Let's GO ON AN ADVENTURE & MAKE EVERYTHING MAGICAL!!!
Exhibit 1: Mindset
Ever since I enrolled into Introduction to Comparative Politics course, I was thinking that "I think I"m not gonna do well in this class because it sounds hard to take." (Inner Critic) Inner Critic is the internal voice that judges you by accepting too much responsibilities and blames everything on yourself in a wrong way.
On the first day of the spring semester, the professor told the class that she has her own website where we can find syllabus, study guides, etc. if we need any resources. I was looking up the syllabus and saw that we have this thing called the "Weekly Analysis", where we have to do a 2-3 page paper single-spaced. I was thinking in my head that "It could've been a lot easier to do double-spaced than single-spaced."(Inner Defender) Inner Defender is the internal voice that accepts little responsibilities to judge other people within their thoughts and have conversations that are full of criticism, accusation, complaining, blameness, and judgement towards others. However, I started writing my first paper for this class at the beginning of the semester and I was trying my best to get it close to 2 FULL pages. I also see that each Weekly Analysis due every Tuesday at 8 a.m., so I woke up at 5 a.m. to proofread and edited my paper to make sure that it makes sense and everything is connected. I went to class that day, feeling great that I submitted it, and I was wondering in my head, "how is she gonna grade this paper?" First week of school went by and I haven't received my grade yet so I was thinking, "I wonder if she's gonna be hard on papers."(Inner Guide) Inner Guide is the internal voice that seeks the best out of any situation wisely and balances the inner critic and the inner defender. On Monday night around 1:30, I received an e-mail saying "Weekly Analysis 1 has been graded." I was nervous on how well I did on that paper; I went on Canvas and I began to check and see what grade do I have. One thing that I said in my head was "I wonder if she's gonna be hard on papers."
Now in week 2, I started working on Weekly Analysis 2, which I think is gonna be a lot easier because I made a 100 on the first one. After I had submitted my second paper, I changed my mind and said, "You know what I can an A or B on this." My grade on the second paper came in. I GOT ANOTHER HONDA!!
Now after turning in 6 Weekly Analyses, I started to have confidence in myself, although, I only have one C. However, I think this song called "Why Should I Worry?" by Dodger(Billy Joel) from Oliver & Company relates to what I am currently doing by writing these papers every day. This song makes me want to dance and shout just like that dog like I'm in church after receiving 100's, A's, and one C on those papers. SANG TO ME BILL!!!
This experience is a lesson where you should believe in yourself and don’t think too hard but make things happen. The inner guide is my “default” setting in my life because things will work out for my good and seeking the best would lead me into guidance. I think this inner voice help me be real honest to myself and knowing what to expect when something happens to me. For example, in this spring semester, I have only one bad grade and I was thinking in my head what do I need to do to get a decent grade in this class. I don’t want to change on how the inner guide goes through my head or how things emphasize my actions every day of my life. The inner guide is the only way in your mind to have either positive or negative thoughts and would synthesize the way you think on a daily basis. I will use the inner guide whenever I feel stressed because it could help me push through some things like homework or studying so I can stay on top of my game. I can use the inner guide in the future to see what I can do to obtain my thoughts in my mind through reality that would make things intense in any situation. I can have a positive behavior by knowing how to handle certain situations and how to change them. The inner guide is the balance between inner critic and inner defender, which can make me overthink on some things that I can encounter.
Exhibit 2: Time-Management
This is a planner that I began to use when I have upcoming events, tests, and exams. I know there are a lot of things going on this week so I began to write down a little bit of things that I would do if I have nothing on that day but I wrote down the upcoming events, assignments, and tests for the week of February 27-March 3. I don't really use the planner like I should've but I am using it now if there is something going on this week.
I've joined more than two organizations, which includes the Tiger Band, Gospel Choir, and Sister 2 Sister Program. Those are the only organizations that I think I can use my time management skills. However, when it comes to exams, tests, quizzes, and homework, one of them or more than one, will pop up in my head out of nowhere. Sometimes, I forget on some assignments that is due prior to next class and I usually go to the library at night to get it done. During this semester, I didn't really procrastinate so I tested myself by doing the Procrastination Quotient Chart and here are my results.
Last semester, I was really busy doing a lot of homework, going to band and gospel choir practices, and going to different meetings is what I usually do on a daily basis. However, this semester, I was doing pretty good by setting up my goals, due dates, exam dates, and upcoming events where I can be available to do anything. By saying all these things, there is a term called 'Time Management', where I have manage my time on studying, doing papers/homework, going to practices/meetings, and hanging out. This semester is going really smooth and I love the way how it flows when you don't have that much going on. These three pictures below is what I did when I observed myself on one of the days of the week of what was I actually doing that day step-by-step. I did Tuesday on the Time Management Observation Sheet and I also did Saturday and Monday on the Quadrant Action Chart. The Quadrant Action Chart refers to what is important or what is urgent when you do certain things on a certain day. Here is what I did on these three days.
This monthly calendar helps me keep up of the upcoming events, quizzes, exams, and assignments due on the following day or week. I put the week of April 23-29 as my studying week because this is the week where I get prepared for the Finals week, although we have three more weeks of school, I don't know how it's gonna turn out. Sometimes I get nervous before the Finals week because I don't know what's going to be on the exam and how my grades gonna look by the end of the semester. However, things are gonna work out before Finals week; I have put together this Weekly Schedule Planner of my classes and the times where I studied for each classes on a certain day. I There were different colors on the planner that I used to see what do I need to study on. For example, I need to study French at 10:10 before I go to class or do anything else. Here is my Weekly Schedule Planner:
Time Management is when you practice using your time effectively especially studying time and leisure time. Most of the time, we feel stressed about some things we can't get done or something that we can't handle in certain situations. Sometimes, I feel the same way and I don't get enough sleep because I've been stressed over assignments, homework, and papers that is due in a couple of days or weeks. Here's the video on how I feel stressed over the night and worry about papers and assignments. I also affects on how I don't get enough sleep and sometimes I feel shocked when the deadline is coming up:
Exhibit 3: Learning
This exhibit is based on this one class called "Intro. to Comparative Politics"(POSC1040) where I wrote a lot of papers and discuss more about politics that may affect international relations around the globe. I was doing I have an upcoming exam on Thursday at 8 a.m. I check my professor website to download the midterm review so I can see what terms are going to be on the exam. I saw the list of vocabularies that we went over in class and I was thinking how I can study these terms. However, I decided to put those on the flash cards and make up some mnemonic devices that might help me on the exam. Here are the flash cards for the exam and the mnemonic devices that I made up.
I took the exam after I studied the night before by using flash cards and mnemonic devices to help me remember and understand the concepts of each term. Few days later, I received my results and I made a 68 on the exam. I could've done a lot better if I study more and pay close attention to the short answer questions. I didn't receive the results that I wanted or expected because I did the last minute studying to see if I can still remember the terms that she have given us to study and I didn't really pay that close attention to the short answer questions so I guessed it in my own opinion. I did pretty good in this class until the exam scores came out and it dropped my grade like I'm having a heart attack.
Now I have a paper that is due this Tuesday and the questions that I supposed answer has to be analyze and understandable of what the question is really asking. One of the questions for the paper is "what collective action problem do rebellions often face?" I don't really understand the question so one thing that I did is looking up the word 'collective action problem' and I was looking this word up on quizlet to understand the term and how the question supposed to be answered. Sometimes, I used quizlet like Google but most of the time, I used to understand the term that I didn't know or understand what the term means. We didn't really talk much on this term however, the good thing is we went over it in class to analyze certain events that caused 'collective action problems'.
Self-Exploration: levels of Commitment
My experiment for this exhibit is to experience how much work I can get done in the library on each floor. I began to experience how the atmosphere on each floor can help me focus on my work and studying. Whenever I go to the library, I often go to the 4th, 5th, or 6th floor, but it depends on how good and comfortable I am on that day. Before I start on my work and studying, I start writing down my goals to see if I can achieve it in the library. Most of the time, I start on something that I think I can get done quicker and faster. Sometimes, I get on my phone for a couple of minutes after I finish one assignment. I believe that anybody can get their work done because they're in the library but let's give it a try. GOTTA BLAST!!!
