have just been married and they love each other very much. Jennifer likes to keep the house neat and orderly and likes to plan out activities so that there are no surprises. Jerry likes creative disorder. He leaves his things all over the house. He often comes up with creative ideas for having fun. How can Jerry and Jennifer keep their good relationship going?

Week 2, August 27-September 2

Hello Students,

It was great meeting you on the blog last week and learning about your educational journeys. We have a great variety of students in the class and many different educational backgrounds. This diversity makes for interesting discussion and sharing of ideas. For this week, share your ideas on motivation with other students in this course.

Please read Chapter 1 in CollegeScope before commenting on any of these questions. You can also write or ask questions about anything related to college and career success or comment on others students' postings.Remember to make 2 postings of 100 words minimum for each posting to get the full 20 points for the blog this week. Postings for this week are due before 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, September 2.

1. How do you motivate yourself to be successful?
2. Are there some new ideas on motivation in Chapter 1 that you find interesting or helpful?
3. If you are thinking about dropping this class or dropping out of college, how can you motivate yourself to continue?
4. What are some roadblocks to your success and how can you overcome them?
5. Read comments posted by other students. Are any of their ideas useful to you?

You can also write anything about your experience in starting college or beginning this course.