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The end of the beginning of a never ending learning journey: Reflections on Researching & Creating a Podcast, and Receiving Peer Feedback

1) Conducting Research

Doing the research for this assignment was actually quite enjoyable. It offered me an opportunity to get a glimpse of what other campuses in Canada and the US are like, albeit from a small perspective, similar to watching an event in another room through a keyhole. None the less it was a glimpse of the differences and similarities of campus life across North America (if you can really call it that). The biggest challenge was formatting my questions as to not lead the interviewees to a certain answer which would lead me to tainted research. This wasn’t too challenging but it took some time to figure out how to do it without having the questions be too generic with lack of context. Basically I would just ask my question and give a hypothetical situation to give context the question. I felt that this made it easier for both my interviewees and myself. If i were to do things different in the research stage I would probably run an online survey that could be spread to more people on different campuses as to gain more information and results, allowing me to give a more refined  and diverse report.

2) Creating the Podcast

At first i thought this would be the most difficult step of the project. The software we used was actually quite user friendly and made the process of putting the podcast together quite simple. Even finding the music wasn’t that hard. I really enjoyed finding the music because it allowed me to play around with potential themes and motifs I could suggest through my podcast without changing the actual content. The intro music I chose reminded me of watching TV at my Dad’s parent’s house on the weekend when I was really young. The music reminded me of the intros for the woodworking shows that my Grandpa would watch on Sunday mornings (Besides being a farmer and tractor mechanic he hand crafted picnic tables and Muskoka chairs). My idea for the outro music was something that would enhance the comedic tone of my verbal closing. I honestly don’t think it would’ve been that funny without the music. In my head the music and words work symbiotically to create an emotion of comedy and caring through my “playing the fool” type humor.  

3) Receiving feedback on my podcast

The main critique I received was to potentially use music in the background during the body part of the podcast. In hindsight music during the body could’ve added another element that would keep listeners interested and cut some of the possible dryness out of just speaking. If I could add music I would, but I cannot and hindsight is 20/20, so for what it’s worth I’m not too bruised by it. Also, I could have slowed down at spots (especially when explaining/using slang) to make it easier for those unfamiliar to follow along. Maybe I didn’t slow down so I could get a couple of replays hahahahahahaha. In general the feedback was quite positive.

The hardest part of receiving feedback wasn’t actually receiving the feedback, it was listening to the podcast with a group of people. It’s one thing to create something but it’s a completely different thing to have your creation judged. Even with participating in cooking competitions, sports and playing music, the fear of judgement never seems to get easier. I like to think a lot... and overthink a lot, so in my head there is still a great fear of presenting in front of people, but in a sense it continues to drive and push me to make my creations as good as they can be. When it’s all said and done, the fear and anxiety are a thrill that comes with a great calming relief in the end.

The best feedback I received was the laughter in the classroom during my podcast. I was always taught that laughter is the best medicine and that even a little bit of laughter can help others through a rough day or just brighten their mood even if just for a moment. With exams, midterms and the whole idea of people being defined by a numbered percentage that eventually determines the future worth of an individual, most students are quite stressed out and are experiencing a challenge they have never faced before in a magnitude that is exponentially greater than high school. The laughter let me know that everyone was okay and/or happy, even if just for a short period of time, and in a world that seems to get darker and crazier day by day there it proves there is still joy and good vibes. If you use something and return it in better shape than you received it you create a positive impact; that goes for the world we live in as well. Do what you can to help and later down the line you might just receive the help back when you need it.

In closing, I would like to say thank you. Without this podcast project I probably would’ve never actually made a podcast or anything like it. It has given me ideas for the future for things I could potentially do to express my creative side despite being in a factual, matter of fact, accuracy driven program. It has given me the resources and knowledge to create in a way that is new to me, fun and challenging. I would also like to say thank you to Robin, Melanie and everyone in this class. My classes don’t really allow for an open expression of creativity and self in an intellectual way like this course does, so thank you for allowing me to be myself and create and speak without fear of judgement in a supportive environment. Also, thank you all for allowing me to get a glimpse of your life and perspectives, it was an awesome opportunity to gain a deeper self perspective and outlook from angles that I may have never been able to see from before this class, before sharing and listening to you. Lastly, thank you for listening to me, it means more than you’ll ever know.

