Video Project final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFBGka4tYQM&feature=youtu.be

The last post (16)

Well it's over. The first semester of college is finally done. I've learned a lot about myself and about my academic achievements. When I first started the semester I didn’t really care much for school. I really didn’t want to go, I wanted to work and take a semester or two off. But I went because my mom wanted me to go. So right off the bat I was unhappy with college. It was something I felt like I was being forced into. Plus the classes I was taking weren't really interesting to me. I think that southern should change the way they set up classes because it's off-putting to freshman who aren't succeeding in classes they don’t like. But next semester I'm taking classes that hopefully I will enjoy.

I think my  biggest achievement this year was receiving an A in my English class. It was something I actually worked really hard for. In High school I took 4 English classes and the highest grade I ever got was a C+. So passing with an A really helped boost my confidence. I am in English 112 next semester, and I think I'm ready for the next step.

The worst thing I did this year was procrastinating. I did it with every assignment for every class this year. I think that the lack of knowledge and understanding of the subject caused me to procrastinate a lot.  Even right now while righting this post, I have taken breaks to play guitar, and watch TV and I'm barely half way done with it. It's defiantly something I have to work on next semester. But I think that’s something that most people have to work on. Procrastination is just always there. It takes time and effort to break the grip it holds on us.

The classes I took this semester were not my original choices. I never wanted to take media studies, or computer science, or Inq. I just wanted to take classes that were about what I wanted to learn. I love History, which is why I wanted to take history courses. I think the reason I did poorly was because I didn’t appreciate the course material. For instance, my computer science courses was on Microsoft Excel. I have no idea how I ended up in that class considering I started using excel in 6th grade and mastered it in high school. I received a good grade in the class because I knew everything about the subject but It didn’t push my intelligence. I didn't learn anything knew. So to me it was just a waste of time.

I have some goals that I hope to accomplish next semester. One of them is to learn piano fluently. I am taking a piano course, which is right up my alley. I love music, I love playing music and I get credit for it. I'm actually looking forward to next semester. I have a couple history courses that I am looking forward to.

Another goal I have is to pass my next English class with an A. I did it this semester and it's something I want to do next semester. I think that with hard work I can accomplish it. Just like everything in life it will take hard work to accomplish my goal.

I would say that this semester was mediocre. I have a lot I need to work on as well as a lot to continue. I'm just going to go into next semester with an open mind and ready to learn and hope that I can pass all of my classes.

My video project

I learned a lot from watching others videos in class. I plan on making a lot of changes to my video. Something that I plan on adding is a skit. The skit I'm going to do has to deal with procrastination. I plan on creating a scenario that happens regularly in college. I will have one friend doing work and another friend will walk in. He will try to get the friend working to leave and go to a party. Because college  has a lot of parties, people are used to putting work off to go. Priorities are something you need to conquer procrastination. I need to add more information too. I plan on finding statistics about college procrastination. I may also do a survey to find what people think about procrastination.

Something that also helped me was the feedback I got from other students. A lot of them told me to add skits which I plan on doing. But something that helped me was when people told me they couldn’t read the writing. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if they didn’t tell me so it helped a lot.

The final week 15b

I am happy to say that I have no finals this semester. In my media class I have a final 5 minute presentation. I am presenting a persuasive speech on legalization of marijuana for medical use. I am presenting it because its something I care about. I'm not saying that we should just make it legal because it's fun to get high. I am presenting it because I am looking at the medical and economical benefits it brings. Legalization is something that I have been studying for a while. That why I am fully prepared to present it. I think that it will help people in pain and help the economic situation we are facing. My main point will be presenting a story of a six year old dyeing  from a disease she was born with. It caused her to have seizures every hour of her life. She was only six and was experiencing 300 seizures a week. She was losing all control of her motor skills and couldn’t talk. It wasn’t until her parents gave her a marijuana low in THC and high in CBL. It was legal for her to use because it was in Colorado. But it saved her life. She has now gone an entire year without a seizer. The fact that it saved her life should show some sign of the benefits it offers. I am excited to present it and am sure it will go well.

Southern Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUvGcGY1QiY&feature=youtu.be

Thanksgiving 14 b

I'm thankful for my Friend and Family. I don’t really care for material things. Of course I would rather be living in  a mansion or driving a mustang but I don’t need to. Material things aren't what make me happy. It's being with my friends and family that make me happy. That’s why I'm thankful to have them. Just the other day I was in class waiting for break to start. I started thinking about how my friends would be coming home, and it just made me smile. I started laughing just thinking about the things we used to do or the time we hung out. I have 4 best friends who I've known since 2nd grade. We've done everything together. We've gone to the same school, we've gone on vacation together, and we've really never been apart for more than a week. And now there all off at colleges in other states but this week there coming home and I'm thankful for that.

