Some Study and Final Project Tips

Tips for Final Projects and Studying...

Do you have some Final Projects and Test Studying coming up? If you are in school right now, chances are you do, especially if you are an Education student or an Art student. I was most recently an Education student. These tips will help nontraditional students with Spring semester studies and projects.

Education Students
I found that completing projects early, if possible, helped me a lot. I could then fix any problems OR go to the teacher or professor for his or her advice before the project was due. I got some very constructive and useful criticism that way. Of course, there is no time for this if you are doing your assignments the last minute, which I also used to do.

Art Students
My projects took ALL my time, it seemed, when I had studio classes. One way around that dilemma could have been to start earlier on them. I always UNDERestimated the time my projects would take. Weaving students: (this is funny, but true for me...) use THICKER yarn. I used very thin yarn, and my final handweaving project took forever. It was pretty big, so that was also part of it. On the good side, I did get it on an Art Department slide!

All Students
Writing down my OWN deadlines and using them in a calendar or planner helped me a lot. I split up my assignments and had "due dates" for each part of them. What a change from my first time in school! That time, I would simply wait until the last week, and do my best to write reports in a limited time. I'm sure the quality of my writing suffered a lot. Plus, I was not able to change anything, because I barely got them done by the deadline.

Some of my other Study and Final Project tips:
1. Cut down on TV watching if you are studying at the same time by yourself. I personally don't (sometimes) mind TV on, but other times I get more done at a library setting. Or you can set a home study place up if you have room.
2. Make flash cards for must-know facts.
3. Consider making a study group for last-minute or weeks-before studying.
4. Ask your teacher or professor questions about what will be on the test or quiz - sometimes this helped me.
5. If in doubt of a due date, ask a fellow classmate.
6. Use a highlighter to highlight important facts on your notes. I used to type my notes up, which added another layer of understanding for me.
7. Reward yourself for getting things done. This doesn't have to be a food reward, but maybe buying a little something for yourself might be fun and break up the study monotony.
8. Stay organized - - looking for an assignment sheet instead of having the extra time later can be counterproductive.
9. Practice calming techniques before a test, including telling yourself you CAN do it, and deep breathing.
10. Keep a positive attitude. This helps me with stress, which can sideline me if I keep thinking about stressful things. Keep your energy for your studies.

These other postings (below) will also help you with tests, studying, and projects. Please list your tips as comments too.

I would appreciate that, and will try to use them here or in future postings to help other nontraditional students.

More resources from the Nontraditional Student blog:
Clobber your Test Anxiety
Midterms and Grades - How to Improve Them
10 Tips for Doing Well on Finals
How to Make Sure you are In the Right Class (signing up for next semester)
Websites and Tips for Exam Studying
Nontraditional Students - 11 More Tips for Success

-Betsyanne
Former Nontraditional Student, teacher, bookseller, author, and artist

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Job Resources for Nontraditional Students - 6 ideas

Spring has definitely sprung.

The University of Scranton Weinberg Memorial Library

For one thing, it's a lot warmer here in Kentucky. For nontraditional students, Spring means finishing up the year, getting ready for summer school, or  even maybe graduating.

For those who are not going to school in the summer, they may need to get a temporary job until Fall. OR they may be continuing to work at their"regular" job, full or part-time.

For those who are not working outside of school, I have some sites and suggestions about summer or fall if you are going to be going to school again in the Fall full or part-time.

#1. Check with the school for Work-Study programs. These may not be as available as they used to be, but sometimes having this kind of job (even if it doesn't pay a lot) can really be great, as sometimes they work with school hours.  You may also want to tell your teachers or professors that you are looking. They may need an assistant, or know of a job there at the school that is perfect for you.

#2. Check with the Alumni Office Job Center if you have graduated and need a job. They can help you with your job search. I have not personally used them, but the one at WKU advertises that they have a help service there.

#3. Apply as early as possible for summer jobs. This may be a no-brainer, but sometimes school and work gets ahead of us all. There may indeed be summer jobs around where you are living that you could get.

#4. Register with and check with the most popular Job Search sites online. These include the Monster Job Boards, and the State Job Search Boards at your local Employment Office.

#5. Consider a job AT the school you are attending. Often, if you work for a school or University, you can get your classes at a deep discount. Sometimes this also applies for your family. OR see if there is a paid internship available. You may get credit for this job too.

#6. Are you footloose and able to travel? Sometimes you can do good deeds during the summer and have all your expenses paid. Some of these jobs will also pay you. Other ideas include working at a summer camp, travelling on a service-related overseas mission, or assisting with teaching or medical work. Other ideas include house-sitting or taking care of somebody's farm while they are on vacation.

Other Resources:

The Monster Job Boards http://www.monster.com/ 

The Career Builder Site http://www.careerbuilder.com/

Get on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com


The Top 15 Most Popular Job Websites from March 2011.
From the EBizMBA Site: http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/job-websites

Find that perfect summer job: from Collegeboard.com
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/high-school/8913.html

The Caretaker Gazette http://www.caretaker.org/ 

Kentucky Job Search Sites (has other info. too) http://www.betsyanne.com/job_search_sites.html


How to choose the right overseas volunteer or paid job
From Transitions Abroad Online

From the Nontrad Blog: Where are the In-Demand jobs?

Have some other good job-finding tips? Please leave them in the comments section below here. Thank you!

-Betsyanne


The Springtime photo at the top of the blog posting is from the University of Scranton Weinberg Memorial Library in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Flickr.

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Catching up with ANTSHE

Have you checked out the ANTSHE site yet?

There are many states represented here. ANTSHE stands for the  Association for Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education.

If you are a student group or help nontraditional students you can join and become part of the group. They have an annual meeting, a new forum, a book about being a nontraditional student, and members from all over the U.S. Their latest conference was last weekend. I look forward to hearing about it.

I finally became a member this year. I was not able to attend the conference, but I hope to learn about more nontraditional groups and find out what they are doing.

Are you a member of ANTSHE? If you are, comment below and let me know if you have attended a conference and what it was like. Here is that site: http://antshe.org/.

Thanks!

Betsyanne


See the ANTSHE Conference Agenda.
See some older conference photos


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10 Fun things for nontraditional students to do during Spring Break

Spring Break! Are you here?

Some of your fellow classmates (or maybe you?) are on the way to Florida, or even going home to visit their parents. It's a fun time and a great break from school.

What are YOU doing? Some of you (like I did) are working on school projects and portfolios. Here is a great study guide site for that (the Study Guides and Strategies site). Other people plan to take a real break during this time.

Here are some ideas for things to do during Spring Break for those who are not bogged down already with homework.

#1 Idea: Get a garden started or work in the yard. It will be summer soon. Now's the time to get that garden ready for planting. Are you going to have a raised bed garden? How about a container garden or just a few fresh herbs inside the house?

You can plan your garden, till your garden, spade up a garden spot or just put in a few flowers. Being outside (if your local weather permits) is healthy and fun. Are you an organic gardener? Here is my Squidoo page, Grow Your Own Food, Organic Gardening in Kentucky. There are some good sites listed there for seeds, and some photos of what you can grow too.

#2. Idea: Do a bit of spring cleaning. Try to go through your closet and perhaps donate some of the clothes in there to charity. You will have more room then! Clean off that kitchen table or desk and organize it. It will be easier to keep everything organized. Need help with organizing or getting rid of your stuff? Try FlyLady.

#3. Idea: Get ahead of time with a school project for PART of your Spring Break. Use the Study Guide Site by Joe Landsberger to help you. Maybe do part of the research OR write that paper that isn't due until later. Then, reward yourself by a weekend out of town, a special meal and movie, or a spa retreat at a local spa OR at home.

#4. Idea: Do some bike riding or walking every day or every other day. You just might find more personal energy available at the end of the week. (I hope to be doing this soon too...) There are some good sites to help you with this idea. One is Bicycle Safe, and the other is Cool Biking Zone, which has a great safety equipment list, including a bike flag to make your bicycle more visible.

Riding a bike, or walking, you will be seeing some fun Spring sights. Be careful to walk in safe areas, or face traffic (when walking without sidewalks) so you see what is coming at you. Bike riders know they must use the bike lane OR flow with the traffic.

If biking or walking is not convenient for you, then try to exercise indoors during Spring Break, then sit on the porch (outside!) and relax or explore your yard for part of the day.

Kirsti A. Dyer believes that walking can be therapy. Here is her Squidoo page on that: Nature Therapy - Walking in Nature.


#5. Idea: Have a "me" day. Go on a picnic, see a museum exhibit, go out for lunch or dinner, go "regular" or thrift shop shopping, and/or have your hair done. Enjoy your day, then rest well afterwards. For events in your town, try looking in the newspaper OR checking online.

#6. Idea: Catch up on your sleep. When is the last time you slept ALL you wanted to? If you can, let yourself sleep in at least every other day. In fact, why not just sleep in EVERY day? Get out a good book and read for part of the day also.

