My first Blog

For this upcoming semester that is about to start, I have learned a lot of strategies that I am sure will help me when it comes to getting good grades. First of all, I read the post I previously did, like the directions say, and I realized that even though, on the moment I described, I was really mad, the fact that I have learned how to manage my temper gives me a little bit more of hopes. I think that although I was not working really hard on bettering my patience I have gotten so much better at handling people. I think patience is one of the post that will help me on my way through college.

Then I read my RHR (Reading how To Read) post. I realized that I did not pay much attention to what I was reading until I was asked to pay attention to the reading. This helped me a lot because I found various strategies that I know will definitely make my life better whenever I am asked to read for a class or anything.

On the NHN ( Noting how to note) I did not have much to say because I strongly believe that one’s, my own, note taking skills depends on the classes and situations people are put on. I believe this because in all of my classes I had different styles of note taking. Since I do not have a specific answer for the NHN article I will pay close attention to what definitely could for me in all of my different classes.

What I know for sure is that during the semester I want to study an hour for every class I have each day because I do not want to find myself falling behind in any classes. I still do not know 100% what my schedule will be like because I will have a job on campus. I think that it will take me a couple of weeks to get ready to the hectic schedule I know I will have. I am sure that I will definitely be able to work my way through with this idea because I am very determined and I have gained skills during this program that I definitely will use and that will be useful. Regardless of what I want, I know I will have to make adjustments because sometimes, the day is not long enough for all the things I want to do around campus.

 

I had never really had to take as many notes as I have taken recently, so I never fully learned how to take good notes. The time that we have been in this program has helped me learn how to do it, sort of. I notice that a lot of the notes you take will depend on how the class goes. For example, for Dr. Gracia’s class after reading he gives out quizzes for which we need out notes. On the quizzes he usually focuses on the names, places (like universities, cities or countries), and dates, because of this observation I have learned to take notes on those specific points. However, in Dr. Corkery class, I don’t find it as necessary to take notes except for when he gives us orthographic examples which I like to take down because later on, he normally asks us to make our own sentences with the examples that he previously gave us. With this said, I personally don’t think that I need an specific strategy to take notes because it really all depends on the class.

During this week we had a lot to read including two article for a single class in one day. Regardless of this it was also a kind of easy week because we didn’t have any assignments to read for the weekend. Every time I read for a class I have noticed that there are factors that help me more than others.

One of the main elements that I have noticed influence my ability to read a=is the noise in the background and also the temperature. If it is too loud in the background, like people talking about random topics, I can not concentrate as well, however, if I listen to my own music I find it easier to have it loud to block out the noise other people make. “What time of music do I listen to while studying” you may be wondering. I listen to soft, classical music without any lyrics mostly but the pending on the subject or the kind of material I am working on, it may change.

Another strategy that I used during this week and that I will definitely keep using is reading faster than usual. Sometimes, I start reading slow and I get kind of carried away with the reading and I find myself not paying attention to the actual meaning of the text for a couple of paragraphs. This often results on me having to re-read and taking longer. If I try to read faster, I pay more attention because I do not want to miss any important details.

I decided to use the last strategy after looking it up on the internet. Over the time I want to be able to read faster and be able to understand the readings even faster regardless of the content of the text. To achieve this, I intent on looking up more strategies that help me accommodate depending on the reading I have to do.

When I moved to Reading, my mom did not have a job so I had to get a job to help out with the house bills. I applied to a retirement community called Country Meadows. A couple of days after I applied a got a job interview and the first thing they asked me was if I was patient. My answer was ” I am not patient at all, but I can easily learn how to be because I put a lot of effort into what I want and right now I want a this job.” The manager looked at me like if I was crazy. Regardless of my unusual answer, I got the job. Country Meadows requires you to have at least five days of training for each shift, either morning or afternoon. My first day of training was two days after the orientation was over and it was in the morning. I remember it was a Saturday and I had to wake up at 5 a.m. to start at 7 a.m., you already know I was mad because it was way too early. I get to the residence place and I clock in and then I proceed to look at the schedule to see who will be training me. As you can assume, they have a different breakfast every morning. This specific morning was time for “eggs to order.” It was my very first day and I am asked to make eggs… My first thought was ” Oh! this must not be very hard, right?” Turns out I was wrong. I see the first senior resident walking up to the counter. He asked me for two eggs sunny side up. Although I never had made or eaten eggs this way I was able to figure out what that meant, so I make the eggs, give him some toast and go take the food to where he was sitting. When I took his eggs and toast, just the way he asked me, he started to ask me for more things that he needed for his breakfast like orange juice. I brought his orange juice and he said thank you, I decided to walk back to the counter and about halfway through he started screaming in the middle if the dinning room to catch my attention. I went back to his seat and I politely said “yes, Paul?” –which was his name– now, he asked me to give him another toast. I bring him a second piece of toast. Before leaving back to the counter, I ask him if he needs anything else and this time he asks me for a blueberry muffin. He did this about two more times and the third time, I rolled by eyes with all the strength that there was in me, I closed my hands really hard, I could feel the blood pumping up to my face, and I felt it turning bright red because of how mad I was getting. I didn’t notice that while all of this anger was forming inside of me, my manager was watching me. She was waiting for me to see how I was going to react. I gave her a look that said ” I CAN’T DO IT!” and all she did was to whisper “remember you want to be more patient.” This words reminded me of my objectives at the time, so I took a deep breath, maybe two because I was really mad, and I let out a tiny smile that took all the effort you could possibly imagine. I turned around and walked back to Mr. Paul’s seat and ask him what he needed. His answer to my rude-sounding question was  “thank you for all you do, I know I am not easy to deal with, that’s why I’m here.” At this moment, my heart that had previously turned to rock melted and I finally understood all of the hard work I had to work on.

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