My experience in this exhibit was very interesting and I like the way it flows when I try to do assignments on each floor and see how much effort did I put in on each floor. I think the floor that made me be more productive is the 5th Floor because Starbucks is on that floor but that don't affect how I finish all my work on that day. I think that I can definitely finish it within 2 hours compared to the other floors. One floor that I think makes me be less productive is the 1st floor because it is too quiet and I might play my music too loud to keep me going and motivated. Nowadays, I should keep things organized and take that into consideration because I always do the To-Do List in the library but, I turn things around and do the To-Do List at home before I head out to the library. For now on, when I go to the library, I can go to the 6th Floor and start studying there, which would help me get things done a lot quicker.
Exhibit 4: post-test analysis and Office Hours visit
After having a good conversation with Professor Sawyer, I begin to start writing my study plan for our upcoming quiz and Final Exam. Here is my study/test-taking plan that I have set up to help me understand the context in each lesson and my studying schedule for the final exam:
My studying plan for FR1020 is more flexible because I have the whole week before the Finals week to understand the concepts and study more closely to the vocabularies in each lesson. The picture above is part of my study plan by looking over my notes and learn what to I need to know for the Final exam. I looked over my syllabus to see how much percentage is this final exam. Most classes will 20% for the final exam that may affect their overall grade. However, this final exam is only 10%!!
Even though it has a really low percentage that affect my overall grade in this class, I think I can pass both the exam and the class with an A. The reason why I say this because I have so many extra credits and my professor will add points on some of the tests and assignments that will help boost my grade up. I believe that my studying plan will work out pretty good and expected to have an A on this final exam although, it is 10% of my final grade.
Exhibit 5: Professor INTERVIEW
I choose to interview Dr. Turner because we have some common interests such as music and political science. I see a couple of times at the Brook Center for different concerts and events and I think that I can interview him as part of the Professor Interview. The interview went really well and I learn a lot from this experience. Some things that he told me were common sense to me when it comes to college life and how to manage your time as a student. My reaction to the answers that he provided was very straight and mindful until he said that he had triple major in college. Some of the things that I have learned from this conversation is if you improved your reading and writing then you could go to any Graduate School to follow your career. Dr. Turner's main topic in this conversation is writing and researching because as a political science major, he have done a lot of writing while he was in college. It affected my perception of this instructor, specifically, and other faculty, in general because he seems to be a cool, fun professor to talk to whenever you have really bad grades or something is not right. One thing that I do not know about Dr. Turner is he plays a guitar and if he would've choose a different career, he would be a monk or a tour guide. Other political science professors that I have had this semester and last semester other than Dr. Turner, they are really nice and like to help and their office hours are pretty tight. Dr. Turner is available every day, which means we can walk in anytime before 4:00. Other interesting things that I learned from this experience is to get to know the professor really well and he told me that he need two things from his students, which is to show up to class and pay attention. This experience taught me a lot and I will never forget the things that Dr. Turner told me about being a college student.
Exhibit 6: Values with short & LONG TERM GOALS
In this exhibit, this is a class activity that we have to work on for homework. The homework is to have a short and long term goal on DAPPS or SMART within having a personal and academic goal. One goal is by the end of the semester and one is by graduation, which makes total sense to me when I was thinking about the end of the semester and my graduation. I did pretty good on setting up goals academically and personally and Here are the my goals that I have set up for both SMART and DAPPS
This exhibit affects the activity that we did in class and it was the most difficult and toughest activity that we have ever participated. The core values is like your personality and how you carry as a person. My top 10 core values are Family, Loving, Helpfulness, Commitment, Forgiveness, Humor, Fun, Caring, God's Will, and Spirituality. Then, we have to set up our top 5 core values that affects my personality into my career. The picture above is my top 5 values and I totally agreed to myself that these core values is part of my personality. However, the toughest decision is to choose your #1 value and that is Loving. Not only did it affect my process in the career, but that's the person I am. Some of the values that is really hard to get rid of is Family, Humor, Fun, and Commitment because these values are the big part of my personality and it helped me leading into working and studying for classes within going to band practices.
