Becoming a Better Student

You know, back in high school I guess I was a fairly shy guy. I had a lot of friends, but I was pretty reserved and fairly quiet. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but I knew that I wanted to change. Unfortunately, in high school at least, it’s hard to break the mould that you've set for yourself.

That's the great thing about college - it's a clean slate, you don't have to be held back by anything you've done previously.

I made a commitment to myself to become more social and have as many interactions as possible. At first the task is a little daunting. I decided the best way to change was to start talking and just begin by making short conversations with anyone who was around.

This included people on the bus, anyone waiting in lines with me and people in my classes. At first, things seemed a little awkward but I kept in mind the goal to get better.

Today I'm glad to say that making conversations is a lot easier and a lot of fun. Now I focus solely on the enjoyment of the interaction. I’ve found that, for the most part, people that you talk to will have at least one thing about themselves that is highly interesting or something that you can learn from.


So, how does this fit into the idea of becoming a better student?

I realize that it may be a little late in the semester now, but getting to know some of the other students in the class, as well as your professors can make your college experience much brighter.
I find that when I make the effort to make friends with classmates, I enjoy coming to class a lot more. There is nothing worse than to come into a class where you know nobody, sit down and listen to a dull lecture for 2 hours, then leave - by yourself. When you know some of your peers it also makes doing presentations a whole lot less difficult.

If I can give you one piece of advice for improving your chances in class, it would be go to your professor’s office hours early in the semester (and NOT right before a big test). Besides being able to learn about course-problems from the person who will be marking you, this will help the teacher to identify you as a motivated student (this is a good thing). By meeting the prof. early on, he/she will likely be more helpful when you visit them before an assignment is due. You have just differentiated yourself from all the other 'leave it to the last minute' students who only use the office hours out of desperation.

Also, don’t be afraid to just talk to your prof. after class if the opportunity arises. The truth is (contrary to popular belief) professors are people too!! This means they enjoy interacting, like to hear jokes, enjoy talking about last night’s game, and so on. You may even find one or two of your professors are actually cool! (Alright… ‘semi’-cool).

Now, I can't guarantee this by any means, but if I was your instructor and we had had a few conversations and I knew that you were working hard and doing your best, I would be more inclined to bump you up that 1% to reach the next letter grade. Again, this is just me thinking out loud.

Now, don't get me wrong, the idea of interacting and forming relationships with others is not so that you can use the person for your personal gain.

The key is that I make the initial conversation simply to be friendly with no expectations for the future. Some people, as I have found, are really not worth my time; with others, I am extremely glad that I chose to make the first contact because we are still friends today because of it.

By making the small effort to be friendly, I'm sure you will (as I have) gain a multitude of benefits.



Photo courtesy of www.flickr.com/photos/tmlsb/228428783/

The Health Priority

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.

- John F. Kennedy

Everyone knows the importance of good health. Billions of dollars are spent every year on this issue. It is the source of controversy and protest but it is also an issue that, in our personal lives, consistently gets put on the backburner.

I am just as guilty as everyone else. I can go weeks without exercising if things get busy at school or at work. I think that most people do the same. For example, how many of us would miss studying for a test to go for our daily jog?

The interesting thing is that, in a sense, health is the be-all and end-all for us as humans. If we didn’t have health, we know that work, school and leisure wouldn’t matter at all because we wouldn’t be here to experience it.

So my question is “Why is such an important issue not important to us?”

I think the answer illustrates a key problem in our culture. That is that we are a society that is ‘instant result based’. We value the things that we can get immediately. This would explain why fast-food, the internet and casinos are so incredibly popular. They offer instant satisfaction – or so we think. Consequently, things that don’t offer immediate visible results are placed as a lower priority.

The evidence is all around us: hospitals are overcrowded, heart disease is the number one killer of adults and child obesity is at an all-time high. Until our culture begins to value the unseen and see beyond instant gratification, health will not become a priority until it is too late.

Class Presentations and Public Speaking

"According to most studies, people's Number One Fear is Public Speaking. Number Two Fear is death. Death is Number Two!!!

Now, this means, to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy!!"

- Jerry Seinfeld

Amazing but true. Some people would probably rather die than speak in public. I understand completely.

Now, there are those special few who don't get nervous at all about public speaking. You guys can all give yourselves a big pat on the back and rejoin me for my next blog post.

Today's post is for normal people.

Last week I thought about writing a blog on this subject, so I wrote in my agenda as a note: "Class presentations - Public Speaking". The funny thing is that every time I glanced ahead in my agenda, I experienced a familiar sinking feeling in my stomach for a split second just at the sight of the word "PRESENTATION".

I did a little bit of research on public speaking and I found a few things from http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp
Here are a few of their tips and my thoughts on them:

#3) Know your material.

