How do I become a student?

[Antisocial_Worker]

I'll make this as short and sweet as I can, because at the moment I have a pounding headache brought on by school.

Long story short, I've been a worker or employee in some form or fashion for the past 12 years. I haven't been an actual student since 2000. I'm finding it a little difficult to make the adjustment and I feel overwhelmed. I have eight classes, and among the things I suddenly have to do, I have to learn Spanish, read and analyze American literature as reprinted in the Norton Anthology of Excruciatingly Boring Stories (this week: Edith Wharton!), learn about psychology, and re-learn algebra all over again. I have eight classes, a number which always causes people's eyes to bug and jaws to drop.

The classes are:

Introduction to Computers
Elementary Spanish
Elementary Spanish Lab
Linear Equations
Graphing Equations
Introduction to Psychology
Introduction to Intercultural Communication
Modern American Literature

Some of these classes are "mini-mesters" that will wind up eventually. The two math classes are like that, and when the first one ends, the second begins. Likewise the psychology and communication classes.

On top of this I'm trying to find part-time work. I go in for an interview on Tuesday with an outfit that would be a step in the right direction for the field I want to eventually work in. If I get that job, I'm going to ask for a name change on here, in fact.

Anyway, I come out of some of my homework with a throbbing headache. Math does it to me every time. Likewise, it seems the good people at Norton deliberately picked the dullest, most pointless stories they could find, and I am forced to read them and then analyze them -- and I've learned I'm more capable of bullshit than I ever imagined, what with trying to explain the significance of the goddamn frog in Mark Twain's "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which was last week's foray into America's most stultifying literature.

I'm not used to thinking like this. I was a hotel slave, and then a factory grunt. I thought about what I wanted to think about, learned what I wanted to learn, and the rest of the time was involved in carrying out menial tasks. Now suddenly I'm having to learn and I have forgotten how. In the case of the Norton Anthology of Excruciatingly Boring Stories, my brain is in open rebellion. I had to force myself to read Mark Twain, and now I'm having to force myself to read Edith Wharton, the next luminary in the boring author pantheon.

And lest we forget, I'm trying to learn to speak Spanish, and relearning algebra on top of all this. I had a headache from math before I went out for lunch today, and it got much worse after my boyfriend, who is fluent in Spanish, tried to help me learn a little on the way back from lunch.

Help!

[NorthernZel]

Re: the Spanish, your boyfriend can be a great source of ressources. But eventually make an agreement with him that he only can help you with your homework WHEN YOU ASK HIM TO DO SO. That may take some of the pressure off.

As the maths thingy regards... durrr, dunno. Sorry. Being an accounting assistant, my math skills have degraded to simple addition, subtraction and eventual multiplication. More than that grills my brain, unless an Excel worksheet can think for me.

[KhirasHY]

When I went back to school, I dropped the cash on picking up a LiveScribe pen and journal, it helped a LOT. Basically, the pen is also a recorder (good quality too), and the journal that it comes with has special paper that reacts with the pen. After a class, you can upload the recording to your computer...and it writes in your notes in real time with the recording, at the same time you wrote them. I take horrible notes (since I get rushed) and have trouble reading them later, so having that to help really evens things out later on.

It may/may not help you, but I know it's been a pretty valuable tool to me since returning to school.

[Andara Bledin]

If you're getting headaches, it might be a lighting or vision issue.

My brother actually fought learning to read when he was young because he had an astigmatism that only effected him when he was reading, giving him headaches. It was years before it was actually identified (those school eye exams are nearly useless) and once he had corrective lenses, he no longer got headaches.

^-.-^

[Pixilated]

You have my respect AND my sympathies, LOL. I would be a permanent student if it weren't for the fiddly little detail that I am not independently wealthy. I took classes when I was working fulltime at the newspaper in Niagara, but since then I've been a fulltime student and yes, that definitely is a horse of a different colour.

Based on my own experience, here's a couple of suggestions:

1) You know the class you really, really, REALLY hate? (I'm hoping there's only one!) The one where, when it's over, you're going to pile the textbook and notes in a heap in the backyard, set fire to it, and dance naked around the fire? That one. Do your homework in that one first -- this is my "Get it the fuck over with!!" philosophy. Projects in that class? I try to get them started as early as possible in the hopes of getting them finished as soon as possible in accordance with that same philosophy. If there is more than one in this category, either try to do triage on them (maybe there's one or two you hate a little less?) or just number them 1-2-3 and do them in order from #1 one night, then start with #2 the next, and #3 the next, then back to #1. And so on.

