Hazy Learning Block

I'll admit, I haven't been as attentive to you guys as I should be and until I'm back to blogging every 2-3 days, I will continue apologizing! It's been mostly because of the nasty combination of school + homework + extra curricular activities + work which = little sleep. And it's not that I'm getting 2-3 hours of sleep (because that would be ridiculous) every night because I get more, but 5-6 hours every night (even on weekdays) is having a toll because my body needs a night where I can sleep at least 9 hours to catch up on rest.

*Disclaimer: The following learning disorders are not real but can be totally cured. 

So because of consistently bad nights I have developed something I like to call the "Learning Haze". Now, the Learning Haze results from lack of proper rest because even though I get sleep I am only resting enough to not pass out the next day. However, when we are sleeping the brain is working hard to store and file away all the learning that we did that day. So limited sleep = limited learning. Not only that but when you develop the Learning Haze you may find yourself trying to read something in class but not understanding it. The words make sense, the concept is simple enough, however, you don't get it. Finding the purpose in an novel's chapter or understanding the difference between speed and velocity becomes extremely difficult. It's as if the brain shuts down the part that focuses on comprehension. This of course leads to "sub-par learning" as one of my teachers excellently put it. Sure, I know that to get the points on an inverse function you simply switch the domain and range of the original function but I don't understand why. Not to mention the small headache that always develops when you try to get rid of this nasty fog. My intended course of action to eradicate Learning Haze? Sleep as soon as I am done with this post until 10 AM tomorrow (where I will have to wake up and go to work even though I have a three day weekend!). We'll see how that goes! This post is being written by a person with Hazy Learning by the way (so if the sentences don't make sense sometimes, I apologize. It's a side effect to Hazy Learning).

Another thing that I wanted to write about is something I used to think about a lot in the 8th grade. This is called the "Learning Block". Now, the Learning Block is similar to the Learning Haze in the fact that they both deal with not being able to comprehend thing. However, while the Learning Haze is caused by physiological factors the Learning Block is purely about attitude. Students who have the Learning Block are typically utterly convinced that they are not good at a subject and/or cannot understand the material. They are so bent on not understanding it that after telling their brains "I don't get it" several times, they don't understand anything. The brain shuts down to new knowledge. The first time I observed this was in a math class in the 8th grade when students kept on saying a concept was too hard due to a dismal attitude, however, as soon as they brought a positive attitude to class they learned much quicker and things made sense. Another example would be when I took Chemistry. I was so convinced that I wouldn't understand anything because of the teacher I had and everyone had been saying that Chemistry was very difficult. This lead to me not wrapping my head around the concept of a mole (6.02 x 10^23) for a good two weeks. The amount and quality of learning all depends on attitude. Sure, you can have a subject that you don't like but that doesn't mean that you won't be good at it. The Learning Block is easy to get rid of and only those who want to stay in a pessimistic mood will be afflicted by it.

Now how's that for a stab at creating knew educational theories? Sure it's not the most "random" thing to blog about but whatever. This is just something different that I thought would be nice to blog about since I'm getting tired of the whole, "I have no life, I have no time, complain, whine and moan, booooo!" mantra that my life seems to have taken lately...

UYL!
Andre

October Madness

Wow, it's unbelievable how I never have time for myself anymore. Yup, the October madness has begun for me. I'm ashamed to admit it but I'm not doing so hot in all of my classes (No B's! Although plenty of borderline A's and an A- in IB History of the Americas). Work has mercifully slowed down, although they must have an inverse relationship with my extra-curriculars because those just keep on becoming more time consuming! I've already had three meeting coincide all on one day and sometimes I have to attend half of one meeting and half of another. As a result I've had to resign as an ESOL Mentoring Coordinator =( but that time was soon occupied by Key Club and National Honor Society if I am accepted. As for sleep...it sounds like a nice concept, one which I rarely get to experience.

But what makes October such a frenzy? Well my friends after 4 weeks in school teachers are done with all the cutesy behavior and messing around, it's time to get serious. Like I've said before the IB workload is intense, however, I am managing. It's the order of higher thinking that's going on that has me struggling. For example in English we were supposed to look for rhetorical and structural features and I head a hard time with it. It's as if there's this fog over my head that if I were just able to dispel it I would be enlightened by all these amazing academic ideas.

Another thing is that my dedication to my 2013 class has grown immensely! We did a fundraiser in which we sold candy and then I had to go through the whole process of ordering and distributing a class t-shirt. Not to mention the fact that this is the month of Homecoming and there is so much to get done. There are seriously meetings every day for all of the different Homecoming activities: Float, Follies, Powder Puff, Hallway Decoration Contest, etc.

And how am I faring through all this? Well it's fair to say that my school elders (aka Seniors) were dead on about one thing. Full IB = no life. The amount of work is so time consuming and, no exaggeration here, I haven't had a single full night's rest (which in my opinion is 8 hours) since September 18th (Yeah, that's how bad it is that I have to keep track of when the last time I actually sleep a full 8 hours was!) I'm averaging about 5-6 hours which while it hasn't taken a toll yet, I know I can't keep up this pace. Ah, if only the day was made up of 25 hours!

Well, this is where I must end my post as to not bore you with my hectic no-fun-allowed schedule! I should really find something else to write about next time...

UYL,
Andre