Help! I’m stuck!

Art Babbit is credited with creating Goofy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My little boys are going through a phase of loving to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on DSTV. We've got the whole all the songs memorized by now! One of the episodes that we have recorded on our PVR decoder has a segment where Goofy gets stuck inside Donald Duck's huge Trombone, and they have try and remove him from it. Eventually they do, obviously.

trombone 025 (Photo credit: Angela Hawkins)

But, I know that students can get to a point in their studies where they feel like their bums are stuck inside a trombone and they can't get any further! I received an email from a student just the other day asking me about this very topic. I want to issue a disclaimer before I continue this post - every subject is different. Biochenistry (the subject this student emailed me about) is a very tricky area to deal with and has it's own set of problems. And each subject has its own set of issues. I cannot go into details for each subject so this post is going to be full of generalizations. But I will obviously be helping that student individually. If any of you have specific problems, please feel free to post below or to email me at dave@schooledforlife.com or dave1314@gmail.com.

1. Start with your lecture notes. If you have followed my suggestions about taking good lecture notes, then you will probably have a good

071 J_01a Page Two from H. P. Lovecraft 18-Nov-1932 Letter to E. Hoffmann Price 9 X 7.6 From the 10-May-1981 Envelope to William Hart (Photo credit: California Cthulhu (Will Hart))

infrastructure with which to begin working with your subject.

2. Read your textbook for understanding. Take the textbook that is prescribed reading for your course and read the relevant section for understanding, not necessarily for memorizing. Read the section with highlighters, pencils and a notebook at hand for you to jot down any questions you have. Remember, you are reading to understand, so memorizing you are going to leave for a later stage. This particular step is fit for a whole series of topics all on its own, and perhaps we can delve into that in the near future.

3. Read other textbooks. Here, find books that simplify the information. A medical example would be Human Anatomy For Dummies. These books will often break down the information into understandable chunks and explain it in such a way that you can immediately grasp and begin to apply.

4. Seek out knowledgeable students.Take note of those in your class who seem to be pretty clued up on what is going on in the course you are struggling with. If you have a good relationship with them, approach them and ask them if they wouldn't mind explaining some of the key concepts to you, and perhaps showing you how they approach studying the subject. You don't need to even find a student on your own class, you could find one who is a year or two ahead of you who you know did well in that particular subject. Again, offer to buy them a cup of coffee, spend time with them and absorb information like a sponge.

Students of Saint Mary's Hall (Photo credit: Robert of Fairfax)

5. Speak to your lecturer. Some lecturers are simply on another planet and cannot be reached by any conventional means. In this case, see point number 3! However, fairly frequently, lecturers are quite willing to spend time helping you if they can see you are struggling with their subject. Make an initial appointment, prepare what you are going to ask them, bring all your books and notes along, and then grill them!

Lectures 102 : What not to do(schooledforlife.com)
Mini-Lectures(twowritingteachers.wordpress.com)
Prepare for Finals without the all night study sessions(glendalecommunitycollege.wordpress.com)
What my 11 year old's Stanford course taught me about online education(gametheorist.blogspot.com)
Why Do Students Seek Help with Their Essays?(jamesharl.wordpress.com)

Lectures 102 : What not to do

image by osde8info

In the previous post we looked as a few ways you can benefit from lectures. In this post I want to discuss some of the things you shouldn't do in regards to lectures. 1. Skip lecture. Compared to high school, college students have a lot more freedom, and especially in first year where classes may have as many as 300 students, it is easy to skip lectures, especially if you are recovering from partying the night before! 2. Come unprepared. This is a follow-up to our previous post. Often-times, attending a lecture without preparing beforehand can be almost as bad as not attending at all. 3. Trying to write down everything the lecturer says. If you want to do that, rather record the lecture, and then when you get back home you can listen to the lecture again, even at double speed if you want to. We will discuss this in the next posts when I will give you some ideas on how to use recorded lectures properly. 4. Not writing anything at all. If you are going to the lecture, if you haven't prepared, at least try to listen for some key information as discussed previously. If you know someone in your class who is good at picking up important information during lectures, sit next to them or behind them during lectures, and you can see when they may note of something that the lecturer has said.

