MY Blog or Diary

• 12Nov 09

  Cornell Notes, Why we need an alternative

  As soon as we entered middle school ( or elementary) we have been introduced to 1 type of note taking style and that is cornell notes, as they said, its supposed to make it much more easier. Also they have a whole paper designed for the cornell notes taking style with the questions column on the left and the answers on the right. But whats the point of that paper, it just feels useless because we have to waste our own binder paper just to do cornell notes, what a hog.

  So why do we need the cornell notes style well its supposed to make it easier to study but a pain to take, sometimes. Ok this is how we start cornell notes write down the answers and then write down the questions on the left, then at home we study them. Oh I forgot to mention that at the bottom we have to write a summary about the notes we took in class, but whats the point you are just going to read the questions while covering the answers and if you get the question right you know you studied that certain topic. I feel that it feels effective in a way that you question yourself, but what happened to getting someone else to help you study, similar in a way because the person you got is questioning you while you try to think of the answer.

  When taking notes in cornell style some teachers dont make it clear for you what to write, you have to second guess yourself on what to write or just jot down everything in summary from the slide the teacher shows. Then when it comes to studying you have to know everything on that powerpoint or overhead ( if the teacher doesnt feel like using the computer to show his/her notes ). Some teachers are generous enough to give us outlines on what to jot down, and I like that. At times when it comes to the test some of those outlined notes doesn't feel like it has a use and I just wrote it down for nothing. Then there comes the time when you cant much remember all the notes you took, say for instance you studied at night, then comes morning, you study, you are at school only to remember a few things you studied and thats because of preassure. In my opinion I think we should atleast do more than cornell notes and have all the 3 learning styles put into 1 topic, not just jotting notes down all the time.

  An odd time to use corenll notes is a threat and by threat I mean boring the students with cornell notes and heres one example that happened on monday in my World History class. I sat down in my cold seat and observed my surroundings as usual, preparing my stuff, copying the learning log off the powerpoint and writing down on my paper. Then within the 5 minutes of class she explains what we are supposed to do with the comic strip about the French Revolution, and at the end she said these words or sort of if I remember properly " If you are too loud we will be taking corenll notes instead of the comic strip". To my suprise I was like, wow are you really going to threaten us with corenll notes. That is what you are going to do if we are too loud, why not just tell us to turn in what we got. By that example some teachers like to use cornell notes as a threat.

  Heres my alternatives or different versions of cornell notes. Some might work, some dont work, but they are atleast something else rather than doing cornell notes.

  1. Have flash cards ( at the moment I find them only good for short answers, but if its long answers then it would serve not as much of a purpose )

  2. Ask a friend ( The 2nd effective way to do notes, but theres only the matter of time when that test comes around and you have to remember the questions your friend gave you and how you answered them )

  3. Combine Notes ( now it wouldnt work all the time but you are atleast getting more info from your friends and well it might appear on the test )

  4. Act out the question ( it seems odd, but for those visual learners it proves very effective also those people who learn by interactions )

  As I said they are alternatives or different versions, but they are the old ones and we have cornell notes to only cater to the people who learn through writing. But they dont cater to the visual and interaction learning styles. That is why we need alternative to the cornell note taking style.

  I forgot to mention that I think it only happens here in the west coast, maybe. But I dont know about the east coast if they take cornell notes.

  Words Of Wisdom

  " There can be many tactics, but many can prove useful "

  • Posted Nov 12, 2009 11:01 am PT
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• 10Nov 09

  Windows Live Writer

  I have to say this is kind of an interesting feature to use, and if you can already tell off the bat that I am using it. So I'm going to tell you some of the features it has to offer to you as the user and the writer

  right off the bat as soon as you connect your blog to the writer it doesn't look like there's that much things to do but your ordinary way of making your blog to look better, but there are some features that some people might want to consider using.

  First off the images, the images you want, have to go through an image host site like imageshack.us, or photobucket and then put the link directly onto your blog, that's not going to happen anymore with the use of writer you can just click on the Insert > Picture and then browse through your collection of pictures and post it here on your very own blog also there is the option to put a photo album here. That blew mind since you can post an album ( Take that image hosting sites ).

