Welcome Aboard
Welcome to our small group of (mostly) new college students. This blog will serve as our "home away from home" and as a place for your to share your thoughts and insights. There will be times when I post a prompt for everyone to respond to but you will often have the opportunity to "free write" and write whatever is on your mind. Please review the syllabus for guidelines for our blogging.
For week 1 I'd like to go back prior to orientation day. I didn't like it. But there are things that surprised me. I did like that they gave us letters and numbers to identify our orientation leaders. I liked when one of the orientation headmistresses sang a song to us on the guitar I thought it was entertaining and funny so I really enjoyed that. I hated the lectures I thought they were boring and pointless like self explanatory but the lecture about the green dot I enjoyed. And it was beneficial to men, women being stalked and sexual abuse. And I got to read a page from the projector when I raised my hand. And the last pit stop when they put us in groups depending on our major was a waste of time. Because the orientation ended about an hour early so at the end they should of told us we can be excused and go home. My first day in your class was nice self explanatory and I like how you want to make the class fun and interesting. And I like how we talked about eating food. And not starving during our sessions. My second day of class at RIC was fun but alittle overwhelming for theatre 105. He lectured but it was all beneficial. The problem trying to retrieve the books. Was alittle stressful. The girl at the book store library was very helpful. She told me that the best way of getting most books. Would be getting them by pdf. Which was a relief for me. And I was thinking the same thing as her. And the funny thing is. She actually has a bachelors degree in theatre. My third day at RIC feels like it's speeding up. With my theatre 105 class. I found out that we have to audition for plays us theatre majors. So it's mandatory that we do so. And that's my reflection of my first week as a college student.
ReplyDeleteI graduated Highschool in 2007 and haven’t been in a formal classroom since. I wondered how difficult it would be to jump back into the structured learning environment, I once navigated with ease. Stepping into my first classroom, having missed orientation and a proper freshman welcome, my nerves caught me off guard. I sat in my strategically chosen desk and recognized that I was the oldest person in my class. However, I could look around and relate to the feelings, I assumed, the younger students were experiencing. Some seemed just as uncomfortable as I was, not really feeling confident about how this whole thing is supposed to work. And then, it started, the classroom introductions.
ReplyDeleteOur Professor asked a series of questions for us to individually answer. To my luck, we started at the opposite end of the room from me so I had some time to think about my answers. I was too distracted by the fact every student leading up to me was firing out answers faster than I could write down the questions that were asked. I thought to myself, “man, they are seasoned and fresh from the oven”. That reminded me what it was like to be a student and how easy it was to follow instructions and just do what was asked of me. Again, I wondered how difficult it would be to jump back into such structure. Was it like riding a bike? As my turn arrived, I completely forgot what was asked. Maybe, because I was too busy wondering if I’d be able to follow instructions, that I wasn’t paying enough attention to actually follow the instructions. My answer was an informal and general introduction of myself and to my surprise I answered all the questions that were asked.
This one example from my first week back to school was a true eye opener. With such a quick and simple experience, I learned that, my assumed importance of, trying to pick up where I left off back in high school, wasn’t the answer to my success. I shouldn’t disregard the lessons that I have learned in my time outside of the classroom and think that I’m not prepared to take on this next step. I now believe that I am in the perfect place at the perfect time. I feel as though, if anything else, my current mind state alone will get me through this next portion of my life.
I remember feeling exactly like this. I registered for The Anthropology of Race and Racism with Dr. Fluehr-Lobban three times before I allowed myself to finish the class. I always felt that everybody knew more than I did or were just better students. I should have been more confident. The relief of having time to formulate an answer is something I remember well. I have never been quick with my responses....I have come to think that is a good thing.
DeleteI agree! Fast isn't always efficient. Nice to see I'm not alone. :)
DeleteI really enjoyed reading the “Achievement Gap” article. Reviewing the history of this nation’s past debt categories was an interesting way to define the cause of our achievement gap. It made me reflect on my own memories of school. I grew up in a very diverse community, diverse in back round, that is. Later in life I realized that it wasn’t diverse in much else, that mattered on a larger scale. We all had similar financial situations at home, which was close to the poverty line either way you looked at it. No matter our skin color or race, we were in the same boat. So much so, that it wasn’t well known that other schools, outside of our community, were getting more or less opportunities than we were. At that age, who is paying attention to that anyway. You just assume every child your age is forced to go through, what you may believe to be, torture, just like you. Having read this article, proved just the opposite.
ReplyDeleteOur history tells us that we have a long list of horrible decisions that have put us in debts across many categories. These decisions consistently put an increase on the number of non-white Americans affected by the achievement gap. Coming from a diverse background, can sometimes make it hard to understand where this thought, that any human is different from the next, comes from. However, for one reason or another, the pattern is observed throughout history and continues into present day societies. Honestly, I believe our overall debts in this Nation, across all categories discussed, are directly related to the inequalities in opportunities that each race has here. Until we get over ourselves as a nation and fix this issue, we will never get out of this achievement gap and bring ourselves to be a world of equally educated human beings.
Nice work...why do you think I chose this particular article? There is no wrong answer here.
DeleteThank you! If I were to take a guess, I think you chose this article to show some perspective on education and success. Maybe you want us to see that the opportunities that come our way shouldn't be passed up considering there are so many that can easily get over looked. Maybe you want to present a challenge. Inspire us to over come this achievement gap, to be above the statistics. Or maybe you want to just show us that to achieve anything really, you have to be a "go getter" even when the odds are against you.
