Motivation and learning strategies for college success chapter 5-7

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Chapter 5 :Management emotion and effort

What are emotions? How can negative emotions be modified? How do emotions impact academic achievement? Many students describe that their emotions resemble a roller coaster as they report the many ups and downs they experience throughout the semester.

HOW ARE EMOTIONS INFLUENCED BY EVENTS AND EXPERIENCES?

emotions have nothing to do with actual events. In between the activating event (A) and the emotion (C) are realistic or unrealistic beliefs and self-talk (B). It is the self-talk that produces the emotions. Your own thoughts, directed and controlled by you, are what create emotions like shame, anxiety, anger, and depression. Figure 5.1 illustrates the relationship between environmental events and emotional and physical responses. It is your beliefs and perceptions that stimulate your feelings and your actions. A person or event can’t make you feel bad. You make yourself feel bad. In other words, you feel the way you think.

HOW DOES SELF-TALK INFLUENCE MY EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIOR?

Self-talk is an important strategy for self-management. Individuals who exhibit inappropriate self-talk often act inappropriately. If more appropriate self-talk is introduced, behavior can be changed. The emphasis, therefore, is on changing negative self-talk to positive selftalk. The theory behind self-talk training is that inner speech influences cognition (thinking) and emotions, and ultimately guides our behavior. Meichenbaum (1977) showed how self-talk can be used to modify the behavior of students who were anxious or impulsive. He successfully trained students to replace negative self-statements like “I can’t do this” or “I’m not good at it” with positive self-statements like “If I concentrate I can solve the problems” or “I just need to relax and carefully read each problem.” The training led to improved performance on tasks. Self-talk also has been used to control anxiety, mood, and other emotional responses.

Examples of Negative Self-Talk Individuals express different types of negative self-talk. The following are four common types of self-talk that tend to be found in people who are prone to anxiety: the Worrier, the Critic, the Victim, and the Perfectionist.

Type	Characteristics	Favorite Expression	Examples of Self-Talk
The Worrier	Imagines the worst situation	“What if . . .”	“I get called on and I can’t answer the question.”
The Critic	Judges or evaluates your behavior; points out your flaws and limitations	“That was stupid!”	“My term paper needed more library research and another draft.”
The Victim	Feels helpless or hopeless	“I can’t.” “I’ll never be able to.”	“I’m just too tired to do anything today.”
The Perfectionist	Tells you that your efforts aren’t good enough	“I should.” “I have to.” “I must.” “I could have.”	“If I take some time off from studying. I keep thinking: ‘You should be studying.’”

Procedures for Improving Self-Talk :

Academic emotions influence your learning and achievement. Positive emotions foster your control over your learning, whereas negative emotions lead to more passive behavior. Positive emotions predict high achievement, and negative emotions predict low achievement. In summary, your academic emotions are closely linked to your learning, self-control, and scholastic achievement

CHAPTER 6 : Time management

One of the most important factors influencing the attainment of goals is the efficient use of time. In high school, most of your time was structured for you because you were in school most of the day. For the most part, your time management involved structuring your study time after school. College life is more demanding because there are more tasks to accomplish. Your class schedule can vary greatly; for example, you may only have classes three or four times a week and might complete your classes by noon. In general, you have to manage more hours of time and often do not have your parents around to offer “suggestions” for how you should do it.

WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT?

When we talk about time management, we are really talking about event or task management. After all, the purpose of time management is to ensure that we complete all of our important tasks each day. It is not simply to manage time. Smith (1994) stated: “Controlling your life means controlling your time, and controlling your time means controlling the events in your life”

HOW DO YOU USE YOUR TIME? Everyone wastes some time. A problem occurs, however, when the amount of time that one wastes interferes with the attainment of personal goals. The purpose of the following exercise is to identify your major time wasters. Next, you will be asked to account for your time in a typical week to gain further insights into your use of time.

SELF-OBSERVATION: ASSESSING USE OF TIME :

WHAT ARE SOME GOOD TIME MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES?

1.       Set Regular Study Periods

2.       Study in an Environment That Is Relatively Free of Distractions and Interruptions

3.       Schedule Tasks So They Can Be Accomplished in 30- to 60-Minute Blocks of Time

4.       Take Short Breaks

5.       Be Specific in Identifying How You Plan to Use Your Time

6.       Alternate Subjects When You Have a Long Time Block Available for Study

7.       Estimate the Time Needed for Each Assignment

8.       Prioritize Tasks

9.       Do the Assignments for the Course You Dislike First

10.   Work Ahead of Your Assignments When Possible

11.   Carry Your Calendar With You and Write Down Any Appointments as Soon as You Make Them

HOW DO I DEVELOP A SYSTEM OF TIME PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT? I now use the information presented in this chapter to develop a system for time planning and management. The following are three forms useful in planning your time: a semester calendar, weekly priority tasks list, and a weekly schedule

Chapter 7 : Management of Physical and Social Environment

An important aspect of self-management is the ability to restructure or modify, when necessary, one’s physical and social environments to learn more effectively. Therefore, it is important to understand how environmental and social factors influence learning and how you can become more resourceful in making the necessary changes in your environments. You can take actions to adapt to your environment, as well as change your environment to fit your needs. For example, although you cannot control the room assignment for a course, you often can determine where you sit, as well as your level of concentration during the period. If you sit near students who are carrying on a conversation during a lecture, you can move your seat. If you are in a discussion and there is considerable noise outside, you can ask to shut the window or close the door. In other words, even when you cannot select the optimal learning environment, you can take steps to adapt or modify the physical environment. Even when you do select the environment for learning, modifications to the environment can be made by disconnecting the phone, allowing the answering machine to pickup messages, or placing a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.

Self-management of social environment relates to the ability to determine when you need to work alone or with others, or when it is time to seek help from instructors, tutors, peers, and nonsocial sources such as a reference book, additional textbooks, or the Internet (Zimmerman & Risemberg, 1997).

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ATTENTION AND CONCENTRATION?

Attention is a selective process that controls awareness of events in the environment. During the discussion of the information processing system (chapter 2), I pointed out that the nature of attention determines the stimuli that are processed or neglected. Because of our limitations in attention span and ability to focus on a stimulus, it is necessary to constantly refocus on the stimulus or message. Concentration is the term used to identify the continual refocusing on a perceived stimulus or message. Note that focus is the key word identifying attention and refocus is the key word identifying concentration (Wolff & Marsnik, 1992).