  Another thing is that you can post videos for people to see, it makes a little easier but I find it kind of hard to see that in an ordinary blog type writer. Although I dont know how to host videos on blogs ( never done one before ) you can atleast go through the options click on Video… browse, then put it on the blog, making it more easier to host videos.

  The only thing that stood out was to put a map

  

  with the usage of bing.com to post up the map, and by that, that is my school, well one of the buildings. I don't find this feature much of a use, but I think its there to tell where you have visited like France or Rome.

  It doesn't cater to only 1 blog you can add more, but the thing is it depends on the website it was made on, like take for instance I want to make a blog from gamespot.com, but the thing is it doesn't recognize the word write it was made on. Which I am still having a problem on.

  That's all I have to say about Microsoft word Writer, its a cool feature to use if your doing blogs, but if you dont feel like doing too much with it, that's up to you.

  update: since this is on gamespot I didnt do it on here, but another site.

  Words Of Wisdom

  " Many Many thing's Many Many Options, choose one wisely and it will be granted to you in great surprise "

  • Posted Nov 10, 2009 6:21 am PT
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• 5Nov 09

  The Mile

  By that I mean I feel like I am running one throughout the whole week it just feels long and to keep me company I atleast have Pokemon Mystery Dungeon to keep me company ( I know Ive talked about it for 3 times ) but I just love it, the whole experience of exploring new random dungeons each time just makes it more satisfying.

  Continuing back on why the week feels really slow to me because that I have the time to do nothing, but atleast do homework but then after I have nothing to do after that. Well except play, but I'm starting to feel like I need something new rather than play the same thing all the time. But last night I was thinking of watching videos to pass the time and those were about Ubuntu which was an Operating system I used to have, and by that I used to dual boot it, but now with Windows 7 I cant because Ubuntu doesnt recognize Windows 7 even it was an upgrade from Vista. I can understand that it just came out but the thing is they should already have realeased an update for the OS so it can work with Windows 7. But then I was thinking about all the things I had done on ubuntu, and since its an open source I used to make crazy things that happen on my desktop like Freeze up and break when you were minimizing the screen. Or when you maximized the the program it freezes and the melts onto the desktop. That is the power of the ultimate open source, but I atleast want to do some serious stuff so previously I would switch to Windows Vista and do my work and junk or play games since Ubuntu for some odd reason wont run .exe programs. I find that to be a flaw but theres a program that makes .exe run, but im a bit too busy to go on the site and download the program for myself.

  Feeling bored yesterday about an hour I thought it was like 9 or 10 or maybe even 12, but no it was 7 and I felt very tired yesterday. Thats had what been bothering me for the past 3 days I sleep around 10 ( usual I would sleep at 11 or 12 ) but instead I crash and sleep at 9 or either 10, maybe because I drink alot of that apple juice thats been in the frige or O_O the lack of soda I havent had, yup its the nerd drink. Which I think it is since in class I have seen alot of computer nerds like me drink alot of soda, and which I like to do and I sometimes picture myself as that to be a computer nerd on the computer. Also I was also thinking of working at intel, just like my dad since he used to work at intel, but instead he quit to finish his college degree and by that he need a degree in computer science and the pay he got wasnt all that good from what I heard of from my dad.

  Then came the time when I was in bed and I was still hooked onto Mystery Dungeon and until then I couldnt play anymore because of me being sleepy, only till then I had to complete one more mission and I though I was about to get the dusk stone to evolve my mismagius, since I want a psyic and ghost pokemon in my partner roster.

  I also got planned to that Im going to level up to 100, so I can atleast say I completed the game.

  Since all that feels like im doing soo much I just feel like its going to keep on going and then when that day comes surely enough it'll all payback to me and it will be gratifying to have that feeling again.

  Words Of Wisdom

  " Arguments are won by logic "

  • Posted Nov 5, 2009 11:08 am PT
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