10I; Just Do It.

  Now that midterms are over, I can finally get back to my normal, rigorous gym routine. The gym is a way to get away from the stresses of school while being healthy. Many college students will fall into the habit of eating when they are bored, but I am glad we are provided with a fitness center here on campus so this does not happen to me!

                The SCSU Fitness Center is located on the second floor of the Adanti Student Center and is open Monday through Thursday from 7am-10pm, Friday 7am-8pm, Saturday 9:30-4:30, and Sunday 2-7. A full back tee-shirt is required along with athletic pants, no jeans are allowed. Also, iPods are only permitted with headphones and for health reasons, you must spray and wipe down machines after you are finished using them. It is such a friendly environment and I highly recommend joining the fitness center to all students. They offer a one week free trial to try it out, and after this it is sixty dollars a semester, which isn’t bad compared to other gyms. Another plus to joining the fitness center is that your membership includes all classes. Most other gyms require extra fees for you to participate in these so it is pretty awesome that it is included. I have tried Ploxing, Zumba, Boot Camp, and Ab Lab and my favorites would have to be Zumba because I love dancing and also Boot Camp and Ab Lab because you can feel your muscles working and get the most soreness after. No one wants to gain that freshman fifteen, so pump your legs and get movin’!

10A; Reflecting...

    Entering uncharted territory, I was faced with a unique experience these past few weeks, a quite new one actually. All throughout my schooling career, I was never obligated to make a video using software such as Windows Movie Maker, always just Power Points. As the assignment crept upon me, the nerves couldn’t hold themselves back, common to most new experiences, and I was wracking my brain to think of a possible topic. Programs Council was the topic assigned to me and I decided to face this project head on, with a positive attitude because I know if I didn’t have one, the project could end up in complete turmoil.

                My midterm video on Programs Council was introduced with a title and my name right away and was about five and a half minutes long. My topic was narrowed down and focused on one aspect of attending Southern which was joining the Programs Council club.  Along with this, I included four student interviews, a mix of first year and upperclassmen students and also an interview from a professor. This had to be my favorite part of the project in that it is interesting to see the way in which different people go about answering interview type questions. While interviewing my statistics professor, I was more than happy to be able to talk to him one on one and got to know him a little better. When watching my video over, I feel the beginning, middle, and end are clear and concise although I can say that I could have worked a little harder in wrapping up my video and letting viewers know that the video was coming to an end. Looking back, I am glad that I was able to budget my time efficiently during this project because it ended up taking much more time than I would have expected and I was able to revise it a few times to make sure it was my best work. Learning the new program and organizing my ideas took a few tries but ultimately, I was able to get my midterm completed on time and get it posted to my blog before the due date. I am also very glad that we had to upload a draft of the video prior to the final because finalizing the video and converting it to YouTube was also something new for me. As a whole, I feel the Programs Council video incorporated different elements and different areas of information that were clear and enlightening with hopes of a positive outlook on this club. Furthermore, I on purpose changed up the music for different parts to keep viewers awake and also added a scary image to add emotion into it. Also, at the end I included the famous porky pig theme song to play on humor and childhood memories.

                With all of this being said, I feel I deserve a grade in the A- range because I worked really hard on learning the technology as well as putting together the video. I had multiple opinions and people look at my video and were able to understand what was going on and identify the purpose of the video. But with all of the positives, there can always be room for improvement. Areas I could have improved with longer amounted time would definitely be the transitions from one idea to the next. The software I was using allowed me to put things in certain time frames which resulted in some time gaps. Moreover, I could have added more interviews and different perspectives on the way ProCon works.

                What I thought would turn out horribly, actually turned into a beneficial learning experience and taught me to not fear what I am stranger to. Making videos are a powerful way to get information across rather than the usual Power Point. This project really got me to budget my time in a way that I could limit the stress of a bigger assignment and I actually surprised myself on how well I capitalized on this.

How can we take simple projects and learn lessons from them? Did your project fit our new definition of creative?

9V; Thinking Critically

“The beginning of thought is in disagreement - not only with others but also with ourselves.” 

