End Of term Reflection by Saiman


Although time has flown - and in actuality it's been several months since we started this course - to me, it still seems like we started last week, and I haven't gotten into my stride as yet. Maybe this is due to my psychological make-up where there's never any rush to finish anything, and there's always time. But in this case, I'm finding things somewhat traumatic since the deadline now is so absolute and final - once this course ends, it ends. That realisation is awfully frightening, especially as there's still some work I have to hand in and I worry if I can achieve it constantly now. So much to gain, and so much to lose. Damn!Anyway, if there's anything I should have learned this year is the importance of deadlines, and time management. Not adhering to any kinda comes back to bite you on your bum, no matter how good the work is when turned in. Upon reflection, and if I could, I would have handed in essays that were passable rather than time-consuming and long pieces that turned out to be more than passable. What makes the situation worse is knowing this but not being capable of rectifying it. That really sucks.My expectations for myself and the course were and are simple, and that was to pass and head on to university and there experience whether my intellectual capacity was sufficiently capable of success or failure. I hadn't expected my somewhat lackadaisical attitude to be such a burden at this college stage. I suppose going to university was the primary motivation but in the midst of college work, it is more than easy to lose focus on that original goal, and to be honest, it can be a daunting goal anyway, especially when at times it so seemed unattainable, such as within these last couple of months.

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this course – knowing some Spanish at the end, I suppose. I knew the actual writing stuff would be ok, and although I hadn’t written anything academically for close to 18 years, I did hope I would be able to brush up on whatever English skills I had been neglecting for so long. In doing Communications, Literature, and writing essays for History, I think I’ve learnt a lot and have become more aware of the technicalities of writing essays than before. Yes, I understand that this particular piece of writing lacks the structure we’ve been taught, but since this isn’t an assessment, I’m gonna free-flow and ramble on without a care in the world.Positives: any learning that came my way during the course, not too shockingly. And in that sense, as before, I’ve valued my time learning from Communications, Literature and History. Investigating Europe was interesting in making me learn history first-hand and appreciate the art of research more. Maths can go to hell, where it truly belongs (sorry John, you’re a nice guy, but you’re doing the Devil’s work). As for learning Spanish, to me it’s been a disaster, no less because of what I’ve mentioned previously, but also because I’ve realised that I’m more accustomed to using books to chart my progress rather than learning from a more freed structure this course prefers. But of course, it’s just me, ultimately, as others’ learning seem to be sufficiently of a higher grade.Another positive, and I think it’s the most important one, is knowing that I can get along with just about anyone. It might have been just the make-up of the class where everyone is agreeably friendly, but nonetheless I’ve enjoyed my time with all the people on the course – lecturers and students, alike - and I’ll be sad to not be in the same class ever again.How the course could be improved. The course is good at what it does – preparing its students for university. And I find it difficult to actually fault it. But if I was asked how it could be even better (hee!) then I suppose having a time-table of assessments and deadlines all structured from the start of the course and given out as a guide to all students to have a better picture of the work required, then I think that would be better for the likes of me who like knowing what he has to do next instead of wondering and waiting for that next assessment to be told. (Maybe I’ve been too disorganised to realise this was already done, which is quite possible in my case.)I think that’s it. If I can think of anything, I’ll add to this. Maybe at the end of the course. But for now, regards.
May 28, 2009 10:06 AM