Final Project

Final Project

Final blog post

This Semester I have learned about myself as a college student in many way. I have learned that the key to success is to know how not to procrastinate. I have learned that for me in order to maintain my stress level I need to know how to break down projects better. In the learning process I still have a long ways to go in order to master it. It is hard for me to take a lot of information in at one time. In order to be able to master this learning process I have to learn way in order to compensate for my weaknesses. These weaknesses have truly held me back this semester and I plan on trying different way to compensate next semester.

The biggest challenge for me so far as a college freshman has defiantly been my time management. This semester I did not know ways in order to deal with managing my time so I had put things of less priority in front of assignments that were more important. In the long run my grades were affected by these decisions. At points of this semester I became so stressed out and did not know how to handle this stress because there was so many things that I was dealing with. I was also affected by my poor time management because I became sick multiple times this semester and as more assignments got added on to my list I started becoming anxious. During these times I made poor decisions like not doing my work.

When I started becoming stressed out I did not know what to do so I avoided work at all cost in order not to become any more stressed. When I started to notice how stressed out I was I made it a point to talk to someone and seek out help on campus. I got help from the disability resource center and a couple of times from the counseling center. When talking over my poor time management with my DRC specialist we made a plan in order to become more successful in the classroom setting.

One of my biggest accomplishments this semester was getting exempt from my CSP final. I got exempt along with a few classmates because I worked hard to maintain good grades in this class. While recognizing the professor decided to exempt the students who worked hard all semester. I was so happy with this news and it showed me what hard work in college can provide you with.  I was able to succeed this semester through my professors being so willing to help with problems I came across. I have defiantly faced my fare share of challenges this semester. I have faced these challenges through being sick and my laptop getting stolen. I do not believe I would have been able to succeed this semester if it was not for the number of great professors I had.  Next semester I can become more successful by not stressing myself out over little things and spending more time on my studies.

I have not been as successful as I would have hoped this semester with my time management. The problems I faced this semester with my time management impacted my workload and put me in positions where I had to rush doing assignments in order not to miss an assignment. I fell as if I put a lot of time into socializing and not into my school work. Through this semester I learned that there is no one that is going to look out for my success while living away from my parents but me. I learned this lesson late in the semester when seeing a majority of my grades. The results were not great and I kept doing the things I told myself I was not going to do.

My grades this semester have been all over the place. Coming from high school where you are thought everything in the classroom thoroughly to college where you learned the basics of a topic in the classroom and have to teach yourself topics in greater detail. This transition has been hard because throughout high school I did not teach myself time management which I knew before coming to college. Math has always been an easy subject for me so I was able to do well. But, on the other hand course that require a great deal of memory are really difficult for me. Having both History 111 and Anthropology 100 were hard on me and I struggled a great deal in learning a majority of the information. This impacted my grades because when it came time to write the papers for these courses I faced a lot of trouble. I procrastinated a lot because I felt like I did not know what to do. These two courses will defiantly bring my GPA down drastically.

I did not do as well as I would have hoped with my personal goals that I created at the beginning of the semester. I put a lot of goals down and was not able to follow through with them. I am not happy with some of my grades because I was hoping to do well in all my classes but some classes I was not able to do as well as I would have hoped in. From here I would like to become a teacher or work with students with disabilities in some sort of way. There are many things that I need to change starting with my time management. If I do not improve my time management I will not be able to get the job type that I would want. Next semester I want to spend a lot more time on school work then socializing and I would like to maintain a normal stress level. I can meet these goals by setting up a schedule and doing all my work on time and not procrastinating until the last minute.

                                                               

Inquiry Video Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDuhW3po_5k&feature=youtu.be

Writting Center

This week I attended a meeting at the writing center. It was very helpful. I brought my anthropology essay and they did their best to give me advice on how to make my paper better. I would defiantly go and visit them again. I feel confident in the writing I did now and I know where to go next time I fell over whelmed with my writing assignments. It was easy to make an appointments and it is defiantly worth going there. My writing has improved and I know I have a helpful place to go if I need help on a paper.

