Hi guys – Chelsea back again with my seventh blog! If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll know that I’m studying Medical Assisting at the Carrington College Tucson campus. If you’ve not read them all, why not catch up here. Today I want to share some of my classroom and homework tips – at least the things that work for me!
Take Good Notes
When it comes to keeping notes, I pretty much start writing as soon as the teacher starts talking – I’m always writing stuff down. It’s a combination of what she says and what’s on the slides. I have a pack of sticky notes, a notebook and a pocket journal. It was Ms. Judy’s recommendation to buy a pocket journal; it’s somewhere to write down all the important information that will never change. I take notes in that little journal all the time. I use my other notebook for things that I might need for homework. My pocket journal is small enough to have on hand for questions that patients might ask in the future, like “What’s a “normal” blood pressure number?” or “What is a pulse?”
Teamwork Works
There’s a lot of stuff that we turn into group work. We’re all very helpful to each other; if someone says “I don’t understand this” there’s always someone who does and can help out. In fact we never really have to ask our teacher for anything, because we all have each other. It’s an all girl class and our ages don’t really mean anything; there’s someone who is 17 and another who just had a birthday and turned 46 or 47 I think. We’re really lucky that everyone gets along; there’s no conflict at all and we work really well as a team.
Do Your Homework!
A group of us try to get our homework done in advance before we even start a chapter, then we all come in on the Monday and talk about things we don’t understand. I usually do my homework when the kids are sleeping, and I usually get to school an hour early too. I can get a lot of work done in that hour. Otherwise with two young kids, it can be a struggle to find time for school work.
Support & Focus
My friends and family are all pretty supportive; nobody tries to keep me from doing my schoolwork. I don’t really get invited to anything anymore because people know I’m either going to be really tired as I’ve been up since 4.30am, or that I’m really busy doing schoolwork, or often both. Alex is very, very helpful; I don’t know what I’d do without him. He does a lot of the cleaning that I never have time to do.
Stay Happy
Everybody is always happy at Carrington. If you come to school in a bad mood you’re not going to stay that way because everyone around you is always so happy. And they’re helpful too. No matter how busy someone is, the teachers will never blow you off because they’ve got something else going on. They always find time. These study and homework tips work for me, I hope they work for you too! Let me know in the comments box! Catch you next time!
