Weekly Review, Week 12

This last week I am feeling great. Honestly, I was nervous about having to read our free choice book because I was not sure if I would be able to complete the book, mostly because of the time it would require and normally I am not into reading that much and it is a struggle to sit and read a book. However, I started reading my first section on Sunday evening, and finished it by Tuesday evening. I felt great about it, enjoyed reading it and did not see it as a homework assignment; it was something I wanted to do when I had a few extra minutes. Wednesday I woke up with a swollen eye, was not able to go to work for two days, so I sat in my backyard, and finished the book by Thursday afternoon. This was some much-needed time to myself; I just sat, and read for a few hours each day. I was shocked that I had done this, never in my life have I read a book so fast. This was a great experience, to choose a book and enjoy it. I think the exercise we had to complete before we choose the book, really helped.

I think that I was able to enjoy the book because it was about Asian mothers, their daughters, and their stories. I have been getting into my culture lately and it really held my interest.

This week I will be completing my reading notes and analysis for the next two weeks, which also feels really good. This week is crazy at home and work, so not having to stress about completing the reading for this week, feels great.

I am so happy I took this class it has taught me so much about myself and what I can accomplish when I am focused and set my mind to it.

EC, Weekly Review, Week 4, Reading Blogs

I am taking one other class, Sociology 17: Introduction to research methods. This class is going well, it is one night a week from 6:40-9:50pm, I go to class after work. We have been talking about our research project and thinking about topics. I would like to know, why we loose our cultural traditions?
I decided to research this topic because I am half Chinese and growing up we did not celebrate the traditional traditions very much. Now that I am an adult, my 7 year old daughter has became interested in the Chinese traditions. This year we celebrated the Chinese New Year on Feb 5, and my daughter decided that every year she wants to go to her favorite Chinese restaurant. We also made traditional almond cookies for her class and I read her the history of the San Francisco Chinese New year celebrations. Some fun facts I learned is, the celebration of Chinese New Year last 15 days, they celebrate with a lot of big and loud fireworks. San Francisco is having their parade this Saturday, Feb 23 and it will be on tv if you want to watch it and can not see it in person.
My daughter asked me what we are learning in class, so I told her about my research topic and she was very happy and interested.
Once I get more information on the project, I will be have to decide which is the best research method for this topic.
Tonight I have class and am excited to get more information on our project so I can get started.

EC, Week 3, Weekly Review: Asked for help

By the end of last week, I was feeling stuck and struggling with the question, am I analyzing correctly and am I doing our writing assignments correctly? I was feeling good in the beginning of the week after I posted my first blog for our reading assignment A, I felt even better after my blog post on reading assignment B. I felt like I was getting the hang of it and my notes were getting easier. Then on Wednesday, I read one of our announcements that said we need to analysis and not summarize. I looked back at my two post and realized I was summarizing more than I was analyzing, I started to question myself and start really struggled with writing our weekly analyzing blog for the week. I started writing and then would read it and it didn't seem right, I felt like I hit a wall and with all the links and information given to us to help,  it was only making it worst for me. I e-mailed asking for help, but knew I had to write my blog for the week, so I didn't miss out on the points. On Friday, I seen the e-mail with sign up times for a meeting with our professor Mrs. Hiltbrand's with her office hours, I knew that I needed to sign up and talk to her as soon as I could. I was able to schedule an appointment for Monday.
I went to our appointment and met Mrs. Hiltbrand's, she was very kind, welcoming, and I felt very comfortable. I expressed my concerns and expressed that being successful in this class and is very important to me. Mrs. Hiltbrand explained that our notes from the readings are truly our notes, we can write them however we want and is useful for us. She clarified that her announcement about the summarizing was for our weekly blog due on Thursdays, that should not be a summary, but we need to analysis. She then read my blog from last week and said it was on the right track and we talked about it. She also discussed our upcoming project and a few other things. It was great being able to meet with Mrs. Hiltbrand and having a conversation, maybe something I am lacking with an online class. This is really my first online class and I am just trying to figure it all out and trying to manage my time so I do not fall behind. After this meeting I felt a lot more comfortable with my blogs and know that I will be able to be successful in this class and if I have any doubt or questions to just send an e-mail to Mrs. Hiltbrand and ask, she really does make herself available to us.

Thank you for your time Mrs. Hiltbrand and I really happy that you are my professor for my first online class.