Life After College

After college my ideal life would include a family, and a job working with children with special needs. I would like to be able to see myself working in a school district teaching children with disabilities or I would like to be working in a medical setting until after graduate’s school, helping those who have illnesses or disabilities adjust to physical activities. I would also like to see myself married with children. I would also like to see myself involved in the catholic community and volunteering my time teaching religious education. I would like to see myself successful.  I would like to be living in a nice house that is located in a nice neighborhood.

Ice Skating Trip

Last night I went on the Student Life sponsored ice skating and laser tag trip. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed it. The trip was easy to sign up for. All you had to do was go to the student life office located in the student center on the second floor. The form is easy to fill out. The trip was free. We left from in front of the Moore Field House at 9:30 pm and made our way up to the Shelton sports arena. We arrived at the destination and everyone got a wrist bands. We had a choice of three activities ice skating, laser tagging, and the SCSU hockey game against Fairfield University.

Final Project

For my final project I will be doing a video project discussing different angles of the college life while living on campus. I will do a survey to get data on how many students who live on campus think it would be better educational wise if they commuted. I will ask yes or no question that can give me data of what the average Southern Connecticut State University student. I will also get statistics, photos, quotes, and I will also show the differences between the Southern and other university. I would also like to ask some upper classman in what ways did the overcome the many challenges of being a freshman college student .Through this video I would like to see what are other college student’s perspectives of the on campus life style. I would also like to see if there is anything that Southern Connecticut State University students would like to change about the on campus living.

-          Does everyone feel safe living on campus?

-          Do you enjoy being a resident on campus?

-          What resources do you use the most?

o   The health center

o   The fitness center

o   The disability resource center

o   The counseling center

o   The learning and writing center

o   Other…

-          Would your grades be better living at home instead of on campus?

-          Would you like to commute next year?

These questions can be very informative about the on campus lifestyle.  I am excited to see the results and know what others opinions on this topic are.

Interfaith Office

This week I went by the interfaith office. They are currently just doing Roman Catholic masses. The people who work in the interfaith office are pay by the community and not the school. At this time the only religious group in the county who can pay for the services at Southern Connecticut State University is the Archdiocese of Hartford. Currently there is only one person working in the office. Anyone can go into the interfaith office no matter what religion. They will tell you where you can go to service in the area. They have a Catholic mass on Sunday at 5pm. The location of this mass is in the student center room number 201.

Multilingual

To have another language that you speak helps to make you more diverse in society. Knowing another language and being able to speak it well helps. When you are able to communicate with someone that does not speak the same language as you it reaches the goals of a majority of the colleges in the United States. A vast majority of colleges have a language requirement in order to graduate. This requirement ensures that unless you are exempt you must be able to reach a 200 level course in a language other than English. Since the United States has so many immigrants who speak a different language it make being able to be language diverse such a valuable skill. In Amanda’s groups article the show the value to be multilingual. In today’s society it is not acceptable to say that you took a language but forgot it. Because, in modern society there is so much diversity. Economically speaking it also looks better on a job resume that one would be knowledgeable in a language other than their native language. Although most college students do complain about having to take a language. This skill is valuable and they will be thankful for it in the long run. The most common language taken is Spanish because a lot of people in the United States speak Spanish. Many choice a language because of their back round or because that is what they started to learn at a young age. It defiantly is a valuable skill to have in the modern world.

fitness center

When I went to the fitness center I learned many things. They have different hours for week then weekends.  Monday through Thursday the hours of operation are 7am-10pm. The hours of operation Friday are 7am- 8pm. Saturdays hours of operation are 9:30am-4:30pm. Sunday’s hours are 2pm-7pm. The average cost to join the gym is sixty dollars but since it is half way through the semester it now cost thirty five dollars to join. There are approximately twenty exercise machines in the fitness center.  One class that I would be interested in taking is the beginners yoga taught by Amanda on Friday’s from 12:30 to 1:15pm.

Knowledge

I am a auditory and kinestetic learner I learned this because I find it easy to learn how to do thing by listening and by doing hand on activities. One of the ways I show this is through when I do my homework I need to have music on because when I listen to something while tring to work it helps me focus beter and I learn easier then doing work in silence. Through Krista's groups articles I learned that what type of learner I thought I was I am. This is important to know because if you dont know what kind of learner you are it is harder to learn. This is because you do not know what learning styles work the best for you. The topic that this group choice is very intresting in many aspects. Many people do not know enough about this topic which makes it harder for them to succeed.

Paying For College

The saying "Money doesn't grow on trees" is a saying that I have heard multiple times in my life. The thing is many colleges cost a lot to attend. For some people it is impossible to go to school without leaving with a lot of debt. Many will be paying off this debt for twenty plus years. The articles we read for the paying for college group was very informative about how a majority of college students in the present time cannot leave college without debt. When deciding on colleges where to go depends a lot on the cost of that particular school. For me I was told from the beginning that I was only allowed to go to states school because of how much it cost to get into out of state schools. I knew I only had a couple of choices so I looked at cost and then majors when I saw Southern had my major I was really excited and that's how I ended up coming to SCSU. I was lucky enough though that from the time I was born my grandmother put away money for me weekly to ensure that I would be able to get a proper education. This was very important to her and she set up the funds in a way that they were only able to go towards college. I still will be coming out of school with some debt but not they full tuition in debt. This article has made me realize the financial aspect if school because I have never truly thought about the cost and how expensive it is to attend a university.

Teaching

Southern Connecticut State University has always been known for their education department. Ever since I was younger I always said I wanted to become a teacher. I learned that Southerns program for teaching is a very hard program to get accepted into. For me special education is very important. I believe that every student with a disability can succeed if they have one person in their life to support them and to help them succeed. Southern offers a great program for special education degrees that teaches one student how not only to teach students with disabilities but also how to help them succeed in the classroom setting and outside the classroom. I think a big factor for students with disabilities is who their teacher is and how they teach. Southern deffinatly offers a great program and certifies many teachers in the state of Connecticut. To me teachers can play a huge part in the academic standings of a student not only students with disabilities but also students with out disabilities. Every student has that one teacher in their life that they wish they could have had multiple years again because they taught in a way which was easy for the student to learn in. Whereas you can also have a teacher whos teaching style is hard to learn off of.The goal at Southern is to make teachers that students want to be in the class room with. Also, who can teach different learning styles for different types of students.

Health center

This week I went to the health center. They have all the information a college student would need to have in certain health situations. They offer this information in pamphlets going from topics of the common cold to unwanted pregnancies. In these pamphlets they give all the information such as what one should do if in a situation and who they can talk to about whatever situation they are in. These pamphlets also give ways to avoid STDs, unwanted pregnancies, the common cold and many others . The health center is filled with great information that can be used while trying to stay healthy in college. It is defiantly worth going to the health center to stay aware of what different thing they are trying to keep students away from.

Midterm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EqDIIZISVc

Out of My Comfort Zone!

In the past I have always said I will not change my major. I was really excited to come to southern for the special education department. Then I realized that major I was pursuing was no longer a major. I went out of my comfort zone and changed my major to therapeutic recreation. In doing this I had to meet with a new advisor to make sure I was making the right decision and picking the right courses for that career path. I also wanted to change my major because I did not want to be in under graduate school for longer then four years. This is important to me because I choose Southern because of my major. Now that I have changed majors I fell a lot less stressed and happy about my decision. This is defiantly a hard decision for me but I believe I made the right choice. This process was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. All I had to do was go to the department of my new major and inform them that I want to change and it was very easy. 

How to become a CC

For my campus safari this week I interviewed one of the community coordinators in my hall. Mike is a CC on the second floor in chase. Some of the benefits he told me of being a CC is that you get to meet new people, live on campus for free, and you get to show the freshman what college life is truly about. I also asked about the responsibilities of being a CC he told me that you have to do programs and socials, create bulletin boards on your floor, make sure everyone gets along on your floor and within the hall, and as a CC you have to do a set amount of work at the front desk and if a desk attendant calls out you have to cover for them. The steps to becoming a CC are to fill out the application that resident life sends out, get two references preferably hall director and professor, go to two interviews one group interview that has 15-20 people and the second one is a individual interview with one of the hall directors that you set up on your own. When all the step are completed if you get accepted you get an e-mail congratulating you and  telling you where you are assigned for the next semester. I would like to become a CC next year it seems to be a hard but rewarding job.

Time Management/Project

This project so far I have spent approximately five hours on through doing the different parts. Brainstorming I have spent about one hour. In this time I decided my questions and how I was going to set up my video. I also decided how to make it chronological  order. On interview I spent another hour between collecting the interviews and deciding who I was going to ask to interview. I needed people who know about people with special needs because if they did not I would be asking them the question for no reason. I am still in the process of gathering other types of material but so far I have put approximately a half an hour into putting material other then my interviews into my video.  Through trying to learn the computer software I have put the most time into trial and error to learn. I have learned how to imovie but still am trying to learn how to use garageband. This has taken me approximately an hour and a half to learn and I am still learning. Through making the video I have put about an hour into editing and making the video. I should probably put about another two hours into this assignment. My time management skills have been pretty good through out this project I have been trying to break it down into parts in order to make sure I get everything done. I also have a lot of work from my other classes so time management has becoming a little harder. I could have defiantly started this project earlier so that I had more time to do final steps.

My video project is going pretty well. I am having problems putting music on my video because I do not know how to use garageband. I also need to learn how to put the video on youtube in order to put it on my blog. But interview wise I am doing well I have a couple done so I am in the process of putting the interviews into my presentation properly. I have been watching videos on youtube to learn how to use mac software. I also have been using the method of trail and error so that I can learn from my own mistakes.Through this project I am not only learning more about my critical thinking question and others views but I learned how to use imovie and garageband. This types of technology will be needed in the future classes I take. Whereas youtube I just need to set up a account so that I can post the video and turn it in.  I am enjoying making this video and it is not as hard as I thought it would have of been. 

Tom Colby Midterm Study Skills

Professor Tom Colby was very good at giving tips for taking midterms. He gave us all the necessary tools in order to answer questions on midterm exams. Professor Colby gave us a handout when we arrived that gave us an outline of how he wanted us to take the note for his presentation which was broken up by his slides on his powerpoint presentation. He gave us tips on how to organize study guides to make them easy to study one of the tips he gave us was to make one study guide for each topic. Through doing this it makes the information more fitted for an active learner then a passive learner. It also helps you to learn the information in a different way then it was taught. Professor Colby also gave us the advise that before going to take the test you should  "rehearse" meaning do practice problems and do flash card and etc. Another thing I learned were some guidelines for true-false, multiple choice, and essay test. These guidelines are very helpful and defiantly useful to a college student. I found it very helpful that Professor Colby gave us examples through history questions and he also gave some personal experiences while he was grading essay test of what he was looking for. I would defiantly recommend people to go to at least one of his presentations because he knows what a students need to do in certain scenarios in order to succeed. These presentations are short and very informational I got a lot of information about test taking through on fifty minute presentation.

Making a Mid-term Video

I have never made a video before. I have realized over these past few days that it is hard to learn the imovie software. I am learning but it is taking me a little bit of time to figure everything out right now all I know how to do is to put words in the movie and play it. I have never been that great with technology but I am learning more and more about the program each time I try to do something new. Imovie is defiantly not as hard as I thought but you do have to get use to it. I am having a hard time also figuring out how to transfer videos that were not recorded by my computer to the imovie. I am going to ask one of my friends who is really good with macs to help me. But I am still getting information on what to write and tomorrow I will be interviewing the one of staff in the DRC.

Trip to the Library

This week we took a trip to the library where we learned to find books and look when we need help. This visit to the library gave us a lot of information on everything inside the library. I picked out the book Preschool Education Programs: for children with Autism. I choose this book because for my Inquiry project I am thinking of using a question that deals with learning disabilities and how critical thinking is impacted by one. This book seems to be an easy read and will also help me in the long run because I would like to specialize in Autism. Locating the book was easy I just needed to find the correct self that it was on because with the education section there are many different types of books.

Getting sick!

Getting sick while trying to maintain grades and ensuring that all your work is done is very hard. There are many things you can do to stay healthy even though many people surrounding you might be sick. You can make sure you get enough sleep, eat healthy, and try and stay away from those who are sick. Also, if you feel sick go to the health center, make an appointment and they will give you the necessary  things to help you feel better. I have been sick this semester and it is very hard to stay caught up with work while sick. But if you feel sick and can not attend class the best thing to do is to e-mail your professors and get notes from a class mate as all professors tell us to do on the first day of classes. Also while trying to stay healthy make sure you have all the necessary items incase you do get sick. If you are starting to feel sick also take the precautions and make sure you get more sleep then usual and drink a lot of water and fluids. Time management no matter how well you have been doing with it this semester will also get thrown off because while sick you become more liturgic and unwilling to do work because you do not feel well. My advice would be to stay up to date on all assignments even maybe do a little bit of extra work just incase you do get sick. This way you do not need to stress out on large assignments that are due durning the time you are sick. 

Counceling department at SCSU

This week I went to the counseling department. I scheduled a meeting a discussed what the counseling department did. At this meeting I talked to to one of the councilors and learned that they talk to students and give advise on what ever that student in particular needs. Then they try to set that student up with support systems such as groups of people who are going through similar situations. They are very helpful and they do not judge or tell you what to do. I would defiantly advise paying a visit if you are dealing with stress, anxiety and many other thing that you might not be able to handle with out a support system

Time Management

Time management so far has been a little bit hard for me. It has been hard due to the fact that I fell like there is so much freedom and so many things to do with all this freedom. I have already become overwhelmed because i keep on procrastinating.  I have been working on not procrastinating by making a to-do- list with my higher priority items on the top. I have also been working on my procrastination by setting aside homework time and study time. Although I fell like I have so much free time the days go by so quick and I fell like the longer we have been here the shorter the days get. Saying that I always tell my self in the morning that I am going to get all my work done ahead of time but in the end I am stuck stressed out and anxious that I am not going to be able to get all the work needed for the next day done. In the end I usually get all the work done but in the process of doing the work I become very nervous. Some distractions I face are the typical obstacles that the average college student faces such as internet, social life and many others. Time management is defiantly a hard skill for me to grasp and it has always been hard for me. There are defiantly ways to compensate for having difficulties with time management just like there are for obstacles that many others face. We all have flaws and must compensate for those flaws. When freedom is given through moving away from parents it is hard to maintain time management, especially when time management has been hard in the past. Time management is one of the skills that everyone will need to maintain through out their life.

Southern V. Pace

This past Friday night September 23rd was the first home football game of the year. They were playing against Pace University. The game started as it continued raining. Before going to the game in front of Wintergreen was a small tailgate where they were handing out free t-shirts, and having a BBQ. Southern won 61-0 with strong defense, holding pace to not score. As many fans in the bleachers cheering for the team they kept on scoring touchdowns. During halftime while both teams were in their locker rooms the club dance team came out and danced on the field. The crowds were filled with students, parents, siblings, and friends. There were many families there also because Friday night was the beginning of family weekend which encouraged many families to come out and support the Southern football team. The game was good especially to see that Pace University was not able to score on Southerns defense. This was a good experience to see the stands filled while many came to support Southerns football team on their way to victory.  

Cupcakes and Yoga

While searching blogs I came across Cupcakes and Yoga. These two articles are similar because many want to exercise a lot by doing yoga or other exercises. But at the same time when you see a tempting sweet such as a cupcake it makes many struggle to stay away. Both are similar in the way that you want to do both. Yoga make you fell good about your self while exercising and losing weight. Where as a cupcake along with other sweets make you happy while causing you to gain weight. A lot of both can be harmful to your body if you eat to many sweets you can get sick. Also, if you exercise to much you can get an unhealthy state of mind. For both there are certain place where you should stop. Some people eat sweets then go to the gym and do exercises such as yoga to lose the calories that were eaten by the sweet. Exercise is a great way to stay healthy and fit. Many exercise through doing home workouts, group workouts,  classes, teams and many others.

Day of Service

       Today, was a day when many came together from Southern. To help clean up the outside community of New Haven. This experience was an important one because people came together to clean up, but it was also a bonding experience with peers.We had to work together in order to clean up the debris on the streets. Our part contain going down several blocks cleaning up leaves and sidewalks. We all met at the student center some went with their classes, clubs, sports, and dorm halls. Seeing so many people willing to help the community was an awesome experience because not many would. Everyone got on their assigned bus and we went to our destinations with rakes, brooms, and bags with us. Newhallville was our destination otherwise known as “The Ville”. Once arriving we all got off of the bus and circled around our areas police officer. He had warned us that we were not in a great area and that it was possible that we could find things such as guns, illegal substances, and many other things.  Upon hearing this many got scared because of the area we were in. We all spread out and cleaned up the streets. We were given gloves to pick up leaves and other things we would not want to touch with our bare hands. After all the cleaning was down I had a conversation with the police officer and asked him questions about the area. He told us that he brought us to one of the better parts of this area. Even though that was not a great area as it was. Afterwards, we all got back on the bus and headed back to campus. This experience seeing others help out the community was an important one to me. I would defiantly encourage more to do it next year.

Time Managment

"Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life."  -Alan Lakein

           Time Management is a skill that is not just needed for college but beyond college. Many students are use to high school time management coming in to college. Once you get in college you realize that there are so many distraction between friends, internet, classes, clubs, sleeping and so many more opportunities. That your ways of using time management in high school needs to change in order to be successful in college. You also do not have your parents looking out for you and making sure you get your school work done. Many resort to ways to maintain all their assignments. Such as daily planner, to-do-list, calendar and other ways to jot down all assignments and class times to make sure you are not late or do not miss assignments. Time management is a hard skill to master but as long as you stay organized and know what is occurring in each class. "Planning out your semester will help you reduce confusion and anxiety be defining more exactly the demands you will face in each course. By anticipating and planning your approach to each course, you can plan your coping strategies" (http://www.arc.sbc.edu/timeplanning.html).  Time management becomes easier. Personally, time management is a hard skill but just trying to stay organized so far this year has helped me so much. Time management equals success because knowing how to manage your time and organization skills is the key. Organization skills help you to know what is due when. Knowing when things are due and setting aside the proper amount of time helps you to succeed in college.

Are electronics a distraction to education?

In this generation computers, phone, television and many other electronic devices create larger distraction for students trying to do their homework. When you are sitting typing a paper a large majority of people will end up on Facebook for one reason or another. It is so hard to avoid the temptation of doing something even though you have a lot of work you should be doing. Although some might call this "switchtasking"its a form of distraction that you use to avoid doing work that should have possibly been done a week ago. Especially at college there are so many things to do, when you have so much work to do. While reading the article Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction it was said that "On YouTube, “you can get a whole story in six minutes,” he explains. “A book takes so long. I prefer the immediate gratification.”" This is about a boy who was going into his senior year and had yet to do his summer reading.  He choose to listen to a six minute explanation of the book. But, with the computer right there in front of you knowing that there is a easier way then reading to know what is occurring. This is causing  many to become lazy and unwilling to do their school work thinking that it will always be easy due to the excessive use of the internet. The internet is truly a large distraction to the education process due the the increase of laziness with in the society.

All About Me

 5 words, things, or concepts that define who I am: Family oriented, Friendly, Caring, Honest, and committed 

Family Oriented: I have a big family. I am one of five kid. I have an older sister, two little sisters and a little brother. My family means so much to me just knowing I have people supporting me. I enjoy being around my family whether its dinner or playing family games. They are very important to me. 


Friendly: I love meeting new people. I pretty much always have a smile on. I try to say hi to people I do not know and have a conversation. I love making new friends .

Caring: I care about my siblings and friends. If I see one of my friends or siblings upset I will try to help them and give them advice. I try to comfort my friends and let them know that I am alway here for them. I love giving advice. When people seem upset it always make me upset. 

Honesty: I believe that no matter what the circumstances are it is better to always tell the truth. Honesty to me tell a lot about someone's personality and no matter good or bad the truth should always be told. 

Committed: Once I get involved in an activity or volunteer work I stick to it. In my senior year I worked, volunteered at the church and elementary school and was on the swim team. Everything I did I tried my best for.