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.