Life Meanings

13v) A purpose can be a reason for something, something that is necessary or something that should be done. Something worth the time and worth the effort. That is how I see a purpose. According to dictionary references, a purpose is the reason for which something exists or is done, made, or used. The definition is extremely similar to my own. I have a great understanding of the word. 

Everyday, I evaluate the purpose of things. I decide whether or not it is worth it. It can draw the line between hanging out with friends or getting your homework and schoolwork done. A purpose is the underlying reason for why people do things. I often look at the purpose of a college education. I see a degree as something that will take me far in life, it will open doors and bring me to places I had always hoped for. The purpose is worth it and the effort is very necessary. A purpose can verify someone’s beliefs for something and help a cause.

Taking it another step forward, a purpose can also be connected to one’s goal. For example, my education will one day, hopefully, get me a job. A well paying job, at that. I hope it is something that I love and that is something I strive for and always dream about. Purposes are what make the world go round. 

Registering Struggles!

13i) This week registering was a total stress. I woke up at 5:30 am on Monday morning so I would be ready to register and get the classes that I wanted with the professors and times. Unfortunately, I typed in all my CRN numbers and every class was filled. I was booted off banner web until 7:01am because of all the students logging on at once. It was so stressful for me because in the fall we did not have to register ourselves.
The most important aspect was figuring out what classes were best to take after I realized my first choices were no longer an option. All my nursing pre-reqs were filled, along with Spanish 200, which I really wanted to get out of the way. I decided to just take another tier 2 course instead of starting with a language that I have no experience in because it will help save time and money. 

All in all, my schedule is not that bad. I actually like most of the courses that I am taking. I like the times and I really like that I don’t have any Friday classes! The only thing I wish that would change is the time of my math course. I have math Monday and Wednesday from 7:35 to 8:50 pm, and I would prefer a morning or afternoon class, but, it is only one class so I am content with it. 

Thinking Out Of The Box

13b) How do you incorporate creativity into a video about studying?! Well, my goal is to keep the audience (the class) interested. My video will show real life struggles with studying. I plan to have the skits relate to what we go through daily in college. I will set up variations of the problems with studying. First I’ll state the problem, introduce the skit, and then follow the skit with facts and quotes. I will be sure to make the skit, very relatable to most of us students. It will have motivational issues, lacks of how to properly study, and frustration issues with not knowing which material to study. 

For each topic, I will state the problems in words. It will flow across the screen and grab the viewers attention. The skits will be very understandable, but not boring. This may seem hard to do, because studying is not up in the ranks of “fun” but maybe it can be more enlightening. I will introduce new ideas, like maybe if a bunch of students are struggling with a class, they can study together. Maybe, they can make a song that goes along with the information to help them remember and it will also keep them intrigued. I got that idea from an episode of Hannah Montana! I remember years ago Hannah (Miley) made a song to all the bones in the human body. I just may incorporate something like that into my video. Or, a group of students can make quizzes and take each others! I know for me that was always useful. To make my video creative, I will draw out suspense with trial and error so the audience wants to keep watching.

Creativity is not just about having artistic skill, it is about thinking outside of the box. Thinking that is extraordinary. I want to make my video unique and unlike everyone else's but at the same time relatable.

New Study Habits

13a) Studying is a HUGE problem for students. This problem lies more within the upper-level of schooling because throughout grammar school, middle school, and even most of high school, as students we were told what to study. We were given the explicit amount of material needed and we came prepared for the quizzes and tests. In college, we must study on our own. In college, studying can be difficult for many different reasons. It can be due to the lack of motivation and laziness, it can be because students do not know how to properly study, or students may not know what information to study because we are not guided step by step anymore. 

In my video, I plan to show experienced college level thinking with tips on how to study. Within these tips, there will be specific facts that will either be from articles, books, or alternative sources. It is important to back everything up with evidence. The skits that I produce on how to properly study, will be followed with hard evidence. A fallacy will not be able to be found in my video because I will double check, and even triple check to make sure my sources are credible. That is another important aspect to college level thinking, we cannot rely on wikipedia anymore (not that we ever should have). Although, wikipedia is sometimes useful, ANYONE, can write on wikipedia and the information is not always correct. 

I  plan to introduce the problem students encounter with studying, then perform a skit, and then back it up with evidence. That seems like the most resourceful way to prove my point. My point will not only be backed up with my perspective, but with more educated, qualified, and knowledgeable people.

Make Your Own Identity

10v) 

Creativity- the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.

That’s just the basic definition for creativity. There is a lot more to it. Creativity does indeed use the imagination but it goes into depth within the imagination. It forces the brain to go behind its own boundaries and look into ideas. Creativity gives people the ability to be different, to express themselves not only through art or music, but with critical thinking skills. This week we talked about creativity, and I remember learning in my AP Psychology class about Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory. People are different types of learners and use their intelligence in different ways, and it makes them just as smart as the person who can perfect their IQ test. 

Being creative is something everyone has, people just hide it nowadays because I think some people fear to be different. Education systems teach people to only learn in one way but I strongly do not agree. 

Gym Sesh Gone Wrong

10i) This week I had a really interesting experience with the city buses, and by interesting I don’t mean fun or exciting, I mean scary and desperate. Brianna and I had a completely different idea about how the bus systems work, and let’s say, it didn’t end very well for us. 
One of the involvement tasks is to take the city buses downtown, and that was not our goal, BUT, we ended up downtown! We figured if we got on a bus it would eventually take us to Hamden where The Edge is. We had no clue that there were different routes and times that the buses came. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way.
We left at 4:30 pm and expected to be back around 6:30 pm, but did not arrive back until 9:30 pm. We ended up in a really dangerous part of New Haven, more than once, and encountered MANY creepy people on our wonderful journey.
Hopefully, my parents do not see this blog or my dad would be extremely mad!! They always make sure to tell me to be careful because I’m from a small town, Monroe, where nothing goes wrong and New Haven is a complete 180 from Monroe. 

It was an experience though and college is the time to learn new things. Now I know to check bus routes whenever I plan on making a trip! That’s if, I ever decide to use public transportation again....

Be Unique

10b) Creativity is something that every person has, it can lie deeper within their mind which is often triggered by critical thinking or creative thinking. I believe that the two go hand in hand, because while you are thinking creatively, you must also be thinking critically to take your idea and logic to the next step. 
Knowledge is a very important part, as well. Some believe that creativity does not define a how intelligent a person is, but I disagree. I think that creativity is a very important characteristic that pertains to knowledge. Without being taught that creativity is important, success can lack because students are often scared to try new things because of the fear of failure. Education systems these days make it seem like a mistake that is made can end your world. 
Have I made stupid mistakes? Yes, I have, and we all have but it is okay because we all learn. Mistakes teach us to push forward and keep going. My ambition to be creative is because I want to be my own person, I want to be unique. I do not want to be “normal” and have the same educational values as the rest of the world. There are many obstacles that can bring someone down along the way but you just have to know that you are working for something that you truly believe in. The obstacles cannot break you down because then all the hard work and effort will go to waste and not pertain to anything or become anything of a certain value. 
I also believe that ambition can be inspired by certain people in your life. My cousin, Carly, is one of the most intelligent people I know. She’s smart, she had amazing grades throughout high school and managed a perfect GPA when she graduated from college. Not only is she smart in the school systems, she is smart in many other unique ways. Carly, is creative, she is different than many others. She is now an aerospace engineer and is very successful. She uses her creativity in her line of work and she loves what she does. 

I aspire to be like my cousin and accomplish as many wonderful things as she has done is such a short amount of time. Creativity is one of the best things a person can have to offer because it makes the person who they are.