I have set up my short term and long term goals to see how committed I am to reach those goals. My short term goal is to make the Dean's List with a 3.5 GPA and my long-term goal is to get into Law School and pursue my career into Family Law. My short term goal may affect my top 5 core values by knowing my confidence and how I can finish strong to get a better GPA. One core value that I know will help me with this goal is Family because they are very supportive and they call or send me a text to make sure that everything is okay and stay on top of my game. My long term goal may affect my top 5 values where I have to find that confidence and faith inside me to let me know that I have a better future ahead of me and keeping God first will take you a mighty long way.
sELF-EXHIBIT: MAke a Smurfs AND DAB GOALS
My experiment for this exhibit is to set my goals in a more creative way to see if it can really help me achieve my goal as I wanted. This exhibit is just like the last exhibit when I have to set up my short and long term goals for academic and personal. Now, I used the words Smart and Dapps and changed it up a bit in a goofy way. I changed Smart into Smurf and Dapps into Dab to see how I can achieved my Smurf and Dab goals. I had put a chart together just like Smart and Dapps and tell what each word describe how I can achieve that goal more specifically.
Even though I like to watch the Smurfs, there are some things that we can learn from the cartoon and Disney characters. So, I was thinking about the words that may relates to Smart but different perspectives when it comes to setting different goals. I think that it would turn out pretty smooth so now, here's the SMURFS Chart on setting goals. I decided to use the Smurf chart as my personal short-term goal because it would break it down easily on how I can do it step by step.
The Smurfs are happy with my goal and they believe that I will can do it and achieve this goal by the end of the semester. When I feel down or stressed out, I don't have to say "smurty, smurf, smurf".
Therefore, it's time to see what do I have the Dab goals where I changed the word Dapps into Dab. I think this particular goal can specify what I need in life or examine myself on the things that I need to focus on. Since the beginning of this semester, I've changed so much and the things that I need to work on including setting my goals and be more organized. Now that the semester is almost over I think that I can pull it off by ending the semester with at least a 3.0 GPA. Right, Mr. Flintstone?
Yabba Dabba Doo!! Yep, he believes that I can finish this semester with a 3.0 GPA. In this semester, I am doing pretty well and have some A's and B's until we get towards the end of the semester, one of my grades is not where it supposed to be so it's time for me to get myself together. I thought that I can be dancing around in circles and dabbing all day but nope. This won't happen to me again after what happen last semester.
Now, for this goal, I set this goal as a long-term goal academically by graduation time and I think this goal can definitely help accomplish my goal. Here is what I put as my Dab goal:
After I had put the Smurfs and Dab goals up, I think I can do all this but one thing that I need to do is to push myself and focus on me and the things that I need to get done by the end of the semester and by graduation. After I've done all this, I will be dancing when I go home like this:
My overall portfolio experience was amazing and each exhibit taught me a lot about who I am as a person and where do I stand in the future. I like the way each exhibit was set up and how the instructions uphold the ideas that we ought to give. One thing that I’ve learned during the portfolio development process is to not procrastinate and manage your time wisely. I’m glad that there is a time management exhibit because everybody including workforce, have practiced this to progress and manage time to get things done. I am good at time management although, I have done a lot of procrastination and “last-minute” thing, I know how to put first things first without getting distracted. It will assist me in the future by knowing my expectations and how to keep my standards at a certain level to keep moving forward. This portfolio process is like a narrow road where you’re the only person walking down that road with no distractions and nobody bothering you. Nowadays, my mom keep telling me, “don’t let nobody change who you are because you are that somebody.” That is something that I would keep in my mind for the rest of my life. This quote relates to the portfolio when I put all my ideas together for each exhibit that I think would help me succeed. The skills, strategies, and ideas that I had put together for this portfolio helps me even though, I have failed one of my exams, I still have a good, decent grade in that class. Most of the strategies that I used for each exhibit is straightforward and I have no problems of doing the portfolio. This experience will show me in the future whether I have done nothing to achieve or I have accomplished my goals to succeed. The book that we read called “Working Towards Excellence” is a definite book where I can follow the values that Buyer have wrote about and see what changes your way of becoming successful in the future. This book also relates to this portfolio because there are similar things that we did in the portfolio affects the values that was given in the book. Therefore, the book could’ve been one of my strategies for any of these exhibits but I get most of the experience from both assignments. It has been a really great experience from the portfolio, class, and really great, awesome, fun instructor. Remember, let's make all of our dreams come true.
See Ya Later!!
Credits:
Created with images by CandaceApril - "Fireworks at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom"