Student Success Statement

"It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and (to make) unpopular that which is unsound (and not good)."

Joseph Smith

 

We all need to inforce what is good to overpower what is wrong.

Successful Students

9

 

9.       . . . don’t cram for exams. Successful students know that divided periods of study are more effective than cram sessions, and they practice it.

If there is one thing that study skills specialist agree on, it is that distributed study is better than masses, late-night, last-ditch efforts known as cramming. You’ll learn more, remember more, and earn a higher grade by studying in four, one hour-a-night on Thursday night. Short, concentrated preparatory efforts are more efficient and rewarding than wasteful, inattentive, last moment marathons. Yet, so many students fail to learn this lesson and end up repeating it over and over again until it becomes a wasteful habit. Not too clever, huh?

When you cram, you are taking the shortcut, and shortcuts never produce any real worthwhile results. Also, when you take shortcuts, you feel rather rotten know that you could have done better but didn’t. Shortcuts cut you short. You can’t plant watermelon seeds and harvest fresh watermelons the next day. It takes time. Cramming for a test or project and expecting to make a high score the next day is like planting watermelon seeds and expecting to harvest and eat fresh watermelon the next day.
Plus cramming for a test or project doesn’t help you academically, so why even do it? Plan ahead, prepare ahead. Give yourself plenty of days and weeks to prepare for upcoming accountability opportunities.

 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!

Student Success Statement

"What's right isn't always popular. What's popular isn't always right."

Howard Cosell

 

This means that just because something is done by others and it seems okay, it's not. Many people do things due to peer preasure and because it seems like it's not a big deal, but if you look into it, it can be the most dreadful action possible.



Successful Students

7-8 

7.       . . . understand the actions affect learning. Successful students know their personal behavior affect their feelings and emotions which in turn can affect learning.

If you act in a certain way that normally produces particular feelings, you will begin to experience those feelings. Act like you’re bored, and you will become bored. Act like you’re disinterested, and you’ll become disinterested. So the next time you have trouble concentration in the classroom, “act” like an interested person: lean forward, place your feet flat on the floor, maintain eye contact with the professor, nod occasionally, take notes, and ask questions. Not only will you benefit directly from your actions, your classmates and professor may also get more excited and enthusiastic.

8.       . . . talk about what they’re learning. Successful students get to know something well enough that they can put into words. Talking about something, with friends or classmates, is not only good for checking whether or not you know something, it’s a proven learning tool. Transferring ideas into words provides the most direct path for moving knowledge from short-term to long-term memory. You really don’t “know” material until you can put it into words. So next time you study, don’t do it silently. Talk about notes, problems, reading, etc. with friends, recite to a chair, organize an oral study group, pretend you’re teaching your peers. “Talk-learning” produces a whole host of memory traces that result in more learning.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!!

Successful Students

5-6

 

5.       Don’t sit in the back of the room. Successful students minimize classroom distractions that interfere with learning.
Students want the best seat available for their entertainment dollars, but willingly seek the worst seat for their educational dollars. Students who sit in the back cannot possibly be their professor’s teammate (see no. 4). Why do they expose themselves to the temptations of inactive classroom experiences and distractions of all the people between them and their instructor? Of course, we k now they chose the back of the classroom because they seek invisibility or anonymity, both of which are antithetical of efficient and effective learning. If you are trying not to be part of the class, why, then, are you wasting your time? Push your hot buttons, is there something else you could be doing with your time?

6.       . . . take good notes. Successful students take notes that are understandable or organized, and review them often.

Why put something into your notes you don’t understand? Ask the questions now that are necessary to make your notes meaningful at some later time. A short review of your notes while the material is still fresh on your mind helps you to learn more. The more you learn then, the less you’ll have to learn later and the less time it will take because you won’t have to include some deciphering time, also. The whole purpose of taking notes is to use them, and use them often. The more you use them, the more they improve.

 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!