― Eric Hoffer

When looking up this term in the dictionary, critical thinking is "disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence". From this, I can conclude that critical thinking is more of a process and a way of processing information that is in more in depth than the way we typically think. While this type of thinking will take much more effort, it is a good way to improve writing skills and many other areas of education that will only benefit us in the future. As we just finished talking about mastery in Inquiry, my opinion is that in order to master something over a period time, it is crucial that you are a critical thinker. Critical thinkers will have persistence to improve their task and their selves, and will have the will power to continue working up to mastery of any particular area.

New words I came across this week include, missive, which is a noun that means, “a written message; a letter”. I received a few missives recently from my friend who just completed marine boot camp, I am so proud of him! Another word that is new to me is, succinct, which is an adjective meaning, “brief; concise,” just like the definition.

9A; "Out of the Box"

      “The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.” 

― Christopher Hitchens

  “Think outside of the box” and “dig deeper” are phrases we hear commonly when pertaining to education in today’s society. I will never forget my rhetoric teacher assigning us poems during our poetry unit which always had hidden or deeper meanings. Moaning and groaning always came out of the classes' mouths as we looked for clues and finally uncovered the meaning. This exersise was one of many to kick start the essential skill of thinking critically. These phrases mentioned above can be described as “critical thinking”, but what exactly is it?

Critical thinking is simply a way of thinking that occurs independently and includes the ability to think clearly and logically. The difference between someone who is a critical thinker and someone with a good memory is that a critical thinker will take what they learn and be able to analyze, draw conclusions, and apply the information in a unique way. It can be compared to a puzzle in that all of the pieces of reason, logic, analysis, and application fit together to achieve such a level of thinking.

What skills do good critical thinkers entail?

                I think a good critical thinker has such qualities that allow them to interact with others efficiently, pose questions and analyze the many solutions, and strive for understanding. From this, they are people who can take facts and always ask why? Students can easily accomplish this by asking educated questions, actively participating in discussion, offering their ideas, and also thinking about what they have learned after class or an assignment.
Why is critical thinking important?

At Southern, we are required to take two critical thinking based courses our first semester. This proves the movement of incorporating critical thinking more into education as it is becoming a critical part of learning. It goes along with the idea we have been discussing having to deliberate practice. This is because these two courses are setting us up with the necessities to succeed in college and kick start our practice of thinking outside of the box. I think this requirement is a beneficial one in that already, I have learned that memorization is not the way to fully learn new material and that I get more out of learning. It satisfies me to know that I can take an idea and question it to dig a deeper meaning, or be comfortable enough with the material to teach it to someone else or have an educated discussion about it. For example, i have never been a fan of history, but during my college history lecture, I have not only learned important parts of it, but our tests are based on applying the beliefs and ideas of these people or events. It was a skill I had to get used to since it is very different than high school, but I feel like I have gotten used to it and can gradually improve. 

                The concept of critical thinking is hard to wrap your head around at first, but is an important skill to value. It may lead to new ideas, strengthening ideas, and most importantly, the creation of new ideas or creativity. I think this is why universities are now finding it crucial to include in the education to ensure students have an open mindset and are able to synthesize the information they are learning. 

   Besides our courses, what ways can we improve our critical thinking skills? Are critical thinking skills actually important and beneficial to education?

9B; So Far So Good

    Remembering back to my first ever blog post, I referred to how hard my heart was pounding and the overwhelming butterflies in my stomach during move in day. As we now move in to the second half of the first semester, it is a crucial time to find what is working and what isn’t.

Midterm grades were posted in Banner this past week, and I was actually shocked at how pleased I was with them. Personally, I have always been the type to be so critical about myself and especially in school with my grades, but I feel that my hard work and dedication to my education this semester has paid off so far. My midterm grades are as follows: A, A, A-, B+, and B. These grades are pleasing in that they are contributors to a good GPA and also a proof of putting school work first. The first few weeks of school I can admit that social aspects were overtaking and I found myself focusing on being with friends more than learning and doing my work. After a quick reality check, I realized my purpose here at Southern was to get an education and swiftly turned the other way.