#7. Idea: Make a Vision Board for yourself. Paste or fasten pictures, decorations, etc. about what YOU want to do with your life. Then hang up your creation for yourself or everyone in your family to see. Want to know more about making a Vision Board? Try reading My Personal Vision Board by Maurice from Mobile, Alabama, or Stacie Connerty's EHow page, How to Make a Vision Board.

#8. Idea: Volunteer. Is there a group you would like to help? Try volunteering for them at least one day this week, and see how good you feel. If you can't think of a group, try Habitat, your church or religious group, a local Pet Shelter, Scouts, or another good group. Some groups travel to another area during Spring Break and help others with clean water or another project. You may want to do this.

#9. Idea: Read some other nontraditional student blogs or journals to inspire you. I have some listed here on the left side of the blog.


#10. Idea: Take a trip! It doesn't have to be to another state or across the country. You don't have to go far to have a good time. You may even know family or friends that would welcome you for free. Sometimes scout camps or other camps welcome families if they don't already have somebody staying there. Also, you can sometimes stay at another college in a dorm room for a low price if they are also on Spring Break.

Nontraditional students with families: some other ideas are to take a family trip, have art time and make some creative crafts or artwork, write something, play an instrument, listen to music, have a no-TV day, play board games, watch a favorite movie or rent one, invite friends over to chat or for lunch or dinner, OR? List your favorite things to do on Spring Break below here as comments.

Nontraditionally Yours,
-Betsyanne

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What about YOU? Searching for meaning and purpose in my life.

Your life - is it what you want it to be?

The other day, I ran across a Facebook posting with a training or website about improving yourself and your life.

As I like several wonderful Facebook pages that are about going for your dreams, (and because I don't know which one I noticed...) I am listing some of them below here. If you are on Facebook, you can follow the links and "like" these pages too.

I think goal development, and self knowledge have everything to do with the nontraditional student today.

It is my belief that many people get stuck in their lives. They may want to do something else in their job or their life, but really can't figure out how. This is due mainly to economic concerns, but also can happen because we (I will say all people right now, because I know I am guilty of this too) simply can't visualize anything different. Sometimes a new job, a new focus, can lead to wanting more education. Sometimes it can mean switching jobs or looking into something new.

Some people DO want to start to change their lives into something better, but people around them pooh-pooh their ideas. I have heard this happen before. I have heard things like "Do you really think you can do that?" and "Dream on..." and similar things. These people can start to doubt themselves then, and quit too soon on their dreams. I am lucky to have people around me personally who listen and try not to judge my dreams or try to make me fit into their picture of what THEY think I should want with my life.

When I first graduated college, it was a graduation of necessity. Can you believe I did not know about students loans, scholarships, or grants? It's true. So like so many people, I settled for a job that was not what I really wanted. I continued in this field (printing) for many years, when what I really wanted was to pursue art and education. This is my past, but NOT my future. By learning what others have done, and allowing myself to find out about other choices, I have freed myself from my limited viewpoint, and this has opened myself up to so many more new possibilities.

Are you stuck and can't figure out how to change your life? Do you wonder what you really want out of life? I suggest doing some serious reading from these wonderful, self-affirming websites, Facebook pages, and taking some advice from them. Why? Because YOU and YOUR LIFE are so important. Why waste your many talents and not be doing what YOU want and what brings you joy?

Here are some of the best sites I have found in my search for self-fulfillment, ideas on how to make life meaningful and purposeful. You may already have heard of some of these authors, speakers, and writers. I hope these links help some people who are on the fence about further education or trying something new with their lives.

Facebook sites and pages
Robin Rice's Be Who You Are
Silent Unity - 24/7 prayer and support 
The Hope Giver 

Inspirational and transformational websites
Robin Rice's articles (on her website)
Daily Word - hope and direction for people of all faiths
Delia Sellers website (she offers a free inspirational magazine)
Dr. Wayne Dyer's official website
Baba Ram Dass's site
(just found and added) Marelisa Online - lots of great articles are here.

Sites suggested to me by others: 


The Writer's Almanac- poetry and information about writers throughout history. You can sign up for a newsletter here.

The Path of Possibility - a website for writers.

Thank you for these new sites, wonderful readers!

I apologize ahead of time for other inspirational sites I love that I have inadvertently missed here.

Some questions for my readers: What sites inspire you? Do you think that you have put others first and now it's time to put YOU first? Are you wanting to make a difference with your life? Just wondering. :-)

Leave a note in the comments section to let me know you were here. Later!

-Betsyanne

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