All Good Things Must Come To An End

Sleep seems to be slipping out of everyone’s grasp as we make our way to the end of the semester. I thought my 5 hours of sleep was bad, but obviously 3 hours is painful. If anything, we’re learning that in the real world sleep takes the back seat, as assignments and jobs must be completed regardless.

What I learned this week/Already knew?

I too understand the meaning of stage fright and the steps required to overcome it, but personally no longer experience this stress in my life. I have come to enjoy the opportunity of speaking publicly, knowing it is a great personal teaching tool. Having been a missionary in Arizona, dedicating 2 years on overcoming my fears and learning to engage in conversation with complete strangers, I feel a great sense of confidence and excitement when speaking publicly.

I know it was difficult for many of my fellow students to get up and speak impromptu this morning, but from my experience this is when the most growth takes place. Though you might be terrified and feel completely unprepared it forces your mind to move into hyper drive and think critically in order to provide results. My advice is that no one is perfect when speaking publicly and certainly everyone experiences some form of fear whether great or small, so don’t beat yourself up if you feel you performed unsatisfactorily today.

What I still wonder about?

I’m a pretty straight forward individual with few questions, so I often do not find myself wondering, but this week I can honestly say that I wonder if I will find the time I need to prepare an A grade report. It is a real challenge completing each assignment in every class let alone to do so at an A grade level, but this is the goal and my hope is to achieve it.

How I participated this week?

JP, I hope you feel that your contribution during today’s group assignment was more than just adding your 2 cents? I found this assignment to be a great opportunity to share idea’s and experiences of the past so as to help one another be more professional speakers. Some of the key idea’s I feel are vital to being professional are:

· Eliminating umm’s, ahh’s, and other repetitive words
· Not folding your arms or placing hands in pockets
· Speaking clearly and audibly so that the audience can hear and understand
· Dressing appropriately for the circumstances
· Making good eye contact

The list could of course go on, but these are key elements that I feel will greatly improve any presentation.

Conclusion

You said it perfectly JP, “Only a couple more exams and a few more assignments and we will be finished our first semester. YAY.” I know we all feel this way and will appreciate the Christmas break.

With this being our last blog entry for the course I wish to express my appreciation to each member of the class, who have provided an atmosphere of learning and growth. The unique experiences shared, such as, Ry-guy jumping over the desk and JP flipping over the table, leaving an unhappy laptop would not have been possible were it not for our unique qualities. One day we will look back upon our experience here at OC thinking, where did the time go, so it is my hope that each of us will cherish these memories and not take lightly this opportunity. Good luck on all your future endeavor’s.

Stevo

Hear Ye Hear Ye!

Introduction

We are sliding to the finish line and our eyes must be kept on the carrot at the end of the stick.
Only a couple more exams and a few more assignments and we will be finished our first semester. YAY.

For only having 3 hours of sleep I'm happy to say I made it to class only a couple minutes late. I try to be on time every class but today I was just sooooo tired. Everyone I see feels the same as I do, tired and ready for a break.

Only 3 more weeks... everyone keep up the good work.

What I learned this week

Today in class we learnt about how to take control of our stage fright. All the topics we covered today I pretty much already learned before in highschool. What I did learn though is that you should never put your adjustable chair under the table with your laptop on it... your laptop may go for a ride when the table flips!!

What I already knew

As I said up above, many of the tips and hints to overcome stage fright I was already taught. This class was interesting though, seeing all the people go up in front of their peers and not being able to speak. Verrryyyy interesting.

How I participated

We had an inclass assignment today which I added my two cents into but I mainly helped two of my peers with program issues on their computers. One was to get a copy of Adobe Pro and the other was to get an antivirus and spy ware remover. I think they both appreciated not having to spend hundreds of dollars :)

Conclusion

All in all I find that highschool never really taught us much about what we will learn in college. One semester is almost over and so far so good. Just have to keep it up.

Also, If anyone wants to play a fun online FREE game go to...

http://intro.nexon.net/ and download the game.

Have fun.

JP

Awsome week!

Introduction

Like Steve I find that with everyday that goes by, we all learn something new; even if we don’t realize it yet. Class this week has been a great help for me. I had an idea of what I wanted to do for our written assignment and now I know what I have to do. I believe I did well on my Job Package and I owe that to asking questions and listening in class. Missing only one class would be a horrible thing because we learn so much about what we need to do in order to complete our assignments.

What I learned this week

Learning about the appendix and not to paraphrase was great thing this week. All my high school life I was told that paraphrasing was ok to do as long as you referenced the material. I’m glad this issue was cleared up in class too. Going over what we should have as an outline for our assignment also helps out a lot. Thank you Marc for being such an awesome person!

What I already knew

I already understood what benchmarks and KPI’s were but this class was awesome for a refresher on them. Like Steve, I also knew I’d have to take lots of notes on our upcoming assignment so that I can try to get 100% on this assignment. I have to try to make up for the mid term grade that I got and so far I seem to be doing that. Good luck to everyone.

What I still wonder about

I again agree with Steve that this class cleared up pretty much everything needed to know for the written report. And again, thank you to Marc for putting up with our class. When reviews come along I’m sure to give you an A++++++ ! ;)

How I participated

I’ve learnt that the best way to ... Learn is by asking lots of questions. So this week I decided to ask every question that came to my mind and I’m happy I did otherwise I wouldn’t know what to do for this report.

Conclusion

Awesome week of learning and best of luck to everyone on this next assignment.

JP