Over the course of the first half of the semester, my successes have been completing my homework faithfully and putting in my best effort into completing various assignments. I feel I have been able to set a good amount of time in each day to work on school work and manage my time efficiently. As I look back, I also can say that I have truly retained a lot of information over the past few weeks here at Southern and it is crazy how intriguing and good it feels to learn college level material and obtain college level thinking. With all of these good habits being said, I can definitely still work on my study skills. During my advising meeting, we discussed going to the Study Skills Enrichment Office or even tutoring to see what they have to offer. I can only benefit from taking the extra mile so I plan to take advantage of these services. Also, my reading still isn’t up to where I want it to be. I really need to focus on reading the book for history as it will support and embellish the professor’s lecture and I will be able to retain the notes I took down in the lecture. Another way of going about this is to make a skeleton outline ahead of time so I know what to expect and have foreshadowed what we will be learning.

Looking ahead, I want to set a few attainable goals for myself. Gradually, my participation has been getting better in that I feel there is no reason not to participate and it really makes the classroom environment more dynamic. I will get more out of what we are discussing in class and be able to remember my thought process and comments, as well as my peers’ opinions while engaging in the classroom. Furthermore, I would really like to keep my work ethic and motivation up because completing all of my assignments is obviously working in my favor and enhances what we learn during class. A new strategy I can try, however, is to start my assignments ahead of time so that I can manage my time better and take time to really think about the assignment so I fully learn what needs to be learned.  

I am excited to see what the second half of the semester brings for me and how my new strategies will play out. I am also interested in how far I can actually push myself to do and might be able to surprise myself!

How can our strengths help to pave the way to success? What are ways to make sure we are striving to be the best we can be? Are your eyes always directed on your goals & dreams?

Programs Council- Midterm Video Final Draft

Programs Council at Southern Connecticut State University Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz56L9pVKNY

Enjoy!!

9I; An Evening With Sonia Sotomayor

                On Monday, October 21^st, I had the privilege of attending “An Evening with Sonia Sotomayor.” Having read her book and actually seeing her on stage in front of me was just a unique experience and I am glad I attended. A few things that stood out to me that she said included that life was not focusing on the negative, but finding the positive. This really struck me because often times we are too caught up in everything bad going on in our lives that we happen to miss the positive things or positive lessons also going on. One example of this that I can think of is when my grandparents passed away. As anyone would be, we were so devastated to see them go and miss them every single day. But to find positivity in that, they had such great lives full of accomplishments and legacies to live on in our families and we can thank them for shaping our family into the way it is today. With that said, I like her quote because I really stress the importance in trying to have a good attitude every single day because only good things can come out of it and the negativity will not tear you down.

                Another topic that Sonia brought up was the value of friendships. She says that your true friends are the ones who will push you to learn about the world, and more importantly, learn about yourself. I think this is also crucial to remember especially in college now, we need to seek friends who will only lift us up and not bring us down. They could be the ones to make you self-evaluate or keep you on your toes and the ones you can go to to talk about any struggles you are having.

                It was a great opportunity to listen to Sonia describe her achievements as well as her hardships and I think she is definitely a role model that many, many people can look up to.

8V; Qu'est-ce que c'est Mastery?

   “Hard work does not go unnoticed,

and someday the rewards will follow” 

― Allan Rufus 

 Whenever I think of the word mastery, I always think back to the elementary school and middle school days when we had to take the Connecticut Mastery Test. As every kid would, I dreaded taking these tests because they were time consuming and very repetitive. What I didn’t realize is that in finding these tests fairly easy, I essentially had “mastered” the topics the test had included. I had a lot of practice of the things that would be on the CMT’s and became very good at them which leads me to think I had mastered the test. After the readings from this week, I was introduced to a whole new concept of mastery which included the ten thousand hour rule which states that in order to master something, we must complete around ten thousand hours of deliberate practice. At first this was a shocking statistic, but it makes sense to spend at least ten years of your life improving on a certain skill or profession. This way, you will have complete control over it and be comfortable in all aspects of whatever it is you would like to master. For example, we have been essentially working towards mastering learning all our lives and I feel this skill is the most rewarding. As Steve Jobs says, you must have a passion for learning as well as a team of support. 

           New words I learned this week included, disparage, which is a verb meaning, “to lower in rank or reputation: degrade.” Another word I came across was, canorous, an adjective meaning, “: pleasant sounding: melodious.” Now, I will proceed to get back to relaxing and enjoying my canorous music at peace, knowing all of my blogs have been completed.

8A; A Cut Above the Rest

“To become a master at any skill, it takes the total effort of your: heart, mind, and soul working together in tandem.” 

