Traditions

Describe one or more traditions you value in your family? Why is that tradition important to you?

I would say that traditions are not as important to my family as they may be to other families. My family doesn’t have a set way of doing things that sets us apart. The only thing that is really important to us is that the whole family is together and that we are well and at peace. Isn’t that what is really important? That, during times of celebration or holidays we all need to be there with each other.

While traditions and things are as important, there is one tradition that stands out in my mind. This may be the only thing my family does, there is one tradition that stands out in my mind. When a child in our family turns one year old, they are put in a table in cake and allowed to make as big of a mess as they desire. The child is then photographed to document this wondrous occasion. I’ve always liked this occasion. I thought it was a funny way to get blackmail of my younger sisters and brothers. Now that they are older, all I have to do is threaten to show their friends the pictures of them playing in the cake and they immediately bend to my every desire. This isn’t fair for them, because they don’t know where my pictures are.

Studying for IDC

Please describe the study strategies that you intend to use for your IDC mid-term. (For example, do you plan to annotate your notes, set up a study schedule, etc.) Please be specific. Then explain why you think that these particular strategies will work best for you.

There are several strategies that I am planning to implement to make my grade higher. The first thing I want to do is make a schedule. I want to be sure that everything gets studied, and that nothing is left out. I also want to be sure, scheduling that I don't overload. I need to find a healthy balence of 2-3 hours a day to devote completely to studying.

As for the actual studying goes, I've found in the past that typing my notes and saying them out loud as I type them helps me greatly. Another thing I can do, is to reword the answer. It sounds sort of funny, but the more ways I find to say a particular fact or idea, the more times it is imprinted in my brain. Also, for major people or other key ideas I will make flashcards to help me review. I will make sure to include time to make flashcards when I plan my schedule.

These are things I can do to help me study for my Ideas and Culture exam.

Part I. Describe the most effective in-class learning experience in your life and the most effective out-of-class learning experience of your life. Provide enough detail so that someone who was not there will understand it. (The out-of-class experience might be something like learning a lesson about how to treat your fellow human being, a lesson about learning to do some life skill like riding a bike or tying your shoe, or anything else that you count as an important life lesson.)

Part II: What did you learn in EACH case? What factors made the learning experience effective? (Such as the way the lesson was taught, how you approached the learning, etc.)

Part III: Reflect on the things you can take from each example to help you learn more effectively in AND out of the classroom at Converse.

The most effective in-class learning experience that I’ve ever experienced was first time I flunked a test. Believe it or not, this was a very positive experience. My achievements up to that point had given me a very big head; I needed this failure to show me that I had to work to get the grades I wanted. While getting a bad grade wasn’t something that had an immediate positive effect on my grade, it did have long term benefits for me in that class and in future classes. I began to study, took better notes in class and paid more attention to what the teacher was saying.

The most effective out-of-class learning experience I’ve ever had involves a time I was at the mall with some girls I’d met from school. We were browsing in this cute little souvenir shop. After looking around at all of the different glass figurines and statues I witnessed one of the girls slip something into her pocket. At first, I was very confused as to what I should do. I didn’t want these girls to think I wasn’t “cool” enough to hang out with them, but I certainly didn’t want to say nothing about the shop lifting. So, I stupidly did nothing until we left the store. We walked around for a few more minutes, darting in and out of stores. Then, it was time to go home. We walked past the little shop again and the girl that had taken the object decided to go to the bathroom. I noticed that some of the shop keepers were talking to security, and I made the decision to approach them about what my friend had done. She got in trouble and I got my mom to come pick me up from the mall.

I learned a valuable lesson in both cases. In the case of the failed test, I learned that I am not invincible to bad grades. I need to study, I need to prepare, and I need to take good notes. Through this lesson I learned things that are more applicable to college. For example, when I learned I needed to study, I began to develop study strategies. I’m also very glad that I approached this experience in a positive way. I think that made the biggest difference. If I had decided to get mad, or had reacted in a negative way, I don’t think I would have learned the same lesson.

For the case of the stolen article, I learned that no matter what I need to be honest. This means that I am responsible not only for what I do, but also what I see. In sort, I learned values that are in the honor code. If I had choose to approach the situation differently, if I had decided to not say anything to the security officer I would not have learned the lesson. If I had succumbed to peer pressure, and stole something too, I would never learned the importance of honestly

I can use both of these lessons at Converse College. I can use the value of hard work I learned in the first example in my everyday life. From what I’ve learned so far, Converse is a difficult environment. It’s harder than any duel enrollment or honors class I’ve ever taken. I really need to take my study skills and note taking skills and utilize them to the fullest. I’m glad I learned this lesson before I got to school, because I don’t want failing grades on my college transcript. I can use the value of honesty I learned in my experience with my friend as well. Converse College has a very strong honor code system. Now that I’ve seen what kind of trouble you can get in for doing something such as stealing I will never even be tempted to. This is good, because it means I’ll never have to worry about going up against the honor board, or civitas.

What is integrity? Why is it important? How do you practice integrity in your daily life?

Integrity is maintaining your honor in everything you do. It involves telling the truth and always remembering to give those who deserve it the credit for their accomplishments. Integrity is what you do when no one is around. People who have integrity take pride in themselves, and understand the value of trust. These are the kind of people who would never do something dishonest, even if they knew beyond doubt that they would not be caught.
Integrity is important because it defines your ability to be trusted and your character. It's important that in today's changing word we hold on to the aspects of being a good just individual.
You can practice integrity in your life by being a good person. When writing, or doing homework this means you need to give everyone credit when you use their stuff. When talking to people, retelling accounts or simply having a conversation you need to be honest, and open with them. This doesn't mean you have to spill all the juicy details of your personal life- but when someone asks you a question you should answer it truthfully. If you were put in a situation where it would be beneficial for you to lie and you did, that would not be a good example of how to maintain integrity. If you were found out, people later might not believe you even when you are telling the truth.

September 1st

Based on our discussion so far about the differences between high school and college and the challenges of managing your time for success in college, please reflect on some strategies that you plan to try for managing your own time and balancing the many demands in your new life as a college student. Write about some of your thoughts on these challenges and reflect on some of the strategies you plan to try.

A lot of the challenge in college classes that doesn't appear so much in high school classes is learning to manage time effectively. Back in high school, We had our parents to step in and say "well, you know you have to get this done" and "you need to stop doing that and focus on doing this". In college though, the responsibility for knowing what you need to be studying, where you need to be, what time you need to get up and other issues falls directly on us. I know that doing all of this for myself is going to be hard. I've always depended on my mother to keep me in line with scheduling and to keep me on task with what I need to be doing. Some of the strategies I can use to stay on track is to keep a good calender. This way, I'll know exactly when things are due, and what events are coming up on campus that I might want to attend. Not only do I need to keep up with a calender but I need to take the time to sit down and look at it. This is helpful because it helps remind me of things I need to do, and also gives me a chance to go back and change dates when things conflict. Another thing that goes along with the calendar is a goals list. Over the weekend, I made a list of everything I needed to accomplish this weekend. Looking back, I realize that the list was a bit lofty and not everything got done like it should have, but I still felt like I was more productive than I would have been. Another thing that some one I know used to do to help her get work done was to spend three hours of self-required time in the library a day. She would go to the library whether she had to study or not. She found that she was much more compelled to study when she was in there because there were fewer distractions, and because she went there everyday, she studied so much more.