Blog Assignment 1

About me:

Hey everyone! My name is Abigail Cooke, but most people call me Abby. I am from Mobile, AL and graduated from UMS-Wright Preparatory School. I went to UMS-Wright for 14 years; so transitioning from the high school life to college life was a little difficult. I was accustomed to knowing everyone around me, younger and older including the faculty, so I can be extremely shy in a classroom, but I’m willing to help and meet new people. My mother moved to Oklahoma my freshmen year of college. This was a life changing experience, as she was my role model, best friend, and support. I attended Spring Hill College for two semesters and finally decided that it was not the school for me. After finishing the spring semester, I moved to Lawton, Oklahoma and en-rolled at Cameron University. I lived in Oklahoma for about a month, and although I was living with my mother again, Oklahoma and Cameron University were not right for me either. I took a semester off, decided what was best for me, moved back to Mobile, and enrolled at the University of South Alabama. After transferring three times and changing my major three times, I am finally a junior majoring in Secondary Education here at USA. After graduating, I plan to teach science, preferably Biology. It has been a long road, but I believe it will be worth it in the end.

I decided to enter the education field because of my love for children. Not only do I adore being around children, but I also enjoy teaching and helping them. While I was in high school, I worked with elementary children at Dumas Wesley, a local community center, and tutored high school children at UMS-Wright. While I attended Spring Hill College, I volunteered at Morningside Elementary, where I assisted children with special needs. I also worked for over a year with the three and four year old children at Kid's Zone of Tillman’s Corner. The education field is definitely the best fit for me.

Hunting and fishing are my favorite things to do in my spare time. I love being outside. Although rainy days are great for relaxing, being inside for too long will drive me insane! While this might sound crazy, I also enjoy going to class and learning new material. Spending time with my friends is important as well, but time management is a must and school comes first.

Randy Pausch on Time Management:

Randy Pausch first states in the lecture video, “Americans are very very bad at dealing with time as a commodity” (Pausch). He describes money as a commodity, but further explains that Americans do not consider time as a commodity. This is an interesting point in that I have never compared money to time, but truthfully, as he points out, they can be categorized together. This is helpful; making my time as important as money will make time management easier and I will be more efficient and less stressed in school. Another point that is interesting is, “[it is] very dangerous to focus on doing things right…[it is] much more important to do the right things” (Pausch). Doing the right thing, such as homework and assignments, sufficiently is better than doing the wrong thing exquisitely. This is also helpful because I tend to focus on doing one portion of a multiple part assignment perfectly, while slacking on or even omitting the other portions. This is usually the result of procrastination, which is poor time management. Finally, the last helpful assertion for me was to ask the questions "why" and "what". Sometimes I do not see the point in homework or assignments, but there is always a reason, so asking the question “why am I doing this” will help. Asking, “what will happen if I do not do this” should motivate me, since I do not want a poor grade due to an unfinished assignment.

Although Mr. Pausch looks familiar, I do not know him. After watching this video, I can tell that he is intelligent, well organized, and can be extremely helpful to students.

Time Management Article:

Regarding school, my biggest fault is procrastination. I read Penn State University’s page on “Time Management Exercises”. This page has two specific sections that pertain to me. The first, “Overcoming Procrastination” has suggestions to prevent procrastination. Next, “Preparing for Final Exams”, suggests ways to avoid stress and procrastination during final exam week. These tips could help anyone, freshman through senior level, and should prove to be beneficial to me in the future.