― Maurice Young

Over the course of the past few years, I have learned that even if you think you are good at something, you can always improve and always view other ways of doing something to get even better at it. As many have mentioned already, I feel that “An Owls Mind by Kali Rogers” displays a mastery of blogging. This is not only because she has lengthy posts, but her posts allow her to go in depth about each topic. She breaks her posts down into interesting sections and always keeps your attention. In blogging, I think this is one of the biggest criteria to fill in that especially when posts are longer, grabbing and sustaining the audience’s attention will make them want to keep reading. I really enjoy the inquiry questions she poses at the ends of her posts and I feel they do enhance the quality of her posts. These questions are a technique I like to also apply in my blogging because I feel like leaving readers thinking about a deep topic is powerful and is a good exercise to self-reflect. My favorite question she has written is, “Everyone makes mistakes from time to time, so why is failure such a terrifying outcome when it is a reality for all of us?” It made me ask myself why, personally, am I afraid of failure and how that hinders the risks I am willing to take.

                The second blog that stood out to me was http://brianaq.blogspot.com/.  It is sometimes very difficult to organize all of this information in an interesting, yet logical way but I really learned how to chunk information in a thought-provoking way from this blog. She incorporates many headings to title the information and make sure the reader knows what comes next. Furthermore, I really enjoy the positivity included in her blog. Just from her weekly titles, “Glass Half Full”, “A New Perspective”, I automatically am drawn in to reading them expecting her to give advice. I can also say that the images she includes really enhance what she is talking about and are sometimes really powerful to look at. She looks at the topics from many different points of view and understands that there are multiple opinions on just one subject. I also think that the way she lays out her vocabulary blog posts is very unique and includes good ways to exercise learning new words. The posts detail her own definition and the real definition and also how it relates to her own life, and how all of these compare and contrast.

                Although there are many blogs that I feel have fit the category of mastery, these are the two that were a cut above the rest. They are eye catching and use techniques I feel are most important when writing blogs. I read many of the blogs listed often in that I am interested in what others have to say and especially how their life experiences have shaped them as a person. These two blogs accomplish all of these things to make them strong and have superiority over the rest. 

  What are ways you can improve your blogging to reach mastery?

8I; The Future

    “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt

   Today, I attended the Majors Expo in the Adanti Student Center at one o’clock. It was such a satisfying experience to attend in that I was broadened to all of the potential majors here at Southern. I also got an opportunity to introduce myself to the representatives standing at the Communication Disorders table. In doing so, I learned that with this degree, people can work in hospitals, public and private schools, rehabilitation centers, and many other places. This really reassured me about this major because I love the flexibility and the diverse areas someone with this degree can work in. It made me so excited for what is to come in the future and I can’t wait to start taking classes that have to do with my major. I am also very happy to hear that through the year 2014, speech-language pathology is expected to grow faster than average which makes me feel good about having this as my major. Overall, my experience at the Majors Expo was a positive one and definitely would recommend it to all first year students, or those unsure of their major because the possibilities are endless!

8B; Role Models

“To prevail, you must first listen."

                At orientation, all incoming freshmen here at Southern were handed the common read book called My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor. Although I am not fond of personal memoirs, I think a lot of lessons can be taken away from this book. Facing hardships from the beginning of her life, Sonia Sotomayor establishes such an honorable work ethic and attitude towards the negative things in her life, and with these, accomplishes her dream.

                From an early age, Sonia has faced countless challenges whether it be being diagnosed with diabetes at an early age or her father passing away. A common theme throughout her battles is her ability to face adversity and come out stronger in the end. I think this is a valuable lesson for every individual, especially those entering college because life will not always be easy and the way in which you deal with your setbacks is crucial in determining your success. She also displays such a passion for family and values the bonds she has with each member of it. Even though her and her mom did not have the strongest bond at first, they continuously worked at improving it and eventually got closer than ever before. I also think this is an important value to hold through our journey of college in that we will be going through change not seeing our families every day, but to always keep in mind that they are the ones who will support us and love us unconditionally.

