The Non-Traditional Student Blog (BA)

Good Luck This Fall! By Toni Washington Bradley

The following is a post by Toni Washington Bradley. I liked reading this so much today that I asked her if I could post it here. She said yes! Thank you, Toni!

Good Luck This Fall

by Toni Washington Bradley

Hello everyone!

The fall semester is just starting and for some is in full swing. New classes, syllabus', and of course, new instructors. All of these things can bring on stressful feelings, but don't let this get you down.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Every semester is a chance for a new start. Think of it as one step closer to your overall goal: Graduating with your degree!!

Just a few tips I've received over the years that helped me get through the bumps in the road:

1. Invest in a planner. Along with your syllabus, this will keep you organized and on task for your course. There is nothing like having a quiz you knew about and forgot. Take it to each class and write down your assignments even if it is in your syllabus...it will cement the task in your mind.

2. If you see that you are having trouble in class, ASK FOR HELP. Your instructor will be more than willing to revisit a section, answer your questions, or direct you to a tutor that can help you.

3. Study one subject at a time. Jumping from course to course to finish your assignments will become confusing and the information will become a jumble of just words with no meaning.

4. After 20-30 minutes of concentrated studying, take a 10 minute break. You will be surprised at how much you will recall with just a small break to rest that gray matter!

5. Get plenty of sleep. Burning the midnight oil is fine if you feel you need to, but if you refer to #1 and keep up with your assignments, that midnight oil can be saved for finals.

Here's hoping everyone has a great semester!

Toni

Toni Washington Bradley leads a Facebook group called the Non-traditional College Student Support group. This group helps other nontraditional students by helping them with sharing, support and advice.

You can also join by going to the site here:
http://tinyurl.com/knfk3m

Some of Betsyanne's links:
The Nontraditional Student website
The Nontraditional Student blog
My Personal site - the Betsyanne page
The Betsyanne blog - The Moon and the Willow Tree
My Squidoo Pages (give me a rating if you have time!)
(My referral) Join Squidoo if you don't already have a page

Neat Nontraditional Student information from Twitter

Nontraditional Student information from Twitter

I am @nontrads on Twitter. Sometimes I re-tweet other people's tweets (RT) and sometimes I put my original content, links, websites, or sayings on my Twitter page.

There are also some other interesting Tweeple on Twitter too. Some are sharing websites and information just for nontraditional students.

Here are some to share. Just click on the links to go to websites of interest. And click on the person's Twitter name to see more of their discoveries.

Ten careers that make employers look for you

A funny video from New Zealand pokes fun at Nontraditional students http://tinyurl.com/le4zfv

10 Best Bets for a Solid 2nd Career: (from Yahoo) http://tinyurl.com/ng75b5

RT @randyferrell Natural Headache Helpers http://bit.ly/azty0 - add to this enough sleep, aspirin and chamomile tea.

Try the Career Interests Game at the University of Missouri

Fastaid has a great and FREE scholarships and grants database http://www.fastap.org/

Are you a nontraditional student? You can join the Nontrad Twibe here: twib.es/1IC We would love to have you.

RT @swwtel_links: RWW: Open Textbooks Gaining Ground: Do you remember college and all the textbook.. http://bit.ly/MWOEz

RT @Interfolio RT @cdilly: "7 (Surprisingly Difficult) Things to Consider When Applying to Grad School" http://bit.ly/a4wnF

You can join me on Twitter. I am @nontrads and @betsyanne there.

Some of my links!
The Nontraditional Student website
The Nontraditional Student blog
My Personal site - the Betsyanne page
The Betsyanne blog - The Moon and the Willow Tree
My Squidoo Pages (give me a rating if you have time!)
(My referral) Join Squidoo if you don't already have a page

A funny New Zealand video - The Adult Student

This is hilarious. Of course, it is totally untrue! Adult students do NOT always live with their mothers, for instance, and most do NOT own a sub-machine gun. This is a fun video from Studentville in New Zealand.

Give the Reaching Livelong Goals blog a gander too if you have time. They found this video! Thanks again to them. :-)

Great resources I have found on Twitter

I have found some GREAT resources on Twitter that are VERY helpful for nontraditional students. Here are two of the best Twitter names, blogs, and websites that I have found there. Look for more great Nontrad Twitters on later postings.

1. Continuing_Ed: Deb Peterson has more than one great site to go to for nontrads. Check these sites out: The About.com page about Deb, The Continuing Education Forum, The Lifelong Learners page, and the Teachers Page.
Deb is @Continuing_Ed on Twitter and belongs to the Nontraditional Student Twibe Group.

2. emapey2 (Eduardo Pierano) has a Ning site just for nontraditional students. It is called Return to College. He also has a Wordpress blog called the OnlineSapiens blog. This blog is about Online Learning and Learning 2.0 in Higher Education. He also has a blog called Return to College.
Emapey2 also is a member of the Nontraditional Student Twibe Group.

It is great to meet both of these people. You will find much useful information on their sites.

If you are on Twitter, you can join the Nontraditional Student Twibe at http://www.twibes.com/group/nontradstudents.

If you are not on Twitter, consider joining. You can find some great websites and new friends there. Just to to http://www.twitter.com and sign up. It's easy to do. If you need some pointers, just leave a message here, and I will get back to you with handy links and tips for getting on Twitter and what to do next.

Some of my links!
@nontrads and @betsyanne on Twitter
The Nontraditional Student website
The Nontraditional Student blog
My Personal site - the Betsyanne page
The Betsyanne blog - The Moon and the Willow Tree
My Squidoo Pages (give me a rating if you have time!)
(My referral) Join Squidoo if you don't already have a page

Win a trip for 2 to Las Vegas!

I've been meaning to post this great contest on here since, well, FOREVER.

It's the TRAVEL CHANNEL SWEEPSTAKES. I have entered it a LOT, but so far haven't won. But, you never know.

Maybe one of my readers will win it! This month's contest is a trip for 2 to Las Vegas.

All you have to do is enter, answer one little question (and they even TELL you the answer with a hint...) and that's it. You are entered.

So, good luck. Let me know if you win it. Click below to go to the site.

Enter the Sweepstakes at the Travel Channel!
The photo of Las Vegas is from Dave O.
Check out his other free photos!