[TASK MANAGEMENT] Divide by four and Post-it reminders!

To manage assignments, I need to use some strategies to spend time wisely. Because I don’t make a plan to do my assignments, sometimes it is hard to finish them on time and I need more time than what I expected. I have tried two strategies this week, which are Divide by four and Post-it reminders. Since there are a lot of work to do for Pre-calculus, I applied the strategies for the class, MAT 194.

Divide by four is to help me accomplish a task successfully and to prevent procrastination. There are four steps to use this strategy: 1. Prepare, 2. Start, 3. Continue, and 4. Finish. I applied the steps to my third exam coming up for MAT194. First, collect all the materials that will be covered on the exam: textbook, notes, webassign assignments, and quizzes. To prepare this, I collected them by each section. Second, spend 2 hours on each section. To start this, I read my textbook first, followed by notes, webassign assignments, and quizzes. Third, review each section for 1 hour. To continue this, I picked random questions on webassian assignments and solved them. Lastly, ask my professor about what I still don’t understand. To finish this, I drew star marks next to questions that I don’t get it and went to her office hour to ask questions. This strategy made my task organized.

Post-it reminders is to help keep me organized about the tasks that need to be done. Different colors can be used to indicate the importance of tasks. I have three colors: pink, green, and yellow. For yellow one, I decided to use for the most important tasks such as due dates in one week. For pink one, I decided to use for Exam3 coming up. For green one, I used for the assignments next week. On yellow post-it, I listed assignments by ranking priorities: lab 4 report 4/21, webassign 4/21, and webassign 4/23. On pink one, I first wrote the exam date of 4/28 and listed the chapters that will be covered and dates that I will study as chapter 5 on 4/22, chapter 6 on 4/23, chapter 8 on 4/24, and chapter 9 on 4/24. On greed one, I listed assignments next week: webassign 4/26 and handed-in homework 4/28. Because of the colors of post-it, it was easy to see and to know what tasks I should do first.





To sum up, the effectiveness of Divide by four is that it makes me get the task done and prevents procrastination. Because it has four steps, it was easy to follow the steps. Being a visual learner, I printed out it and attached on the board. The reason why I chose this is that I liked the concept that it has four steps to manage my tasks. It also looked easy to apply my assignments. The effectiveness of Post-it reminders is that it helps keep me organized about the tasks. Being a visual learner, I used the three colors to divide my assignments into importance. The reason why I chose this is that I thought it would be helpful since it required me to use colors for each task, and it really helped me as a visual learner. As a visual learner, the two strategies worked for me!

For my pre-calculus class, MAT 194, I could accomplish my tasks successfully by applying the two strategies, Divide by four and Post-it Reminders. These strategies help keep me organize and prevent procrastination!


(http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/01/potion-factory-seeking-beta-testers-for-the-hit-list-iphone/)

[STRESS] Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation

Stress sometimes makes me out of control. I had no idea how to handle the stress. I realize that it is harder to do well in college than it was in high school. I know it is important to do better in my classes. I’m starting to feel the pressure of grades for this semester. Stress is building. To manage my stress, I’ve tried two strategies, which are Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation. One course that makes me the most stressed so far is MAT 194, Pre-calculus. I applied the two strategies for MAT 194 this week.

Stress Reduction Plan is to help me recognize that I can control my stress levels by engaging myself in activities. There are many options: physical activity, pamper yourself, change your environment, share it, enjoy, and get help. Among there choices, I decided to pamper myself, to share it, and to enjoy. To pamper myself, I chose to get extra sleep since when I go to bed and wake up few hours later, I feel refreshed. After I finished on-line assignment for MAT 194, I got extra sleep about 30 minutes. To share it, I called my friend after I completed handed-in homework. I talked with her about 20 minutes, which made me energized do another work. I had another on-line assignment due Saturday, but I didn’t want to do. I should manage my stress to do my assigned work, so I did the last choice to enjoy. To enjoy, I listened to music before starting it. I decided to watch TV shows after completing it, which became a motivation to do the work. This plan made me control my stress and do my work.

