This, undoubtedly, has been a very busy week for me assignment-wise. Since we didn’t meet online this Wednesday, I chose to take that time to do some of the reading assignments for this week. I had no idea it would take as long as it did. Wow! I think maybe I’m just not accustomed to reading large amounts of information online and it became a little exhausting. One tactic that was helpful for me was to print out some of the various assigned readings. I didn’t mind using the ink and paper, and I’ve found that having something concrete right in front of me helps me to better absorb the information. That way I can underline, highlight, and jot down notes if I so desire. I really enjoyed reading about MOO, too. Previously, I had never even heard of this form of communication. Now, I’m very excited to be a part of it and to learn how to become more proficient interacting there. Next week’s online meeting will surely be exciting because everyone will get to try out the new commands and acronyms we’ve learned. It always takes me a while to catch on to new things so I will probably be the one flipping wildly through my print-outs and notes in order to understand what commands to execute and what others’ acronyms mean. Hopefully, people won’t use the acronyms too excessively because I think that can really get annoying unless the acronyms are basic and everyone knows what they mean.

In addition to the reading, I really did a lot of reflecting this week for the personal history, personal values, and learning futures sections. I called my mom in Buffalo and my dad in St. Mary’s before I began writing to get their perspectives on the values they think I was exposed to while growing up in our household. I read them some notes I had jotted down and everything matched up quite well. Once I finished writing, I read over it again and realized that both of my parents would probably enjoy reading what I wrote because it was very complimentary to them. I ended up emailing them both a copy today so now I’m eager to see how they will respond. Surely, they’ll be very appreciative…but everything I wrote was true. :-)

One problem area I need to work on is not overanalyzing my work. Writing comes fairly naturally to me and it doesn’t take a considerable amount of time or struggle for me to arrive at a response to certain questions or writing prompts. My fault, however, lies not in completing the assignment but in overanalyzing my work once I’ve finished. I constantly read over passages and try to find ways to make them sound better. I rearrange sentences that probably should be left alone. I spend such a ridiculous amount of time reading over and changing my work after finishing that sometimes it’s just like starting from scratch again. With that being said, I am going to try to not be so hard on my own work and writing. There is no escape from the fact that it’s never going to be perfect or even remotely close, so I need to work on accepting my best effort exactly for what it is. I really don’t like comparing the work or writing of one person to another (I think everyone’s personal style should be respected), but I’ve found that I love reading my classmates’ journals and responses to various things. I already have a greater appreciation for the variety of styles of expression and writing found within our class. I am lucky to have such talented and inquisitive classmates because they not only enrich my understanding of the topics presented, but offer me new perspectives and ideas to consider, as well.

I suppose my primary objective this week was to really put a lot of thought into the assignments where I had to reflect. I was happy to do those assignments because they allowed me to put my learning history, future, and goals into a new perspective (writing instead of thoughts). Although I liked this reflecting, I was glad that there was also a good amount of “doing” assignments (reading, bookmarking, etc.). I really learn a lot from hands on assignments and they offer a good break from writing. Also, I wanted to make sure that I was grasping the information I read on the computer (instead of only skimming through it) since there was so much. Certainly in time I will become better at this. I don’t really have many questions at the end of this week, but I definitely have learned a lot about myself through the reflecting I’ve done and the decisions I’ve made about how and when to complete the given assignments. All of this week’s discussion, thinking, and reflecting about learning goals and interests persuaded me to leave these quotes for this week’s journal …

“How we remember, what we remember, and why we remember form the most personal map of our individuality.” -Christina Baldwin

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.” -Doris Lessing