The Nontrad News is done. Here is a link! Plus, should you really experience college to the fullest? An interesting article...

The Nontrad News Issue is out!

The new service I am using, MailChimp, also has a Browser Version here: http://us13.campaign-archive1.com/?u=a2a5801eb0f96899e42e065a8&id=917fa97e1b&e=98adf45a7f

The issue is about Our Mission, What Nontrads are Interested In (my take), and some of the services schools are offering for us.

I hope you like it. I'm thinking of offering it bi-monthly now. We'll see!

A neat article and thoughts about clubs, groups, and more.

Should Nontrads REALLY get involved while going back to school?

I think the answer is a big YES.

But I think a lot may be missing out on things they could be doing. Some nontraditional students believe that they have missed the boat, and should suffer for that. Yes, they can take a class, but when it comes to really jumping into the college or school experience, they don't want to. Maybe they feel old and out of things.

Maybe they feel like they won't fit in, or that the people in the groups or clubs they MIGHT want to join won't want them there, because of their age, or ageism (yes, discrimination IS out there). But attitudes that older people are set in their ways, grouchy, forgetful - - the list goes on and on - - can be so wrong.

But that's not the way it has to be - - you, the nontrad, not having ANY fun, and just concentrating on classwork. It also is not the way to graduate. If you love what you are being back in school and learning (and clubs and groups help this feeling) then you will continue.

If you hate what you are doing, it's easier to quit. And you definitely don't want to do that.

This article tells more. Here it is:

Get the Full College Experience as a Nontraditional Student:  Older students need to find ways to fit extracurricular activities into their schedule. 

The title tells a lot. The article talks about learning styles, extracurriculars, balancing your life, and also things to look for in a school (like Student Centers and recreational facilities).

I like the advice about joining a school club. It can be a lot of fun, and more and more clubs (and even some Sororities and Fraternities) are opening their doors to older students now.

Yes, you might run into some misunderstandings. But after people get to know you, and you get to know them, friendship can happen. And a person can't have too many friends, after all.

ES

About me, Betsyanne, and E. Sheppard:

I sell books and collectibles on Ebay, Amazon, and Etsy. Here are some of my current Ebay listings:

eBay Listings Widget from Auction Nudge

And get connected with other nontraditional students, too:

Join these Nontrad links: The Nontrad site  (this blog is on page one) - - also: Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter

Just checking in - how are you doing, nontraditional students? A bit about that first job.

Once in awhile, I like to check in and write a quick blog posting here and try to give some pointers.

After all, I was once a nontraditional student (for teacher education, in English and Allied Arts).

I consider going back AGAIN sometimes. It was challenging, but worth it.

Nowadays, some students worry that there may not be a job for them when they get out of school. It's a valid worry. Some ask their advisors about it... and I would say that's a good idea. There are also some sites online that tell what kinds of jobs are in demand.

Of course, you should like what you are doing. I have heard that some graduates are so valuable they actually are recruited and don't even need to apply for a job. But those graduate areas are hard to find, at least they were for me.

My personal experience, at first, then later: I found that there WERE jobs out there, but not always the optimal ones.

Some advice I'd give new graduates: don't settle for the first job you get... IF you can help it. Do your homework first. Seriously.

Of course, if you need to start working at your chosen job right away, sometimes you DO need to take the first job that accepts you. And then just take your chances. BUT you might get more than one offer. And one might be way better than the other.

I found at my first job (as a "regular" graduate) that waiting a little while to check out positions could be worth it. This is hindsight, because I only realized that AFTER I was working at the other place. If you find out that one place is better, it's OK to let the other place know about it before you start working there. You CAN change your mind.

Ask around at the place you are thinking of working. Get an idea of what happened to the last person that had your job. Did they quit early? Why? Does the company or place you want to work at have a good reputation in the community? What is the boss like? Are they fair?

Yes, luck does have something to do with finding a great job, that is fulfilling and makes you actually WANT to be there. It can be kind of scary to ask people at the workplace what they think of it. It makes me nervous just thinking of doing that. But next time, if I do that again, that's EXACTLY what I plan to do.

Betsyanne

My last posting:
Tests, Quizzes, Pop Quizzes, Papers, Reports, Ack! OH - and Fall Break too.

And you may also like these postings:

Fall Break ideas - - what are YOUR plans?

10 Study Tips for Nontraditional Students

And here are the 5 most popular postings right now via Statcounter.

Some Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter

College, trade school, a GED - is one on your bucket list?

This posting is for people who have always wanted to go back to school, but keep putting it off.

Nontraditional students: are you getting your money's worth?

Nontraditional students, you are paying for tuition, books, lab fees, tuition, and on and on.

But are you really getting your money's worth?