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OUUUUU You Can’t Say That: Blog Post 10

IF you’re gonna hand out some criticism, don’t do it this way

     You are sloppy and incomprehensible.

This is not a criticism. It is more or less an attack on the person. This gives no ways to improve and puts the person down. Instead say something like: this could benefit from some more organizing as it is somewhat hard to understand, or could you make your points more clear, it was hard to follow.

     The introduction could be better.

This one isn’t too bad but it doesn’t give the person any information on what they could do better. Perhaps you could say: the introduction could be better if.... or I think the introduction is lacking this..... or even maybe say I think this could be improved if you were to do this or change this

     You were very nervous at the beginning of the podcast.

This one just sucks. The person probably knows they sound nervous throughout the beginning and you’re straight up calling them out for it. Not cool. This helps no one out. Instead say: try to relax a bit more, take a couple breaths and clear your thoughts before you record as it will help your nerves, or tell them to pretend they are talking to their friends in a casual conversation. That usually helps.

     Your voice is grating.

Once again this is an attack on the person and not a criticism of the podcast. Not everyone has the voice of Morgan Freeman so it’s cruel to criticize someone on something they can’t change. Maybe I would suggest to say something like: try using some of the editing tools on audacity to help with the sound of your podcast or maybe try talking slower and calmer. I probably wouldn’t ever give this critique unless the person was yelling in their podcast as everyone’s voice is different.

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OPIRG

1) Title: Dawn Gugler Activist Award

Purpose: The pamphlet briefly describes what OPIRG is about, who Dawn Gugler is and what the award is for (providing financial assistance to to OPIRG members in Guelph or other activist groups that need education or training in accordance with OPIRG’s mandates, how to win it and how the funds for the award are cultivated.

The target audience for this pamphlet are activists/people who need education or training as to help/further their cause. This is an informational pamphlet and is very simply formatted, it easily gets its points across with few frills (there is a tree on the cover and the title fonts are quite fun) and it is printed in black and white.

 2) You know, there’s so many injustices going on in this world that it seems like if you’re not getting screwed over, you’re screwing someone or something over. My biggest issue with the world today is the sensationalism in media. We all know that television, news, and all media corporations only show what coincides with their views, but they take a story and blow it out of proportion or add unnecessary details and I personally believe it’s a load of shit. I don’t watch the news, I don’t watch television (like programmed TV i.e. cable or satellite etc.), I don’t read newspapers or listen to the radio. I think that all of them are a bunch of liars trying to further divide the people. Let me ask you this: what’s easier to control, a large group of people or many smaller groups? The answer is many smaller groups. There is power in numbers, and if the novel 1984 has taught me anything it’s that corporations and governments control the vast populations through fear and diversion; diversion being things like reality TV, propaganda (terrorism, the Ebola scare, fluff news articles etc.) and garbage like that. IDGAF about what each actor is wearing or who’s dating who, I like your movies or show or music and that’s it. I don’t understand why people feel the need to follow a person’s life just because they’re famous. The whole concept of fame is stupid, but I digress. What I’m trying to get at is that we as people waste so much time on stupid stuff when we could be doing more important things like unifying and crushing social boundaries and saving the planet but half the population is keeping up with some “famous” pricks and I feel this is because of how sensationalized the media is. The more time we waste, the less time we have to come together and fight the good fight, the more time we waste on sensationalized garbage media the further we grow apart as people. Sensationalized media is leading to the re-segregation of people and that’s why I detest the media and all of their brainwashing, view pushing, re-segregating bullshit.