2) Does your school offer student tutoring? If so, you might want to look into that if you are having a lot of trouble in, say, math (in both Niagara College and my current one, the school pays the student tutors). Or your computer class. Or even Spanish -- when I took German and Russian, I paired up with an exchange student from Germany for conversation practice once or twice a week. This can be problematic if you already feel you don't have enough time, which most students don't -- one possible solution would be to set up a tutoring session for any 'down time' you have at school. Assuming your schedule isn't one that gives you back-to-back classes ...

3) Take a look at your classes and prioritize them according to difficulty as well as personal interest. This will give you an idea of which classes you may need to spend a bit more time on ... and which you can leave at the bottom of the pile right up until the finals. Example: If your Introduction to Intercultural Communication course is anything like my Communicating Through Cultures class from last semester, you will be able to do the work in your sleep.

4)

*snip* Norton Anthology of Excruciatingly Boring Stories *snip*

Although, if you think American lit. is tedious, try some Canadian lit. sometime ... an awful lot of it seems to be a surefire cure for insomnia. However, these were the classes I loved the most -- I love any excuse to read, of course, but they were also the ones where I could shovel bullshit by the truckload expound endlessly on my interpretation of the deep symbolism of the writer's subconscious yadda yadda yadda ... (I once wrote a paper about the dialogue in Tess of the d'Urbervilles -- why the heroine's speech was less rustic than that of her neighbours, and why it mattered that it was. I wrote it the night before it was due. I got an A. That says something, but I don't know what ...) If you would like to run your ideas past someone, or if you're having trouble coming up with ideas for some of these discussions, please keep me in mind. I have both Yahoo Chat and Skype and would be more than happy to help a fellow sufferer student out.

5) Remind yourself that, like the proverbial kidney stone, all this too shall pass. When I start to feel like I'm going under for the third time, I remind myself that these classes are only running until April, and I can hang on until then.

Good luck on your job interview and congratulations on your plunge into post-secondary education. You can do it!

[Chanlin]

Nothing sucks more than reading literature you don't like because you have to. Trust me on that, I'm an English major

I'll let you in on a dirty little secret too. Twain wasn't that great of a literary writer. He was an awesome satirist. But his literary works aren't anywhere near as good.

I agree that the headaches sound like eye strain/eye related issues.

If you are taking notes while you read. Stop. It only slows you down. The best way to read for analysis is to read all the way through and then make a very short summary of what happened. Do this in bullet points or paragraph form or whatever works for you. Then if you think you need clarification go back and reread only the parts that give you trouble.

For longer novels you want to do this after each chapter. It also really helps to make a list of the characters that were in the chapter/short story.

After you have that down, then close the book and sit and think on what happened, and more importantly why it happened. Then walk away from it, let it ruminate. Then think on it some more later. You won't see or notice everything from the get go. And yes, a fair amount of BS helps (in the field we like to call this Reader Response theory where whatever you say is ok as long as you can use the text to reasonably back it up).

EDIT: Forgot to add. Look up ahead of time what classes you need and then start asking students in your current classes about the Profs that teach them. You will learn really quickly who is good and who sucks this way.

EDIT AGAIN: The tips for reading for literature work really well for reading text books too. Stop after chapters or Bold Print sections or however the book is arranged. Don't take notes while you read. Make notes after you read.

[Lyse]

When I started up nursing school I had a huge issue with headaches and migraines that were all out of proportion to previous. I thought that they were simply stress until I started having issues with blurred vision at times. Off to the eye doctor I went (it was almost time for an update anyway). After finding that my prescription was basically the same (a minuscule difference in one eye), I was told it was eye strain.

In addition to the reading and computer use, our textbooks are printed on paper that has a glare. I got a couple of pairs of glasses with an amber tint (cheap at Zenni Optical online) and made a conscious effort at reducing strain. It seems to have worked. There is still an uptick in head pain, but not nearly as bad as it was.

[Andara Bledin]

If the paper glare is causing strain, another option to look into is changing the lighting.

