What you give is what you get.-Grade Inflation

Well after Tuesday’s discussion on grade inflation, I am still on the fence on how I feel on this topic. I just do not understand how grade inflation is fair for some students than it is for other students.  But, I can see why some professors do bump up students grades.

I can see how it is fair and how it is not. For the students who have A’s in the class and the teacher are curving grades up a letter grade for others, what do you do with the student who has the A? But, I understand if the professor curves grades for the student’s sake also.  For myself like everyone else, math is a hard subject for me but I really put a lot of effort into it. By doing my homework, having a math tutor, and going for extra help with the teacher, I always have tried and put a lot of effort into math. When I was a junior math finally clicked for me and I have always done well in it. But, my earlier days of math were bad.  However, I would always get a C or higher in it. Just because I worked really hard and asked questions my teacher raised my grade. Not a whole letter grade, but they saw that I was really working my butt off to understand math. I don’t disagree with bumping my grade up like that, but if the student isn’t putting any effort they shouldn’t get that extra credit points that will only help their grade. I believe it is how much effort you put into the class and how much you do as a student. 

Help your mind and body!-Stress Relief

Stress is very common in many lives today, especially in mine.  Even though stress is passed down through the family genes, being in college it self is stressful! College is a new level in my life that I want to accomplish to be the second family member to graduate. Other than that, for my self I want to be in college to be successful with all aspects of knowledge and my future job. However, college isn’t a walk in the park for me and I think some other students would agree with that statement.  It is a lot of pressure.

With being overwhelmed with schoolwork and your social life, it is very hard not to have a stress overload. For myself, I have a couple of tricks that will help me not to be so overwhelmed with work and my life. One stress reliever that works is working out or to get some sort of exercise. When you get the heart pumping, it will help your mind to relax and stop running with all the things you have to get down. By giving your body a good work out. You are killing two birds with one stone, helping your mind and body. Just going for a walk to have some time to relax the mind is very important.  Another stress reliever is to have some calendar that will help you with managing your time. I keep a calendar with all my assignments and due dates. I also keep my personal social activities on the same calendar so I know when to get my work done ahead of time so I have that “me” time. Leaving your work to the last minute just makes yourself too stressed. So why not make a calendar? Balance of work and your social time is very important for you personally so you are not stressed all the time. Here are some other alternatives that I have also used.

http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/a/25_relievers.htm

Those couple of tactics helps me relieve stress and be on the ball so I will not have a stress overload. It is not healthy to be stressed all the time, so try to prevent it by helping yourself. 

Leading your way to success.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John C. Maxwell.  I believe that in my lifetime, I could go under the definition as a leader with a couple of situations. When you are a leader you take up a huge responsibility as a person. Being a leader can fall under different types of categories. Simply if you stand up for what you believe in and take a higher route as a person, you can be defined as a leader. Have you ever heard the saying “always be the leader never be the follower”? My mom always would say that to me when I was growing up. Well I applied that to an incident in middle school. There were a group of girls who always made fun of this heavyset girl who I was a friend with. I went over to them and said a couple choices of words to say make them knock it off because she was my friend and no one should be treated that way. They really respected me for that and so did my friend. Just for sticking up for what you believe in, you could take on a role of being a leader.

Later when I was in high school, I believe that I was a leader in a different way. In high school I was the captain of the girls class S Portland Highlanders basketball team my senior year. To me, being named captain was a real honor and an accomplishment. You have to have certain qualities to actually qualify to be a good team leader and for my coach’s to name me captain I felt that I could take on the responsibilities. That year, my team made history! We had all the right chemistry to play together as a team and to go really far. We made it to the Shoreline Conference championship and lost by six. We also made it to Mohegan Sun Arena for the Class S State Championship and lost by two with thirty seconds left. From the past, my team was never a “team”. The older players were very mean and unfair to the younger players and made their lives a living hell. We never had the right team bond and respect until myself and my other captain brought everyone together as a team.

I believe that I was defined a leader to bring my team to come together and become a family even though, we are all different people. It is very important in a sport to have chemistry and to come as one in order to succeed. If you look back at our old records, you can see we were never a team until all the drama left and you had two good captains to lead the team to success. 

Mohegan Sun Championship

Surprise!- Class that I feel intellectually stimulated in.

In high school, as a student I believe that I did a well job overall with my academics. I got good grades, I studied, and I had well time management skills. In college, I have turned over a new leaf in my life. It seems that I am putting that “extra” effort into my studies more than I did in high school. I thought that was never going to happen or I thought that the social part of my college life was going to take over my studies. But, I was wrong. In college I feel that I have grown up in so many ways.  I really put my academics first before everything. Just like my high school, I am on the ball with a lot of my studies too. I think I was just really worried that I wasn’t going to bring my study habits to college and be prepared like I was in high school. However, the outcome of college so far has been very well. I am trying my hardest in all my classes.

    Furthermore, the class that I feel very well about is Western Civ. It is in a huge lecture hall with around 230 students in the class. I thought that this class was going to go down the drain for two major reasons. One: I hate history. I have been one of those students that always have said, “why do I need to know these events now?” Second: The class has 230 students or even more students in the class! To the professor, I am a clicker number not Madison.  However, just like all my other classes I really try hard in studying for his tests and his exams. The outcome has been surprising better than I expected to get in Western Civ! I have a solid B and that stimulates me to try very hard and to get that grade even higher than it is now! I have learned tricks to study history that has helped my grade enormously. 

Perfect Get-away!-Cool place to study

When I have to study for a major test or exam, I can never focus in my little cubicle of a dorm room. I get distracted from the most random things in my room! Especially, when I look at my wall next to my bed filled with all kinds of pictures from the past. It is very hard not to look over and think of all the memories. So, I know that I needed to adventure out of my room and find a new quiet place for me to study. I remembered when I was in high school and my earlier years, when I did my homework outside I would focus so much more. Now, I knew that I had to find a nice quiet spot outside my dorm where I can focus on my studies.

I was on the hunt! On campus, I live in Neff hall so I knew I could use that as an advantage. Neff isn’t in the cluster of dorms; it has some nice scenery around it.  I knew of just the perfect spot. My friends and I heard of a place called West Rock. It was a hike to get to, but I knew it would get me away from all the distractions and be the perfect getaway to get all my work done. I was right when I thought West Rock was the perfect place to focus! With all nature surrounding me at its’ fullest, I know this picture perfect atmosphere was just for my studies and me.