I'm also thankful for my family. My family has always been there for me and I know they always will be. I know that if I ever have a problem someone will be there for me. I have a mom, a dad, 2 sisters, 18 aunts and uncles and 26 cousins. I know that someone will always be there to help with whatever I need. That’s why I'm thankful for them.

I think that learning to make a schedule will help me the most in college. It was the most important thing I learned. Making a schedule helps boost productivity because it can allow you to follow a certain direction when doing something. Its helped me with certain projects this year. I can follow it to get my work done promptly.

Relaxation 14a

Relax, relax, relax. That’s all I plan on doing this week. I have some work that I need to do but other than that I plan on eating a lot of food and enjoying the company of my family and friends. I think the best part about the break is that there are so many people back from school. All of my friends came back home from their colleges in New York, Washington, and Massachusetts. I plan on hanging out with them for the majority of the week. We all haven't been together since August so I'm looking forward to seeing them all again.

For Thanksgiving, I'm going to my cousins house who I don’t see often. We are a weird family. We don’t rarely eat turkey on thanksgiving because I'm the only one who likes it. We normally eat ham with all the fixings. It's always nice sitting around the table talking about stories from when we were younger, or stories about vacations. We have three different generations all around one table. Thanksgiving wouldn’t feel the same without everyone around the table.

The best part about thanksgiving is the Football. Not only is it on T.V but every year, we play our own game. We split the teams 5 on 5. And we just play. We play until it's dark or until someone gets hurt or whatever. It's always fun and entertaining. Someday, I hope to continue the tradition.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Christmas is all about receiving and giving but thanksgiving is about enjoying the company of others. That’s why it's my favorite, I would rather sit with my cousins and talk about our childhood together than open gift after gift. It's just not as fun as reminiscing.

13a Critical thinking

For the second video I plan on having many different points of view. I plan on interviewing teachers, students, and students of other colleges. I think that by doing this, I can express different viewpoints on procrastination. Also , procrastination is different for everyone. Some people can complete all f there work without even hesitating. But other procrastinate a lot. Because of this, the different viewpoints will help show college level thinking. Were all adults now, and with that comes responsibility to finish work. If I can show how people complete their work, then I can use their words and examples as a solution.

I'm thinking about using the question, How can one break free from procrastination in order to accomplish goals? I think that people will be able to respond to this in a critical thinking manner. I won't be asking simple questions that only have a few answers. I plan on asking questions that can have multiple answers and multiple right answers.

I think if I use more video, I can get my point across better. In my last video, I had a lot of still pictures with words over them. But if I could incorporate more video with live sounds, it would add more effect to the video. If I have to, I can use the still pictures but add a voice over so I don’t bore the audience.

Motivation 12b

 

How does motivation effect individuals and how they accomplish goals?

                Motivation is another thing in life that is determined by individuals. Some people are self motivated, and others require motivation from an outside source. People who are self motivated can normally accomplish goals because they have the inner workings to accomplish it. People who are self motivated usually thrive in situations like college because they know that they are working for themselves. Self motivated people have a self confidence that allows them to prosper.

People who need outside motivation can still accomplish their goals. They just need a different type of push to keep them going. These types of people can still thrive if they get on the right track. But like everything else in life it depends on the person.

No matter what kind of person you are, self motivated or not, motivation can drive you to success. There have been times in my life where I just stop working out cause I have no motivation to do it. But then I'll hear a new song that will make me want to work out and ill start up again. When it comes to working out, I'm not self motivated, I need an outside source to keep me going. But when it comes to work, I am self motivated. I work almost every day, and I don’t mind it. Because I know that I am working for money and I know that money is what I can buy food, clothes and music equipment with. I know that I need at least two of those things to survive, so I work hard so that I can provide for myself. But with school, I really don’t have any motivation. I just go and get my stuff done and then I go to work. The motivation is just not there when it comes to school.

Liberal Arts 12A

The value of a liberal arts education depends are who you are. For some people, it may be a waste of time while others find it very helpful. Someone who knows what they want to do for a living, may not like a liberal art education because it allows for less focus on their intended major. If someone wants to be a High School math teacher, they may not want to take the time to study a required course like biology. Some people want to just dedicate their entire time at college to their intended major. Like me, I don’t want to waste time studying zoology or something like that. I want to study history, and if I could, I would dedicate all of my time to that instead.

Others may not think like that. They may think that college is a good time to experience new classes. They may want to take other courses to see what they like and to test out new classes. They may find that they like doing something else more than they like their original idea. But like I said, it's based on who you are. http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/two-views-on-liberal-arts/ This blog, from the New York Times states that "Liberal arts is founded on a whole person, developing a person athletically and educationally". I think this is true. Because everyone is different, we can't say that Liberal arts works for everyone. It depends on what each individual wants to learn. You can force people to take liberal arts, but it doesn’t mean that everyone will get the same experiences or the same knowledge. I think that Liberal arts programs should be optional in college. Because at the moment, I feel like I'm paying for an education that southern wants me to have. Not an education I want to have.

Interdisciplinary Perspective 12v

Interdisciplinary Perspective- Is the combination of two learning abilities.

Liberal arts- academic subjects such as literature, philosophy, mathematics, and social and physical sciences as distinct from professional and technical subjects.

1.       Interdisciplinary -of or relating to more than one branch of knowledge

 

Interdisciplinary perspective relates to our readings this week because it relates to liberal arts. It means to combine two learning abilities. So it is like reading the constitution for a historical and a literacy point of view. It relates to us as college students because we are taught to examine things from different viewpoints. We should be learning to look at things from different perspectives.

Schools Kill (11a)

The readings for this week really made me question how I ask questions and how I think. I'm so used to using the same old high school tricks of passing tests and quizzes. Just skim through the reading, jot down a few notes, and I'm done. But that’s why I don’t understand the readings. Because I'm not focusing in on what is on the page. That’s why I'm going to start asking questions as I read. Some questions we as a group came up with were: Would you rather hire a hard worker, or a critical thinker and why? Are schools at fault for killing creativity or are there other factors at fault? Is motivation necessary to complete certain task, why or why not? How can we learn to accept inspiration that is always around us?

So are schools at fault for killing creativity? In my opinion, yes. Schools don't allow for our minds to grow in different ways. Schools like labels. And labels are what kill creativity. In our last Ted talk, Ken Robinson talked about a girl who became a famous dancer. Early in her life, she was labeled as a child who couldn’t focus. He said that most doctors and schools would have labeled her as unfocused. Which would have led to her being put on medication. Instead, they allowed her to be who she was, and that led to her becoming a famous dancer. Schools create a certain stereotype child. Any kid who can't focus is either a bad kid or a kid with A.D.D. If schools would allow for us to be freer, we would have a lot more "famous dancers". We would have more people working in the arts fields instead of other less creative jobs. I think schools are at fault for killing creativity because they tend to push certain ideas and crush others.

Inq questions (11b)

I think that one of the best questions we went over in class was one that Terrance asked. It was, Would you hire a critical thinker or a hard worker? It’s a question that I like to think about in regards to myself. I think I'm a hard worker when I want to be. Which is pretty much working on anything except school. When I work at my job, I try to push myself. I try to do everything a little bit better every day. I work hard because I know that I'm working for someone else. I want to prove that I can work hard for someone else. But when I work for myself, I don’t try enough. For some reason, I thrive when working for someone else but when I work for myself, I don’t try. I think I'm a hard worker but not so much a critical thinker. I work hard when u need to but other task that may require a lot of thinking outside the box challenge me. When I play music, I think outside the box. I can play whatever I want whenever I want. I can create beats and harmony's without even thinking. Music is just something that comes to me naturally. But other tasks, like schoolwork are hard for me. I don’t know if it’s the work or just my procrastination. But something I am learning to work with is the readings. I think that being able to understand the readings will help me a lot more. I need to be able to anticipate the questions. But it's something that will work more overtime.

Critical thinking (9v)

Critical thinking is a process that allows us to question data. It allows us to process certain bits of information in order to analyze it. The exact definition of it is a process that leads to skills that can be learned, mastered and used. We use critical thinking in everything we do. We can use it to help us with everyday task. Or it can help us with complex data or information. Critical thinking is something that we have used since elementary school. We start out small and eventually make it up to college style critical thinking.

First semester regret. (b9)

With midterms just being released, I can reflect ton my first semester at college. So far I have 3 classes with C's and one class with a D. I need to work on all of them. I think B averages for the classes can be achieved if I work hard enough for it. The only problem is, I lack motivation. I don’t have any drive to complete the task's I am given. So far, I don’t really like college. It just seems like High School all over again. I am forced to take classes that I don’t want to, I get tons of homework each night, and I have to drive thirty minutes to class every day. I thought that college would be a new start. I expected to do a lot of homework as well as I expected to drive a lot. But my main thought was that I could take what classes I wanted to. I thought that I could take classes that inspire me and help me achieve certain goals. But I'm still forced to take a language, meet mathematic standards, and meet writing standards. In the work that I want to do, I am never going to need to know how to divide a compounding function by a variable function. So why am I learning it?