Some ways of really getting your money's worth are:

1. Taking as many classes as you can handle if you are paying a set fee for part-time or full-time enrollment.
2. Attending school as much as possible.
3. Taking advantage of extra services on campus like health services, counseling, free or reduced-fee exercise classes and facilities. Some schools also have cut-rate dental services for students.
4. Making appointments with school guidance advisors to help your with your next semester's class schedule.
5. Attending extra events like free lectures, music and theater performances, and more.
6. Enrolling in health insurance policies for students, which can be offered at a great group rate.
7. Joining clubs or fraternal groups - - these groups are opening up for nontraditional students and can be a great place to relax and make friends too, which actually CAN help your grades!
8. Using the free tutoring services and learning labs often available at vocational school, GED locations, and colleges.
9. Using the free computer labs and library facilities at school.

Can you think of a #10 thing a nontraditional student can get their money's worth with at school? I would love to add it here.

Nontraditionally yours,
-Betsyanne

Some Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter

Hi, All! Here is a quick note before the article today.


After a busy day, I decided to check out the popular Ezine Articles site. I am an author there too. I plan to write some more articles there soon. Here is my profile on the Ezine Articles site.


I searched for some good nontraditional student articles and after reading some others that were not as good (by different authors) I found a really good and useful one by a knowledgable author, Linda S. Pogue. I liked the many tips and advice on it. It is below. I hope you enjoy it too.

Untraditional Or Nontraditional Student - Attending College With Your Children's Peers

By Linda S Pogue

Due to the economic downturn, many adults are returning to, or attending for the first time, college campuses to earn new credentials. For many untraditional or nontraditional students, going to college with traditional students can be overwhelming, or even down right embarrassing. After all, they are your childrens peers, and we are at a time in our lives when we think we should be long beyond college classes. For some, the idea of attending as a first time college student is frightening, for others it is the answer to a lifelong dream.

Older adult learners attending college share some of the same misgivings and fears. What if I can't learn the material fast enough? What if I feel out of place? What if I get lost on campus? These are just some of the fears normal to older students. If we are honest, most of us, as older adults, will admit that we don't learn as quickly or as easily as we once did. The good news is that we can learn it, and once we do, we have the experience to use what we learn. Too often younger students easily learn material but do not have the life experience to see how that learning can be applied to their lives and livelihoods.
There are some specific strategies that will help you learn. First, find out what kind of learner you are. Are you a visual learner, auditory learner, kinesthetic learner, or a combination of all three? A quick search online for 'free learning style exam' will help you find a test that will give you the answers. Once you know what kind of learner you are, you will be able to focus your learning to your particular learning style, making it much easier to learn the material.
One instructor stated that learning is nothing more than 'repetition, repetition, repetition!' If all else fails, read the material over and over or read it aloud into a recorder and play it back while you are driving, washing dishes, or going to sleep. If you are a visual learner, building a chart or graph will help you visualize the material at test time. Whatever your learning style, knowing it will save you hours of grief when trying to learn class material.
Feeling out of place or fearing getting lost on campus does not only affect older learners. In any new environment, people are uncomfortable until they learn their way around. A day or two before class begins, go to campus, and visit the student services office. Ask if someone can show you around. If not, ask if they have a campus map and can show you where on the map your classes are located. Then walk the campus until you are comfortable that you can locate your classes.
Many instructors find that having older students in the classroom is helpful. It provides a real world context that is otherwise difficult to present to the class as a whole. As long as you are respectful and let the instructor know that you understand he or she is in charge, your views and comments will be welcome. It can even be fun to attend classes with younger students--even with your own children, if they can stand the embarrassment! Some of the best parent-child bonding can be accomplished by learning together.
Some simple steps to help you through your first semester are:

• Take your time and learn your way around the campus.
• Purchase your textbooks early or buy them online for more savings--the bookstores sometimes run out!
• Introduce yourself to your instructors. Most instructors enjoy talking with their students.
• Make a list of all your classes, their locations, and their times and dates. Keep it where you can easily refer to it.
• Make a chart of all your assignments and due dates for each class so that you don't get lost or confused about when to do which assignment.
• If you don't understand an assignment, try to meet with the instructor or professor as soon as class is over for clarification. If he or she cannot meet with you then, ask for an appointment at a time convenient to you both, but before the assignment is due.
• If the instructor talks too fast, ask if you can have a copy of the class lecture notes. If the answer is no, ask another student to take notes for you, or purchase and use a small cassette recorder to capture lectures. Student Services can help you if you have hearing issues or other health issues that impact your learning, but you have to contact them and ask--it isn't automatically offered.
• If life happens, contact your instructor immediately. Some instructors are extremely strict about due dates, but most are understanding and will work with you if they understand that you have a real emergency.
• Enjoy yourself! Learning can and should be fun!

