Latest post.....

Last post I set myself the goals of:

-working faster

-use different techniques to study and memorise

-testing myself to memorise Spanish and historical facts etc
-constructing my own efficient timetable of study.
-using different Spanish exercises to expand my vocabulary and improve sentence structure.
-improving planning of a project or essay

-regularly reading Spanish aloud to improve my fluency of speech.

So I have been working to improve these skills while completing essays for history, investigating Europe, communications and literature.

The Spanish exercises have improved my vocabulary greatly. I now keep a self made dictionary of words that always seem to escape my memory. Just the act of noting the words down seems to help me memorise them better.

I am working a lot faster in most subjects. Although I want to progress further in maths class. It's unfortunate that each of us cannot spend much time with John our maths teacher. Everybody is moving at different rates and are getting stuck on different questions. This means that there is a constant queue to speak to him about anything. I feel that what I know about algebra at the moment is what I have been able to work out for myself. So I just need to get some help on the little things that I am getting wrong within equations. This is what I will work on over the holiday to get past that.

The timetable I am creating for myself at home is working well. I am able to delegate my time between subjects better now. It gets easier to estimate how much time each project will take. From there I can estimate the priority projects and also it's easier to put by enough time to complete a project gradually and avoid stress.

Reading Spanish aloud helps to improve my fluency and hear any mistakes I am making in pronounciation. It's easier this way to get used to the sound of Spanish this way also. I have been trying to make myself faster and faster. I think this will improve my fluency with time.

Over the holiday I will concentrate on:

-fully understanding the maths outcomes I am working on

-continue to memorise my vocabulary

-revise the Spanish I have learned and keep it fresh

-begin my essay for history that we will begin in the new year(this will give me more time for things I find more difficult such as maths)

-memorise the history we have covered so far. I need to keep this fresh in my mind as we will soon have an assessment: writing an essay within an hour without resource.

This will keep me going over the Christmas period, my priorities are Maths and Spanish, and also to have a rest and prepare for some more hard work next year!

Academic and personal development

My goals for this week are to improve my speed further when working at home. I want to work faster but without compromising on the quality of my work. I'm continuing to use different techniques to find what works more efficiently. For example I'm going to use post it notes to help revise my Spanish. I've found that the print outs I stick up around my computer and work space are notes that I remember most. So I will continue to rotate these notes and stick little post it notes up everywhere I can. Another example that I will use is to test myself. With Spanish a few students and myself are going to meet somewhere quiet to speak in Spanish and test each other.
From last week I find myself focusing more. I'm working from my own timetable, I'm absorbing information faster, reading faster and I am spreading my time more evenly over the subjects I have to study. Reading and listening to Spanish on the bus is helping. The more traffic jams I get stuck in the better! I have time to read no matter what I'm doing.
For next week my goals are:
To keep up regular Spanish exercises at home, attending intercambio and testing myself at home. Also I want to have improved the process of planning a project or essay. I have been studying study skills, this really helps!

Week beginning Monday 16th Nov

So I managed to get my head around reflexive verbs for Spanish. I just spent a bit of time on it using different techniques to try and understand like, chopping up pieces of paper each with the conjugation and the verb and kept testing myself.
Since last post I have spent more and more time on Spanish. Even during any bus journey I take I make sure I have my iPod with me so I can listen to Spanish when I have any spare time. I going to the intercambio and hopefully meeting up with a partner next week. All this is helping but I'm aware I need to keep stepping it up a level. For next week I want to work on my fluency in my Spanish speaking. I want to work on my scanning texts while I'm reading information for essays I'm writing. We did a great exercise with Evan today that made me realise that if you concentrate on what you are looking for, scanning is so easy and fast.
So hopefully by next week I can look back and see that I'm working faster by using this technique and also getting more done.
Everything is really linking together now through the subjects. I do wish I could have some specific Spanish homework though. I know we are supposed to be taught this way to become more disiplined, but learning a language is so different to the other subjects.

9th Nov-16th Nov = GOALS!

So this week my goals are to learn more effectively, using the techniques I outlined in my most recent post. Also by next week I want to get my head around Spanish reflexive verbs completely, I also want to get into a routine for studying Spanish. I want to do this by studying Spanish for at least half an hour a day along with whatever else I'm studying that night too. This will hopefully improve my disipline and my Spanish too. I want to get into a routine, become comfortable with this, and continue with the same momentum of effort. Learning a language is hard work, and so I do leave Spanish until after my other studies. If by next week I can spend at least half an hour a day on Spanish, then I can get used it being in my life every single day and it will get easier. So, this is one of my main goals this week. Everyday, Spanish.

