Stressed!!!

I have just realised that I mainly use this blog to moan, I don't mean to but this is a great way to actually let out my feelings without annoying my friends or family, well verbally anyway....

This week I have been trying to get these assignments done. I am really really really struggling with grammar, unfortunately I write as I speak and I understand that this isn't the best way to write 'academically' but I don't know how else to write. Otherwise I will be concentrating too hard on the way of writing insted of the content and this isn't the right way round.

Another thing is starting to get on my wick, is this referencing marlarky, I keep getting conflicting information so when I think I'm doing it the right way I find out thats wrong and then when I do try to change it its still wrong. Just starting to get very frustrated and I really don't want to start thinking whats the point?

Had my draft essay marked today, there was some good feedback but the problem is that the feedback I got was generally about grammar, referencing and trying to make my essay flow. Also about putting in references without using direct quotes, how else do you do it?? I'm so frustrated and confused...

Today started really badly anyway taking an hour and a half to get to bloody college but thats by the by. I am feeling a bit guilty as my bad mood is being taken out on my family... I should just learn to shut my mouth I think...

Anyway the Christmas tree is going up tomorrow (yes, I know its early) but I am looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to having a day not thinking about assignments but I'm sure it will be at the back of my mind making itself known.

Its been ages

Wow, I can't believe how long its been since I last blogged.

The last few weeks I've been trying to complete my assignments but I've been a bit stuck, Lin's essay I haven't really got a problem with as I vaguely know what I'm going to write. The only problem is that I can't find any of the research that I'm looking for. Very annoying!!!!

The one that I'm having a real problem with is Rachels but today was good and I managed to actually get my head around it... sort of...

Feeling so grotty today, I can't wait for this cold to bugger off to where it came from.

I hope that everyone has a good weekend and that next week is better than this one.

Signing off for now..

Starting to get serious

This week seems like it has gone on forever and I still can't get a grasp on what day it actually is. I think its Thursday but I'm still not that sure.

I'm trying to get a grasp on how much I have to do, its feeling really scary. Not having written an 'academic' piece in over 6 years is really starting to freak me out.

Once I get my head round it and actually start then hopefully it will all come flooding back to me but I just wish that it would start dripping through early to give me some confidence.

The lessons that we've had recently has been very interesting. My brain usually hurts afterwards but its an enjoyable pain.

Anyway... byee xx

This week so far has been a strange week:

Monday

Monday was my birthday, I was a whole 22 years old!! I know the jokes about getting old are to come. I had a really nice day actually.

We started off by getting to Warwick a little late due to a stop off for birthday breakfast (thanks Dan). Then we had to sit through one of the most boring lectures ever, that sounds really horrid and I don't mean for it to sound that way, the lady was lovely but it was all stuff to do with study skills that we had been doing for the past couple of weeks so we had recently gone through it and to sit through another hour of it was erm... tedious to say the least. I'm not going to mention who fell asleep, you know who you are...

The rest of  the day was great, the queues trying to get our Warwick cards were ridiculous, I think I am going to go along in the next couple of weeks to get my card as I wasn't waiting around for 2 hours.

There was so much information to take in and gladly we had Lisa with us so she knew her way around the campus.

After Warwick I got back home and had a lovely meal with the family and just relaxed, good day.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we were discussing what makes language and does it need to be grammatical to be a language? We looked at the village in Turkey called Kuskoy (translates as bird village).

Below is an example:



I find this type of language very interesting, I do believe this is a language as it can be directly translated from the Turkish.

We did some group work in this lesson and the team leaders had to wear very attractive hats!! I kid you not...

After this we went through different theorists and their views on language. I personally feel that communication is innate and language is learnt.

It is very interesting in what different theorists views on these issues.

I am going to try and upload my notes, I don't know if they would be useful for anyone.

Anyway... I'm gonna go, I've got some baking to do. Has anyone got any preferences for cakes for tomorrows lesson with Lin?? If so please let me know and I will see what I can do.

Byeee xx

Great Day!!

Had a great day today, after a bit of a mare in the morning getting to college, the traffic was terrible but i managed to get to college with time to spare.

I went out last night to my Mums awards ceremony where she won something for selfless service in the community so dead proud!!

Anyway... this morning when we came into Lin's lesson we knew that we were going to have a guest speaker but she wouldn't give anything away in regards to who it was.

Coming in the room we were greeted by this lovely guy called Steve from the chaplaincy, he's a wolves fan but I shan't hold that against him. Someone has to follow them.

The session started off by going through the operation Christmas child appeal which i always try to do. we also played a game of Halloween related pictionary where we beat the other team 3-1... come on!! Nah only joking.