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The Junkyard Called, They Want their logo back

The feedback and what I need to change

This biggest thing I got out of the feedback I received was that my logo was okay, but it isn’t the best it could be. I accept that and I appreciate the feedback. The general consensus was that the font in the “Circle” was too small. I was originally worried about this as well, but I thought it would make sense because it’s supposed to be a can of dip, a tin of moist snuff, chew, chewing tobacco or whatever you want to call it. Another common critique I got was that it didn’t properly convey what my podcast was about. I personally think my play on the word nicotine, Nicotime, is quite good because it summarizes that my podcast is about nicotine so it’s like nicotine time. To remedy all of this I plan on making the title “Nic-o-Time” and not to put the words in the “circle” and rather have it directly in the open so that it both conveys the title and it is readable (font isn’t too small) and it will simplify it as well. As a side note I thought that everyone would know it was a dip can but that just might be my small town perspective, I get it.

As for my script the general consensus was that it was good. The feedback i received said that it was informational, funny, it had good length and that my voice was clear and at a good volume. The only thing that needed work was speed of my reading. I went a bit too fast in certain parts, partially due to the nerves of presenting work to other people, but still it is good to know this so that when I do start recording i keep my pace in check; it’s a good thing to have in the back of my head while I record.

Receiving the feedback wasn’t too hard. I thought the one sticky note on my logo said “less lousy/words” and I was like “Damn, okay, I respect that” but then I re-read it and the word lousy was actually busy... I laughed for a good 5 minutes. At home and in high school I did a lot of cooking and did cooking competitions and I played a lot of sports, so naturally I received lots of criticisms and lots of ways to improve so I know not to let it get to me on a personal level, they’re just trying to help me out and help me improve my work and I appreciate that. As for giving criticisms it was actually quite hard for me to give them. I’m used to giving criticisms on a football field or a basketball court where you can say to a buddy “Pull your head out of your ass and make a play” or “Stop being a fucking idiot” or tell them how to do something (usually with a lot of swearing) and they don’t see it as a diss on them, rather that I just want them to wake up and play right in the heat of the game. You can’t do that in a classroom, nor should you, so trying to put the criticisms into a friendly form is somewhat hard for me. I don’t want anyone to think I’m an ass or taking a dig at them, so I try to keep it as simple and positive as possible, which may not be a good thing because the person isn’t really hearing what they need to hear. However, the intros that I did hear were really good so giving criticisms and feedback was only hard in the sense that I couldn’t really find anything to critique. Over all I’m excited to see/hear everyone’s podcasts.

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Revised Podcast Pitch

For my podcast I will be talking about nicotine use among university students. Primarily I will be focusing mainly on smoking, but as well I would like to discover the prevalence of vaping and dip tobacco. In my personal experience nicotine use is one of the few substances that is very hard to avoid (everyone knows at least one person who uses nicotine). Growing up in a small town, playing baseball and having very good friends who are country kids and hockey players has also shown me that specific types of nicotine use are more prevalent in different cultures/different upbringings. With this knowledge I would like to find out if/how culture and upbringing affect nicotine use as well as having more freedom in university.

The main way I will gather research is by interviewing other students on this campus as well as getting contact with friends at other universities in both Canada and the US (tobacco is much cheaper in the states, I want to see how this affects usage). Along with this I will find some statistics as to the prevalence of nicotine and tobacco use among university students and nicotine/tobacco use among different cultures. Along with this I may also talk to people who have studied substance/nicotine use among university students.

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Blog Post 7

It’s midterm season and the stress is hanging in the air like a storm. As it goes so far I have wrote 1 midterm this semester, but I have 3 more to go. Currently, I have a system as to how I study for them. My system is this: 1) Always start getting notes ready somewhere around 2 weeks before the midterm, depending on how well i understand the concepts. 2) Prioritize the studying by when each subject’s midterm is and how much it is worth. 3) Study the notes, do the questions and get help if I need it. During my studying I try to eat as healthy as possible and I separate my time into 3 hour chunks so that I can take breaks and clear my head so I can be as productive as possible.That’s basically all I do to study and it has been working pretty well so far. 

The only new thing that I have implemented into my studying is that I decided to go sober for the duration of midterms. I started 2 weeks prior to my first one and don’t plan on drinking until I get back home. The reasons for this are 1) So I don’t go out and party 2) So I don’t waste any more money 3) So I can dedicate more time to studying and being healthy 4) So that I can keep my mind state right during exams. I have no qualms with drinking, I just figured it would be best to try something new and see if it helps me with getting better marks. I’m not too sure if it’s making a difference but it’s definitely not causing any problems, and my wallet is smiling too. 

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Anchovies in my damn salad?

The first rule of fight club is to not talk about fight club. That being said dorm talk is not fight club (on most nights at least), so we can talk about it. For the past week a recurring theme in the conversations of my tower is: Did you know that there are anchovies in Caesar salad dressing? This turned out to be a very heated topic. The 2 main reactions are that of amazement and absolute disgust, both are quite funny to see. Not all conversations are as trivial as this one however, other common topics are girls, dollar beers and where are the parties this weekend. Much like Rebekah’s observations, topics regarding the opposite sex frequently come up. Who’s dating who, who broke up, and who’s got a “date” coming up (date is used loosely). Along with this, much like Rebekah noticed another very common theme on my floor and most of my tower is inebriation. Lots of good conversations have started with “Man, you don’t even know how drunk/stoned/drunk and stoned I got this weekend” or “How drunk/stoned/both were you last night?” which usually turns into a story time conversation circle describing both funny and humiliating stories. In a way these stories help us bond with each other and stand on common ground, well not many of us were standing in the stories, but you get the idea. If you think about it, getting messed up with your buddies is a long running human tradition, probably dating back to the dawn of man, or the discovery of substances, so basically the dawn of man. 

It is also very noticeable that professional and academic life is barely talked about in our residence, as observed by Rebekah as well in her dorm. Class, as I see it, is a lot like work: you go in, do your job (go to class, make notes, study etc.) and when you get back home or around others, the last thing you want to talk about is school. We all know that we’re at school, and we all know that we all have stuff to do, so there isn’t much reason to talk about class and school unless you are arranging to study with someone or to ask how to do something, or see how someone did on a test or quiz. In my residence we use our free time to somewhat escape school life, to take a break from the student grind. 

The last common topic of conversation, especially on my floor, is going to the gym. “Wanna workout tomorrow morning?” “Gains after lunch?” “Ball tonight?” are all phrases you will hear on the daily in residence, especially on my floor. Needless to say my floor is all guys, but for the most part all of us go to the gym at least 3 times a week. Whether it be for floor hockey, basketball or just to lift, going to the gym is both entertainment and a game, which coincides with Rebekah’s findings as well. Obviously there are way more topics covered in our conversations, but these are my general findings, and they are the most common topics, and they come up very often. No to prove that we aren’t a bunch of Jersey Shore GTL bros, we also tend to talk conspiracy theories and how corrupt the government is. There, we aren’t just a bunch of bros, were also paranoid.  

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Doors, Not The Doors, but Doors

1) Usually people say things like “You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes” or fingernails or things like that. Never, have I ever heard that you can tell a lot about a person based on their door. A door is just that, a door, but n university the door becomes something of a look at me outward expression of internal beliefs, feelings or just fun. Rebekah Nathan noticed that the doors of her “peers” too were monuments to the values of undergraduate life. She learned that the doors of her fellow students conveyed what the artist may see as university life. Whether the doors show pictures of the person with friends, cool or rebellious motifs, phrases or questions, that the doors in a sense resemble freedom, the freedom of living away from home for the first time. She also learned that the doors purvey what youth culture at the time was. Rebekah tended to notice that much of the door art came from media such as magazines, ads etc. letting her know that many of the students still crafted their personal identities from the pop culture of the time. She learned that the doors reflected reality, and the possibility of reality in dorm life.