DeleteMy high school graduation was one of the worst days of my life. I realized then I was growing up and hated it. My sworn enemy Facebook and I have made a truce so I can see what my friends were up to; of course they're all successful and beautiful. Meanwhile my summer was lazy, stressful and pathetic. I didn't want to go to college. I wasn't ready. I felt like I needed another year in high school before making this big leap. The first day was like any other first day anywhere. You're nervous, you don't know anyone and you don't want to make a bad impression. I signed up for two classes only but then/now I couldn't/can't handle more than two. I'm a procrastinator. I hate hard work. I hate school work. I suck at studying. All I want to do is sleep, eat, watch YouTube videos, play Sims 3 and write creatively without deadline or a boring topic or a word count. I have no idea how I got away with a D for Intro to Cultural Anthropology; I didn't deserve it. I got an F in College Learning Strategies. I deserved that. I did try but it wasn't enough. I took advantage of Ms. Nightingale's kindness; she helped me with an essay and I'm thankful. I want to got back and slap myself for being lazy and anxious and depressed. The people behind my favorite YouTube channels get up to work on filming and editing. Same for the programmers at EA. And if I wan to be an author I need to research, write and edit. Never enter a project if you won't put in effort to complete it. This year, I should be a better student. I'm on medication, I got more support than before and I'm sick of repeat myself hoping for a difference.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this here. This was very well done and is just what I was hoping for in our first posts.
DeleteMy first week as a college student was a little nerve wrecking. I was a little nervous about finding all classes so I made sure to go to school early so I would be able to find my classes. What was surprising was I was able to find my classes easily and I liked the fact to be treated as an adult.
ReplyDeleteI made my schedule so many of my classes were during the day for only a few hours. That opened up some free time for work and socializing with friends. The challenging part was eventually I had to take a night class and had no vehicle. I had to leave extra early to take a bus so I could get to class in time . It was also challenging because I was now considered an adult and was responsible for all my decisions so tried to focus and do my best. But its very easy to get distracted especially when your allowed to come and go as you please. I did enjoy my first experiences because I got to meet some greta people and professors along the way.
Welcome! Today's work on the 168 budget might be especially interesting/productive for you. High School and college are two vastly different learning environments. Adapting to a much less regimented environment can be difficult. I know my first semester in college did not go as well as I had hoped because I struggled with managing my "freedom".
DeleteHello all below is my first blog you can find update blogs on my actual blog page onemansjourneyisanothermansparadise.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteHello and welcome to my first blog! A few things have been going through my mind as the week progresses. Some of you may know I am a 25 year old freshman taking a crack at school again. For all who may be going through the same thing, you know its a pretty nervous experience especially going to your first class and having reality hit you like a ton of bricks! But why are we always so nervous? Thankfully, I had a great first class with great peers and a very relaxed professor. What more could you ask for to feel at home? The fact of the matter is I’m not alone when it comes to first day jitters. Another name for this is performance anxiety, you know what you are capable of but you are too busy worrying whether or not you will make a fool of yourself. From personal experience, after getting through my first day of class I feel as if the second class will be a breeze. I believe the success of a student all boils down to comfort, and passion. I know this because after sitting through my First Year Writing class (FYW) I all of a sudden feel relief. Now I’m ready for my passion to become a Physicians Assistant guide me on my journey!
Here is my second blog hope you all enjoy!
ReplyDeleteonemansjourneyisanothermansparadise.wordpress.com
Hey everyone its Victor again. I wanted to talk to you about a very important subject for all incoming new students, as well as older students coming into a freshmen class. I ran into my first dilemma during my FYW class. Typically I am a very genuine, hardworking, and empathetic person. I had to read two seperate essays one of Fredrick Douglass a well known slave who taught him self to read and write. Another essay was of Malcolm X and how he taught himself to read and write in prison. What I find maddening is when you DO the readings and your group does not. I found myself in a very weird position yesterday it was a group of 10 students me included. I was the only person who did the reading of Malcolm X. So now I’m left with the task to explain to the other students what was read. The worse part was it made it seem like I did not do the reading because our group was silent after I was done sharing because nobody else had input because they didnt do the reading. That’s weird… right? All in all it was a very informative class I know its not a big issue but I can definitely see the difference from seriousness in older students to the laid back attitude of some freshmen.
I like how you say "some" freshmen. Some students are not yet academically mature enough to perform well in the college classroom. Can you think of any other reasons why they may have not completed the reading? I definitely understand your frustration as I have been in that position a number of times. Did you ask anyone why they didn't read?
DeleteHi Victor! I can relate to this, I'm a 28 year old freshman, lol. I had this same thing happen in two of my classes, where i was the only one who had done the readings. I didn't ask anyone why they didn't read, but i did try to put myself in their shoes. I remember when I attempted college right out of high school, i assumed it wouldn't be much different from high school, so of course i didn't even bother to look at the syllabus and wasn't prepared for my first couple of classes and quickly fell behind. Now that I have been out in the real world as an adult I've gained some skills that I didn't have back then. I've gained an understanding of what i'm responsible for and how to time manage and make sure my needed tasks were done, before having to be told to do so. I feel like some freshman, like "my 2007 self" haven't quite figured out that they just gained so much more responsibilities than they are used to. I'm sure it will get better!
DeleteSince I had just found this link to the blog last week, here is my first blog! Although this is my second year at RIC and not my first, I can still remember what my first week last year was like. I was so excited to have freedom in college, but I was also a little scared. I was afraid I would fall behind with the weight of all the college work. I did manage it all in the end, but I realized how easy it was to get so distracted and stray off from focusing on school. I hope this year I am on top of everything and my goal is to get things done before the night before. Although I was never a big fan of school, I cannot wait to see what my future holds as I pursue my major in radiologic technology. Also, the most surprising thing to me from my freshman year was that time goes by so fast. The year felt faster than any year of my life. So, if you like college enjoy it because it's short, but if you're not the biggest fan of it like me, it will be over before we know it! -Hannah
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