(http://fortheluvofsanity.blogspot.com/2011/03/on-friends.html)

10-Minute Vacation is to help me get away from the work I am doing for a specific amount of time. There are six “vacation spots”, including movie clips, Google Earth, Google Maps, Youtube, games, and a pink blog for pop-culture icons. I accessed each one of them, and I liked the “Pink is the new blog” a lot. I decided to spend time with the blog for the 10-minute vacation. For MAT 194, I had to study for lab4. I put each 10 minute break after 30 minutes study time. After the study time, I accessed to the blog. There were a lot of fun issues about popular stars in America. I liked the blog since the background color is pink. It was good to browse in 10 minutes. After the break, I started studying again and focused on it. Because I could have 10 minutes breaks, I didn’t get stressed that much.

(http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/)

To sum up, the effectiveness of Stress Reduction Plan is that it makes me have a break what I want to do. Because of stress, I didn’t finish my work in one day, but it took more than two days to do. Therefore, I should set few days to complete. However, this plan made me complete homework in one day. Being a kinesthetic learner, this plan was good to keep up since I could do some activities such as getting extra help, calling a friend, listening to music, and watching TV shows. Because of this plan, I could finish on-line assignments on due dates for MAT 194. The reason why I chose this it that I have about 30 choices to select the options to spend during my break time. I chose 4 options: get extra help, call a friend, listen to music, and watch TV shows. The effectiveness of 10-Minute Vacation is to help get me reenergized. Especially, I liked the pink blog very much. Being a visual learner, the blog provides pop-eyed colors and issues. Because of the blog, I didn’t get stressed that much and I could study lab4 for MAT 194. The reason why I chose this is that I was curious what the web sites provide so I decided to choose this and to access each site. Being a kinesthetic and visual learner, the two strategies worked for me!

For my pre-calculus class, MAT 194, I could finish all assignment by applying the two strategies, Stress Reduction Plan and 10-Minute Vacation. These strategies make me control and manage my stress!

(http://maketheworldyourstage.com/category/stress-reducer/)

[PROCRASTINATION] Time Waster and 10-Minute Technique

Procrastination is problematic for me. It is not easy to change the behavior since I have been procrastinating for a long time. Especially, weekends make me not do my work. I used to delay homework and study, which make me do one day before the due dates. It is not easy to see that I do homework during weekends. I have a quiz for MAT 194 coming up on this Monday, and the chapter on the quiz is what I’m really weak. Because the quiz is on Monday, I need to study during this weekend. To study for it, I chose Time Waster and 10-Minute Technique.

Time Waster strategy is to eliminate the time waster, which interrupts my study environment. First, I listed the time wasters that I use in the left column. My time wasters are napping, TV shows, laptop, interruptions, cell phone, and socializing. They always make me delay my work. Next, I described the task I were avoiding such as studying for MAT 194 quiz and completing MAT 194 quiz review sheets. After I wrote them, I realized that the two tasks caused me to use the time wasters. The time wasters caused me not to study for my pre-calculus quiz. To avoid them, I put my laptop and cell phone away from my desk. I promised myself not to nap and socialize at least this weekend, too. When I put all the interruptions away, I felt better to study, which provided me a good study environment. This environment made me study for MAT 194 quiz.

10-Minute Technique strategy is to get me started a task that must be done. First, I identified the highest-priority task, which was to study for MAT 194 quiz. Second, I decided on a day and time as 4:00pm on Saturday, April 9. Third, when the selected time arrived, I spent only 10 minutes on the task. Because the time to study was short, I could feel little bit nervous to go over the material, which made me FOCUS! After the 10 minutes, I stopped and had a break 10 minutes. After the 10 minute break, I repeated another 10 minutes to study for it. I repeated the strategy 8 times. When I finished them, it was about 7 o’clock. This means that I kept focusing on studying it about 3 hours! This strategy really worked for me. Because of the short study term, I never felt boring, but nervous. I feel satisfied with MAT quiz, and I think I can get a good grade on it.

To sum up, the effectiveness of Time Waster is that it makes me realize what time wasters interrupt me to study. I never knew that there were that many wasters prevent me from studying. Because I’m a kinesthetic learner, I needed to put the interruptions away from my desk, which reminded me not to use them. When there were only pencils, a note book, and a textbook, the new study environment made me study. I started doing the tasks I was avoiding, especially studying for MAT 194 quiz. Because of avoiding interruptions, I could focus on studying for the quiz. The reason why I chose this is that I needed something to remind me what prevented from studying and what tasks I was avoiding. It was a good chance to do this strategy. I liked the concept that I could draw some conclusions about what tasks caused me to use time wasters. It was because I was afraid of studying a lot of sections to cover. The effectiveness of 10-Minute Technique is to get me started a task that must be done. Because of the short term to study, I felt somewhat nervous. This nervousness made me concentrate on studying. The break times also made me refreshed before starting another 10 minute studying. Being a kinesthetic learner, this strategy was good to do since it made me BEHAVE. The selected time made me sit in the chair and do studying. The break also made me move and stretch, so I felt refreshed. The reason why I chose this is that I liked the concept to have the short term of studying. I had to work on the task again for 10 minutes and repeated this until the task was completed. Because I can’t focus on something, I needed this strategy to try. This made me focus on studying and complete the task!

For my pre-calculus class, MAT 194, I, now, feel satisfied enough to take the quiz on this Monday. Time Wasters and 10-Minute Technique make me focus on studying. These strategies make me never prevent from studying anymore. The two strategies work for me!

(http://www.nickpagan.com/blog/141/procrastination-the-emotional-battle/)

1 Plus 3 Note-Taking Strategy

When I looked through the note taking chapter of the text, It's All About Choices, I was surprised there are a lot of methods to do. Especially, I really like 1 Plus 3 Note-Taking Method since it consists of all-in-one, and it looked also interesting to me. I decided to apply this method to my two math courses, MAT121 and MAT194. As shown below, that is how I have approached 1 plus 3 note-taking strategy.


For MAT121, I took notes as I always did. For format, I wrote my notes on one side of the notebook, and I used only the right-hand sheet. During class, I recorded take my notes as shown below of the picture. I used lists and bullets to see easily. After class, I reread my notes on the right page. On the opposite page of my notes, I divided the blank page into three sections. I drew a horizontal line about five inches up from the bottom. In the large section above the line, I drew a vertical line to the left of the middle. First, in section A, I wrote key terms. Then, in section B, I created a table to visually present the key terms, definitions, or examples. Lastly, in section C, I wrote test questions that I think my professor will ask. For instance, in section A, I wrote terms such as fundamental counting rule, counting the number of arrangements, factorial rule, counting permutations of different objects, and counting combinations. Then, in section B, I wrote definitions and examples in a table that I created. I did in order of terms, so I can see them easily and I don’t have to be confused. For example, for fundamental counting rule, I put a definition as if there are m outcomes for event A and n outcomes for B, then there are m*n outcomes, and I put an example such as 5 outcomes for A and 3 outcomes for B equals 5 times 3, which is 15. Finally, in section C, I created three questions that my professor may ask on test. For example, one of the questions that I created is as in how many different ways can one arrange the letters NWDOIW, and arrange these letters to form an English word.




For MAT194, I also took notes as I normally did and I preferred. For format, I wrote my notes on one side of the notebook, and I used only the right-hand sheet as I did for MAT121. During class, I recorded take my notes as shown below. I used lists and bullets in numbers to see easily. After class, I reread my notes on the right page like MAT121. On the opposite page of my notes, I divided the blank page into three sections as shown I plus 3 note-taking method directions. I drew a horizontal line about five inches up from the bottom. I the large section above the line, I drew a vertical line to the left of the middle. First, in section A, I wrote key terms. Then, in section B, I created a table to visually present the key terms, definitions, or examples. Finally, in section C, I wrote test questions that my professor may ask on test. For example, in section A, I wrote key terms such as logarithm, logarithmic and exponential functions are inverses, properties of the common logarithm, properties of the natural logarithm, justification of log(a*b) and log(a/b), justification of log(b^t), log(a+b), log(a-b), log(ab), log(a/b), and log(1/a). Then, in section B, I wrote definitions or examples in the table that I created to present visually. I did in order of terms as I did for MAT121, which prevents showing confusing. For instance, for logarithm, I wrote a definition as if x is a positive number, logx is the exponent of 10 that gives x, and I put an example such as y=logx then 10^y=x. Lastly, in section C, I created three questions that I think my professor will ask. For instance, one of the questions that I did is as rewrite the following statements using exponents instead of logs (a)log100=2 and (b)log0.01=-2.




