"Learning How to Study" prose for Friday Writings
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| [click on picture for larger viewing -- our grade school, I am the boy in back] |
I
learned the hard way how to pay attention when a speaker is trying to
make a point that we should know and learn.
Pay
attention to the teacher, read the book, take notes!! I
grew up on a farm and didn't plan on going to college. Probably do
something related to agriculture after high school graduation.
That
all changed when a brownish post card came in the mail. It was from
the University of Nebraska saying that I had been awarded a Regents
Scholarship for five eights of my tuition, $50 a semester for four
years.
The
kicker was that I must keep at least a "C" average to keep
it. My grades slipped down; I decided that I must drop out so that
some day I could get back in school later if I decided to.
Later
I was drafted into the Army, in my third year I opted a forty-three-week school. It was for the maintenance and operation of a NIKE
Hercules Missile Control Systems. Three different radars
and a van full of computers and consoles. I graduated third in my
class of forty-some GIs. Two officers had better grades; maybe
I wasn't really "Dumb".
Towards
the beginning an instructor taught me how to study. Start with
taking notes of the material being presented and from the books, then
study the notes by reducing them to fundamentals, like an expanded
outline. Review these new pages and study to master items that
give trouble. Finally review before exams. An added benefit of
taking notes is using another sense, of seeing what was being said,
to that of hearing.
I
realized that since I needn't study in high school to make good
grades, but in college I surely did. Seven years later I went back to
college and after twenty more years I finished school with three
degrees.
Then
I began teaching college and stayed twenty-two years until I retired.
In my classes' beginnings when I found students not taking notes I'd
tell them this story I've just told you.
Worked
for me, pay attention to the teacher, read the book, take notes and
study them. I'm still doing that, even for church sermons. Two
senses.
_ _ _
- Photo and Prose Writing Copyright, Jimmiehov 2023, All Rights Reserved
- I am linked with Magaly Guerrero for her Friday Writings #74 at
- Magaly's optional prompt is "all about the act of paying attention." in 369 or less words, I have exactly 367.
..
Labels: Friday Writings, Jim's Life, Prose, School, Things to know, True
posted by Jim @ 4/28/2023 12:10:00 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Very good advice, Jim!
I often have to choose to pay attention and I love when the interest is already there and I can't NOT pay attention. Now as I'm getting older, I don't waste much time on what I'm not interested in. Attention is gold.
It's amazing what we can do when we shift our expectations a bit!
Dr. Jim, this is a fascinating history of your educational endeavors ... fascinating! And a reminder of how to "study well."
This is such a great lesson for anyone. Learning how to learn by focusing on key details with patience is critical and particularly difficult in our fast-paced skimming and/or sleeping through life existence.
I had a calculus teacher who used to say, "We learn math by doing. And this work for studying anything else too." He was so right. And so are you.
Good prose piece here!
Love that idea of two senses... we were taught that too..write to reinforce learning in class. Works very well, indeed.
3 degrees, Jim, that's really something, and all started from an Army missile control operation stint. And you are able to pass on your valuable experiences to your students later on.
I was not good at paying attention in school yet still had acceptable grades.
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