Learning More Effectively

I'm assessing the sheet given to us by Dieca: Overview of Strengths. In the Vark test my scores showed that I learn more effectively in a visual/seeing way and also in a practical way. So from the examples from the Overview of Strengths I have chosen techniques I will try to use in the next week from each of the three columns including the Auditory/Listening column as well as the Visual and Practical columns. Here are the techniques I will try:

• Using colour, illustrations and diagrams to help you learn.
• Using coloured pens to spell difficult words: using different colours for complex syllables.
• Using a tape recorder for notes and thoughts.
• Writing things out in a step by step order is a useful way to remember.
• Making a mind map or spidergram (using Tony Buzan resource).
• Using joined up writing to make the flow easier

More Reflective thinking

Here is my test result from the quiz Jordi sent us about learning styles:-

Your scores were:

• Visual: 6
• Aural: 6
• Read/Write: 10
• Kinesthetic: 7

I found this really interesting, and I believe it's quite right! I do like to write things down as a way of learning them. While I was travelling I kept a journal constantly, and I keep a notebook on most of the time so I can jot down thoughts and ideas. I also agree I like to learn in a kinesthetic way too. Although I'm not sure how that learning style would benefit a course like the one we're doing...?
Anyway this week I have taken some of Dieca's tips and have tried to use revision techniques that I dont usually use. Revising with coloured paper and revision cards have really helped. Also I have started really trying to test myself on Spanish and on subjects I'm trying to hold in my memory such as; Chartism and details about my Investigating Europe project.
I'm finding that Communication class is really helping me to get a lot faster and more efficient at analysing and writing. In the last communication class I was really tired and not feeling well, and also worrying about something. So I was really suprised when I sat down to the assessment at my computer and found I could start ok and really get on with it. It felt as if I am already more trained and disiplined, it was really good feeling.
I feel that I would like to spend more time working with the powerpoint application to feel confident, so hopefully I will get a chance on Monday. The idea of the talk still gives me the willies but the more I investigate my project and become knowledgeable about what I will write and talk about, the more that worry falls away.
With my Investigating Europe project I have found that I need to accommodate for things not going to plan. I have been in contact with a few lecturers from Edinburgh Uni who agreed to be interviewed by me about my project subject, but have since not replied, or let me down, which is a shame. But never mind I have a plan B now! I'm going to interview our lovely Jordi!!
I want to become more disiplined on myself and really get loads done, so on Wednesday I studied really hard to a timetable I'd pre-arranged. I kept a pile of chocolate and some fruit nearby, and kept to regular tea breaks too. Although I really felt like going out for a Jack and coke, I stuck to it to the end and felt better for it. I got some really productive study done and realised it wasnt that I couldn't do it (Chartism essay etc) it was that the mind was willing but the flesh wasn't, thats all.
So I'm getting better at believing in myself and still feel so lucky to be doing this course and be given the future opportunities. I can see the end result in my head now, everytime I feel like just flopping on the couch (often) I see myself graduating and making my mum and dad proud and remember, I'm doing what I really want to do!!

Reflective thinking....