                First-year college students may also take away lessons mentioned by Sotomayor such as not being afraid to seek out mentors in college or just life in general. I think this is an important concept to retain early in the college experience in that there are people everywhere willing to help us and if they are used the right way, will save us added unnecessary stress. We are already lucky enough to be provided with a peer mentor and advisor and these should be people we confide in and feel comfortable with to help us with any troubles we are faced with. She also brings up the fact that we learn essential lessons only through experience. JK Rowling would definitely agree with Sonia in that in her commencement speech we read last week, she offered that she learned so much about herself and her purpose, only through failure. She says she could not have learned these things any other way and this is what Sotomayor is trying to get across. As first-year college students, we should not be afraid to take risks and fail because there are only positive and valuable lessons to come out of these things.

                Furthermore, this book was a strong common read in that it shows that we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about our failures and challenges in our lives. Sonia hid from her diabetes for such a long time and it wasn’t until she collapsed that everyone found out. We are not the only ones struggling, everyone has a story, and holding it all inside will only destroy you. From this, she also mentions the fact that we should take support given to us by those who are similar to us, but not to hide within this. Broadening the types of people we associate ourselves with can help us to learn about different cultures and different ways of life and just give an overall better understanding of the world. I think this is so easy to do here at Southern since we are part of such a diverse community and a very different student body than what I am used to.

                Sonia Sotomayor can be seen as a hero to most with her passion and perseverance through her life. She can teach freshmen such as ourselves to always seek improvement on our weaknesses and to never give up. Her optimistic attitude is one I envy and her dedication to herself is absolutely remarkable. She is such an emotionally strong individual and a great role model. We can learn from Sonia to never take anything for granted, keep dedicating ourselves to our dreams, and with hard work, anything is possible.

How can we use role models to better ourselves? What hardships have you personally overcome & have they pushed you closer to your dreams?

Midterm Video Rough Draft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn1f6aF3doE&feature=youtu.be

This is the link to my midterm video rough draft based on Programs Council here at Southern. I will be adding more interviews of members and student leaders in ProCon and footage from the Six Flags trip!

7V; Live Strong

              “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” 

― Lance Armstrong

  Prior to this week’s readings, I only saw the negative side of failure in that the dictionary defines it with negative connotation as, “the lack of success.” However, I now see failure as the opportunity to better yourself and learn things about yourself you couldn’t learn in any other way, just as JK Rowling mentioned. In this way, there can be a kind of success of gaining knowledge and lessons. These lessons can essentially lead you to success after rooting the flaws and getting rid of them, this is called deliberate practice. I would now define the word failure as, a natural human occurrence in which weaknesses are highlighted and provide openings to improve. I am also not as afraid of failure now looking at it from a different point of view and believe everyone should be aware of this positivity that can be the outcome of it. Furthermore, I think a lot more people should see failures as minor setbacks and should not be an excuse to give up. They should not be obstructive to your dreams and also can not define you.

             New words I learned this week included ratiocination which means, “the process of logical reasoning.” Also, I was presented with the word, omphalos, “the central point.” I should probably use ratiocination while attempting to better my study skills!

 

7B; True Strength

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”- Friedrich Nietzsche

                As I reflect back to years past, I remember studying as memorizing. The tests in high school that I took were always straight forward and formulated around vocabulary, most of the time. I specifically remember talking to my brother this summer and he pointed out that in college you really have to study in order to succeed. When he told me this, I told him that I was worried because I knew my study skills were not up to par.

                So far this semester, I feel I have done very well in taking exams and getting good grades on them. However, this past week I received my first statistics exam back and what I thought was at least a B+, turned out to be a B-. Math has always been one of my stronger areas, I like math and I get it. At one point I was actually considering pursuing math. So, getting this exam back was a big wake up call. As confident as I was going into the exam, I felt it was easy, but maybe my study habits weren’t correct. From this studying has been one of my biggest “failures” in college so far. But, I have already started to change my study habits in statistics. After learning a new chapters worth of material, I went back to my dorm and re-read the chapter to make sure I understood what we went over. I also completed the homework problems associated with the chapter while it was fresh in my head. Some strategies I have set for myself are to do a few extra problems beyond the ones assigned to assure I know how to complete them, go over my notes a few more times before the next class, and also create my own examples which will also test my knowledge. In one of the “Studying Study Hacks” readings, it stated that you should be able to teach what you “know” and have memorization be your last resort. This shocked me because I was used to the constant memorization in high school but college involves a different way of thinking and pushes your thinking even farther. My grade in statistics is my motivation to do better and try even harder to not only be a stronger statistics student, but also a more efficient studier.

