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Mark

Assignment 6 - Exam Preparation; Tips and Tricks.

I haven't had to do an exam for a while, but I think since then I have learnt to try my best to relax, and remember that it's not the end of the world.
Every year at high school we would stress over the current batch of exams, and laugh at ourselves for getting stressed out over the exams the year before.

Now I try and imagine  myself sometime after the current exam or project deadline has past, and how I'll probably think I was silly for getting worked up about it.
It doesn't completely alleviate stress, but it sometimes helps me relax during stressful moments.

I always tried to study in what the test conditions would be like, no music, no television, no phone, just quiet like the exam would be. I find I like to listen to music when studying, but when you get used to that, the silence of the exam can be a bit unnerving.

And I always try to visit the place where I will be doing the exam, I can then visualise myself in that environment  before that time, which helps me to feel prepared. If I can't imagine where I am going to be, it freaks me out!

Assignment 6 - Understanding Cultural Differences/Activities

Q - What is your cultural background? Does your family celebrate certain traditions?

A - I am a New Zealander, or Kiwi (I hate the terms "European" and "Pakeha")
My family celebrates the usual New Zealand calendar holidays, although in a completely secular way, and we tend to be fairly casual about everything I guess.

Q - What advantages and/or obstacles do you think might be involved in tutoring students from culturally diverse backgrounds?

A - I think in terms of disadvantages, language would be the number one thing, if someone comes from a non-English speaking country. It's obvious when you can't understand them, but not very obvious when they don't understand what you are talking about. Sometimes that person can do a lot of head nodding just so they don't have to ask you for clarification or explanation all the time, which is understandable, I'm sure I would do it too in a foreign country. I think the solution in that situation would be to ask them at the start of the session to be completely honest if they aren't following you, or ask them a few subtle questions to test comprehension.

An advantage to someone from another country is that they can be very keen to learn, and can be very open minded about their education, considering that they know that in some respects they are starting from scratch.


Q - How might you encourage a positive tutorial environment with students from culturally diverse backgrounds?

A - Perhaps just be friendly, patient, and just try to explain things at just the right level without insulting their intelligence. I think that you need to judge people, regardless of culture, to see

Q - Describe a personal experience in which differences in cultural values contributed to an interesting perspective. What did you do to encourage this interaction?

A - When I was in high school, I was friends with a Korean student who spoke moderately good English, but lacked the ability to understand certain social conventions, such as respecting people's personal space etc. He didn't think anything of pinching other people's bottoms, almost like someone else giving someone a friendly nudge on the arm. I had to explain to him that at an all boys school, he was probably going to get punched for doing that to the wrong guy. He said in his country, that was okay to do.

Maybe he was just saying that so he could pinch my bottom.
I can't really blame him though, I'm extremely handsome.

Assignment 5 - Finding out you are a crap listener.

"Your score is 32: You are a good listener. Obviously, you have learned some techniques that work for you, but there are a few areas where you can use some help."

I'm seriously going to start lying on these things, they are starting to make me look bad.

Assignment 4

Here are the results from my "Communication Skills Test".
I was a little disappointed that it was not better, but deep down I know it's probably exactly where it should be. Feel free to leave a comment on my results, although according to the test I will probably not listen to you, or only listen to 65% of it.

I don't think that the Socratic Method is something that I would use much in my area of peer tutoring, I wouldn't like to say anything that feels like a pre-prepared phrase, I prefer to just "wing it", for better or worse I guess.
I would hate to come across as condescending in anyway by asking a question that sounds unnatural or . I try and ask whether I am explaining it clearly or not, and just hope that people would tell me honestly if I was not clear enough on things.

RSS Feeds and Wikis Videos

This little video (less than four minutes) explains RSS Feeds and RSS Readers (Bloglines) extremely well. You should watch it!



This one is about how a "Wiki" works, from the same guy.

Assignment 3 - Learning Styles

I took the VARK questionnaire, and it says "You have a mild Kinesthetic learning preference", which is what I already had I suspected.
I did like the way the results are phrased too, because sometimes saying "I learn by doing" has the implication that you have trouble learning through other methods. If someone tells me that about themselves, I imagine them sticking their tongue out while drawing with crayons.

I also took the Felder-Silverman questionnaire.
Immediately I found the Felder-Silverman test to be too "black or white", and appreciated the first one more.
Being able to choose between more than one answer, and more than one made me very conscious to choose what I thought was right, leading me to wonder if I had made all the right answers for me.
Once I took the second test, I found that sometimes both answers, or no answers were appropriate. I really didn't like being forced to pick one that didn't fit, so even halfway through the test, I was already doubting the impending results.

Which was good, because when I got them, they didn't give me anything that was useful to me.

Here are my results, which I had to reference with this page, to decipher.

I found both gave no new insight, but only because I had an idea on how I learnt best, possibly because I have always had an interest in drawing/making etc, but I can imagine there are plenty of people in different fields who are unsure of how how they learn, or even that there is more than one way.