- I think this may be the most important tip when it comes to speaking in public. It is much, much easier to speak about something that you know about than something you are only partially familiar with. It also really helps if you are actually interested in the subject you are speaking about. I think this is what makes certain speakers so powerful - they are interested and excited about what they are presenting to the audience.
I realize that it may be hard to get pumped up and excited about 'The war of 1812', 'Dentition in Early Hominids' or anything else your prof. decides to make you present on. (Those were just a couple of the exciting presentations I have had to make). But if you can choose something that you are interested in, know that it will often be much more interesting to your listeners.

#5) Visualize yourself giving your speech.

- Being a basketball player, I have heard this story many times: A number of years ago there was a study done where scientists observed to groups of basketball players. Both groups had similar skill levels. The first group went to the gym everyday for a week and practiced free-throw shooting. The second group spent the same amount of time each day in a classroom visualizing themselves free-throw shooting. At the end of the week both groups were tested to see how many free throws they could make. Oddly enough, the group who had not even picked up a basketball for an entire week beat the group which had spent all week practicing in the gym.

If this can work for sports, it can most certainly work for presentations.
Visualize that you are at the front of the room and you are looking very good. (Hey, don't knock it 'till you've tried it!) Then see yourself looking relaxed and happy and giving the presentation in a conversational way, making brief eye contact with the audience and using hand gestures.

( Now, as far as making eye contact with the audience, I find that when I'm making a presentation I usually have certain things memorized and a specific order to present them in. Often, making direct eye contact with individual members of your audience can distract you and throw off your rhythm. Usually your classmates will not be smiling and you may start to wonder 'What are they thinking of me?' This can be a huge game-killer. Instead, shift your gaze slowly back and forth across the room not focusing in on any individual or, if you prefer, look just beyond the back row at the wall or out the window. )


And finally,

#10) Gain Experience.

-The only way to overcome a fear, or at least minimize it is to face it head on. Over the Christmas break I was asked to do a reading at a conference I was attending in Quebec City. I knew there were going to be about 500 young college students at the conference, and I was complete strangers with about 490 of them. First I thought "Thanks, but no thanks, I don't want to have to worry about this" - But then I realized that this was a chance for me to get out of my comfort zone and do something that would allow me to grow.
The long and short of it is that I was quite nervous, but I managed to do a good job. A few strangers even came up to me afterwards to give me positive feedback.

My advice is to look at presentations as opportunities to grow and gain experience. Of course we'll still be nervous, but no one is expecting you to be perfect, and most of the students in your audience are only thinking about what the heck they're going to do once it's their turn.


Until next time,

- Isaiah

Image courtesy of http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/45689184_fedfa80e86.jpg?v=0

Test Taking Part II

What not to do in an exam -->

Last week, I talked a little about studying for exams and the different techniques that I use. Now, the reason that I broke this into two parts is because there are two things that you need to have handled in order to do well on a test. First, we need to prepare and study well (last week's blog) and secondly, we need to be mentally ready.

To write a test well, we need to be in a good mental state. Learning all the material and practicing for weeks is useless if we are unable to get the knowledge down onto the paper.

A major factor affecting mental state is stress. Stress can help keep us on track, but it can be a problem if it starts to prevent us from focussing or maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Now, I realize that for some students this is a big issue, and for others, it is not. Some people are naturally more relaxed and others tend to worry and get uptight fairly easily. I think this has to do with our personalities and how we handle life in general and not just exams. If you get really stressed over exams - the good news is that you care about how you do in school, which is a good thing. The problem is that the stress and anxiety is probably keeping you from doing your best and is also negatively affecting your health.

-First of all, you can reduce stress by planning your time wisely and thinking ahead. I'm sure you've heard this before, but if stress is an issue that is keeping you from performing, cramming the night before will certainly not help.

-Break your studying up with a little exercise - Get out of the house! Go for a jog or light workout to get some blood flowing. Exercise is a great way to reduce stress and will end up giving you more energy in the long run.

-Get a good night's sleep before the exam. – Maybe it’s just because sleeping is one of my favourite things, but I would rather get a solid rest at night than have a few extra hours of late night study time. I realize that most people can pass with less sleep than me; however, keep in mind that changing your sleeping patterns can throw off your entire next day.

-For major exams, it is pretty much impossible to be 100% prepared. The professor will usually throw in some crazy thing that we have never seen before just to mess with us, ( lol) . There's nothing you can do about it - so don't sweat it. Before I go into a test, I always think "Just do your best because that's all you can do" - And really, it is all you can do.

Worrying is just a waste of energy that will keep you from focussing on your paper.

A wise person once said – “Don't sweat the small stuff -- and it's all small stuff.”

I hope these helped and if there are any things you think I could add - send me a comment, I'd love to hear from you.

Take it easy,


-Isaiah

Image courtesy of http://www.math.ubc.ca/~aclay/math101dir/exams.jpg