                Although I learned the hard way, I can use my grade as a motivation and recognize the flaws in my study habits. I am meaning to go down to the Study Skills Enrichment office, just to see some of their suggestions and ideas towards studying because I am open to anything that will make me do better. I can only put my best foot forward, but if there are ways to better my weaknesses, I need to take advantage of them. It comforts me to know that many first year college students have the same trouble as I do with studying so I know I am not alone. Many people really let their failures get to them and just give up altogether, but giving up has never been an option in everything I’ve been through. The biggest failure in life is giving up and I will not be one of those people. Hopefully in these next weeks I will be able to obtain the study skills that work for me and practice them throughout my college career.

Do you recognize your weaknesses and learn from them? How can we do this easily and regularly?

7A; Rising Above

“Cause when push comes to shove you taste what you're made of. You might bend, till you break because it’s all you can take. On your knees you look up, decide you've had enough. You get mad, you get strong, wipe your hands shake it off, then you stand.”- Rascal Flatts

                You will never hear someone saying they would like to fail at something, or desire to  grow up to be a failure. It is frowned upon in today’s society and often times is embarrassing or humiliating to fail. But what we fail to realize is the positive side of failure. This word has such a negative connotation in our world but what are the benefits of failing?

                As we grow up, we are pressured into doing everything right; getting good grades, making the right friends, being a good son/daughter, giving back to our communities, the list goes on forever. Now as we grow older, our focus will be on making the most money we possibly can especially to support ourselves and a potential family. Though most will not admit to it, money seems to be the key to happiness and if we fail to make a large amount, we see ourselves as failures-we have not reached the American Dream. In reality, as JK Rowling mentions, “happiness is knowing your qualifications are not your life, although most confuse the two.”

After reading this week, good things that can come out of failing would include emerging stronger and wiser from our setbacks and this will instill our ability to survive. As JK Rowling mentions, “Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected.” From this, she stresses the fact that we need to fail in order to learn things about ourselves and essentially accept that we are humans. We are often times scared and fearful of failure, and because of this, the motivation to take risks and go out of our comfort zones becomes minimal. If we do not strive to do these things then are we really living at all? Most of the time we run and hide from our flaws in that we don’t like to seem vulnerable and always want to be perceived as confident. As it states in “The Myth of ‘Practice Makes Perfect,” we don’t intentionally look for ways that we’re failing and hammer at our flaws until they’re gone, but instead reach levels in which make us feel good about ourselves and don’t strive the extra mile. Because of this, there are very few individuals who have the grit and audacity to reach mastery in a particular area.

In my experiences, I always thought I had to be perfect because that’s just the way our society is. No matter what, you will be judged based on appearance, mannerisms, and social class and although it sounds harsh, we live in a very hypocritical world. Today, girls especially are pressured and expected to look a certain way and if they do not, their differences are seen as failures. I do believe, however, that children should be provided with a safe-zone either at home with their families or at school. They need to be taught that no one is perfect, there are no persons naturally good at everything, and that the only way to come out of their failures is to learn and move on as a stronger person.

The truth is, every single person will fail at something or another at some point in their lives. It is inevitable. But the way to cope with failure is to not let your downfalls define you and instead look at what you can get out of it to prevent it from happening in the future. The first step to self-improvement is setting achievable goals, remember that.

How are individuals supposed to obtain self-confidence after failing? How can we teach that it is okay to fail to children? 

7I; Caution: Quiet Zone

“The world is quiet here.” 

― Lemony Snicket

#25- If you walk straight out of my home, Hickerson, keep walking straight over the foot bridge, and take a sharp left, you will find the place that is the easiest for me to focus. In years past, I have done my homework while watching TV, on my phone, listening to music, or any of those combined. The quiet study floor of the library enables me to focus and get my work done without distraction and I am grateful for that. It gives me a kind of motivation that I don’t get from sitting in my dorm room and pushes me to do big chunks of work at a time.

                The Buley library is no secret spot, but it is definitely efficient and it is good to see that many students take advantage of this. Being able to see the ongoing construction happening to make the library even larger than it is, is so promising and I have no doubt the new library will look amazing. It was so easy to find and navigate and I will definitely be visiting regularly if I am in need of a quiet environment to work in. Believe it or not, I have met new people by going here and am able to ask for help or advice, even if they are not in the same classes as me. Nothing but positive things have come out of my visits to the library and I look forward to going back!