We did some research about Halloween but I hate this festival with a passion, devils and zombies etc just isn't something that I'm into but each to their own i suppose.

After this we had to paint a t-shirt with a picture of something that represents our true selves, i chose a smiley face as you can see below.

Very artistic you say... thank you very much, there was a lot of hard work that went into that I'll have you know.

It was such a nice way to finish off the past couple of weeks as with the study skills module stressing us all out in one way or another. I am so glad that it is out of the way and I just want the marking back now so I can have some feedback.

Now onto the next assignments, I've been trying to focus on my report for Lin today to see if I can get some research material in, I have decided to do my report on, How computers can be used as an aid for children with dyslexia and their spelling. Very wordy title I know but I hope to make it better as I go.

Going to Warwick on Monday so I can't wait. I've only ever been to the Arts Centre to see different comedians so this will be a new experience, can't wait to get stuck into the library, there must be something there to help me with my report.

Anyway must dash as I've had such a strenuous day as you can see.

Byeee xx

Study Skills

This study skills marlarky is really starting to get on my wick, I think that I have done most of it but there are a few things that I need to get finished. I know what I am going to do in regards of the essay plan. I have a few ideas for that and I just need to get that down on paper.

On the other hand, I have just re-read the Assessment Tasks and there is one (e) that I have no idea what to include, it seems really straight forward when its on paper but I don't know if it is that straight forward.

It says:
"Photocopies of three examples of notes taken from either reading material or class sessions, with comments about why the notes were taken and their potentioal usefulness. Also include a discussion blog relative to this area (evidence is required)"

So I don't know if I just need to include 3 examples of my class notes, most of them I can't make head nor tail of let alone anyone else.

Hmpf... I think I shall have to enquire tomorrow.

Night x

How do you title a ramble??

Before I start I have had hiccups for ages now and any remedies to getting rid of them would be much appreciated, I have tried all of the traditional ones to no avail, you never know they may have gone by the end of this *fingers crossed*

Anyway back to business...

On Friday we had our first lesson with Lin, I didn't know what to expect as I didn't really know what we were going to be doing.

First thing we had a presentation done by a lovely lady called Debbie from the Library. She did a presentation on different types of media, participative and collaborative media including:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blogs
• Google Groups etc.

The main one that she focused on was Facebook, there are so many groups on Facebook, some funny, some serious and most important they can have many levels of privacy on them ranging from openly public to invitation only.

Debbie included some research that was done by a chap called Sean Coughlan who said 'Facebook cuts student drop outs' I can imagine this is very true as Facebook is very teenager friendly and they feel like it is their world and something where they are always in contact with the people around them in the social network web.

The positives that were spoken about were:

• many people use it for leisure and are familiar with it
• it uses many types of media
• enables student interaction
• extends the time that tutors are available
• students can post 'work in progress' and get it critiqued
• tutors can post reading lists
• free
• less vocal students can be more inclined to participate
• allows students to catch up

Some of the downfalls:

• not all students can access Facebook
• some might not like the intrusion of their home time
• it can be a distraction

I think that as long as Facebook in this context is used as an inspirational tool to enhance learning it is brilliant. Also I think that any user that isn't au fait with Facebook should be able to have the support of their group to guide them through it and teach them another skill.

I found Debbie's presentation very interesting as Facebook is something that I am on almost 24/7 apart from sleeping etc. I never realised that it could be used as an educational tool and something where classes can get together away from their classroom.

After the presentation and after sausage batch time me and Rachel had to sit through the wonderful diagnostic test, I think that some of the questions were much harder than the last lot and the fact that there was a very noisy class next to us made it difficult to concentrate.

The maths test was horrendous as I couldn't remember simple stuff that we did at school and the english was frustrating as it wouldn't let you go on to the next section unless you skipped it and you lost all of your marks that you had been beavering away at for at least 20 minutes.

In the end I think I was just resigned to the fact that I don't think I've done very well.

Blimey after uni, it was the first time that I have had to rush around so much to get to work in a while, time seems to fly past recently and its not fair as I can't seem to catch up.

Can't really say much about work, same old.

Saturday was the first proper day off that I have had in a while, it made a change to actually manage to go browsing around a shop without having to make sure everything was in size order and perfectly folded.

I can't stop thinking about Lins report though, what am I going to write about? I keep changing my mind. I have a few ideas but I think I will have to just sit down and sort them out properly. It's making it focused enough and choosing a subject that I can witter on about... sorry I mean talk about objectively for 2/3000 words.

At least the actual report doesn't need to be finished until December, although I know that will here before I know it.

I can't believe that it is Sunday already. Where had this weekend gone???

Really struggling from lack of concentration today, if there was something shiny within a 10 mile radius I think it would have distracted me. I just about managed to do 1 observation and a summary on a newspaper article for Rachels lesson.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314433/Our-children-dont-fail-racism-says-black-academic.html

I'm not sure whether I need to include that in my study skills module but I might just include it anyway.

Wow, can't believe how much I have rambled on now. I will leave you alone.

Yay, my hiccups have gone but I shan't say it too loud encase they comeback.

So, signing off now.

Byeeeee xx

Tuesday

Hey,

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, things have been rather hectic.

Uni was good yesterday, we had our first proper lesson with Rachel and it sounds like it is going to be very much about facts and figures, law and policies etc. Something that does interest me as I love the way that society is formed and how people will conform or in many cases not and why.

We had to discuss our newspaper clipping stories which ranged from smacking to how some women treat their children like employees and it might be hard for them to differentiate from work life and home life, giving children targets and critique etc.

We finished early which was good as it gave me a chance to get some stuff sorted at home.

Today, I have done two of my reflective pieces and I am trying to work out how to structure this Study Skills module and which bit to put where but I am sure that it will all come together eventually.

Anyway better go as I have to go and get a new PC chair as mine has disintegrated and am now sitting on the floor which isn't that comfy, more cold.

TTFN byee xx

Right, Day Three....

Today was very interesting, in the morning I managed to get there quite early, luckily at that time of day there wasnt much traffic.

Trying to catch up on everything that has gone on in the week, this week there just seems like there hasn't been enough hours in the day.

Its Study Skills this week and we are going to have to complete our assignment by next Thursday. That will be here before we know it.

Today first of all we tried to complete our PowerPoint presentation that was done between me, Helen and Rachel. The thing that I was most impressed with was mastering the hyperlink and I am going to try (it may not work) but try to post a video on here just to see if it actually works.



Excuse the post, its just something from when I was a kid and made me smile :D

I think that we worked well as a team and managed to actually get a spider diagram of ideas and then plan around that. Our presentation was on how TV makes an impact on children aged between 1-5 years. But the referencing is something that I'm struggling with. So any help it would be much appreciated (hint hint).

I spent most of my morning trying to figure out what I do everyhour per week and I didn't realise that I spent about 58 hours a week sleeping!! Disgraceful. If only I could do that in one go and then everything would be sorted.

We also had to solve a moider (thats murder to most folks). This involved us in our group trying to sort out little pieces of paper to form a story and then work out who out of 3 characters, who was murdered, who commited the murder, what the motive was, what the murder weapon was, the location and the murder weapon was.

It only took about 45 minutes I think and 3 people were observing. We learnt that in every group there is a certain structure and there is a certain pattern that most groups go through, according to Tuckerman and Belbin.

When doing the murder task we fell completely into the roles that had been discovered. Questioner, clarifyer, joker etc. There was also a sub group that went away and tried to come up with some ideas themselves and then reported back to the main group. The sub group seemed to be the group where the jokers were and they chipped in every so often which really helped lift the mood of the main group. It was difficult to get your voice heard in a large group but patience was a huge factor, I personally feel that if the jokers hadn't been there I would have got a lot more frustrated and maybe started to get annoyed but this didn't happen so I understand how useful they can be in the group dynamic.

After lunch we then went back into the PC room and I just tried to make some headway on the study skills module but i didn't do as much as i had hoped.

Anyway, back at home now, dinner then back off to work 18:00 - 22:00 wish me luck.......

C xx

First Day!!

Today is the first day of the next 4 years on Early Childhood Development BA (Hons), sounds more scary when you put it like that!! I wasn't actually nervous until I found myself sitting in the class room...

You will probably find me rambling on these things as at the mo I don't know what I'm saying until I start and then it all flows out, not always relevant though.

There was so much information to take in today, the most difficult was trying to master the technology at NWHC. It seems to have a will of its own and takes its own sweet time.

I get the feeling that I'm not alone with the apprehensions that I have and hopefully these will subside as I go but I feel like its going to go through peaks and troughs.

Being given our first assignment.. sorry report was scary, being out of school for a while, you forget all of the useful stuff that you learnt in regards to writing technical pieces of work. Also as you may see my spelling and grammar is TERRIBLE!!!

I think time will tell, writing this has been quite relaxing so I think I will probably be emptying my soul on here quite often.

Anyway I am rambling, signing off. Byeeee xx