2) The majority of posters on the boards and walls of the lounge and hallway of my residence reflect current themes in university life. A very large emphasis has been placed on consent and safety within dorm life (drinking, drugs, people you can talk to). Rightly so, the boards convey that student safety is very important, along with physical and mental health. Mental health especially is covered on the boards as it has become a huge priority in our culture after many years of being swept under the rug and not dealt with. In a sense the boards remind us that we are human and we all have struggles and problems and it’s perfectly normal and okay to talk about them and/or to get help with them. I think that this can help foster a culture of openness and acceptance within dorm life.

The doors on my floor are not deliberately decorated. There is a long running thing where we put things on each other’s doors (posters, ad clippings or pictures) that are somewhat ambiguous but hold a sort of inside joke type insight of previous events. As of right now not a lot has happened so the doors are mainly bare besides name tags. What this tells me about my floor is that we don’t really need to be anyone is particular, that we don’t really need to be anything other than ourselves and that our actions and words symbolize who we are not our doors. It also says that we’re pretty lazy/occupied and have better things to do with our time... or we just haven’t got around to do it just yet. Most of the people in our tower know each other fairly well, so the final conclusion I’ve drawn is that we are all open enough with each other that there really is no need to express yourself on your door, unless it’s a note for neighbours to throw their empties away.

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Home hasn’t changed, you have: Blog Post 4

My hometown, St. Thomas ON, isn’t that big of a “city”. The population is roughly 40,000 people, and is mainly surrounded by rural communities. That being said, besides St. Thomas being a fair bit smaller the biggest difference between campus life and life back home is diversity and language.

To put into perspective the lack of diversity, my very good friend Ray and I were the only kids in our grade that were non-white from JK-grade 6. The 2016 census says about 96% of the population is Caucasian. This being said though I’ve always noticed this, so it isn’t at all that glaring. The glaring thing is the culture differences, especially what is deemed acceptable and not acceptable to say. What I mean is that back home being PC is way different than being PC here on campus. Back home the people are a fair bit rougher around the edges, and what may seem offensive to an outsider is just daily life for the residents. I’m not trying to condemn my hometown, but unless you grew up there or lived there for a good chunk of time, you probably won’t get it and/or you’ll get offended. Here’s a good example from my personal experience: When I used to play baseball the guys on the team would joke about me stealing bases but I’d just say something like “Isn’t stealing land a white thing?” then we’d all laugh and joke around, no hard feelings. Here if you were to say something like that, you’d probably piss a lot of people off. Let me say this before anything gets out of hand, there is no hate behind these words, just banter. From my personal experience exchanges like this back home are very common, and they aren’t intended to be harmful, rather they shed light on the differences between people in a humorous way, which then allows us to accept each other for how we are both different and the same. 

The second difference that is most notable is the slang. Here on campus a lot of people use Toronto slang, words like “man dems” (those guys), reach (as in come over/here, ting (fine looking woman) and sweeterman (good looking guy) and I lie (meaning you’re telling the truth). In St. Thomas, or the Dirty T as we call it we barely use word like that. Toronto culture doesn’t really reach to us, partially due to the distance, size of our town and the demographic of our town. Where someone here would say “Yo, fam reach the function” to tell someone to come to a party, we would say “[Blank] is throwing down, make the jurn” jurn being short for journey. Instead of saying ting or sweeterman to describe a good looking individual we would say dime or rocket in place of ting, or on occasion, saucy. The biggest difference in speech, let alone slang, is the word “mag”. The Toronto slang equivalent would be “wasteman” which is way more one dimensional than mag. Where wasteman can only be applied to a person (who is scummy, ugly or just not a good person), mag can be applied to anything. Mag is an adjective, noun, verb and adjective. A person can be A mag (that person in general is shady, or will screw you over, in essence a snake), they can be mag (in general the person is good, but what they have just done is snake-like), a situation can be mag (meaning it is no bueno), things can be mag as well. Mag can also be used to describe someone vomiting in past tense. To show you how “mag” works, here are a few scenarios:

1) You’re at a party and your ride leaves without telling you: “Buddy just ditched me here, he’s so ******* mag”

2) Confronting that one guy who owes everyone money and probably won’t pay them back: “You are a greasy mag, guy” 

*(note the difference between being mag and being a mag. Being mag means that you are acting that way, being a mag is an eternal state of acting mag”

3) Someone threw up: “Hahahahaha Jane just magged all over your carpet”

4) “Paul, you ate my last jr. chicken, that is sooooooooo mag”

5) A situation: You slip on some black ice and spill your Tim’s on the ground “Well that was mag”

And these are the biggest differences I have noticed so far.

