Learning Profile

This class teaches many lessons. Throughout the class, all the students learned many topics: some of these topics included engage, persist, prioritize, read, learn, record, remember, assess, think and prosper. Engaging yourself in college is when you as a student step out of your comfort zone and branch out in class keeping a positive attitude. Persistence is simply working hard and trying your best and making wise decisions throughout college. The next chapter talks about prioritizing which is what it sounds. Keeping organized and keeping the important subjects ahead of the rest of the stuff like partying. The next subject is reading. Reading is very important because comprehension and having a strong vocabulary is helpful in learning. Learning is then next chapter. In that chapter one learns how to retain and store knowledge in a more effective way. After learning comes recording. Recording is learning how to listen to the important information and write it down or remember it for later purposes. Remember is the next chapter. In this chapter you learn how to commit information into long term memory and you learn how the brain and sleep all work together to help improve your memory. After remember is assess. Taking tests and assessments can be stressful and this chapter helps students learn how to study correctly and reduce stress. Thinking is the second to last chapter in the book. The chapter teaches students that thinking on a deeper level is critical. The final chapter is about prospering. By the end of the book, a student will have prospered hopefully and that will help them with the rest of their lives.

After most all classes, it is common to look back and try to analyze yourself. So, looking back, I have noticed that as a student, I am best at being an organizing and prioritizing my homework and study habits. Being organized has always come easy to me and I have always been good at keeping my priorities in order. Whether my priority is to one of my friends who is in need of my help or whether or not my homework is a priority over a job or mine. I think that I would be best at teaching other students how to be better prioritizers. Most students find themselves often picking activities that may not be as important as others and sometimes, students just do not understand the importance of completing certain tasks.

I am a strong student for sure, but like everyone else, I am by no means perfect. If I were to analyze myself after this class of what skill or idea I feel I possess a weakness in, I would have to say it is my reading skills. As I sit in class most days, I can take one look around and find many students that are much better readers than I. Sometimes when a teacher has us read a passage by ourselves in class, I will not be done reading before she starts talking about the passage. I hate having to read for homework. Usually, that could be an easy task because all you have to do is sit there and read a few pages, but for me, it takes entirely too long. I will sit down and start reading, but often times, I only read a few pages in a matter or ten minutes. It is frustrating to me and also very time consuming. Sometimes, I am so busy with volleyball that I do not have sufficient enough time to finish reading what I need to read. I am confident that in all of my other college courses, I am going to get the practice I need in order to improve my reading skills. Soon I will be able to read faster, and hopefully comprehend all of it.

The end of semester has arrived. This first semester of my freshman year went very quickly and I felt like I did learn quite a bit from my college experience. After taking this student connect class, I do check my Pipeline account almost everyday like I should be. I have really learned not to procrastinate on my work because it does not pay off in the end. I also learned that I learn information much different from other students. It taught me that sometimes if I do not understand the way a teacher is teaching a class, I should try approaching the notes or lecture in a different way. Not every student is the same and that class definitely opened my eyes to see that. The most important realization I found in this class was the fact that every student is different. Everyone has their own learning habits and their own schedules. Student athletes and just regular students may have very different lives and problems, but they are all just as busy as the others. I have always been a student athlete and it is not that I thought that I had life much more difficult that others, but I learned I was not alone. I have gotten to meet many other athletes and learned that I am not alone. My schedule is just as busy as other people and I should appreciate and take advantage of all the extra time I have in life. The most significant skill that I learned was the skill of reading. I have always been able to read, but I learned, not every word is as important as the next. Sometimes, reading faster, or skimming will get you to comprehend the same amount of information, if not more, after you finish.

This class did include a few assignments and class discussions that did have some relevance. Not all of them were as influential as the others, but they all tied into the course somehow. Towards the end of the semester, our class did watch a video about a life of a young girl that was taken by the effects of alcohol. This was one of the most influential subjects I believe that we touched because as unfortunate as it may seem, it does pertain to a lot of college students. Personally, I have never engaged in drinking or taking drugs, but I am certainly around many people who do engage in those activities. Everyday I see my roommates and classmates hurt themselves with alcohol. If it does not kill them, it can hurt them tremendously emotionally. They have lost friends because they got drunk and said something they did not mean. A lesson that people have to learn someway, I guess. Anyways, watching that video and discussing some events similar to that with my classmates really helped me realize that there are people out there that need to be helped and cared for even when they have done something very stupid. Topics we discussed that were not as relevant I thought were sometimes about making a small difference. I remember we read a short story about a boy who did not help this man in time. That story was kind of sad, but even though it is nice to help some people, sometimes it is not enough. The story was good to listen to, but not very effective in my eyes.

