Do the Reading!

Korrin B.

April 4, 2009 - 7:00 PM

I've written before about how I love week one and I must say that, once again, I love week one. I am always so on top of it during the first week of the term. This term is particularly exciting for me, as I have decided to do the unthinkable. I am currently succeeding at the one thing I always struggle to actually do as a student. I am actually doing all of my reading for my classes!

I'm not going to sugar coat it. Like many undergraduate college students, perhaps even the majority if I am going to be completely honest, I have not kept up with my reading for my classes during the past terms. I usually try and skim it or read at least the super important stuff, but for the most part I just kind of forget about it and just wing it by listening more intently to the lectures. I just have this problem of falling asleep while reading textbooks. I also have the problem of not wanting to print off readings from Blackboard, which I would need to do in order to read them because I have this problem of not being able to do the reading off of my computer screen. To sum it up, I usually spend too much money on textbooks for my classes and then feel like at the end of the term when I'm selling them back for 10% of the price I bought them for, that is just wasn't really worth it since, of course, I didn't read them.

However, this term is different! I decided at the beginning of this term that I was going to actually do all of my reading. I was going to stay on top of it by doing a little each night. Even during times that I thought the reading was pointless and not going to help me very much at all, I was still going to charge onward and do it!

It is the end of week one and I have stayed true to this holy oath so far. And, I must say, that...it's amazing! It actually helps! When I go to my classes now, I have been so much more engaged and have participated in class discussions a ton more. The material I am learning in my classes seems a lot fuller now and I am getting so much more out of it. I think I might actually leave my classes this term feeling like I took away some truly amazing knowledge. It also comes in handy to have done the reading when you have to write a paper on it. Instead of stressfully rummaging through pages trying to find something you can quote, you actually know where passages are that you can use for any given topic.

It is incredible. I think I am finally starting to understand, during my junior year, why teachers assign the readings in the first place. It is only right for it to have happened this way. It is part of the learning process. I am no longer a naïve freshman, but a seasoned scholar. I can see why graduate school would be so cool now - because by then you have to be super passionate about school and learning and by then you know the skills you need to get the most out of it. Do the reading!! ...We'll see how long I can keep this up!