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Learning Journey

After 20 years of living you’re bound to have reached many milestones, whether it be birthdays, significant others, dances and other important occurrences. One thing that is also certain is that there are lots of things you can learn from these milestones, such as a can opener with a built in knife sharpener is not a good Christmas gift for your mom, especially when it’s 80% off, but I digress. Without any further interruptions, here are some of my most important learning milestones.

As far as formal learning goes there are many learning opportunities everyday. Some of my most important learning experiences from school are: 1) My grade 7 year. In grade 7 I had one of the best possible teachers ever. Not only did he make learning fun, but he also taught us to make the most of what we had. What I learned and took away from that year of school is that most of the time the only thing holding you back is yourself and that you should never be scared of who you are. If you can love yourself you can do anything. 2) Philosophy class in grade 12. This class was definitely in my top 3 in all of high school. It was amazing to learn how to think and how to question things. Not only did it change the way I think but it also taught me that as people we can only be what we are, we are a summation of experiences and because of that everyone is different. It also taught me that the best way to grow as an individual is to engage in dialogue with others because we are only a summation of our experiences. 3) High school foods class, most notably 11th grade. I could tell you I learned how to make the most incredible food and the best cooking techniques but that wasn’t even close to the most important thing I learned. I had a truly great teacher, not only could he motivate the biggest of slackers but he could also relate and empathize with anyone. What I learned by watching Mr. C was that the most important thing you can ever bring to the table is a good attitude, because not only can it inspire others but it can also open a lot of doors for you.

Outside of school and the formal learning environments there are still tons of opportunities to learn many things. Life learned knowledge in my books is worth way more than school and books, it’s more applicable and it just seems more relevant. Growing up I played lots of sports, basketball, baseball, football and I have learned so many things through them. For example basketball, basketball has brought me to places I could have never imagined and taught me so many things that I couldn’t have learned anywhere else. Some of the most important things I learned through it are: 1) In grade 11 I played on the best team of my career. We were a well oiled winning machine and ended up making to OFSAA, even though our team was one of the shortest in the league and far from the most athletic. The biggest thing that made us successful was our willingness to trust each other to do what were capable of doing, which led to an amazing take away; the only thing you can control is yourself, but you can learn to trust others. 2) I learned what hard work was, and how fulfilling it can be. From the late night practices to the early morning games, from the hours put in watching and studying the game to the weekend tournaments I learned that hard work is necessary and important. The only person you cheat is yourself when you don’t work hard. 3) I learned to be humble and grateful. In grade 12 I got asked to play in a tournament in China. China is a wild place, the differences in our cultures and way of life are so different. The most eye opening moment for me was when we took a bus from Nanjing to Xuyi. As far as the eye could see rice fields dominated the countryside, and the small cement shanties that the farmers lived in. Many of the houses didn’t have doors but rather a cloth somewhat like a curtain. Seeing how the farmers lived and how they were treated really made me understand how blessed I am, and through that why it is important to be humble and content with what you have. 

In my personal life I have learned many things as well. Some things I have learned through work and living life but also through self reflection. This year I learned what it was really like to be responsible. Moving into residence and living on my own has taught me what responsibility really is. I need to succeed so I have to be responsible for myself and make the right decisions no matter how hard they are, there are too many things riding on this. As I’ve said before I work in a factory on a punch press with my Dad to pay for school. In the factory you meet people from all walks of life. I’ve worked with grandparents, refugees, those on hard times and those who could have had so much more. What I learned from all of these people is that life is that nothing is certain at all, anything can change but all you can do is adapt and move along the line. They taught me that you NEED to adapt to your situations. Another thing I have learned through personal reflection is how easy I have it. Both of my parents had a a way harder life than I ever had: my mom is from Tondo, Metro Manila, Philippines and comes from a family of 16 children, my dad grew up on a small tobacco farm outside of Erieau with 5 other siblings. Both of them grew up poor, both of them had to work insanely hard to get where they are today and through their stories I learned that my life will never be as hard as their’s, so there are no excuses for me to not succeed; I need to work just as hard as them so that I can get my family to the next level. 