The course as a whole was not too bad. The course was short, which was very good. I think if it were any longer students would lose complete all interest and not accomplish as much as they really can. All of the subjects pretty much went along with the class, but if I were to drop one of the subjects it would have been the academic honesty paper. The paper is good to know about, but honestly, that is why students take composition classes. They learn it that stuff in other places. The methods that were used to teach that class were interesting some days. Watching videos is something that I would keep in that class because students like more relaxing activities that make them think. I would definitely drop some of the discussion groups. Most the time, students get into a tiny group and talk about what they ate for breakfast even though they know it should be about the subject. There is not really much that anyone could add to the teaching methods. The final part of the class that I would like to discuss is the way students are evaluated. To be honest, the questions that students were required to write on the back of the rubrics did not seem to serve much of a purpose. The attendance rubric is a good idea, but filling out the back of it was a waste of time. I would keep the attendance points though so students are not tempted to skip class. The blogs are also very clever. Students can work at their own pace and still get stuff done. I would leave that the same for the class.

For future students, I have a few words of advice. This student connect class is a very simple course, but do not catch yourself thinking that skipping one class here and there is not a big problem. The class is a very fast passing class and going to class will help you stay on task. Also, do not wait till the night before all of the papers are due to actually do them. Most likely, something will go wrong or you will just be incredibly bored. Procrastination is not helpful and one should always keep pushing forward. If I would have known coming into this course that these tiny two hundred and fifty word essays would build up into such a big project, I would have stayed even more on top of them then I did.

Overall, this class will help me in many ways. It has already effect my procrastination skills and I will always remember the advice about reading. Hopefully, I will continue to practice my speed reading skills and my reading will improve. Other than my learning skills and abilities, this class did teach me to open up to other people. I was forced to step outside of my comfort zone some days and speak with other individuals I did not know. Those students I found out were just like me and trying to survive like everyone else there. I will always remember the experiences I went through in this class and hopefully the lessons I learned will reflect into my everyday life.

Butler Resources

As most people would agree, classes in college are usually much more difficult than those in high school. The difficulty is not only in the course materials, but also because students are now independent and can only rely on themselves to accomplish their work. The student in case scenario four found himself having difficulty in all of his classes. His problems were partially because he was not managing his time and because he needed an extra hand. For this student, I would have recommended that he take advantage of the many academic help programs that Butler offers for their students. For example, Butler Community College has a tutoring program. If a student needs help, they can get a tutor who will meet with the student individually and help them with their homework. Another help service Butler offers is the Academic Achievement Center. In this center, students can enter and have someone available help them if they need it. It is not as exclusive as having their own tutor, but questions can be asked and answered in this place. All of these services are very helpful, but sometimes, it is helpful if a student if able to get a hold their instructors. At this college, students have very easy access to talking with academic administrators if conflicts arise. They are very helpful and will go out of their way to help a student in needs. One of the final resources a student can get is speaking with the instructors themselves. Every instructor on campus has their own office hours and the doors are open for their students to stop by and talk to them. The student in the forth case study could use all of these resources to help him bring his grades up. All of these resources could be found through the Butler Community College pipeline accounts. www.butlercc.edu.

Time Management

Managing a person’s time is a very crucial skill that everyone should learn how to do. Life can be measured in time: weeks, days, hours and even minutes. Knowing how to schedule time to complete important activities such as homework is very important. For many students, procrastination is a big problem. In high school, teachers act as babysitters some days, but in college students are on their own. So, to help avoid last minute homework such as reading, students should look at their schedule and see how much time they have to complete their assignments. Then maybe set the amount of pages to read each day in order to complete the tasks. Another helpful time management idea would simply be to limit the amount of time you as a student spends watching television or using the internet. Sometimes, people and kids get wrapped up and distracted by the television and internet and do not realize that they have spent hours sitting in front of the computer doing nothing productive. Before they realize, it is ten o’clock at night and their homework is still not even started. Bad habits can start when students are required to stay up late at night completing homework. So, the third thing a student can do to help manage their time is set a certain bed time. If the student knows that they only have until maybe ten thirty at night to get everything done so they have to go to sleep, they will be more inclined to start their homework earlier in the day. All of these actions and ideas can come in very handy for many students, but it is up to the student to change their habits and follow the goals and schedules they set for themselves. Below are some websites that can help students find out what activities can be distracting and tips to help them stay on task.

http://www.studygs.net/timman.htm
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/sucess/time.html
http://www.time-management-guide.com/
http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/time_man_princ.html
http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/school/time/tips4.html

Academic Plan

College in today’s world is almost a necessary education to have. It used to be that people would graduate high school and get a job, or maybe stay at home with the children. That is a fine thing, but finding a job in the new centuries is much harder unless you have a college degree. I, like many students, came to college to earn a degree. My purpose here at Butler Community College is to get my general education classes out of the way so I can transfer to a four year university afterwards. At first, I had planned on attending college to become a nurse. Those plans have changed, but I still plan on pursuing a career in them medical field. Currently, I play volleyball for this college and I attend classes. This semester I am taking Psychology, Philosophy, Composition One and Music Appreciation. Next semester, I will be taking Chemistry One, Composition Two, Medical Terminology and Sociology. I looked up the classes I would need in order to earn a degree in the medical field. I am already well on my way to earning a degree in that area. It is also important that I am able to keep my grades high and be able to earn a volleyball scholarship to the school I plan on attending after Butler Community College. College is a very important step in a person’s life. For many students, picking a college degree can be difficult, but there are many helpful resources out there to help students decide. Below are some websites that can help students of a pre-med degree and also help students to narrow down a certain degree.

http://www.washington.edu/uaa/gateway/advising/degreeplanning/infoforpremed.php
http://college-degrees-programs.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_get_into_medical_school
http://quiz.ivillage.co.uk/uk_work/tests/career.htm
http://www.collegejournal.com/careerpaths/findcareerpath/20030812-dikel.html
http://www.careeroverview.com/

Academic Honesty

Sometimes, being a student is very stressful. We find ourselves busy with sports, homework and just trying to have a social life of our own. With all of these extra activities, it is common that students may feel overwhelmed and think that plagiarizing their work is the only option they have left. http://library.albany.edu/usered/plagiarism/page3.html This does not have to be the case. Sometimes, students can plagiarize work without even knowing that they had. Plagiarism is pretty much when you as a writer have quoted or taken an idea from another person’s writing. http://www.engl.niu.edu/comskills/students/plagiarism/Plagiarism.html. This may be unintentional, but the consequences can be quite large. A regular student such as myself could possibly not receive a grade for the work that they wrote. At many schools, including Rhodes University, students can even fail the course they are taking.
http://www.ru.ac.za/library/infolit/plag3.html. As a fellow student, I know that it can be difficult some days to avoid plagiarism. That is why it is always important to brush up on proper citation techniques. Listed below are a few websites that can help explain some of the rules that go along with citing people’s work. The best advice I may have for students that choose to plagiarize is that it should not simply be done. Eventually, all of that dishonesty will show that you never really learned how to correctly do your own work.

http://www.utdallas.edu/~tad035000/Plagiarism%20Tutorial/Textonlytutorial.htm
http://bellevuecollege.edu/writinglab/plagiarism.html

Coping with Change

Change is a difficult thing. It can cause many anxieties and stresses in an individual’s life. This past year has been very difficult on me. I have had to deal with a lot of change in my life this past year. The biggest change I encountered was graduating high school and moving away for college. College has opened up many new doors in my life. Growing up, I always had my family to rely on. I could always count on my family to love me when other people might not have shown the same emotion. I could come home and know that I would not need to worry about feeding myself or having to take care of cleaning the house. This all changed when got to college. I was suddenly thrown into an atmosphere where I was the only person I could count on. I was suddenly responsible for cleaning up the kitchen and bathrooms. I had to do my own laundry for the first time and there was nobody to remind me to sit down and complete my homework. All of these instances were a big change for me, but I found ways to cope with these changes. At first, these changes were difficult to deal with because I now could only rely on myself. No one else was going to cuddle me when I need emotional support, I was on my own and to far away from home to receive the same support I once had. When dealing with change, it is important that an individual finds strengths in themselves and can find a daily routine to ease into things. I was able to do this and, slowly, the transition from high school to college much easier to deal with.

http://bestlife.typepad.com/actionsteps/2006/06/top_5_ways_to_c.html

Community Service

There are many evils in the world. Homicide, genocide, poverty, homelessness and much more, but today I want to discuss an evil that can be found anywhere in the world: human trafficking. Popularized by television shows, most people may think that human trafficking may only happen on the east coast of the United States, or maybe not even in the United States, but the truth is, human trafficking can be found everywhere; even in your hometown. Recently, I had been shocked to find out that this was happening right down the street from my house. I was informed by my local news station in Olathe, KS that a chain of massage parlors had been busted because they found that illegal immigrants had been held captive and forced to engage in sexual encounters for their captures’ incomes. Individuals forced into this kind of prostitution often will find themselves stuck and helpless. When someone has blackmail or threats such as your illegal status in the United States, it is not easy to try and defy a capture. For these reasons, it is important that something is done to help these people.

The United States government does have a Department of Human Health Services that will help these victims if they are immigrants to gain benefits and services that a refugee might be allowed. This is very helpful, but not the only thing this government has set up for these individuals. They also will provide counseling and therapy to try and help these victims unwind and try to overcome the trauma that they were exposed to. The government has many programs to help human trafficking victims, but sometimes these individuals need the help of you and me. One of the simplest things that we can do to help is be aware of this problem. If we can recognize signs of an individual that might be stuck in this slavery, we could contact the Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline. This could save many lives from trauma and even death. Along with this hotline, there are many non-profit charities that provide services for these individuals. If we cannot personally help one single individual, we could help on a higher level. By simply making a donation to one of these organizations, your small donation would go towards a tremendous cause. Many world issues cannot be solved by one individual alone, but if people would take small gestures such as a simple phone call or a tiny donation many lives could be helped and saved.

http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/357/15448_trafficking.html
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_sex.html