                If I have any goals for the rest of the semester, it is to finish it. Because right now, I don’t enjoy college. I don’t know if I'll come back next semester, or if I'll take a semester off. But whatever choice I make, I plan on sticking with it. It's going to be my decision. People keep telling me that I have to go to college. But I'm not being forced to go. So I'll finish the semester and see where life leads me after that.

Critical Thinking (9a)

Critical thinking is a necessity for college. Critical thinking is almost like thinking outside the box. You have to be able to think outside your normal view. Critical thinking is something that is restricted in school. Classes always say they require critical thinking but that is only to a certain extent. Schools don’t allow for full amounts of critical thinking. I can remember many times throughout the years in school, a teacher would tell me I was wrong for thinking a certain way. That is what school is. It is a place where our critical thinking skills are not allowed to be free. We are prisoners in a world where only one answer is the right one. But college should be different. It is where we can have many right answers to one single question. But at this point in our lives, we are so used to only being allowed one right answer, we have evolved into thinking that way. Critical thinking should allow us to explore many answers to find the best answer. Although the best answer is not always the right one. Critical thinking is the process in which we analyze data. It is how we read, listen, or write on order to come up with conclusions.

For college, analyzing data comes with time. We as students have to learn how to process data in good time, but also analyzing the data. We need to be able to do it quickly but also to retain the data. It's something every college student must do. It comes with time. But eventually we understand it. I think that critical thinking can help people with both retaining knowledge and using it to there advantages.

Southern Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ERnHoli8Cw&feature=youtu.be

Mastery 8v

Mastery is a term that is defined as comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject or accomplishment. But mastery isn’t just being good at something. It is being able to use that skill to your own advantage. Being a master at guitar really doesn’t mean anything unless you use your skill to better the world in a way. Being able to master a skill is just a waste of time if you don’t use it to better your life. Becoming a master tasks about 10,000 hours of practicing that skill. One has to have a very strong dedication to learning a skill in order to be a master of it.

My beloved world 8b

My six word memoir is “Life’s a stage, act it out”. I think that we should live our lives how we want to. We should be able to do what we want in life without fear of being judged. We should be open about whatever we want in life.

I think that “My beloved world” is a good book to start college off with. It talks a lot about responsibility and about how we are in control of our lives. In the book, Sonia starts off by telling us about her life. About how her father died when she was young. She talks about how her mother struggled to make ends meet. She had to go through so much as a young child that a lot of us never had to experience. I think that the experiences that she faced as a child are what made her so successful. She learned at a young age that hard work can’t be compromised. She worked very hard to be where she is today. She went to Yale, which requires more work than any school in the country. And although we are attending southern, the same applies to us. We can’t compromise on hard work and full effort. Not just for school but for life in general. We must start everyday willing to push forward. Something that I liked in the book was when she talks about her mother trying to attend class and work at the same time. I feel like sometimes balancing the two is impossible. I try to priorities but sometimes I can’t. So I think I can relate to the book in some ways. But the book can help first year students a lot which is why it makes it a good book to read freshman year.

Video Preview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOi_bwxgfnM&feature=youtu.be

Campus life (7I) (26)

                Last week, I was walking back to my car after class. I saw two people sitting in the open grass near the dorms. They were playing acoustic guitars. They sounded really good. I started to talk with them and remembered I had a bongo in my car. So I went to my car, got the bongo and sat down and stared to play with them. It was a lot of fun, I knew all the songs they were playing so I could keep a beat with it. I hope I see them again at some point so we can play some more.

(7v) Failure

Failure is a word that nobody likes. It's a word that means not good enough. In our culture, we use this word to often. Failure is defined as Lack of success. From the day we start school until the day we stop, failure is always around us. We are brought up to thin failure is a bad thing when really it’s a good thing. We can learn from failure. We should embrace it because it will make us better in the long run. Failure can drive us to become better at what we failed at previously. We just need to use failure to our own advantage.

Me and Math (7b)

                In high school I wasn’t very good at math. I failed Algebra 2 my junior year, and barely passed my senior year. But on my S.A.T I scored very high in math. Because of this, I was put into Pre-calc this year. I knew it was going to be tough. I was thinking about dropping it before it even started. But I thought it would be a challenge that I could conquer. The first week I tried very hard. I studied for a very long time, and I was doing all of the homework. As the weeks progressed, it became a lot harder. I was forgetting things and started to forget homework. I couldn’t keep up with the amount of work. The first test we had went very bad as well. I studied for hours each day before the test day. I ended up scoring a 16 out of 100 on the test. It was really disappointing. Only a month into class I was so far behind. But I wanted to pass for the year, I wanted to accomplish my goal. After I got a low grade on my second quiz of the year, I decided it wasn’t worth the time and effort. I had to withdraw from the class. I figured I couldn’t keep up so why bother suffering for an entire semester. I learned that trying to accomplish certain goals can take a lot more than time and effort. You really need to push forward if you want to accomplish goals. You have to go above and beyond. I just didn’t have the time for it. With work and school, it was an impossible goal from the start. But I learned from it, so I am glad it happened. I'm happy that I know what it takes to be successful.

(7a) Examining Failure.

It's unfortunate that we are a society that rarely allows failure. We become programmed at a young age to push failure away from us. We are taught that failure is bad for us and that is we fail, we will not be successful. At a young age, I believe sports have the biggest impact on how we look at failure. When we are young and still developing, failure in sports can leave lasting impressions on us. We learn that failure is ok, because no matter how you do, you receive a trophy. Once we hit middle school, it changes from everyone winning, to only one team winning. From that point on, failure is not accepted. I can remember my coaches yelling at our team when we lost games. And that was a park and Rec league. Stuff like that sticks in your mind forever. And when I think about failing, those are the things I remember. Sports aren't the only things that effect our thoughts on failure. School is a huge part of it. There is nothing worse than studying hours for a test but still failing. It's not only upsetting, its un-motivational. It can kill the drive we have to be successful. We are all human, failure is just something that happens to all of us. Being punished for failure is just punishing us for being who we are. Failure is a good thing. It can drive us to be successful is used the right way. We need to be trained at a young age to accept failure and use it to our advantage. I think that is we could do that, kids would be able to accept it and use it to drive them to be successful. Failure is something that will always exist, so we should embraces it while we can as a positive thing, not negative.

5(a) Challenge

A very hard challenge I had to overcome happened to me my junior year. I was in a an SCC conference wrestling tournament. I had been training three years to make it into that tournament. I set a goal for myself to place in to top three. About a week before the tournament, I tore my rotator cuff in my left arm. It was the most painful thing that I have ever had happen to me. Although my athletic trainer advised me to sit the tournament out, I didn’t. I wrestled in the tournament as well as I could. I had 4 matches in one day. I battled through the pain into my final match. In that match, I was taken down which caused me to put all of my weight onto my left arm. The pain felt  as if my shoulder had been hit with a sledge hammer.  I had to stop the pain was so intense. But I set a goal for myself and I needed to accomplish it. So I put the pain aside, and continued to wrestle. With a minute left in the match, I scored two points which put me up by 1 point. I held on to win the match all though I had to stop wrestling after it. But I accomplished my goal. I placed third in the Tournament.  Although I would have liked to have placed 1st, I accomplished my goal. I figure that if I can accomplish that goal. I can accomplish anything I want. I battled through the pain and that will help me with other things I try in life. I could get through the pain of a torn rotator cuff. So to me, I can accomplish anything. I just have to set my mind to it.

Plans for less procrastination(5b)

The time study showed me a lot. I didn’t realize how much free time I actually have. I dedicated about 20 hours to working and studying when I had 30 hours of free time. Also I spend about 24 hours every week working. If I could cut work down one day, I would have an extra 6 hours every day to study. Also, Sundays I relax almost the whole day. Because football is on, I normally can’t focus on anything but it. I plan on cutting out an hour of football and adding studying into my Sundays. I’m sure I can even cut an hour off of sleep per night to add to studying. The problem isn’t that I don’t have time to study, it’s that I procrastinate too much. I set time out every week for studying and homework, and somehow I never get it done. I try to work hard, but I get distracted very easy. I try to find quiet places that I can work but sometimes I still get distracted. It’s something that I need to work on.

                Commuting also causes me to lose hours throughout the week that I wouldn’t have if I lived at college. I spend about 45 minutes every day getting to school and back. Which in one week ads up to almost 4 hours. There isn’t really much I can do about that. It’s just one of the down falls of commuting. I think that eventually I will be able to work without procrastinating or without getting distracted. It’s just something that comes with time. Once I get used to the amount of work, I will be able to get the timing down.

Time managment (5a)

So far, college has been better for me than high school. I think because I’m paying for college, I have a better mindset to work. My time management skills have changed the most. So far, I have been able to stick to a schedule that I set up each week. Writing out my schedule has helped me in the first four week. Being able to see what I need to get done helps a lot. Having a schedule helps, but being able to understand the material is much more important. But it’s something I am having trouble with. My pre-Calc class is by far the most difficult class I have. I’ve shown up to every class, done almost all the work, and studied very hard. But I still can’t seem to understand the subject. Last week we had our first test. Immediately when I looked at it, I knew I was going to fail. The material that I had been studying for the past 4 weeks looked like a foreign language. But I tried to push through it, but in the end I got a 16 on it. So it’s been a rough start to my college math course. I think that I am going to have to study a lot more if I plan on passing the course. Its, hard to do when I see certain problems and just give up because I don’t understand. But it’s something I can improve on.

