Intro/Background

Hello, my name is Paige Burton and In this reflection, I am going to be really honest. I have no knowledge of the planets, processes, or the impact it can have on humans, and I am very uncomfortable with each of these student learning objectives. My knowledge extends to about, The sun is the center of the universe and we rotate around it. would like to focus on the geological maps however because I know that this will be my weakest area and the hardest one for me to grasp.

Goals

I am the type that always stresses about school and grades, I always try to get ahead and make sure that I understand the material being taught. I am fully aware that with this upgrading style of teaching I am going to have to work through many of my normal stressors and relax a little. Although it feels scary to think about the fact that I will not know my grade as I turn things in, I feel like this will be a good learning experience for me to come up with some new techniques to not stress so much. I am trying to go into this as open-minded as I possibly can and try to be aware of the fact that this teaching style is in place with our best interest in mind. I am going to try and use this as an opportunity to learn under a stress-free mindset and grow as a person. That being said, my normal goal for a normal class setting is to get and maintain an A throughout the semester, and if this was a graded class that would still be my goal. However, this class is different. Due to the abnormality of this class, my SMART goal is going to be to learn the material as well as some life skills by the end of this class that I can take with me throughout my entire life. As this class has gone on, I would say that I have meant some of my overall goals but maybe not all of them. The beginning of the class was going well, I was completing the work and really learning the materials. I feel like I did good on actually learning what was being taught and not just completing the busy work. However, as the class went on, I began to stress because the schedule was constantly changing, I wasn't getting any feedback on my work and I was lacking motivation to do anything. I still feel like I educated myself well on the material and still maintained the goal of learning but not the goal of stressing less.

Methods

I plan to obtain this goal by attending class and being fully focused while here, keeping up on the reading, notes, and other assignments, as well as studying, things like flashcards, hands-on work, reading with note-taking, going back and looking at the notes throughout the semester and talking with other classmates and the teacher when I feel stuck or confused. Lastly, I want to fully dedicate myself to my improvement in and out of the class and hold myself accountable for mistakes or laziness along the way. Although I have missed a little bit of class here and there due to work, I still made huge schedule adjustments to make sure I was present in class as much as possible, and whenever I did have to miss I made sure I got the plan ahead of time and still watched the lectures, ready the materials and did the work. I would also contact classmates and review some of their notes and talk to them a little about what we learned. When I was in class I made sure I was focused, paying attention, and participating. I studies ALOT for this class and spent tons of time outside of class to gain information. I also feel like I stayed and asked lots of questions when I was confused about certain topics and over all I think I stuck to these methods and maintained a good strong progression throughout the class. I think these methods worked for me well.

Conclusion/Discussion

Looking at the class overall, I did not enjoy it. I am not a fan of the upgrading method. I understand that things are different for everyone but for me personally, I think it made the class more of a struggle for me, I lacked motivation and didn't feel like I was getting feedback for the work in a timely manner and that was hard for me. I understand the idea behind it and I'm sure it works for many other people but it was definitely not for me. Do feel that even through that struggle and lack of motivation I stayed very engaged and focused in class, I studied a lot, read, watched lectures, took notes, did the labs, and made sure everything was completed on time and always redid something if I got something wrong on it, and I always asked questions when I felt confused and made sure I was really learning the material. I do feel like I got a good 101-level understanding of the topics we learned. I also feel like I learned a few things other than just geology. I feel like I learned the importance of showing up, being engaged, and not falling behind. I also like that I learned how to make an e-portfolio. I think I am most proud of the fact that I stuck it out and still gave my 100% even when I felt like I was drowning. Overall I still believe that I deserve an A because I feel like I put a lot of effort into this class and gained a lot of knowledge as well. I feel like you may disagree with me because I have missed a little bit of class but I still feel strongly that I should get an A.