6B; Rising to the Top

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” 

― Mae West

                Have you ever watched a movie where every character connects at the end in some way or another? This is how I felt this week during class about topics we have previously learned as they all have commonalities.

During the course of the week, we began talking about Angela Duckworth and her research on “grit". She defines grit as, “sticking with things over the very long term until you master them.” For a long period of time, intelligence has been the key to success as it was the best measured human trait but from her years of research, she starts to conclude that grit may be as essential to achieve success as intelligence is. But how can grit and intelligence be the “keys” to success when Joachim de Posada said that the most important principle for success is the ability to delay gratification or have self-discipline? Clearly, Angela Duckworth would disagree with Posada in that she found grit and self-discipline to be opposites. She says that, “the grittiest, not the smartest students, have the highest GPA’s,” to sustain this idea. However, they would probably agree that people are not born with the ability to achieve success, but rather can develop the ability to be gritty or ability to delay gratification in that both of them say these can be learned and improved upon. This idea would go against the idea of the fixed mindset simply because we are not born with it, but would support the growth mindset theory in that we can learn to better ourselves and in turn reach success.

                A second connection I found to be interesting was between the audio my group was assigned based on, “Is Conflict Good for Progress,” and the Kafka reading. The idea of constructive conflict was a new idea brought to my attention this week and is essentially finding those who are very different than us and finding ways to connect with them so that we are exposed to changing our minds and think. The Kafka article has the same idea and states, “people feel uncomfortable when their expected associations are violated. This creates an unconscious desire to make sense of their surroundings.” Therefore, both of these are explaining that when you are exposed something or someone that doesn’t make sense to what you are used to, your brain will respond by looking for other structures or patterns which will create learning and getting used to new patterns. I found this idea to be so interesting because it is almost backwards from the way we are taught and can have such a positive outcome.

                Lastly, to be a gritty person, you must be motivated, recognize your downfalls, and stick with something until it is mastered. The ideas of passion, inspiration, and purpose can all be drives to help you be a gritty person and are also the starting place of motivation. These ideas were mentioned in the motivation article to help find activities meaningful as well as Angela Duckworth’s TED talk listed as “qualities of a genius.” Although an elusive drive, motivation is what helps us persevere through tough circumstances and persist over walls built in front of us. Whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic, motivation is the leader in compensating by working hard and having more determination, even if our intelligence lacks. Carol Dweck would put this hand in hand with the growth mindset in that even if we are not the most intelligent people, we can take challenges as they hit us and use them to make us stronger.

 Whether you believe Joachim de Posada’s theory of delayed gratification and can wait for the marshmallow, or Carol Dweck’s mindset theories, or even Angela Duckworth’s grit test, each ties into what everyone is looking to achieve and that is success. The motivation to push through, grit to stick with it, and finding what works for you will lead to victory.

What will guarantee your success and how will you get there?

               

References:

  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090915174455.htm

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/grit/angela-duckworth-grit.html

http://mindsetonline.com/howmindsetaffects/mindsetforachievement/index.html

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/23/174037793/is-conflict-good-for-progress

6V; Light at the End of the Tunnel

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” 
― Peter F. Drucker

                When I think of the word persistence, I automatically think back to elementary school when I was determined to learn how to ride a bike. I’m sure almost everyone can relate to this in that every time I got off balance and fell, I would always get back on my pink Barbie bike and try again. With many skinned knees and elbows, I was not a happy camper, but the point is that I didn’t give up. I persisted to push through the challenge of falling to finally perfect riding a bike. Putting myself out there and almost being vulnerable, gave me a certain sense of courage to keep trying because I knew I could do it. This idea is mentioned in “Can We Gain Strength from Shame,” and I indeed agree. Furthermore, I believe this took a certain grit also because I stuck with it over a few weeks until I got the hang of it. This can apply on a larger scale to my life today because college is not easy. Although, with persistence and grit, I can get through with the grades I would like.

    A new word this week was, “sleuth,” which is a verb meaning, “to act as a detective: search for information,” or can mean, “to search for and discover.” This week, I sleuthed through the library for information on Cloud Computing for my research paper. Another new word includes, “presage,” which is a verb that means, “foretell or predict.” My professors have all presaged for an excellent semester with a lot of learning!

6I; The Climb

“Life’s a climb, but the view is great.”- Miley Cyrus

Colors of reds and oranges jumped out at us as we made our way up the long and winding road. This weekend, my best friend from home came up to visit, and we decided to go on a little adventure. We spent some time taking trips to Valley Falls in Vernon and Soapstone Mountain in Somers over the summer and when we found out there was a hiking trail here, smiles were pasted from ear to ear. The hike up West Rock was so relaxing and serene and once we got to the top, we were amazed to see the view of Southern and also the water nearby. Coming back down, we stumbled on a cave called, “Judges Cave,” which is where members of the Parliament signed the warrant condemning King Charles I to death in 1649. It was intriguing to me especially because I am learning about this part of history in my American History class at the moment so it was interesting to be able to see that.

                I am thankful to have picked a college with so much going on internally and also externally. This spot especially can help me get through one of my toughest challenges of college, missing my family and home. I can come here to reflect and relax and I have also mentioned it to my mom so it will be fun to bring her along sometime!

In what ways are we able to expand our horizons? How can we treat this semester as a “hike” to keep pushing to the top?

6A; Every Storm Runs Out of Rain

                “I believe everything happens for a reason. Things go wrong so you can learn to appreciate them when they are right. And sometimes, good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” –Marilyn Monroe

Lacing up my shiny cleats, slipping my shin guards into my socks, wearing my jersey with pride, all I had ever known from age five, well, up until my freshman year of high school. That scorching hot August day still plays in my head from time to time, asking myself what I could have done differently to avoid all of this physical and emotional pain, though it wasn’t my fault.

                We had all completed the two mile run and most of the drills for the day. The sky relaxed with shades of pinks and oranges as we were drawing the practice to a close. We approached the last drill which involved a three versus three drill. It was my turn and I sprinted into the box, when suddenly I found my body greeting the ground. The pain in my knee was so excruciating, I wasn’t capable of letting tears out. I was later told after countless doctor’s appointments and braces that my Anterior Cruciate Ligament and meniscus in my knee was torn and required surgery. Prior to this, I had no idea these types of injuries could even occur and couldn’t even imagine going through surgery. After starting my first day of high school on crutches, I finally moved into a mobile brace. A few months passed and I arrived at surgery day. Overall, I was so proud of my attitude and bravery going into the surgery, and it didn’t turn out to be as terrifying as I thought. From here, I was to complete one year of physical therapy and was told I would most likely be able to return to soccer. Little did I know that after all the dedication and hard-work I did in physical therapy, I would be faced with the toughest challenge thus far. “You will not be able to play a competitive sport anymore,” were the words that came out of the doctor’s mouth, a continuous record spinning in my head, even to this day. I loved soccer and every lesson or thrill that came with it and now I had to imagine my life without it- impossible.

                Many weeks of tears and unworthiness passed, I couldn’t imagine my purpose in life anymore. The devastation that came along with this injury was not only physical, but emotionally draining. Eventually, I was to realize that I cannot change what happened and could only move forward because there was no use sulking about something beyond my control. I know for a fact that the only reason I was able to have the motivation to move on and overcome the fact that my dreams had been ripped away from me, was the endless support of coaches, my parents, and my physical therapist. With my growth mindset, I could see that I may not have been able to continue soccer, but so many other opportunities knocked on my door. I was able to stick with dance and take four classes instead of two. There is no doubt that pain and struggle greeted me often at the dance studio, but I was able to pull out the grit in me and push through, stick with it. Furthermore, I was able to really focus on developing good study habits and focus on my studies, as well as obtain a job. A job which exposed me to many different walks of life, different social situations and exposed me to constructive conflict. I found ways to engage with different co-workers and customers and gave myself the opportunity to change my mind and think.

                When I look back, I am still haunted by my injury, but almost grateful in that I learned to have a positive attitude and outlook during tough times and that everything really does happen for a reason. Additionally, I now know that every storm will eventually run out of rain and that the tough times will end, through perseverance and grit.  I also learned never to take your legs for granted, they help you do almost everything!

Do good things come out of our worst fears? How can this help us cope with challanges in the future?