is becoming a permanent state of mind. This sleep deprivation shift ……..scratch that………….this sleep deprivation shit…pardon my colorful adjective ………………..needs to go.
In other news…so far I think I actually like Trigonometry more than Algebra. I may come back to eat those words but I’m already seeing logic in the patterns.
I met with my Professor yesterday and have a game plan in play for getting over some big obstacles. Her big piece of advice is to find work in daylight so I can hold a thought in my head longer than a week. I’m also a very visual in my absorption of information. Hard to explain…. but I recognize patterns a little differently.
For instance….in my electronic homework for my math class, we have a daily set of problems that we submit the answers to and get instant gratification on it’s correctness. This frees up the instructor from having to grade the mountain of homework we’re assigned on a daily basis. Each problem has a practice button that brings up a new window with a similar problem but with different numbers with a limitless amount of times you can submit an answer. I average 3 hours a weekday, and 6-8 hours a weekend day looking at these problems. I discovered that for some reason taking a similar problem and writing it out on paper looks different enough to where I have a difficult time identifying a solution method. Am I nuts? No she found that interesting…..the math department is trying out this new site this semester and there are some bugs they’re working out. In addition in the electronic homework they complete the notation for you up until the part of where you enter whatever you’re solving for. This leads to NOT learning the correct mathematical notation when you’re just filling in the blank.
So on a test instead of answering “f(x)=(x-y)^2+2″
for the function of a circle and identifying the vertex, I’m used to entering “y, 2″ in a little blue box.
My previous math class was electronic so I developed some “slop” in my notation because…no-one has taught me differently. Correct notation was not a core requirement in that class but it re-enforced some bad habits in this one that requires correct notation.
The constant state of catching up on sleep while trying to find time to do homework, and contribute to the household is not helping. So between my observations and the assistance of my Professor I have a new study method. She’s a great instructor and I wish she taught more upper division classes.
Anyway…gotta go pick up the small fry.
Cheers!