I think setting week long goals will be the key to success. Long term goals are good, but I think that long term goals are harder to accomplish because they can take a lot of time an effort. Short term goals would help me improve without a strong dedication. I can accomplish them within a week as long as I put in the hard work.

Writing center (5I)

This week, I went to the writing center for help in English class. I am writing a paper on something that I believe in. I was having trouble brain storming ideas. The writing center helped me very much. They helped me come up with ideas, and helped me put it on paper. I was getting stuck trying to describe events using the 5 senses. But they help I got in the writing center allowed me to put my thoughts into words. I would definitely recommend it to others who are having trouble writing. I plan on going back for my next essay as well.

Agency (5v)

Agency is defined as a business or organization established to provide a particular service, typically one that involves organizing transactions between two other parties. But what we need to look at is the part about organization. Organization is what an agency truly is. Organization is defined as an organized body of people with a particular purpose, such as a business, society, association, etc. That’s what a university like southern is. We are a common group of people working toward one goal. Agency is very similar to community which is defined as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

Downtown New Haven (4I)

 Yesterday I went to green in downtown New Haven. I walked around with friends, got some food, and had a good time. We went to a place called orange side for breakfast. They had great eggs but even better donuts. After breakfast we parked near the green and walked around. We went to a couple of cool stores and ended up at a hookah lounge. It was cool seeing downtown on a Friday during the day. It was cool to see how alive it was even during the day. I’m thinking about going back again next weekend.

Marshmallow test. Fact or Fiction? (4B)

 Can we really determine how a child will perform in school based on a simple test? A simple test on patience, can’t determine how a child will do in their later years of school. The marshmallow test didn’t appeal to me. I think that people can change over time. Some kids who start off very impatient can over time learn to become patient. It all depends on how that child is brought up. Some kids just don’t have the patients to wait for a marshmallow, but that can’t determine how they will score on their S.A.T. Also the study showed that only 98 people were tracked down after they took the test. So out of 400 participants, only 98 were tracked down. For all we know, it could have just been a coincidence that the kids did well on the S.A.T.

Another question I have thought about is, how can we motivate ourselves to go above and beyond our required amount of work? This is something that will help greatly in college. If you can motivate yourself to go above and beyond, you will find that it will better you for the college life. Being able to motivate yourself is a great thing. If you can use that skill to help learn more knowledge, you are better off. Motivating myself for school work is not an easy thing. If I could motivate myself for work, I would be in a great position. It’s one thing to do the required work, it’s another to do more than the required work.

A waiting game(4a)

We as Americans hate to wait. All though it is tough to admit, we hate waiting. I think that technology play a huge role in our inpatients. We, as young adults, were brought up with everything at the touch of a button. We have cell phones that can give us any answer, news feed, weather report, or status update in a matter of seconds. We have fast food chains that promise your food in two minutes or less. We have services that offer repair in a matter of thirty minutes, and even that is too much time in Americans eyes. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, the internet at our house went down. Without warning it just shut off. It was ridiculous how impatient my family got without having everything at the click of a button. I called Comcast and they said they would come over and fix it within the hour. About 55 minutes went by and they hadn’t showed up. I thought my sister was actually going to kill the repair man if he didn’t show up within that hour. Luckily he showed up with about a minute to go. But that just proves my point. Because we were brought up to have all of this speed we don’t know what to do without it. We are a culture set on instant gratification. We chose not to wait for better rewards. We think that we need the Iphone 5 so everyone goes out and buys it. But if they waited 6 months, they could’ve gotten the Iphone 6. Patients is a virtue now a days. If you have the patience to wait for something in order to get a better reward, you have a better chance of surviving in this world.

Delayed Gratification(4v)

Delayed Gratification is the ability to resist temptation for an immediate reward and wait for an award later. This goes along with the marshmallow test. Delayed Gratification relates to temptation, and control. For some reason, as Americans we can rarely wait for better rewards. We are a culture that doesn’t have delayed gratification. We require new things every day. It relates to temptation because that’s something you need to conquer in order to have delayed gratification. It’s defined as a desire to do something. Control is defined as the power to influence or direct people’s behavior.

Good or Bad? That is the question.(3a)

To me, this quote means that things are what we as individuals see them. We are all individuals so we see things differently from others. What one person see’s as good another may see as bad. This quote reminds me of the quote “one man’s trash, is another man’s treasure.” Everyone is different in their own way which is why this quote makes so much sense. This quote represents a growth mind set. This quote is saying that everything in life is neutral. Everything we see and think is neutral. It is not until we as people judge something that makes it what it is. Its people’s perspectives that draw conclusions are things in our world.

This quote also represents intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation from within. It is self-discipline and is self-drive. As individuals we need to motivate ourselves from within. We make our own choices on what we do or how hard we push. We can make our own outcomes by how hard we work. I could do no work one week and have a bad outcome or do a lot of work the next week and have a good outcome. But that is only my opinion. But that is what the quote is saying. Personal experiences relate to outcomes and relate to how we judge things.

Motivation (3v)

Motivation means “the reason one has for acting or behaving in a particular way”. To me motivation goes along with the words, self-discipline (the ability to control one's feelings and overcome one's weaknesses), and self-assurance(confidence in one's own abilities or character). All three need to coexist together. Even if the motivation is extrinsic, one still needs to have a self-drive to accomplish the task at hand. For example, I work at Burger King. I absolutely hate my job, but I know I need to make money to pay off my car. So I have an extrinsic motivation (making money), but I have the self-discipline to get the job done even though I can’t stand the job.

Involvment Fair(3I)

On Thursday, I went to the involvement fair in the center of Southern. I looked at many clubs, and many sorority’s. The one that interested me the most was the environmental club. I was really interested in what they do. They help clean up the campus, they help with recycling, and they organize cleanups of the New Haven area. I am probably going to join because I like taking care of our planet. I also like the intermural sports activities. I hopefully will be playing dodge ball and 3 on 3 basketball for the intermural sports. And I may even join the hockey club sports team.

Music:my escape (3b)

Something that I have fallen in love with is playing music. It’s something that I picked up a while back starting with the piano. I loved sitting at the piano playing songs like “don’t stop believing” and “Home Sweet Home” or John Lennon’s “Imagine”. It was just something I could do without really practicing. I could hear the notes and without even practicing, play the song. The same was not so easy with guitar. Guitar is one of those instruments that take years of work to perfect. I have been playing for about 8 months, and still have trouble with simple chords. I can play songs by Sublime, Led Zeppelin, and Tom Petty. It’s a hobby that I can always find time for. It has gotten to the point where I sometimes sit in class thinking about how I can perfect my playing. I kind of get lost in the music. I will sit down and say that I’m only going to play for twenty minutes, and when I’m finally finished it would be closer to an hour. Drums are another instrument that I love to play. I could play them for hours at a time, or until someone in my family tells to too shut up. My three friends and I also play in a band. I play the drums and occasionally the guitar for one or two songs. It’s one thing to play by yourself, but when you have other instruments playing it’s a great feeling. All of the instruments work together to create one harmony. Playing music is something I hope to continue to do. It’s something that take my mind off of a long day. Hopefully once I star work again, I will be able to afford a bass guitar. But until then I will have to stick with what I have.

Planning ahead

To me the most useful thing I got from the education blogs was the tip about scheduling. Scheduling is a very important part about getting ahead in school. You must plane ahead of time, and you must give yourself extra time just in case. I made a schedule right after I readhttp://www.deliverfreedom.com/blog/work-hard-or-work-smart/ .I believe that the key to success is to plan ahead. I plan my week out on Sunday. I write down all of the classes I have and when I have them. I also factor in my softball schedule, times I have to wake up, and also down time for playing guitar or just watching TV. Writing out my schedule helps me see when I have to complete assignments. This blog is a great example of that. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to write out my blogs on Wednesday or Thursday, so I started to write them on Tuesday, and finally finished them on Saturday. So far, it’s working well, I haven’t missed an assignment or a deadline yet. So I hope to continue my streak throughout the year. Another thing that helped me was in the blog http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/opinion/06collegeadvice.html .It said that as students, we should choose our teachers. We should look through teacher reviews and talk to older students who have been through the classes. It also said we shouldn’t just pick teachers who are fun but we should pick teachers who are actually good at teaching. Someone who will help us learn throughout the semester. These blogs helped me a lot. They gave me great ideas that I can use to help me achieve great things in college.

Making the initiative(2V)

To me the word initiative mean the ability to initiate things independently. This is a good word to have the second week of college. Because people are finally becoming accustomed to college, they can begin to meet new people, and try new things. And with that, people need to be able to independently, start new things. Like for me meeting new people and beginning conversations is hard for me. So I need to make it my initiative to go out and meet new people on the campus. College is all about being independent which is why initiative is such a good word to describe college.

Relaxation inside Buley (2I)

On Friday, I had a class inside the Buley library. I couldn’t believe how nice it was, and how quiet. I mean, I know it’s a library but even with all the construction, it was quiet. Especially on the third floor. I plan on using that as my studying area for the next semester. Because I have a three hour break on Thursdays, I can go there and get a lot of my work done. I can’t wait to see what it will look like when it is finally complete in 2015. I can imagine it will be a much more relaxing place.

College goals(2b)

This week, I set a goal to put my school work before anything else. All though the week was incredibly boring, I can say that I accomplished that goal. In high school I rarely put my school work before anything. I would hang out with friends, or watch TV, or even sit around and do nothing before I did my work. But I still passed every class with mediocre grades. But I know that college is much different. I know that is I put TV or hanging out with friends before my school work, I’ll probably come close to failing. The difference between high school and college, beside the amount of work, is the responsibility that comes with being a college student. As college students, we have to put certain priorities before others. And for me school is now my main priority. So far, I have turned down friends, my softball team, and even my job just so I could get my work done. And I have to say, it is a very boring lifestyle, but a necessary one. I’m looking at college as a new start and a new chapter in my life. I want to start out on the right foot and allow nothing to interfere with my chosen path. I’ve learned that you can’t substitute anything for hard work. My first couple of grades in college are better than any grades I got in all of high school. The reason I had low grades in high school was because I put other things before my school work. The only thing I plan on putting in front of my school work is my family. Besides that, nothing will interfere with it. I figure, I’m paying ten thousand dollars a year for it so I might as well make the most of it while I can.

New meanings of old words (V)

To me , the word Inquiry means knowledge. It means adding new things to my growing mind. That’s why it's a good class to start college with. Inquiry is a search for truth. That’s what college is all about. It's about searching for true facts. Inquiry causes me to ask questions and find my own answers. Which is a great way to become independent. For instance, I heard the word persuasion in one of my classes on Friday. I thought I knew what it meant, but there is a bigger meaning behind it. It's the same thing with the word responsibility. I never really thought about the word until I started college. It turns out that responsibility goes way beyond its own definition.

Persuasion-N- the action or fact of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something.

Responsibility-N-the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone.

A relaxing workout (I)

Giuffrida Park, located in Meriden Connecticut, is one of the most relaxing places that I visited this summer. Not only is it relaxing, but it is also a great workout. Me and my friends used to climb it regularly. There is very little time to rest when climbing up the trail. It is very steep and has many loose rocks along the trail which makes climbing it even harder. When you arrive at the top, you get an amazing view. You can see Meriden, Southington, Wallingford, and even sleeping giant. The highest point, which is where we normally end up, is around seven hundred feet. Once you get up, you realize the view is worth the climb!

How will my blog look?

Of these three blogs that I read, http://taganskitchen.blogspot.com/, http://www.productiveflourishing.com/, http://www.rebeccablood.net/index.html, Tagan's kitchen interested me the most. Not only because I love food, but the way the blog is set up is what interest me. I very much liked how she explained the food before giving any ingredients or pictures. She gives a description of the food and then adds a picture. She then gives a link to a full description of the recipe. But she also adds her one recipe for someone on a budget like herself. After some post, she also adds three recommendation links for people who like the original post. To me that’s a great way to advertise her other posts. The productive flourishing blog is also set up very well. It has a video on the home page to help guide the reader. The home page also has three links that are useful and catch the readers eye. Having a home page with minimal links is also good because it doesn’t overwhelm the reader. The third blog, Rebecca's Pocket is a more simple blog.  It has a very simple backdrop with many links on each side.  For my blog I will try to incorporate all these ideas into mine. Eventually I would like to have links for many things that we talk about in class. I plan on adding many videos, pictures and links, depending on what we talk about. But the main thing that I am going to have in my blog is open thoughts. That’s the whole reason behind the name. College to me is all about opening up your mind and letting other views and my own view collide. I plan on posting other blogs that have opposite views of me so that you, the reader, can compare the two. And as an individual with open thoughts, you can comment on topics that you agree with or disagree with.

A new story

 “Every story has an end, but in life every end is just a new beginning." I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately. I recall High school when I think about this quote. I think about all the people that I went to school with for the past 12 years. This quote helps me when I think about it. It shows that even though I'm in a new school and in a new setting its just beginning. College is just High school with new people and more responsibility. It's something that I am ready to take on. It's a challenge that I am going to take head on. Being in college, to me, signifies a new beginning. A chance to start out fresh, and a chance to prove to myself that I can complete it. I have many goals that I hope on succeeding. The main goal I set is to earn a degree in education. It wasn’t long ago that I decided that but it’s the field I want to study. And to earn that degree I plan on managing my time well and putting certain priorities first. To me, Southern Connecticut State University is just a place where I can grow as a student. It is a place where I can use all of the tools given to me. It's a great place to meet new people and find others who want to do what I want to do. So far, I'm happy with the campus life and surprised at how much freedom I have. It's a big change from High school, where freedom is limited. But it's a good thing that I'm happy to have. I feel like the next four years here will be good ones. I hope to achieve my goals and graduate in 2017 with a degree in education.