Motivation: Academic Fears and Exploring Rewards

Hey girls! I hope you're weekend has been great so far!

So this week, I use Academic Fears in my SPA 102 class because it is one of my hardest courses. I also used the Exploring Rewards strategy for all my courses. I thought that these motivational strategies would be a great way for me to keep myself motivated for doing well in my courses.

For Academic Fears, I created a chart explaining what I was most fearful of, the worst and best outcomes, and the actions I needed to take in order to succeed in the course. My worst fear for SPA 102 was not understanding the material. Not understanding the material could lead me to failing the class, which is not good. In order to understand the material, I need to be paying full attention during class and reading the textbook thoroughly. This strategy helped me realize the consequences from not doing well in this course.

Here is my Academic Fears Chart for SPA 102:



For all my courses, I created an Exploring Rewards chart that includes no-cost, low-cost, and high-cost rewards that can be used to influence my motivation. Some rewards are more powerful than others and with this chart I have discovered that my low-cost rewards actually outweigh my high-cost rewards. In terms of expense, it doesn't cost anything to feel confident and to get into Newhouse. I much rather prefer making my parents proud and transferring into Newhouse than buying a new cool cell phone.

Here is my Exploring Rewards chart:



I have found that what motivates me is both external and internal. I want to feel successful and happy while receiving approval from my family.

Since I'm a visual learner, I liked how both of these motivation strategies helped me clearly recognize what motivates me and how I can improve my motivation.

Plug-In and 1 Plus 3 Notes for SPA 102 and PSY 205!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fun Halloween weekend!

So this past week, I modified my Plug-In Notes for my SPA 102 class. Plug-In Notes is an effective way of studying and reviewing what the professor went over during class after class. I thought these notes would help me keep better organized.

This week, we distinguished the two past tenses, the preterite and imperfect. To make it easier for me to understand the differences between these two tenses, after class I wrote down the regular and irregular conjugations, verb expressions, and when to use them. Since I am a visual learner, I organized these notes in a chart-like form. This helps me in that when I need to differentiate the preterite and imperfect, I can easily flip and refer back to my notes.

Here is a chart of my Plug-In Notes:







I haven't used the Plug-In Notes strategy in my SPA 102 class because I didn't think it would have worked. However, I adapted to it and it actually did help me keep my notes organized and help me study for future quizzes and tests. I didn't need to write down questions in these notes because it is very hard to anticipate test questions when the test is mostly fill-in the blank.

This week I also decided to try 1 Plus 3 notes again in my PSY 205 class. I thought it would help me summarize the notes I took during lectures and anticipate test questions. Before class, I took notes as usual and then after class I created a chart with key terms, graphic organizers, and test questions that I thought might appear on tests. I used Microsoft OneNote to help me organize these notes. Last time I did not include a graphic organizer, but this time I thought it was vital for me to include some. I ended up making 3 organizers! Since I am a visual learner, the graphic organizers really helped me with remembering certain key words. These notes also helped me anticipate test questions.

Here are my 1 Plus 3 Notes I took for PSY 205:




All in all, both the Plug-In and 1 Plus 3 Notes really helped me keep my notes organized. Plug-In Notes helped me differentiate different terms while 1 Plus 3 Notes helped me anticipate test questions and remember key terms.

Directional Word Analysis

This week, I used the Directional Word Analysis exam prep strategy in my SPA 102 and PSY 205 courses. I have upcoming exams for each of these classes, so I referred to old exams and exam review sheets to anticipate what kinds of questions would be asked in future exams.

For my SPA 102 class, I used an old exam that I previously took and circled directional words. I counted and marked how many times certain words appeared. This helped me recognize what questions would be asked on the next exam.





I made the following chart for my SPA 102 class:



It was more difficult to find directional words for this class because the exam questions were more straightforward and fill in the blank type of questions. If you are going to use the Directional Word Analysis. I recommend using it in a course that is more definitional.

For my PSY 205 course, I did the same thing and analyzed a review sheet from a previous exam I took. It helped me realize that best answer questions are a large portion of the exam and that they are the most important to get correct. This course is more definitional compared to my SPA 102 course.

Here is my Directional Word chart for PSY 205:




By using the directional word analysis, I learned that for future exams I need to pay attention and understand the questions that are being asked. I am now more prepared to anticipate questions for future quizzes and exams.

Fritter Finder

During this past week, I used the Fritter Finder in my SPA 102 and WRT 105 courses. The areas within my schedule that are colored in pink are the times when I am not in class. I chose to use this strategy because I learn the best with visuals. The Fritter Finder was very easy and simple to use.

I now can fit other strategies like the 20 Minute Test Prep and the 10 Minute Technique into my schedule. The free time I have in between my classes is where I can implement these other strategies. This time management method really helped me plan and organize my schedule in an effective way. It made me realize how much free time I do have and how I should use it wisely.