This week in Communication class I learned more about extracting information from texts in the practice reading assessment. I'm trying to think more deeply about what I'm reading but also take important parts of it that I need more than others. I found that in the assessment I wanted to say lots about what I thought, but this turned out to be far too much. I would end up running out of time and not finishing the assessment if I dont change this. So I need to practice working more quickly and extracting what I need from the text by scanning over it first of all and then picking up applicable points quicker.
In investigating Europe class, I discussed my project plans with Joe. I went through the techniques I plan to use to investigate the Moors effect on Andalucian culture. I going to use different methods of obtaining information. I'm going to interview an Andalucian on the contemporary culture, and also perhaps an Andalucian person who knows about the period in history involving the Moors. Also I want to gather information from the internet and books, something which is taking quite a bit of investigation actually. I have lots of separate books on Spain, Spanish contemporary, and on the Moors. So I'm trying to connect and cross reference the information I'm collecting. I'm hoping that popping to Granada next week will help me a lot. I'll be able to see first hand the effect on the architecture, the art and will be able to investigate the possible effect on the language and the people by speaking to an academic at the university or maybe just a friendly local. I have learned that I need to have a lot of disipline to work alone and avoid distractions. I am trying to keep thinking of ideas that I can keep constantly at the back of my mind to drive me on. I'm reading on the bus, popping into the library to check out any more books I can find (I've tried a lot of libraries!)
I am using skills I think I'm picking up in other classes, like History, Literature and Communication, skills such as essay writing, investigating and gathering information, reading-which I thought I could dobefore! Now I'm learning there is more to it and I can look a whole lot deeper.
In history we went through the democracy of the 1600's-1700's with Evan, continuing on from 1500 or so last week. I am going to try remember the order of the monarchy, the dates and names of each person and the events at the time that changed history, or guided the course of it. It's really interesting to learn how we got here in politics and the royal family etc. I didn't know the the royal family are German! I love history and I'm learning so much about it.

Reflective journal week 5

Aaah Spanish, is there enough time in the day to learn what I want! Getting there though. I have learned I want to work more on speaking, listening is the easiest part for me, but thinking in Spanish of what I want to say, constructing sentences, writing, and speaking take a good bit longer. I have learnt that writing things down really helps me, if I'm trying to really learn something I just keep doing written exercises with it. I'm going to start listening to Spanish more also. As Alicia says I should revise the handouts everyday before moving on to new things. She gave great encouragement and I really feel like I can do this if I apply myself. Learning two new words everyday is reasonable to do and as she says it all adds up!!

In Literature class, we handed in our essays on the poem 'Valentine.' I really enjoyed doing this, I had to cut my essay in half because I doubled the word count! I learned from this that the main work in writing an essay is the organisation and work you do before hand. I spent hours making notes and trying to put it in order to make sense. Writing it up was easy after that. I bought a book on literary terms and re-read the poem several times using this. It was really interesting noticing techniques used and sort of getting what the writer was trying to convey.

For our Investigating Europe class, I had a subject to study chosen. That was the variety of cultures in Spain. I decided this was too wide a subject to try to fit into 2500 words and a 3/4 minute talk. It's sooo varied!! So I chose one area of Spain I've always been interested in- Andalucia and the Moors effect on the culture of the area. I'm finding loads of great books on this, my next challenge is to find somebody to interview about it. Maybe a field trip to sunny Andalucia!!! So I learned that I need to be organised in this, and create a plan of action to use the time I have well. The 7th of December is not that far away really! I learned that mind mapping and elimination helps in making decisions sometimes and clear thinking.

I really enjoyed Communications class this week. We analyzed a Scotsman article which was arguing the case for animal testing. Something which obviously provokes feelings of some kind. We looked at the points made and what exactly the writer was trying to say, and how exactly he was doing that. I thought it was interesting how much he was trying to sway us arguing one side of things. In reading newspaper articles since this I find it's so common, the articles are so opinionated. I learned to put my feelings aside when analyzing a text to try and empathise with what the writers points and opinions were.

Reflective Journal

Communication 4

Thursday 24th September

This session we read an extract from Bill Bryson's novel about the english language.
From beginning to end we analyzed the extract to find Bill's main points he was trying to get across. I found this a good exercise in focusing on the writer's feeling, and not getting lost in amongst the back up information. What really suprised me was that at first looking for his first point, second and so on, I overlooked at first that at the start of his main points he actually said-"My first point is" "And my second point is" etc. I found out that I read quite fast and sometimes skim over things that meaningful points would become more obvious if I slow right down.

Reflective journal

Literature Tuesday 22nd September 2009

In this session we analyzed the poem 'Valentine' by Carol Ann Duffy. We read through the poem several times and discussed what we thought the writer was trying to convey. We looked at the use of language and learned about different techniques used.
I learned to pay close attention to every word and sentence to analyze the meaning of each. The meaning of the poem changed for me the more we talked about it, and as I learned exactly what methods the writer had used.

The most interesting thing about this class for me was opening my mind to poetry, and literature. The more I understood it the more interested I became. I loved starting to learn skills to help look texts more deeply.

I think from this session I have also learned that I would like to learn more about Literary techniques and build on analyzation skills. I think this really helps me think outside the box!

Hola

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