Finally getting it all together

I love how it took most of the school year for me to figure this all out. There is definitely a much heavier workload here than there was back home (each course has a book a week, or the article equivalent, which boils down to three books a week here), but that's strategic, because it's supposed to be preparing us for comps, and also taking care of part of our comps lists. I'm finally learning how to handle the workload.

The problem is that I've never learned how to read properly. I've always left the reading as long as possible, and then I've done it all quickly, trying to read absolutely everything without judging what's going to be important to know for class. I've less tried to prepare for class than just tried to know that I've physically looked at all the words. And that sure hasn't worked for me. I was talking with a teacher friend of mine (who deals particularly with kids who have learning disabilities), and she was encouraging me to adapt myself to my struggles with doing my readings. First, I ranked the importance of the different readings. In one of my courses, we have a whole heap of readings, but we only discuss the issues in theory. If I read a couple of the most necessary articles, and discuss other ones with another student in advance, I'm fine. For my other courses, I need to really know the articles in detail; for those classes, I need to commit some time to reading.

I need to be realistic about how long it will take me to read a particular article, including the time it'll take to go back over it and write out the important points, both so that I can physically process the key points and so that I have something I can refer to while I'm discussing in class. I also need to start my reading right away, planning so that I have it done several days before class starts, and then just review my notes before class. I need to figure out what kinds of things are going to be discussed in class. What are questions I can ask? What are observations I can make? Parallels I can draw? Is there any term I don't understand, or anything I'm unclear on? Is this something I can look up, or is it something to ask in class? (Can you believe it's taken me this long to figure this out?)

Then, I need to schedule specific times to do essay research, and organise my reading around research time. This way, I'm keeping my course reading in context. But I can't neglect it, or I end up being stupid in class, or having a panic attack. I physically can't maintain the old patterns that I set previously.

Having this desk space also helps, because it promotes active work, and distracts me less. (Note to self: set up a provisional workspace at my desk in my room, for when the parents spend the week.)

I thought I'd blog this out, partly because it helps me to process these things, and because it might help someone else. (In honour of my re-organisation phase, I also crafted a Study Music playlist, consisting mostly of songs that are either instrumental or in other languages, so that my brain isn't distracted. It also has a few strategically-placed songs for singing along, for when my brain needs a break. I'm awesome!)