Different types of lights have different properties, from illumination, to color, to flicker, and while they may not be obvious to the casual eye, they can all effect how your body reacts.

My work changed from standard old-style fluorescent lights to very cool (color, not temperature) CFL fixtures. Not only are they more energy efficient, but the quality of light they put out is an astounding improvement over the old bulbs, both in terms of light level and quality. Also, their "flicker" rate is different from the old bulbs and don't cause the monitors to strobe at specific refresh rates like the old ones did, either. Since you often can't change the refresh rate on newer monitors, this is actually important.

^-.-^

[wolfie]

My work changed from standard old-style fluorescent lights to very cool (color, not temperature) CFL fixtures. Not only are they more energy efficient, but the quality of light they put out is an astounding improvement over the old bulbs, both in terms of light level and quality. Also, their "flicker" rate is different from the old bulbs and don't cause the monitors to strobe at specific refresh rates like the old ones did, either. Since you often can't change the refresh rate on newer monitors, this is actually important.

^-.-^

Probably a change from T12 tubes and magnetic ballasts (tubes run at line frequency - 60Hz in North America - and in the CRT days 60Hz was a common refresh rate at a monitor's highest resolution) to T8 tubes and electronic ballasts (basically a rectifier/inverter that feeds the tubes at a few hundred hertz).

[Kheldarson]

Another thing, too, is find a tutor and/or study buddy for the classes you're struggling with. Or even a classmate you can simply compare notes/bitch with. Basically, the more you talk about the subject, the less intimidating it becomes.

[Andara Bledin]

Note for prospective students: Time management.

If you aren't good at managing your own time, then make a schedule and stick to it.

^-.-^

[Seshat]

Headaches and eye strain:
Also look into how you're sitting when you read. Settle into your study position, then without moving, pay attention to your shoulders, upper back, upper arms and neck. Are any of them uncomfortable? Even sore? Tense?

Nothing brings on a headache like knotted up neck muscles. Nothing - other than neck strain - knots up the neck like a knotted up upper back or shoulders.


Practical study advice:

Think about how you learn.
Do you learn best visually? Aurally? Tactile-y? Which senses stick with you most? Which senses stick with you least?

If you learn tactile-y, that's one of the hardest for abstract concepts like math; but it's do-able. Get a small set of lego blocks or something that you can 'count' with, and which have sizes you can treat as 'one', 'two', 'four', and so forth.
Also, get some plasticine or play-dough. "Doodle" with the lego and the play dough while you're thinking about the math.
Also, DRAW. Draw out the problem in whatever form makes sense to you. Get scrap paper, cheap pencils, and just ... sketch, draw, use your hands.

If you learn aurally, read out loud. Don't just sit there reading the books, stand up and declaim. Use different voices for different characters. Use a 'narrator' voice for the exposition and narration. Gesture. Act!
Even with your math and algebra books, read them aloud.
(This - especially the active, walking type of reading, is also good for tactile learners.)

Visual learners: draw, sketch. Lay out graphs. Draw the relationships between characters in books, with circle-and-stick diagrams. Use number lines and charts for math.


I'm going to assume that time management isn't your problem. If it is; say so.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Thanks you, all of you, for your suggestions.

Regarding the headaches, it may just be tension from being forced to do something I hate. I hate math, have always been math-stupid, and will always be math-stupid. When I'm sitting in front of my computer (all the homework is online) trying to force answers out of formulas that refuse to work for me, I'm probably quite tense. I'll try to relax and see what happens.

As for the reading... I read for pleasure except in rare cases where information can be presented to me in an entertaining fashion, such as with Erik Larson's histories. I can also be persuaded to read books about subjects such as urban planning that enthrall me. Mostly though, I just read what I like, whether it be Ian Rankin crime novels, Jim Butcher fantasy novels, Kathy Reichs, Frank Tallis, Jo Nesbo, or Tanya Huff. I detest 19th Century literature because to modern eyes it is ludicrously unrealistic (Tess Derbeyfield did not sleep through a rape, thank you very much), with stilted dialogue, and I have absolutely no patience for the comedy/tragedy of manners that most writers of the 19th Century upper-class twit genre concerned themselves with. I want action, intriguing action, and lots of it. I want people who talk like real people and who act like real people. I do not want to read about genteel dolts soaking their handkerchiefs over unread letters, overheard conversations, stupid coincidences, and the unbearable strain of ennui. And, above all, I do not want to read anything even approaching the pointlessness of Twain's "Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

Although, regarding that Twain story, I'm rather proud of myself in that I was able to shovel in some bullshit about the frog's significance being linked to the self-destructive frogs in one of Aesop's fables.

