Tag: college

School Me Saturday 3/16/24-keep working after break

Many colleges and universities had Spring break last week or are having it this week. This is well-timed. Far enough in the semester that you have a handle on your classes, not so far that your brain has completely given up.

Midterms are likely over. This goes to the mind being tired.

And then, like the sunrise after a dark cold night, the break appears!

Good. Have the break, and relax your mind.

Now what?

Back to the semester. The end of the semester is just around the corner and will be here before you know it. Not to panic everyone.

It is time that thoughts turn to end-of-class projects that need to be done. There may be homeworks due, finals to prepare for, or papers due. Or all three. If you are like me, you calculate how many points will get the grade that you need to continue.

As always, keep the end in mind.

Maybe you are just beginning your college career. Maybe you have returned to college as an adult learner. Maybe you want to explore learning. It’s all good. But there is an end in mind. There is a degree or a certificate. Keep that in mind as you toil toward the end of the semester.

The university I go to will be opening fall scheduling soon. This is a fraught time to get the classes you need for your degree or the classes you want. But, as my instructor pointed out, once the fall schedule is set, the bill for the fall schedule comes due.

This is the reminder to get your FAFSA done if you haven’t already done it. This is also the reminder to get scholarship applications in. I put in the application for the market nursing scholarship weeks ago. Next, I will work on the NCNA scholarship.

But that is a tomorrow me problem. It isn’t due until April 30th anyway. Today I have a 5-page paper due tomorrow night.

Break’s over, time to get to work! The semester end is coming fast and you don’t want to be left behind.

School Me Saturday 2/3/24-first assignments of the semester

It is hard to go fully into the semester. I know. All the reading, all the getting to know the professor. All the getting to know the other students. It is hard.

Especially if you are not socially gifted.

Believe me, I know.

However, the first month of the spring semester should be just about over. This is about the time that the first assignments are due. This can be a variety of assignments, a paper, a discussion post, a test. School does it all.

The only thing I can tell you is to have a plan for the assignments. Make a schedule if you are gifted like that. Or, if you are like me and write a schedule only to ignore it, write down the assignments everywhere. As discussed, part of my process is largely mental and I do a lot of thinking about structuring assignments. I have heard over and over to use an outline for written assignments. Yesterday I did and I wrote down what each section of the paper was to cover, and the broad strokes of the beginning and conclusion. Where has that nugget of wisdom been all my life?

We’ll see how far that gets me in the next three months.

It wouldn’t be the start of the semester assignment season without technical difficulties.

You are not alone in this. My computer got replaced for the second time over winter break. All the software had to be re-installed. Including the specialized software for statistics.

Oh, boy!

Take a deep breath and make a plan to conquer your first assignments. The first one, I find, is often the hardest to get started. After all, students, like us, are coming off a break where we did little to nothing to prepare for school. It might take a minute to get our brains in gear.

Start your assignments! The checkered flag has been raised!

Yeah, that is a veiled attempt at a NASCAR joke.

Humor me.