Teach, Learn, Improve

It seems disadvantageous for me to write about this topic. People think of me as someone who got into a UC and flew through the four years without any issues. To write this post, I have to be willing to taint that. Now, that thought process is ridiculous. Hardships happen in everyone's life and shouldn't taint one's accomplishments. However, we have built a culture where setbacks are seen as failures. To fix this, it is important that we, as a society, talk about the different issues that arise during one’s educational career. (*Note: To keep this post short, I will only talk about the biggest setback I faced in college, but I faced many setbacks, big and small, along the way.) Storytime… The week before finals during my first quarter of college, I was doing extremely poorly in my courses. When I talked to my academic advisor, she suggested I withdraw from all my classes. I was shocked. I came back to the dorms and cried for hours. My parents were extremely disappointed.

What is Active Reading and Annotating?  Active Reading: Reading with the purpose of understanding the text.  Annotating: Adding notes to comment, explain or raise questions about a text  When is this most helpful?  I found this most helpful before going to class; however, this method can be used at any time.  Why use this study method?  Engaging Prevents mindless reading Develops critical thinking skills Helps to make connections, inferences, and conclusions Keep track of ideas and questions How? Skim the Text Take note of headings and subtopics Make learning goals Read and Annotate the Text  Highlight important words, terms Underline key ides  Write down questions, ideas, connections, and conclusions  C o l o r - c o d e your notes. Summarize the reading after each section Write down key points from memory  Go back to the text to fill in gaps Fill in ALL gaps Ask the instructor about unclear topics Review Read all the notes  Write down k