I guess I was just expressing my simmering frustrations because, as I've learned, if I waste my own time that's one thing, but to have my time wasted for me infuriates me. I feel in most of this that my time is being wasted for me, in some ways.

[Sapphire Silk]

Regarding the headaches, it may just be tension from being forced to do something I hate. I hate math,

Actually, this was my thought as well. It just didn't seem like eye strain was an issue, since you only mentioned it in regards to the math. Try lighting a lavender candle when you study subjects you don't like; it will relax you. Also, get some tutoring. There's bound to be some assistance of this kind at the school. It will help.

Getting the right teacher can make all the difference in the world. I know it did with me.

As for the reading... I read for pleasure except in rare cases <snip> I detest 19th Century literature because to modern eyes it is ludicrously unrealistic (Tess Derbeyfield did not sleep through a rape, thank you very much), with stilted dialogue, and I have absolutely no patience for the comedy/tragedy of manners that most writers of the 19th Century upper-class twit genre concerned themselves with.

Most people read for pleasure, and read what they like. However, that's not the point in a Literature class. The point is to teach you how to read something, analyze its content, and communicate that analysis. That's a very hard task, but literature is a great way to learn it. For example, what Twain has to tell us in his stories requires an understanding of the real world he lived in. He was making real commentary of his own world: about trust, about what we value in people, about cleverness in competition.

Being able to analyze and critically review stories like this teaches people how to think, and thinking is the hardest thing to do. But if you can learn to do it in this instance, you can learn to do it in any instance.

Just try to read the story for what it is, and think about the time in which it was written, who its original audience was. Victorian literature was often a commentary on a very repressive society, and deep inner human needs. Don't try to find hidden meaning. Read it for what it is, and tell the professor what you think the story is about, not what you think she wants to hear. Learning to evaluate literature is a process; you'll learn over time.

I want action, intriguing action, and lots of it. I want people who talk like real people and who act like real people. I do not want to read about genteel dolts soaking their handkerchiefs over unread letters, overheard conversations, stupid coincidences, and the unbearable strain of ennui. And, above all, I do not want to read anything even approaching the pointlessness of Twain's "Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

Many people do. But most of those kinds of stories don't last the test of time, because they have very little real to say beyond describing the action sequence. Pulp fiction was like this: all action, very little characterization. It was great for people who wanted their entertainment quick and easy. Romance novels are the same way.

But a literature course is about those authors whose works are memorable for some reason. It does result in some work you have to read that you may not care for. I've run into that with my lit courses as well (I minored in Literature for my history degree). Skim through it, pull out some nuggets, and do the best you can. Odds are you'll only have to take the one lit course, depending on your major.

Although, regarding that Twain story, I'm rather proud of myself in that I was able to shovel in some bullshit about the frog's significance being linked to the self-destructive frogs in one of Aesop's fables.

I'm curious to know what your instructor thought.

I guess I was just expressing my simmering frustrations because, as I've learned, if I waste my own time that's one thing, but to have my time wasted for me infuriates me. I feel in most of this that my time is being wasted for me, in some ways.

Instructors don't like wasting their time either, and sometimes resent being forced to teach basic courses because the students hate them so much; they hate teaching courses when the student is so resistant to learning. Some instructors love these courses, and know how to make them fun for their students. Feedback from other students will help you identify these intructors; try to get them where possible.

[Andara Bledin]

I hate math, have always been math-stupid, and will always be math-stupid.

Eye strain (due to tension) and tension (due to, well, tension). This combo will give you a nasty headache, and if you don't stave it off, it could get into migraine territory.

Rule of thumb when doing computer stuff is to take regular breaks and shift your focus about once every half hour. For things where you have to concentrate, cut that in half. Taking a few moments to relax your eyes and stop focusing and stressing out of every 15 will make a massive difference in how long you can go at a stretch and will also keep you from getting wound up, which will make it less difficult to learn the subject.

As for math; if you found someone who could teach it in the right way, it would make sense. The difficulty is in finding that match.

^-.-^