The most important thing I have learned in my lifetime is patience. The way I learned patience was through fishing with my dad. When I was 4 my dad and I got in a pretty bad car accident, and from that my dad had a metal plate with 13 screws “installed” in his right arm. Because of his arm my dad and I couldn’t really play catch or basketball but the one thing we could do together is go fishing. Through fishing he taught me that all you need is patience, patience to wait for the fish to bite, patience to get your hook out of your hand (trust me ripping it out fast is not a good time), patience to set up your rod and reel and through that I have learned to be patient with all things.

Since not all learning is predictable I have also come up with 2 learning goals for myself. My first goal is to be more efficient with my studying. I study hard but I waste a lot of time procrastinating which leads me to cut into my sleeping. This isn’t healthy because I don’t sleep much as it is, so I would like to waste less time screwing around and use that time for studying. To reach that goal I plan to keep a log of my hours so I can keep track of how I am using my time. My 2nd goal is to plan my life out better. I’ve always been a firm believer that diamonds are made under pressure, meaning that I leave a lot of my work to the last minute because the pressure of the upcoming deadline tends to make my work come out better than if I started it right away, but this stresses me out big time. As to reduce my stress and be a healthier person I plan to schedule out my workload better so that I spend less time doing things at the last minute. I think that this will make me a more productive student and way happier (because I wont be as tired).

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Metacognition And Reflection: Blog Post 3

Metacognition is one of the most important aspects of learning. By knowing how you think you can craft a list of ways to improve the way you learn which in turn can help you succeed. To me, knowing how I understand things helps me optimize my learning as it helps me put information in a form that is easier for me to process and/or remember. I know I learn best by doing and seeing rather than just reading or listening, so when I study or do work I make sure to watch a video and/or do problems to help me understand things that I find challenging. I find this not only helps me remember things better, but it also helps me grasp new or challenging concepts in my education. 

My process of reflection usually starts with music. Once I have my headphones in and have some music playing I either lay down or do an activity like go for a bike ride, play basketball or go fishing. With my body occupied and the sound pouring in I can enter “the zone”. In the zone which is like a trance of thought or something like that, I first take a look at all of the things going on in my life. I then make a note of what is bugging me or what i would like to improve. I then go on to question each of these things and self analyze them. I then usually have a conclusion as to what is bugging me or how I can improve things or why certain things effect me. From there I can come up with a plan of attack on how to change/improve myself.

The best way to improve upon your metacognitive skills is to think and reflect, to practice your metacognition. It doesn’t always have to be about learning or school or problems, it can just be about yourself or something in the world or whatever you like. You just have to think about it and ask yourself questions about it. From the answers you find within yourself you can start to see who and what you are. As you piece together who and what you are, you start to deepen and strengthen your metacognitive skills. This in turn can then be applied to your learning. If you can grasp as to what you are, you can start to form a sense of how you learn. From there you can start finding ways to improve your learning skills and find new strategies that might work as well. By knowing and understanding yourself, learning becomes much easier.

[hakuniv1200-blog]

Stand outs and reasons: Blog post 2

It’s all about the journey, the journey is everything. The guest speaker’s learning journeys were quite interesting. They were interesting in that they are all successful yet they didn’t follow the stereotypical straight forward path. Each of their journeys has a series of twists and turns but none the less they still got to where they wanted to get to. It just went to further show me that the unconventional route gets you to the same spot as the conventional route; it might take more time, you might have to work harder, but in the end you get to the same place and you probably have more cool stories to tell than the others. No way is the wrong way, within a reasonable context... or maybe not, who’s to say. Most notably though was Jodie’s story. She has done a little bit of everything and she embraces that life isn’t static and continues to grow and change. It was really wild because even as an adult you have the control of what you do and you don’t have to settle on one thing, you can keep moving and still be successful.