For more helpful information for adults attending college, visit StudentAgain.com. Linda S Pogue began her first college course as an untraditional, non-traditional college student. She attended classes with both her daughter and her son-in-law and enjoyed learning to know them from this unique perspective. Currently, Linda is a full-time doctoral student, working toward a PhD. in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Design for Online Learning. She teaches computer information systems courses online for a community college in northwest Arkansas, and builds Web sites in her spare time.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Linda_S_Pogue 

Thank you very much, Linda, for this informative and interesting posting.

I hope your studies are going well this semester. I will go to your site and say hi next.

Nontraditionally yours,

-Betsyanne

Some Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog 
Also: Join Nontrads on Facebook,  Nontrads on Yahoo, and  Nontrads on Twitter

Looking back, and some things I learned by being a nontraditional student (revised and corrected)

#1: I learned that my attitude mattered... (version 2)

Okay. I'll admit it. At first when I went back to school, my attitude was that of "Uh-oh. Will I fit in? Will this work out for me? Am I making the wrong choices in what I am taking?"

The last question was the biggest one I had. Was I making a wrong choice? Like many nontraditional students, I had more than one choice in what I could take in school. I did know one thing: I didn't want to take 4 more years of school and not have much (at least on paper) to show for it.

My decision had been whether to concentrate on my English skills OR go for Art education instead. Once I made up my mind, I went for it.

But I can imagine that waffling longer... maybe taking one class at a time, taking both interests at the same time, and always worrying about my decision would have bogged me down, and taken time away from where it belonged: on my studies.

As it turned out, deciding once and for all about this question was a good decision for me. If I had not, I would have had to take MUCH longer to find out what teaching could really be like (at least, at the school I taught at, which I think was a pretty typical school).

Another good benefit of having a plan was that I did not have to re-take any classes or drop any. This is a very good thing, and saved me a lot of money. Plus, I found out some important lessons. The most important lesson I learned was that you just have to TRY something sometimes and find out if you like it.

#2 Some other things I learned by being a nontraditional student...

A. All the positive attitude, smiles, and good intentions in the world won't help you if you don't jump in with both feet and actually TRY something. Once I decided to go for more education, and actually signed up and did my FAFSA, everything else just started to fall in place.

B. Deciding what I was going to do with my second chance at another type of job was up to me, but I was NOT locked into that choice, as I learned later on. I learned that I could branch out into something else after I earned my certification.

Learning a new skill helped me in my personal life - - I was able to speak better in front of lots of people, make presentations, and do research faster. I was able to finish projects in a timely way. Now I can divide projects and my writing up into smaller sections and delegate my time.

C. Going back to school was not only a chance for me to learn something academic, but was a chance to learn something about MYSELF. I found out that I could overcome some big challenges, and I was not a quitter. (I pretty much knew this already, but I confirmed it.) I also learned that if I tried my best, sometimes that was more than enough.

D. When I was in school, I needed to pull out all the stops in order to do well and get good grades. Learning what I needed to learn did not come easy. It was a lot of hard work. That meant studying as much as possible, never missing class, and connecting with other students. But you know what? All the hard work was really worth it, and helped build up my self-esteem.

E. Graduating or finishing my classes did NOT mean that I was stuck in a rut or couldn't change my mind later. It turned out I DID change my mind later, and that was OK.

I know that I can always go back to school again as a nontraditional student for something entirely different, OR I can learn another subject in school or by myself. The sky is indeed the limit now, because I proved to myself that I could knuckle down and succeed at learning something I wanted to learn, and my age didn't matter.

F. I learned that my success isn't always what other people tell me it is. My personal success and how I feel about myself is up to me.

I learned that what other people tell me is the "truth" is not always all of what is really going on in a situation. (Duh!) I learned that it is not enough to just have an opinion or look at things from "my" point of view. I learned that looking at others' points of view can be refreshing, even if those people do not agree with me, and/or have their own agendas.

I learned a lot about really looking around and evaluating things. This is a life skill that is really important.

Because I went back to school, I learned a lot about teaching, a lot about people, and a lot about lessons and life - - because when I tried teaching for the very first time, I learned so much. The biggest lesson of all was learning that it is OK to make a mistake. Everyone does it. In fact, it is human to make a mistake. I am the kind of person who used to go over and over the causes of every mistake when it happened.

I have changed. I no longer do this. Nowadays I stop when I have pretty much understood it, and focus a lot more on the learning I have because of each one. Going back to school has changed me as a person and changed the way I think in a very basic and healthy way.

Are you going back to school right now? What are some things you are concerned about OR what have you learned so far? Share your thoughts below as a comment.

Later!

E. Sheppard

Some of my other Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter