Measure of Success
When I begin thinking about how I can be successful in Dr. Paul's educational psychology class, of course the grade I earn will show my success. But there is more than just a grade to be truly successful in this class, or for that matter any class. To be successful in this particular class, there needs to be a strong understanding of what the concepts mean, what role they play in the world of psychology, their significance, and most importantly, to have the knowledge to recognize and apply theories to real life situations. I believe that if I am able to recognize these concepts outside of class and have the ability to work with situations that may arise in my classroom, I will be successful.
The time spent in this class I feel that to be successful I need to participate in class discussions. When I was in elementary school, I had difficulty learning topics at the regular pace everyone else was at, an IEP was set up for me. I left the classroom sometimes during the day, took lots of tests, and would sometimes just have to sit at a different table with an aide to work on a subject the rest of the class was working on. I was very very quiet, nervous, and scared to talk in class because I was afraid of having the wrong answers or sounding "stupid" in front of my peers. I knew that I was different from the rest of the class and just wanted to hide away in fear of being made fun of. Luckily I was never made fun of for learning at a slower pace. I had a great support group of friends, family, and teachers. But even with that support group it was still hard to raise my hand during class.
From the beginning of my IEP program in first grade I made tremendous progress and graduated the program in 5th grade, I was the first student in the school to have progressed so fast. When the teacher aide told me that it made me proud and more confident. From sixth grade on I began to participate more in class and not feel insecure about my answers. Its hard to tell for the people that I have just met in the past few years to see the progress that I have made but the relationships that I have had all through my life thus far can see the progress.
There are many solutions I have come up with to be successful in this class and overcome my childhood fears. Being a visual learner, printing out the powerpoint slides will be to my advantage because I will be able to listen to the lecture during class and not worry about having to write the main points when they are already written down. This will help my auditory skills improve. I will need to be consciously aware of any important information that is not on the powerpoint and write down interesting stories that will help me better understand a concept. Again being a visual learner I will need to read the book chapters and write my own notes down, this will be the best way for me to remember information. Completing these task I will be able to be prepared before a discussion and able to quickly answer or question. The last solution will be to recognize what I have learned outside of class and discuss it with a classmate or family member.
Im confident that if I follow this path I will not only be successful in Dr. Paul's educational psychology class, but also in the real world.