So now lets get down to the nitty gritty, why am I here? Before I get on with that I’m going to create some tension and tell you how I picked my high school, partially because it’s funny, partially because it’ll let you to get in my boots for a second... hopefully. The reasons as to how I picked my high school are: 1) It was the only school with air conditioning in my hometown (I used to get sweaty really easy and ac was very important to me, VERY IMPORTANT). 2) I played club basketball, and they had the best program. Only 2 reasons. Now when it comes to how I ended up in Guelph, that is a long story. 

I originally didn’t even want to go to university, I wanted to be a chef. I love cooking and I’m good at it, I have gold medals from cooking contests and I placed in the top 11 in the province at SKILLS Ontario. I’m not bragging or trying to get the “poor me” sympathy bs , I’m laying the facts out. Anyways the whole cooking thing got voted off the island, so on to plan B, pharmacist or doctor. Yes, my plan b was doctor or pharmacist. So from there I had to pick a university. My first choice was Lakehead. They have a medical school on the same campus and they offered medical chemistry. I was also offered some pretty sweet scholarships and bursaries to go there, so my mama and I took a plane ride up there to check it out. On the plane ride I realized how far away it really was. From my hometown, St. Thomas, a car ride to Thunder Bay is 16 hours through the states, 22 hours if you drive through Ontario. I came to the realization that I would miss out on a lot of important things if I went there. I would miss out on most family functions, birthdays, hanging out with my friends, teaching my god kids cool stuff (I have 3 god-children) like fishing and how to sneak late night snacks. My next 3 options were Nippissing, Trent or Guelph. Nippissing and Trent were offering me really good money but Nippissing was once again too far away and Trent didn’t have a specialized chemistry major (Trent also doesn’t have a varsity basketball team, which is concerning to me hahahahaha). Guelph was also offering me good money, they had a specialized chemistry program, it’s only an hour and a half away from St. Thomas and I knew a bunch of people here from high school. Also Guelph has some roots in my family, my dad’s mom (my grandma) worked here doing research in the 50′s. So Guelph it was. Lets just say the unconventional route gets you to the same place.

[hakuniv1200-blog]

First Day of Class

You want to know how I really felt about the first day of classes? Well here you go. It all goes the same way, in every class: I walk in and find a seat in the room, then i start questioning what exactly my money is going to. Am I paying for the prof’s next fancy car, or maybe for the next university pissing match. I work 58 hour weeks when I’m not here, in a factory on a punch press to help pay for all of this, so money is on the forefront of my mind when it comes to all of this. You gotta pay to play. 

Next comes the room. The architecture and size don’t mean jack to me. What I notice is the people. The people with silver spoons, the people who are here to make a better life for themselves, the immigrants, the locals, the happy, the sad, the ones who are here to solely grind. That’s what the room is, it’s the people. There are people in the room who will do great things, there are people in the room who will drop out, there are people pursuing a career that was decided for them, there are people that can’t afford to be in the room and people that can. There are people from all walks of life in the room, and that’s what defines the room to me, the diversity.

The tone is what is different in each class. Some profs like to talk and make it a comfortable place, some profs try a bit too hard and some not at all, but that’s fine by me. I’m here to learn and make a life for myself, so I can respect it if a prof lets us into a part of their lives, but it’s also fine to just cut the crap and get right to the important stuff. As long as the overall tone resonates “do your work and you will succeed” it works for me. So far, all of my classes have been this way. 

Lastly, for the most part, all of my courses are science related so even though the subject changes, the concepts don’t really. The expectations are quite similar: read the textbook, take notes in class, do the quizzes, go to your labs, ask questions. In my eyes it is all pretty similar, just different information. However, my elective courses so far have been different. They have focused more on creativity and self reflection rather than just learning itself. It is a nice break from the daily grind.