Topic and Source Outline

Decision

Preparing for exams is always difficult. I have always been a person, who when trying to study for a test, looks at the class as a whole trying to pick out what I believe are key facts or ideas from the class but without any real direction. This is why I chose the source and topic outline because it funnels the material into specific organized sections based on the main ideas of the class. I used this strategy with my EDU 200 class as well as my Rel 101 class

Prep and application

First I started off by looking at the syllabus given to me by my teacher. My EDU 200 teacher in specific gives a nice overview of each lecture's topic as well as the readings associated with each class. This made a very easy and direct way to approach the source outline. I looked at the title of the lecture for the day and then listed the sources for the lecture under that. Creating the topic outline was a bit more difficult. Going through the description of each lecture, I picked out key words in conjunction with the patterns in my annotated syllabus to see what the overall topics were. Then I filed the readings from the source outline under each of the topics. I have a midterm for EDU 200 at the end of the month and this will definitely help  in conjunction with the twenty minute test prep.

LAME



I am the type of learner that needs a clear visual map for source materials, and the topic and source outlines help organize the materials from the readings into concise sections. Now all I have to do is take the actions necessary to become fully prepared i.e. studying a head of time. My evaluation of this strategy is very positive. In conjunction with the annotated syllabus I feel this is a very effective tool to pinpoint exam questions and study more effectively

Anticipating Test Questons for MAT 121 and ANT 111

That's right... its time for another week of learning strategies from your favorite blog THE GROUP NAME BLOGGERS! This week is especially important because we are going to be talking about EXAM PREP. The exam prep strategy that I chose to use this week is ANTICIPATING TEST QUESTIONS. I had a Anthropology test last Wednesday and I have a Math exam coming up so I felt that this strategy would be the most beneficial for me and once again I used L.A.M.E. to figure out the best way to use this strategy.

L- (learner)- I am a visual learner so SEEING test questions before I take my tests will help me be more prepared because I will know what type of questions to expect.

A- (action)- I created two practice test that asked questions about the material we have learned, one for my ANT 111 class and one for my MAT 121 class.

M- (materials)- I used the syllabuses of each class, along with the class notes and the information from the textbooks to create my questions.

E- (evaluation)- Many of the test questions that i created on my ANT 111 practice test turned out to be similar or even identical to the ones on the test. My MAT 121 test is not for another week but I feel prepared for the test because of this learning strategy.

When I was creating the test questions for my ANT class I knew that I should get them from either my lecture notes or the textbook because this class is mostly lecture and individual reading focused. And for my MAT class I know that the class is mostly lecture focused but the tests have similar types of questions to the ones in the exercises from the textbook, so I created to types of questions, concept or vocabulary questions and I picked out random questions from textbook.

ANT 111

MAT 121

I found that by anticipating test questions and completing my practice tests I became much more prepared for each of my tests. I have not gotten my test back for my ANT class but I feel like I did well and I will let you know How I did in next week's blog post, once I get my grade. I am sure that I will be using this strategy again and if you want to try it out, comment and let me know how it went.

See you next week!

C.O.P.E.R.

Welcome back to the Group Name Blogger's Blog (sorry about the name... we were a little rushed when we came up with it). Once again we are here to tell you about the learning strategies that we used this week. This week's learning strategies are all about PROBLEM SOLVING and I chose to try out the strategy C.O.P.E.R. in my CLS 105 class and in my ANT 111 class. I used L.A.M.E. to help me chose what strategy to use and for what classes I wanted to use them in.

L- (learner)- I am a visual learner so I needed a strategy that was some thing that I could see and hold in my hand. The C.O.P.E.R. strategy was perfect.

A- (action)- I decided to find a project that I needed to work on and a test that I needed to study for.

M- (materials)- My project was my Faculty Interview Project for my CLS class and my test was for my ANT class.

E- (evaluation)- I was able to complete my project and I will take my test next Wednesday and I am confident that I will do well.

If you are not familiar with the C.O.P.E.R. strategy, this is what it is. It is a chart that is divided up into 5 sections.

Current Condition
Options
Plan
Execute the Plan
Reflect

You then fill out the chart and your problems will be solved in no time.

My favorite thing that I did on my C.O.P.E.R. chart was my "Execute the Plan" section. I made a checklist with things that i needed to do and I also put the days that I would do them. It allowed me to visually see my progress and it made sure I was on track.

Here are my C.O.P.E.R. charts

ANT

CLS

Ranking Priorities

This week I used the ranking priorities strategy to use in my WRT 105 class as well as my CLS 105 class. The ranking priorities strategy works by creating a list of all the work that needs to get done in a certain class, and then placing the letters A, B, or C next to them to signify the importance. A being absolutely essential, B being important, and C being optional. After determining the importance of each assignment, one rearranges the assignments in each letter category according to the priority of each assignment.

My writing 105 class has a lot of weekly assignments that often feel like busy work, so the ranking priorities strategy is actually quite effective for this class. Each week we are given a readings and a assignment based around that. We also had a worksheet due that week, but an essay was also assigned for the near future. To me the most obvious way to prioritize the assignments for this class was by the due date itself. The weekly assignments as well as the worksheet were categorized as absolutely essential simply because they were do in two days. The essay, on the other hand, I listed as important because it was not do for two weeks or so and as much as I would have liked to get a start on it there was no real sense of urgency surrounding it. I combined the Ranking priorities strategy with the ten minute technique with writing 105 because the work is very monotonous. It includes defining vocabulary words and other things that make me want to get up and go do something else, so the ten minute technique proved to be beneficial because it helped me power through the work I needed to do. Combined with the ranking priorities, which helped me visualize my goals, I finished under 40 minutes.

The ranking priorities actually helped less with my CLS class, simply because, the homework I needed to get done was all absolutely essential, so it was hard to really make a list and understand what truly needed to get done because it all needed to get done.

I picked the ranking priorities strategy because it is a great tool for me to use because I always find myself jumping from task to task and accomplishing a lot less in a small period of time rather than just getting all my work done at once. The ranking priorities strategy gave me a clear trajectory for accomplishment

Ranking Priorities

First, I used ranking priorities for CLS105 considering we have a lot of work to do for it for the next week. I adapted the strategy to suit me better. Instead of going by Letter than Number for priorities I just did a list of numbers and an order of when I have to do it. For number 1 I put this blog, because it is due first and I know doing this blog usually helps me out with getting the rest of my work done. Next, I put the reflection for the faculty interview project because it is the most important part that I have left to do. Third, I put going over my syllabus annotations to make sure they were good. Then I put a fourth number for putting my project together. Next, I put a fifth number for printing out grading rubrics for this blog and grading myself. I did another adaptation to this strategy by putting hours and days for me to do certain things. You can see that in the picture I uploaded to this blog.

I also used this strategy for my WRT105 class. We have many readings to do and papers to start and such. I did not use the same adaptations as I used for CLS because they did not seem to be fit for this class. I used the classic ranking priorities where I used letters and numbers. A was for what was necessary to do first, B was for what was semi necessary and C was for what I would do if I had extra time. Under the A section I put that I had to do things such as watch my movie for class. Under B I put readings that I had to read for the next week or so. For C I put the 10 minute test prep and other things that were not essential but would be good for me to do.

This strategy helped me see what I had to get done and combining it with putting hours/days of what I had to do helped me complete everything on time. It helped me a great deal this weekend and I hope it helps all of you as well. Try my adaptations if you think they suit you as well!!!!

D's Due and Don't Organizer

This week I used the D's Due and Do Organizer for my classes EDU 200 and WRT 105. I found the D's Organizer to be helpful especially for my EDU 200 class because I had a project due this week. The D's organizer helps you visualize the amount of work you have to do each day and what work is actually due in class during the week to help you prioritize. In conjunction with the fritter finder the D's organizer can be very helpful because you can find times during the day in which you have small pockets of time to do lower priority work. The only drawback of the D's organizer is that it leaves you a bit short sighted for longer projects such as the faculty interview project for CLS 105. The D's organizer should probably be used with a monthly calendar as well to be truly effective otherwise one could easily lose track of the long term.

I chose this strategy because I am a forgetful person. If I don't plan out my week and get my assignments out on paper so that they are all clearly visible something will definitely fall through the cracks. I think that the D's organizer could be used by anyone; however, I do not think it should be used on its own otherwise more challenging assignments could be procrastinated upon and become more difficult than needs to be.

Task/Time Management

The strategy that I decided to use this week was the D's Do and Due Organizer and I used it in my AST 101 class and in my MAT 121 class. The reason I chose this strategy is because I felt like the organizer would help me to avoid procrastinating by setting times for me to do my work. At the beginning of the week I went to my planner and I drew a line down the middle of the pages and I labeled the left side of the page "Do" and the right side "Due". I then wrote all of my assignments that are due this week on the right side. I wrote in my AST online homework, my AST pre-lab assignment, and my MAT test on the appropriate days. I then wrote in on the left side when I was planning on completing or studying for those assignments.
This strategy was did help me not procrastinate but I have never really enjoyed using a planner. Constantly getting it out and flipping through the pages to the right date becomes somewhat of a hassle. I found that my other method that I have been doing before i started the D's Do and Due Organizer is much more convenient for me. I use a to-do list app for my iphone called 2Do. I am constantly looking at my phone throughout the day and having all of my tasks organized there is much easier than carrying around a planner.