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PFAU 17 edited 01 1 When should you drop a course? by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

It can be a difficult realization to discover that your original academic plan is not working for you, and you’re struggling to meet the expectations of a particular course. Should you drop it? Or, you should you ride it out and see if you can pass?

There are a few things to consider when deciding whether or not to stay in a class that you not doing well in:

DEADLINES: The first and most obvious question to ask yourself, is has the add/drop deadline passed? If the deadline has already passed, well, I guess the university has made the decision for you. Thus, it is important to make a note in your calendar at the beginning of the semester of any important deadlines, such as add/drop or submission for graduation. You don’t want an administrative oversight to jeopardize your future. There are actually two add/drop deadlines to pay attention to. The earlier deadline usually allows you to drop a course and get a full or partial refund. The second deadline usually allows you to drop a course, but you may not be able to get a refund for your tuition. If finances are an issue for you, it is particularly important to note this difference. As an aside, I am writing this blog post a week before the first add/drop deadline usually comes into affect in colleges and universities, so you may want to check your own university calendar too.

REQUIRED vs. OPTIONAL: Another important thing to note is whether or not the course you are considering dropping is a required course or optional. If it is optional and you are struggling, it may be easier to decide to drop it. However, if it is a required course, you need to consider when you may be able to take it again as you cannot avoid it completely. Some courses only run every two years, so you really need to check with your faculty and department before deciding to drop any required courses to ensure that you will be able to take it before your graduate. In addition, you need to check to ensure that that particular course is not required for any future courses you want to take as that will also impact your timeline.

WORKLOAD: Finally, I would consider the impact of dropping this course on your overall workload. Will dropping this course help to give you more time to focus on other required courses. It is important to get good grades in the courses that are directly related to your major and degree, so if dropping an optional course will allow you to do that then that might be a good reason to let it go. However, if you are struggling with the course for other reasons, such as not understanding the course content or other factors in your life that are impacting your ability to do well in class, you might want to look into resolving some of those issues before deciding to drop the course. For example, you could look into getting a tutor. Or, you might go to student services and see if you can get some other supports to help you to manage your time and adjusting to university better.

Dropping a course is not an easy decision, but sometimes it is easier to admit defeat than to continue fighting a losing battle. Remember it is about winning the war, not one little fight.

**All blog content is original created by Lisa Pfau and Patricia Huang. Please respect our intellectual property rights and do not copy any of this content without our prior permission. However, please do feel free to share widely.

KICK PROCRASTINATION OUT OF YOUR MIND!! By Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

By Pfau2018

October 17, 2018

777 Views

Blog, Study Tips

PFAU 9 comic book edited final 01 LARGE KICK PROCRASTINATION OUT OF YOUR MIND!! By Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

“Procrastination may not take up a lot of effort physically…but it takes over the mind!” ~ Stephen Hall

To be honest, I procrastinated writing this post about procrastination…

…I put away my dishes. I filled my water bottle. I searched up some good music. I adjusted my writing lamp. I even posted a quote about procrastination to Instagram. An hour and half later here I am finally putting words on paper.

Procrastination seems to take little effort, but pretty quickly it becomes a job in itself, taking real effort avoiding the task at hand and filling it with other unproductive and likely unnecessary activities. So, what can you do to kick procrastination out of your head?

“Whatever form of procrastination comes in, learn to identify it, root it, and kick it out! ~ Jim Howard

Procrastination usually comes in for me in the form of small little administrative tasks or detailed searches on Google or unnecessary tidying or straightening up. When I feel like I’m really busy scurrying around, but not really getting anything substantial done, I know that I’m procrastinating. I tend to do this when I’m nervous about a tasks or imagine it to be more difficult or painful than it is in reality, such as writing this blog post! Yeah, writing a blog post takes work, but once I get going it usually just flows. It’s the getting started that takes 80% of the effort. Fortunately, there are a few things I can do in those moments to get me back on track:

POSITIVE SELF-TALK: If I’m already worried about something, beating myself up about dragging my feet to face it will only make me want to avoid it more. Instead, I try to take a moment to be with my anxiety, acknowledge it, and reassure myself that it’s not as bad, hard, scary, whatever as I dream it to be. I also remind myself how many times in the past I have faced a similar situation and been successful. Finally, I even acknowledge that procrastination is normal, and take a deep breath and get started. As I said in the previous paragraph, getting started is often the hardest part.

I START: Even if I only finished part of what I planned for that day, I feel like I achieved something. Sometimes just putting pen to paper for 10 minutes is enough for me to get over the original obstacle that was holding me back and fueling my procrastination. Then, the next day it is much easier to get to work immediately because those 10 minutes helped to restore my confidence and reduce my stress. Instead of staring into a blank overwhelming abyss of possibility; there is something on paper and the finished post suddenly seems only a few keystrokes away.

BREAK BIG PROJECTS INTO SMALLER TASKS: Writing 50+ blog posts can seem overwhelming, but if I break it down into one blog a week that seems doable. Now, that I had a timeline, I can also start thinking of topics that might fit that time of the school year and plan ahead (in other words, use my usual procrastinating tactic of list making for good). This planning ahead will prevent me from getting trapped by my incessantly need to research and generate ideas when I’m avoiding writing an essay. No need to think of a topic for that week because I already have one planned out in advance. I can even break each blog post into parts (opening hook, introduction/personal story, tips, closing statement). Then, if I can’t get the whole post done at once, I can at least finish one section at a time.

SET DEADLINES: My blog post needs to be up every Wednesday morning at 6:00am, so I need to finish it before then. Granted, it is currently 9:45pm on Tuesday night, so I’m not setting the best example. But, come on, technically I still have 8 more hours to get it done. Of course, this situation tonight is not ideal and highly ironic given the topic of this post, but having a weekly deadline at least forces me to get it done. I also add other boundaries, such as my office closing at 10pm and not taking my computer home, so actually I only have 10 more minutes to finish up. But still, if I can’t finish by 10pm and I’m really stuck, I can take my computer home with me on the subway and keep working. Not ideal, but it sure beats a 5:00am scramble. Setting mini-deadlines leading up to the big deadline can help to prevent an overwhelming scramble and poor job at the last minute.

REWARD YOURSELF: After I’m finished this post, in the next 5 minutes, I’m going to head home to watch a cheesy show about a Mountie and teacher in the early 1900s Western Canada on Netflix. The best part of all of that is that once I submit this post, it will be completely off my mind and I can enjoy my tv time and have a restful sleep without worrying about how I’m going to wake up at 5:00am to finish my post. Procrastinating by watching Netflix is fun too, but whatever you’re avoiding is lurking in the back of your mind, infringing on your R&R. It’s so much nicer when you can really enjoy a reward AFTER completing a task instead of using it as a distraction.

Yeah, so we all know a lot of these tips. In fact, you may be procrastinating by reading this article on procrastination RIGHT NOW! That’s totally what I would do. Oh well…no one is perfect. We’re all a work in progress. In fact, I went back the next day to edit this post one more time after it was online because I noticed some typos.

It takes time to break old habits and replace them with old ones (20-something days according to many lifestyle programs), so congratulate yourself for taking the first step and realizing you have a problem that you want to change. Use that procrastination moment to your benefit and start to implement some of these simple steps to get yourself back on track. Just start, do your best, and let go… That’s really all we can do every day. 🙂

Both the written and visual content of this post has been created by and is the intellectual property of Lisa Pfau and Patricia Huang. Please do not replicate any of the above content without our consent. However, please do feel free to share this post and its authorship widely. 🙂

Student Writing Sample: Bird Fact Poem

By Pfau2018

January 25, 2018

980 Views

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Birds are loyal, creative and smart;

They find straw ,grass and mud;

When they are aggressive they dart to one of your body part;

Then the eggs are safe in a nest like they are in a big flower bud;

When the eggs hatch they hunt for a delicious lunch.

Student Writing Sample: Moon’s Tour

By Pfau2018

January 25, 2018

860 Views

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

download 300x127 Student Writing Sample: Moon’s Tour

It’s is a place full of craters and very dusty

hard and bumpy like iron Meteorites

low gravity like you are on outer space

then if you liked moon rock then go to moon

it was made of rock like meteors and

there is boot prints and if you fell into a hole,

these holes will lead you to a dead end.

cracked and withered with rocks.

it’s born from dust to rocks then to moon.

if it was clear then we can see stuffs

“Celebrating Chinese New Year:The Challenges of China’s Huge Population of Migrant Workers.” Praxis Englisch. 2013 (6)

By Pfau2018

January 25, 2018

762 Views

LISA PFAU

“Celebrating Chinese New Year:The Challenges of China’s Huge Population of Migrant Workers.” Praxis Englisch. 2013 (6)

EDITING SAMPLE – Grad School Application

By Pfau2018

January 18, 2018

970 Views

Application, Writing Samples

Grad School Personal Statement Excerpt – First Draft

pictures 4 300x150 EDITING SAMPLE Grad School Application

Since I left my native country Peru, I have seen the many difficulties my family and others have lived through in order to survive in this country. As an immigrant, I have repeatedly experienced discrimination from people because I was ignorant to the way of life here. I have witnessed firsthand the difficulties and struggles my single mother has endured in the process of learning the laws of this country. People lose their families and friends because they lack awareness of their rights in this country. Seeing the disadvantages and discrimination immigrants’ face, I have always wanted to help spread awareness to the different underprivileged communities. Many suffering people would benefit if someone would help by informing them of their legal rights. I am a Latina woman and I would like to become a lawyer in order to help immigrants receive the correct due process of law.

Grad School Personal Statement Excerpt – Final Draft

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” (Margaret Mead).

… I used my bilingual/bicultural skills in English and Spanish to assist Avantika Rao (an immigration lawyer) with her asylum and temporary protected status cases. One case made a significant impact. A sixteen year old El Salvadorian girl who had suffered three different cases of sexual assault at age 13 and physical abuse from her husband (she married at 14) was requesting asylum in the United States…

I empathized with this young girl. My mother also immigrated to the U.S. as a single parent. When my mother left Peru she had only finished high school and spoke no English. She was only able to find work cleaning houses and waitressing. Thus, I understood the frustration and isolation the young El Salvadoran felt when trying to manoeuvre through the complex immigration system and build a new life. Over time, my mother studied English and eventually became a nurse’s assistant. I saw this young woman’s potential and felt a great deal of compassion towards her and other young immigrant women battling hardships. My own mother’s bravery and determination made it possible for me to pursue my dreams and I wished the same for my El Salvadoran client’s daughter. Having inherited my mother’s work ethic, I worked through high school and university in order to pay my tuition, and subsequently finished my B.A. in three years. My pursuit of higher education is dedicated to understanding, validating, and supporting women like my mother. La Raza Centro Legal showed me that a small group of like-minded, compassionate, and dedicated individuals can change the world of many newcomers to the United States and potentially influence U.S. immigration policy. My own personal experience and work with women like the 16 year old from El Salvador motivate me to pursue a career devoted to helping others and the common good; a career in the public service focusing on immigration. By working together we can improve and even prevent situations, such as, this teenager’s, and in turn, built a more diverse and strong American society….