The Follow-Up

Week 2 Homework Activities
Chapter 2
CHAPTER REVIEW
1. Describe the characteristics of well-written goals. Clear, realistic, and attainable goals for short or long term including education.
2. List at least four or five things you can do to develop a positive attitude. Always think positive, never giving up, staying focus, and achieving my goals.
3. What have you personally found helps motivate you to sit down and start studying? Excitement of learning new things.
4. Describe the most important characteristics of an effective study space. Quiet and comfortable
5. How can you prepare for unplanned interruptions while studying? Taking short breaks and while making time for the interruptions removing something out the schedule for studying
6. After you have analyzed how you typically spend time and have blocked out study periods for the week, you may still have difficulty using that study time well. List additional time management strategies that can help you make the most of the time that you do have.
7. If you find yourself procrastinating, what can you do to get back on track? Remind myself that I am striving for success and it will be worth it.
8. What can go wrong if you try to micromanage every minute of the day? To much going on can affect your memory * What should you do, instead? Manage and order your time
9. Realizing that any action repeated consistently and frequently will soon become a habit, what should you do with your academic planner every day and every week to establish a strong habit that will help ensure your success in all your college courses to come? Keep track of all assignment and goals you want to achieve
Outside the Book
Make seven copies of the “Study Journal” page following. Near the end of the day, every day for the next week, spend a few minutes reviewing your day and writing answers to those questions. At the end of the week, review what you have written and summarize what you observe about your study tendencies by answering these questions:
1. Did you usually get as much, more, or less schoolwork done as you had scheduled for the day? Less
If you got less done, was the problem due to scheduling more time than you actually had, or not making effective use of the scheduled blocks of time? Not making effective use of my time.
2. List the steps you will follow to make your scheduling process work better next week. Less time reading my own books and more time studying my work
3. What other things did you do repeatedly during the week when you should have been studying? Running errands and doing things in the house
4. What were the most common distractions (people or other interruptions) during the week when you were studying? My boyfriend and children
5. List ways you can control your study space to avoid these activities and prevent these distractions next week. Go to my rooms upstairs and making sure the kids are downstairs with their dad
6. Do you see a pattern in the activities you least enjoyed and had difficulty getting started on? Homework and taking time to study the materials.
7. Review Chapter 2, Section 3 and Chapter 2, Section 4 for specific strategies to use to stay focused and motivated. Make a list here of five or more things you will do differently next week if studying becomes difficult or less enjoyable.
Study Journal for Date: ____________ * a. My daily planner had scheduled __5___ hours of academic time today (not counting time in class). It turned out that I actually spent about ___2___ hours on my studies. * At some times I was scheduled to study or do academic work, I was doing this instead: Cleaning or running errands * b. The academic time I most enjoyed today was doing __Reading___________ * I enjoyed this most because ______I like to read______________ * c. The academic time I least most enjoyed today was doing _____Homework______ * I enjoyed this least because ____So many interruptions___________ * d. I had the most difficulty getting started on this study activity: Homework * Why? Interruptions * e. I did my studying and other academic work in these places: Home * f. During the time I was studying, I was interrupted by these people: Children * Other interruptions included the following (phone calls, e-mail, etc.): Phone calls
 MAKE AN ACTION LIST
 Goals
 I have not yet set realistic, specific, and time-oriented goals for the following:
 In the coming weeks and months, I will think about and clarify these goals:
 Planning Ahead
 Too often in the past, I have not started early enough on these kinds of school assignments and studying:
 To ensure I successfully plan ahead to complete all work on time in the future, I will do the following:
 Attitude
 I have most difficulty maintaining a positive attitude at the following times:
 I can do the following things to “adjust” my attitude at these times to help ensure my success:
 Focus and Motivation
 When I’m not feeling motivated to work on my studies, I often do these things instead:
 I will try to use these strategies to keep motivated and focused on my studies in the future:
 Study Space
 I have the following problems with the places where I usually study now:
 I will make the following changes in my study space (or I will try these new places) to help prevent distractions:
 Time Management
 I often feel I don’t have enough time for my college work for the following reasons:
 I will start using these techniques to make sure I use my available time well:
Chapter 3
CHAPTER REVIEW
1.
List the six levels of thinking described in Bloom’s taxonomy. Knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation
2.
Which thinking skill is most important for short answer quizzes? Why? Critical thinking because it’s a process of remembering and understanding question
3.
List five verbs that describe the application level of thought. Compare, discuss, examine, define and create.
4.
What thinking skills are you using if you are blogging? How do you use each one?
5.
What is critical thinking? It is the ability to discover the value of an idea, a set of beliefs, a claim or an argument.
6.
Why is it important to pose some questions about the source of the material you read? What kinds of questions should you ask? So you can get an understanding of what you have to read, and ask questions concerning the objective of the material.
7.
What is a logical fallacy? Give an example of two types. Generalizations and false cause defeats in logic that weakens arguments
8.