To sum up, the effectiveness of 1 Plus 3 Note-Taking strategy is I can get valuable information in one page of my notes, and it is visually presented and very organized to see easily. I do three things in one time such as writing term, putting definitions and examples, and creating questions. Before I started this strategy, I recorded take notes during class, but never looked back after class. I only looked back when I had a quiz or test coming up soon. However, after I used this, I realize how important to reread my notes and summarize, for it makes me remind every single word. I also prefer 1 Plus 3 note taking method rather than my notes since it is way more organized and visualized. This strategy is very effective since it makes me memorize more, and it’s easy to see. It also looks like well-categorized book. The reason why I chose this strategy is when I first looked at this one, I felt it was very interesting and organized to try. As I stated as first, this strategy has all-in-one, which includes key terms, definitions, examples, and even questions. For MAT121 and MAT194, this strategy is perfect for me, who felt boring on my old notes, to use to study and present visually. I felt very proud and organized after I completed this strategy.


I feel satisfied with this strategy a lot, and I must keep up this one to be more successful to my classes! :) (http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/5722412/2/istockphoto_5722412-note-taking-student.jpg)

Ranking Priorities for CLS105 and MAT194

Sometimes, I was running out of time to work on my homework. Sometimes, I needed more time to do my assignments. Sometimes, it took more time than I expected. I never thought it would be obstacles to my studying. I forgot one thing...and that was I never did my work in priorities order. This became a motivation to choose "Ranking Priorities". To solve my problem, I've used this strategy for my two courses, CLS 105 and MAT 194, this week.

CLS 105 has a lot of work to do this week, which includes Faculty Interview Project, TECH #2: Problem Solving, and another strategy to use for problem solving. So, I wanted to use the strategy to this course. First, I created a list of every assignment. Second, I ranked them by groups. Third, I started with A tasks and each in order. Finally, I moved on to other homework in order. As you see the picture for this, TECH assignment is a group A, for its due date is coming up the first. I specified all of work that are included in this course this week such as using the strategy for two courses, taking pictures of them, rough draft for Faculty Project, Final draft for Faculty Project, and etc. The effectiveness of this strategy is to accomplish assignments that is due first, which has saved my time this week. I've got a more free time than last week. I really regret that why I didn't use this way to study before or earlier.

MAT 194 also has a big amount of work. Same as CLS105, it also has a project to do, which is a lab report. I followed the same strategy as CLS 105. First, I created a list of all assignment. Second, I ranked them in order. Third, I started with tasks in an aphabetical order. Lastly, I moved on other assignments in order. I did Webassign homework first because it is due first, then started the lab report. Actually, the lab report is due on this Thursday, so I can still work on, but I feel I did 70% out of 100. The effectiveness of this strategy is to save my time for big assignments. This lab is the second one, and I didn't manage my time well for the first one. I did the first lab one day before the due date, which was kind of crazy and I suffered from my time.

But, it is not any more for this time. I feel very satisfied and proud of managing my time more wisely this time.

Ranking Priorities is the best strategy so far in my opinion since it has saved my time the most. What I'm grateful the most is that I've saved my time for the projects which require more effort and time.

Fritter Finder and D's Due and Do Organizer

I always had had lack of study skills and lack of control, which makes me procrastinate my work. For this week, 2/7-2/13, I used the fritter finder and the d's due and do organizer in MAT 194, for I had an exam in 2/10, and that class gives assignments everyday so I had to find the two strategies that could fit into the both, an exam and homework.


For Fritter Finder, the reason why I chose this is that it shows visually represented so I could see easily when I had to study for and which a particular study and assignment I had to do or review. I found it was very helpful in identifying my free time in each color to spend properly for studying exam and doing homework. Because of using this strategy, I didn't have to waste my time, and I could be prepared to my MAT 194 exam very effectively.

For D's Due and Do Organizer, when I first learned this strategy, I wanted to apply to my schedule so I chose this strategy immediately, for I liked the idea to write down all the assignments due dates and when I was going to finish the work. The effectiveness of this strategy was easy and convenient to use, beneficial, and to adapt to other courses. Because I already wrote all the assignment and tests or quizzes for this month, I can keep using it. Since, I could see my calendar any time and did my MAT 194 study for on time, I had enough time to finish up the chapters for the exam and to do homework.

Both of strategies made me get an A+ on my MAT 194 exam, and I want to keep using them and to suggest my friends using them. I also feel very organized than last semester, and I don't have to waste my time anymore!