The New and Improved "ME" =)

            
1. What have you learned about yourself as a college student so far? Where are
you in your learning process?
     As a college student I learned that I'm very easily distracted by my sorroundings and that sometimes my peers can influence me to be a better student, like pushing myself to study at the library. I also learned new study habits and new habits to when and where I should do my school work and when is the best time for me. I also learned that as a person I get very aggravated when I start something and I don't finish it all at once. Even though I'm tempted to run from my problems and responsibility and found new ways to deal with a lot of stressors and an over load of work. I became more wise and have expanded my view of things as a student and as a young adult. I am still struggling with my learning process but found ways to help decrease the struggle. Such as listening to music that way I won't be as distracted by the shoe taping or the gum popping or the little things that would distract me. Also by having a time limit for an assignment so I feel like I won't take as long and would be motivated to finish it around the time that I set for myself and have either my friends or myself critique the work.
2. What have been your biggest challenges so far?
     My biggest challenges this semester so far is with my family. Being raised in a single parent household somethings are just different. In my family I was the mother the daughter, sister and sometimes brother (I know I'm a girl) but living without my father in our lives, I had to have talks with my little brother that basically scarred me for life but I was willing to do it because that's what families do. Me being away from home, not being able to be there for them all the time, is hard because I helped a lot around the house and sometimes even the peacemaker at some points. Also having to find a job and juggling school has been a struggle also because I want to make sure that I have time to deal with my responsibilities and complete my homework.

3. How did you react to and/or meet or mishandle those challenges?
     I have tried to cope with my challenges in many different ways. I would be emotional when I heard my mother or my little brother upset but I would joke around with them that way I could make them laugh and show them that everything is going to be okay. I also mishandled some of my challenges by isolating myself and just closing up where all I would do is either sleep or wouldn't sleep at all. I also mishandle some of my challenges by just standing back and just not dealing with it and would just rebel with everything. When studying got hard I would give up (but that was then, now Im stronger!!).
4. What have been your biggest achievements so far?
     My biggest achievements are being a very active member of O.L.A.S, I also became active in helping plan out the heritage ball, which I'm very excited for. I also was able to help out and make a block with one of my favorite quotes for the quilt : 
            "IF you reach for the moon you'll end up in the stars"
I also published one of my old poems in massachusets in the chicken noodle soup book that is made for teenagers and kids to read. I also am proud to say that one of my biggest achievements is being a full time student and maintaining a job. I think that this is one of my biggest achievements because people told me that I couldn't do it and "Look at me now!"
5. What habits or processes made certain that you were able to earn success
in those areas? How have you used the resources available to you in order
to ensure your own success? How can you do more of this in the upcoming
semester?
     Some habits/ processes that made certain that I were able to earn success is staying active with my studying and writing everything down. Everytime I had an idea or a thought I would put it down on a sticky note. I also reviewed notes before and or after class. I have used some of the resources available to me in order to ensure my own success by learning different concepts and also asking and listening on advise or how my peers would handle some of their troubles. I think that I can do more by staying active during the whole semester and not just one part of the semester.
6. How successful have you been with time management and workload in your
courses? What have you put the majority of your time and energy into this
semester? What is the result of that?
     At the beginning of the semester I didn't think that I would be able to get the hang of my time management issues and dealing with all the work that I had to do but I started asking for advice on how some of my friends handle and when they do homework to see what would be best for them and I would try the different ways and see what was better for me. Now I feel like I am more undercontrol with my time management and I'm not as stressed out with my workload as much. I have put a lot of energy and time into English and Math, the result was that was causing me to forget about all the other work I needed to do for the rest of my classes.
7. What have your grades been like this semester? More importantly perhaps,
what are you learning? Are there classes where you are learning a lot or only
a little? Why? What can you do to maximize your learning?
    This semester and only this semester my grades have been D's, and C's and B's. I say only this semester because I am going to speak up and ask for help when I need it. I have learned a lot on how to expand my vocabulary and reviewing and critiquing my work and also having peers critique my work that way I could do it better and right. I feel like I have one class that I feel like I'm learning a little bit which is ANT because either when I try to read or view all the videos she suggest I still have difficulty understanding what she's trying to make me see. I feel like maybe I need to change my perspective that way I could understand her solutions and/ or her lessons.


8. How are you doing in meeting the personal goals you set for yourself at the
beginning of the semester? Are you where you had hoped you would be by
this point in your college career?
     I think that I'm finally able to meet up with some of my goals but I still feel like I still need to work a little harder to accomplish where I want to be at college.  I'm not exactly where I want to be but I think that I'm going to be there soon.

9. Where do you want to go from here and what do you think you need to do in
order to get there? Is there anything you need to change? Is there anything
you can improve upon in the upcoming semesters?

     From here I want to push myself to get high grades and no matter how hard my studies get I would never give up and keep on going with my chin up. I think I'm going to keep having hour study with my friends and keep asking for help when i need it. 

10. What specific goals would you like to set for yourself next semester and how
do you plan to meet those goals?
      My goals for next semester are going to be do homework right after class that way I don't procastinate and to get all my work done. I also plan to go to sleep around 11 or earlier that way I could get a good night's rest instead of staying up all night.