List six words that signal a broad generalization and a recommended alternative that would resolve that problem of each. All, none, always, never, none, and everyone.
9.
What are some ways in which you can feed your curiosity? Trying out something new and challenging
10.
Why is brainstorming more effective at generating new ideas than individual work?
11.
List the four steps of problem solving. * a. ______Defining the problem____________________________ * b. ______Narrowing the problem__________________________ * c. ______Generating solutions_____________________________ * d. _______Identifying the best decision______________________
12.
How do you use critical thinking and creative thinking in solving problems? Defining the problem then narrowing it down then finally coming up with a solution.
MAKE AN ACTION LIST Two things I will do to practice | Action | By when I expect to take the action | The expected results of that action | My critical thinking | 1. | | | | 2. | | | My creative thinking | 1. | | | | 2. | | | My problem solving | 1. | | | | 2. | | |
Chapter 11
CHECKPOINT EXERCISES
1. What is the best kind of college financial aid to seek? * _______FAFSA and Pell Gran_____________________________
2. For each of the following statements, circle T for true or F for false: | F | You don’t need to complete the FAFSA if you are applying only for a federal student loan. | T | | If you apply to your college’s financial aid office, they will tell you about all possible scholarships for which you may be qualified. | | F | After graduation, you have to begin repaying the money you received in a grant. | T | | A work study program job often has advantages over a job you find on your own. |
3. As a general rule, your future payments on a student loan should not be more than _10%___ percent of what you expect to make with your starting salary.
CHAPTER REVIEW
1. Why is it necessary to track all your expenditures if your goal is to spend less to avoid financial problems while in college? So you will not overspend
2. Imagine several situations in which a friend asks you to join some activity that would break your budget. Write down positive, upbeat things you can say in these situations instead of glumly saying “I can’t afford it.” I have to get my money straight first, then I’ll see.
3. List as many ways as you can think of to locate job openings for which you might apply Newspaper, internet, friend, or unemployment office.
4. Who should you talk to if you are having difficulty paying for college or meeting your expenses? Your Finical Aid advisor
OUTSIDE THE BOOK
1. Although you may not need a résumé until you seek full-time employment after graduation, go online to learn what kinds of experience are typically listed in a résumé. Make a list of your experiences, qualifications, and references that you will put on your future résumé. What areas seem weak to you? What kind of job, internship, or other experience could you potentially have now in your college years that will strengthen your résumé?
2. Choose a friend you enjoy spending time with and see if he or she will help you with an “experiment.” Together, make a list of fun free things to do over the next two weeks. For example, look for free concerts and other campus activities. Make it your goal to spend as little as possible for two weeks, cooking meals together if practical, taking lunches and snacks to classes, and finding new ways to enjoy your free time inexpensively. At the end of this experiment, compare what you spent with your past habits. How successful were you? Think about how you can continue saving in the future.
3. Make a budget as described in this chapter, based on realistic estimates of your daily and monthly expenditures. Choose two or three categories of expenses and pay special attention to these for a month. For every $10 less that you spend in these categories during the month, put $3 in a new category to reward yourself. Then at the end of the month, use this new fund to celebrate your success with something special.
4. It’s never too early to think about summer jobs. Go online to check out summer jobs and internships you might find interesting. Check out the application process and deadlines and write these on your calendar for the winter or spring to remind yourself to apply early. * ■ http://ww.studentjobs.gov * ■ http://www.students.gov
5. Go to the following Web site and take the “Finance Quiz To Test Knowledge Of College Students”—then check other resources on this site for more financial information you may need: * http://www.familyresource.com/parenting/money-management/finance- quiz-to-test-knowledge-of-college-students
For a more comprehensive analysis of your spending habits and financial knowledge, try this quiz: * http://moneycentral.msn.com/quiz/savvy-spending-quiz/home.aspx
MAKE AN ACTION LIST
Spending
I spend too much money every week on Gas
My action plan to spend less includes the following: Stop my boyfriend from using the car
Lifestyle
The area of my lifestyle where I know I spend more than most other college students is Home
I can make these adjustments in my lifestyle to reduce this expenditure: Spending more time studying
Job in College
Ideally, I’d like to work no more than ___30__ hours a week.
What I’d most enjoy doing is Cashiering
I can learn more about possible jobs close to my ideal by looking on the internet
Saving Money
I believe I can realistically save this amount of money a month if I watch my spending: 60$
This is where I will put my savings: Under my bed
I will allow myself to spend this money only for something major like: household items
Budgeting and Tracking Spending
Here’s how I have kept track of what I spent in the past: Remembering
So that I can maintain a budget now and in the future, I know I need to record every expenditure. I will do this by keeping up with receipts
Credit Card Use
In the past, I usually used my credit card to buy things like Never had one
If you have not always been able to pay off your balance every month: I will try to avoid using my credit card as much by taking these steps: