1. The common themes I read about in the text were generally about how the decisions you make when you are young will effect the rest of your life. The book discussed a lot about career opportunities (especially through training and college), developing relations, and your personal attitude. In career opportunities it tries to focus on a triangle of things to remember when looking for a career. The first in this triangle is to enjoy what you do. No one wants to do something they don't want to, and if you enjoy something you will usually be better at it. The second thing is to look at what you are skilled at doing. Make sure that you have some skill at whatever you are going to do, because if you aren't skilled at what you do you probably won't like your job. The third and final thing is to look at the values of your career. You should look at the pay value, and the whole picture. Developing relations is a key part to almost every aspect of your life. Remember that friends will always be there for you and help you through tough times. Relations can also help you get a foot in the door. Your personal attitude effect how others perceive you, how you perceive the world, how you act, and basically everything in your life. The best advice here is to just keep your head on your shoulders and don't let anything bother you to much.
2. I have strengths and weaknesses as a learner. In high school I had trouble concentrating and absorbing information, but now I feel that while I was in the army I learned to pay more attention to detail. I feel that trait has carried through and is with me now in college. Now I soak up information like a sponge and have no problems concentrating (even though it still bothers me when I'm concentrating and someone is talking, tapping, or making some other noise). I'm good at sticking to what I need to do when I put my mind to it, sticking to a routine, and I'm good at getting a lot of things done at once. I've started to procrastinate as the year drags on, but I've found if I put something in my head to do it and I avoid temptation and distractions I can accomplish quite a lot. If I do something daily I will continue doing it without any problems and it actually makes me feel worse when I don't do it. An example of this is lifting weights (which is a great stress reliever by the way). I usually don't mess with the small stuff, but tend to fix the big problems (and let the smaller ones grow). For instance, I will let my room get messy for a while, but when it gets bad enough I pick it all up at once instead of occasionally picking something up here and there. I feel I'm also good at staying away from the party crowd and if there was one thing I would help someone with taking this class it would be applying his/herself to school, and to get their homework done right away instead of putting it off til later. Always make sure you do what needs to get done first and what you want to do later.
3. My biggest struggle would definitely be tests, but I don't know if that is just my lack of studying, staying up too late, or just that I'm not good at them. I've also started procrastinating as the year drags on, but try to keep myself on an even keel. I wish that I would go to bed earlier than I do but I just can't seem to fall asleep before midnight. Sometimes I wish I studied more, but sometimes when I study I find that I already know the stuff I'm studying and the stuff I don't know doesn't make any sense to me and I need more help from a teacher or someone with more knowledge on the subject. I just wish that I could do good on all my tests and figure out what it is that other kids do to do better that I don't. Sometimes I just get so stressed because I still am not making any income (the military still has managed to avoid paying me like I'm supposed to be), I have lots of homework to get done, and I'm driving a car with 160,000 miles and I worry just about making it to school, especially now that it's not running that well to begin with. Sure makes me miss my old car I had that was an '02 eclipse, but I had to give that up so that I could afford schooling.
4. Thanks to this class, I've done a lot of self-reflection on myself and changed some things that have benefited me this year in order to better myself. I've learned a lot about plagiarism, online databases, and many programs that Butler has to offer such as the tutor program. I've not taken advantage of many of these options yet, but may look toward them in the future. I've narrowed down my occupational interests to physical trainer, physical therapist, and a psychologist as a result of some of the things we have done in this class. The most significant skill I learned in this class would probably be speed reading. Normally I read at a normal "lax" pace and tend to get a little more information, but it would take me so long to get that information that I'd end up behind where I should be to begin with. When I speed read, I usually get done ahead of time, and even though I've missed a few bits of information here and there, I tend to get more out of whatever I'm reading just because of the fact I finished it (sometimes I'd get bored and just stop reading because it was taking so long).
5. Most of the things that we did in this class were relevant to my life and helped me. Even if they didn't help they caused no harm, so I'll begin by saying that the speed reader helped me a lot. I've never really speed read before and always took my time reading, but now I find more interest in reading and apply it to my every day life, whether I'm just reading the newspaper or reading an assignment I use speed reading all the time. Another thing that helped me a lot was the questionaire thing we filled out that told us our interests, skills, and whatever else about what job would be best for us. It helped me realize that there were a lot more careers out there for me than I thought was really possible. An activity that wasn't so helpful was the mirror activity where we tried to follow the line. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but it really had no relevance to my life. These blogs have been a very interesting thing as well. They have let me express myself and talk about my life, which has somewhat helped relieve stress. Of course at times I feel it has stressed me out to when I'm to busy and don't have the time to write the things in my life down on here.
6. I believe the course was one-hundred percent successful. I learned many things and I feel that the course not only educated me, but also changed my attitude in a positive way. Out of all the things we did I would not recommend anything to be dropped. Even the things that seemed pointless were somewhat interesting, and made good class activities. I would definitely keep the speed reader to help students learn how to speed read, especially those less educated (and if they can't read help them to learn). I would also definitely keep the job finder application thing. It helps students better understand their strengths and weaknesses and would maybe help them decide what to major in. I don't know what could be added to better the class. I think the class already has about as much as it can handle, so I don't think it really needs anything else. The only real change on the course I could recommend is maybe cutting down the blog assignments and increase take-home homework. However, that would be kind of an experimental deal because I don't know if it would help the course any or not. I did enjoy the class and believe that I also benefited from it.
7. When I look around the room I notice most people have a "don't want to be here" attitude and think the class is pointless. My best advice is to come in with an open mind and a positive attitude. When you get an assignment do it. Don't wait until the last minute. If the teacher assigns a blog do it. Most people wait last minute to do theirs and I'm sure they are either just dismissing the thought of finishing them all up or frantically trying to get them all done. This class is also a great way to meet new people like yourself. Don't be closed up and talk to everyone. Maybe you will meet someone who will be your friend down the road, or maybe even your girlfriend. When I came in I wish I would have known those things. I definitely would have been more friendly and open. So the top three most important things to know about this class are: Don't wait last minute to do your work/blogs. Be open and meet people that are new, just like you. Finally, you should also have a positive attitude toward the class and take in whatever information is provided.
8. After taking this course I will have a more positive attitude towards things. More importantly I will have a better attitude towards doing my homework and not procrastinating. Spending some time on school work on the weekend wouldn't hurt either. In this class I always had my work done on time and I will try to use that as a building block for my other classes. When writing papers I will be more careful to not plagiarize them. While I'm at work I will make sure to do all my duties and get along with co-workers to avoid conflict. I'll try not to miss class as much but that's hard sometimes since I live so far away. Also I will try to narrow my decisions down and figure out what I'm going to major in. Another good thing to do would be to be more open to meeting people and developing relations with people here at the college so that I can always have a friend to fall back on when I'm struggling with some aspect in my life. I hope that students in the future find this course as helpful as I have and hopefully give it a chance instead of dismissing it as "just some required class."
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