Lectures 101 (schooledforlife.com)
So who are these lecturers anyway? Seven ways to get to know them better (schooledforlife.com)
Four-Minute Lecture: Professor Viccellio (thekenyonthrill.com)
Back to Uni - and even more determined to help. (mathematicalmischief.wordpress.com)

Lectures 101

I want to discuss four ways that you can get the most out of the lectures that you attend. By following these simple steps, you can maximize the effectiveness of your attendance of lectures.

Image by sbarkley

image by denn

1. Read beforehand. This is perhaps one of the most crucial steps you should do. If your course-load is not too intensive, then I suggest that you read the relevant chapter/s a couple of days before the lecture, and jot down any questions that you have. Then, read the chapter and questions again the night before the lecture. If your course-load is heavy (think Medical School!), then read the chapter the night before with a red, green and blue highlighter nearby. Red highlights things you don't understand. Blue highlights things you already knew. Green highlights the main points that you would use as topics for essay questions. 2. The Handouts are never enough.No mater what the lecturer says toyou, I promise you that the lecture handouts are never enough. Use the lecture handouts as the skeleton upon which you build your chunks of knowledge. 3. Listen for points that are repeated. When the lecturer repeats a point more, take special note. When they say it more than twice, take very careful note of it. 4. Listen for points that are illustrated. If your lecturer gives you an illustration to try and explain a concept, pay very close attention as well. This is also usually an important point to know.

image by B Rosen

So who are these lecturers anyway? Seven ways to get to know them better (schooledforlife.com)
Four-Minute Lecture: Professor Jensen (thekenyonthrill.com)

So who are these lecturers anyway? Seven ways to get to know them better

If you thought your high school teachers were weird, just wait until you meet your college lecturers! I remember when my wife was in first year of her Occupational Therapy degree, I used to sit with her sometimes during her lectures. I remember her Biology 101 lecturer. He reminded us of a tortoise. And even though he used a microphone, most of the time we couldn't hear what he was saying. When they asked him to adjust the microphone, he would hold it up to his face and say loudly "Can you hear me?". Then he would let it drop and he would carry on mumbling just as before. He became The Tortoise. I had a eccentric Anatomy lecture Dr Daly. He was very good, and his antics in the lecture room were hilarious. Sometimes he would jump onto the front desk and try and make himself into the shape of the particular cell or receptor we were studying.

English: Swarthmore Lecture at Britain Yearly ...

Image via Wikipedia

So, how do you get to know your lecturers better in order to improve your grades? Here are seven that I found useful.

Read their online bios. Find out what their field of expertise is. Sometimes you will get a lecturer that will be taking classes in one topic because they have to, but their real area of interest is elsewhere. This will help you to get extra help from other sources if the lecturer is not willing to get to know you and help you.
Make an appointment to see them one-to-one early. This serves a number of purposes. It shows them that you are eager and keen to learn. It also establishes a professional relationship that may last long after you finish university. You get to know what they want and what they don't want.
Ask them lots of questions. These are the questions that I would ask them : What is it that you want me to learn most in your course? What type of tests do you set? Do you expect a certain type of answer? Is your course knowledge-intensive? Is it application-driven? Is it calculation-driven? Is it regurgitation-expectant? Is it hands-on? Is it deductive/analytical-intensive? Is it creative-driven? Is it in-the-box or out-the-box? Is it stepping-stone material?
Don't try to be too clever with them. They have seen hundreds, even thousands of students, and they can see the arrogant know-it-alls straight away. Don't put across an impression of someone who isn't really you. Respect them. They have way more experience than you. And you can learn a lot from them.
Follow up your tests/assignments. After a test or assignment, follow up with them to find out what was good about it, what was bad about it. Ask them how you can improve. And then actually apply what they tell you!
Always be respectful towards them and be honest with them. If you establish yourself as untrustworthy early on in your university/college pathway, it will stay with you all the way through. If you consistently miss pracs and other types of tutorials, you will develop a reputation as a loafer. This will haunt you all the way through your years in college. Respect your lecturers, be honest with them.
Seek other help. Sometimes lecturers are not helpful at all, and when that is the case, then find senior students or other lecturers who will be able to help you through the year.
Ask them about a mentoring program. I remember when I was struggling with some of the concepts in Internal Medicine, the Dean of Students assigned to me a senior medical student who met with me once or twice a week, helping me with concepts and practical advice.