8 Very often -- Almost every other week
6 Often -- one to three times a week
4 Occasionally -- two to three times a month
2 Rarely -- once every month to three months
0 Never

1. I eat foods that I know aren't nutritious. : 8
2. I eat meals or heavy snacks after 7 at night. : 6
3. I'm afraid I'll gain weight. : 6
4. I eat when I'm not hungry. : 2
5. I eat foods my parents don't want me to eat. : 0
6. I'm self-conscious about how I look. : 2
7. When I'm bored or depressed, I eat a lot. : 2
8. I go on eating binges. :0
9. I eat until I'm uncomfortable. : 0
10. I hide foods or sneak them. : 0
11. I eat because I feel "who cares"? : 0
12. I drink alcoholic beverages. : 2
13. I have uncontrollable urges of hunger. : 0
14. Feelings of anger or hostility overwhelming me. : 2
15. I indulge in sweets. : 2
16. I eat when I'm tired or overtired. : 0
17. I like to eat alone. : 8
18. I use appetite suppressants. : 2
19. My parents make sweets available or used them for rewards. : 4
20. I eat and run. : 0
21. I don't have respect for myself and my body. : 0
22. I feel rushed or hurried. : 4
23. I have a snack or meal an hour before I go to bed. : 2
24. I crave sweet foods. : 6
25. When I eat with other people, I feel self-conscious. : 0
26. I gulp my food. : 0
27. I wish I looked like someone else. : 2
28. I eat or drink in secret. : 0
29. I feel as if I'm in the middle of a struggle. : 2
30. I eat when I can't sleep. : 2

Student Success Statement

"The time is always right to do what is right."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

What this statement means is that there is no specific time to do what is right, but it is whenever, wherever.

Successful Students

3-4

 

3.       . . . ask questions. Successful students ask questions to provide the quickest route between ignorance and knowledge. In additions to securing knowledge you seek, asking questions has at least two other extremely important benefits. The process helps you pay attention to your professor and helps your professor pay attention to you! Think about it. If you want something, go after it. Get the answer now, or fail a question later. There are no foolish questions, only foolish silence. It’s your choice.

4.       . . . learn that a student and a professor make a team. Most instructors want exactly what you want: they would like for you to learn the material in their respective classes and earn a good grade.

Successful students reflect well on the efforts of any teacher; if you have learned your material, the instructor takes some justifiable pride in teaching. Join forces with your instructor, they are not an enemy, you share the same interests, the same goals – in short, your teammates. Get to know your professor.  You’re the most valuable player on the same team. Your jobs are to work together for mutual success. Neither wishes to chalk up a losing season. Be a team player!

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!!

Student Success Statement

"I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after."
Ernest Hemingway

Successful Students

1-2

Successful students exhibit a combination of successful attitudes and behaviors as well as intellectual capacity. Successful students . . .

1.       . . . are responsible and active. Successful students get involved in their studies, accept responsibility for their own education, and are active participants it! Responsibility means control. It’s the difference between leading and being led. Your own efforts control your grade, you earn the glory or deserve the blame, you make the choice. Active classroom participation improves grades without increasing study time. You can sit there, act bored, daydream, or sleep. Or, you can actively listen, think, question, and take notes like someone in charge of their learning experience. Either option cost one class period. However, the former method will require a large degree of additional work outside of class to achieve the same degree of learning that later provides at one sitting. The choice is yours.

2.       . . . have educational goals. Successful students have legitimate goals and are motivated by what they represent in terms of career aspiration and life’s desires.

Ask yourself these questions: What am I doing here? Why have I chosen to be sitting here now? Is there some better place I could be? What does my presence her mean to me? Answers to these questions represent your “Hot Buttons” and are, without a doubt, the most important factors in your success as a college student. If your educational goals are truly yours, not someone else’s, they will motivate a vital and positive academic attitude. If you are familiar with what these hot buttons represent and refer to them often, especially when you tire of being a student, noting can stop you; if you aren’t and don’t, everything can, and will!

 CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!

 

The picture above shows a picture of a Tennessee Walking Horse. These horses are used for competition races and are known to cause tons of amusement. But what people don't know is that these horses go through a lot of abuse in order to perform the way that they do. Horse trainer, Jackie McConnell, and some of his employees were caught torturing horses on tape. 52/52 horses were found with substances on their legs to enhance their performance.