Note taking techniques

An individual is not able to remember each and every important point that they come across while listening to lectures, reading books etc. therefore note taking is important so that they can concentrate on the lessons, can understand well because they take down notes in a way that they can understand, by using short terms that are familiar, as well as using diagrams.Taking notes also helps you review the lessons. 

Note taking methods

• Cornell method

• Mapping method 

The above is a mapping diagram which shows where the important points are note down.

• Charting method redlands (2010),

Here a chart is been use to take down the notes. all the information is well organized in a chart where any one is able to read and understand.

According to englishcompanion, following are also few note taking methods:-

• Episodic notes
• hierarchical notes
• Inference notes
• Interactive notes

Tips for note taking

• Note down only the main points of the lesson
• It should consist of small sentences alone with the key words
• Use your own words to take note without changing the meaning of it
• You can use abbreviation or any other short terms which make sense to you 
• omit all the detailed descriptions
• Add your comments as well

Note taking is important to every one because none of us can remember every thing we learn. so note taking   helps to review what we learn. improving your skill on using note taking methods and been a good listener will also help to take good, useful notes.

Bloom taxonomy

The above diagram is the pyramid which shows the boom taxonomy. 

1. Accordingly the lowest level is the knowledge which can be referred to as memory. 
2. Then one should be able to apply the knowledge to a scenario where one can explain things that was understood using examples.
3.  Also one should have the ability to understand what to apply plus when to apply. 
4. Then comes the analysis, where a problem is identified and broken down into components to find how it is related to each other
5. Finally the evaluation is done. which is based on the creativity of a person.

Personal profile and portfolio

 

Profile

A Personal profile is description of the attributes of a person such as achievements, Skills, interests etc.

Having a online personal profile helps you to communicate and also to have more connection with the readers Sonia Thomas (2011). This will provide you with opportunities like speaking and writing. an individual will not have to tell about his interests, achievements etc and also to write it in columns for the publications brandself.co (2012).

Portfolio

 

A portfolio is a collection of  documents which indicates who you are plus what you can do. This can show your future goals, achievements, skills etc. 

According to education.tas.gov.au (2011), A portfolio contains :-

• A resume
• Educational certificates
• Identification 
• Work exploration
• Photographs of your achievements, involved activities and programs
•  Work experience
• Skills
• Personal qualities

Lets start recycling.......

Conversion of the waste products into new materials.This is a circular process, like collecting waste papers and converting it into new paper goods Andrew Roper.
http://www.webschool.org.uk/webworld/roperr.html

                                                                 chelmsford.gov (2012)

The process of recycling

According to recyclingnearyou (2009),

• waste materials are been collected 
• Materials Recovery Facility sort these materials 
• Process materials to a form which can act as a substitute for a virgin material 
• The manufactures make useful, new products using the sorted materials

Wow.sa.gov

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Benefits of recycling

According to recycling-revolution (2011),

• It helps families to save money. because they get money as they throw waste or give their waste products to places where recycling take place.
• every ton of paper save 17 trees.
• Produces less air and water pollution than manufacturing a virgin material
• Energy consumption is reduced than manufacturing
• It helps to conserve the limited resources availablepacebutler (2007).

http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-benefits.html

http://www.pacebutler.com/blog/what-is-recycling-7-reasons-why-we-should/

                                                           
                                                              pacebutler (2008)


Disadvantages of Recycling

According to J. Duvauchelle (2011),

• The collection cost might be high
• As paper can be recycled only few times the destruction of the forests will not stop. Therefore reducing the use of paper is better than recycling
• A large number of items which is marked as recyclable end up with trashed or burn createdebate (2012).

http://www.livestrong.com/article/120797-disadvantages-recycling-paper/ 


http://www.createdebate.com/debate/show/Is_recycling_more_of_a_disadvantage_for_America

                                                     projectrev.wordpress (2009)

The above chart shows the rate of recycling. Accordingly the rate of recycling is high.

The process of recycling is a good solution for the collection of garbage. It reduces the rate of increasing garbage and helps to earn money in taking part of the recycling process.

Why knowledge is not the only thing for success?

According to trans4mind (1998), knowledge is having some kind of information. but having only the information  is similar to, as if a person  know what are the steps to swim but he cant swim. therefore its  impractical. And what will be the use only having the knowledge but fail to get use from it :(

wheel of opportunity

who gets the opportunity?

• who have self confident
• commitment
• leadership
• risk taking ability
• Managing time

According to Rehan (2012), the above can be defined as the wheel of opportunity. Here an opportunity is available in the top level since there is only one opportunity there comes a competition among the 2nd level employees and the person with more confident, commitment, leadership qualities, risk taking ability will grab the opportunity immediately. 

All the above mentioned confident, commitment, leadership qualities etc will not be applied for every person in the same level, even though they are equally knowledgeable. so here the skills are more important become success.

Class activity

What is your skill?

Think about something you do well, a difficulty you overcame, or a personal achievement, no matter how small.  Write down all the elements that go into something you have done well

This might be one of my personal achievement. while i was schooling i was not so interested in participating in speech competitions because my idea was that I was week in presenting speeches. but then I got an opportunity to participate in HNB speech competitions which was held island wise. there I was able to be the district 1st in 2008 and also been able to be the 1st in the same competition since 2011.

1. What did you do to create the conditions that led to success?

• I believe the saying " practice make you perfect". even though I was not perfect I was able to become success due to practice. and also i believe that if you achieve something in a field where you was not interested before definitely you will be interested after you become success ones.

2. Which skills, attitudes, and Qualities did you exhibit? did you practice?

• after practice I was confident on what am I going to present. True that I always committed myself more on practicing when competitions were near by than my school work. 

3. Did you arge yourself on a particular way?

•  I used my time to practice speeches while I had nothing to do. 

4.Did you find people to help? or did you just believed you can do it?

• when it comes to the preparation of the speech yes i got help from my parents, but thereafter I strictly believed that I can do it well which made me success always.

Identifying Skills

The ability of coming from ones knowledge, practice, aptitude etc to do something well. It is expertness, excellence in performances dictionary.reference (2012).

Mainly there are 2 types of skills, which is :-

 

• Soft skills 
• Hard Skills

Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job performance and career prospects. They are interpersonal and broadly applicable searchcio.techtarget (2012). some of the soft skill are team work, communication skills, leadership skills etc.

                                                               spotfireblog.tibco (2011)

Hard skills are the specific, teachable abilities that can be defined and measured. they are the job skills such as typing, writing, math etc investopedia (2012).

 

                                                        personalbrandingblog (2011)

According to above chart soft skills have become more important than the hard skills meaning communicating with others, ability to work in teams, creating personal brands is important than the technical knowledge that a person have.

According to bemycareercoach (2011),

when considering hard skills the rules remain the same where you cannot change the rules of doing a certain task but in soft skills it is totally based on the self management.

The hard skill is taught in the school, courses that is followed etc but most of the soft skill are not taught at all. a child will have to learn soft skill eventually through their experiences.

Knowledge vs skills

• The information that is processed by the humans is the knowledge. it is beneficial when used properly. main different between knowledge and skills is that the knowledge is in the head and the skills are done by the hand sabufrancis (2008).

• According to differencebetween (2010), knowledge is using information and applying it to the content. and that is a known as the theory but skills is that a person is able to apply the theory in practical life.

• Theoretical knowledge can be communicated but the skill cannot be communicated as it is perfecting your abilities. through trying to learn skill from a teacher a person will not find a solution but only a guideline matusiak.eu (2007).

  
be skillful


Awareness

• This is knowing what you want to do exactly. 
• how do u start doing what you want to do?
• having a clear image about the strengths, weakness etc

Commitment

• involvement or engagement to a certain thing you do is commitment.
• Dedication or loyalty towards your achievements

Determination

• making a decision
• ending an argument by the opinion

Perseverance

• The continues effort of being success undergoing failure.

Self motivation

• motivating your self to achieve your goal
• been confident on your self

Time management

• Managing yourself to do work on time without a delay.

Positive thinking

• thinking positive on yourself and be confident, yes i can do!

Perfection and Imperfection

Perfection

The state or the quality of being or becoming perfect is perfection dictionary.referance (2012)
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/perfection

According to brainyquote (2012), the definition of reflection is the quality or state of being perfect or complete. It is the highest attainable state or degree of excellence. perfection is a form of degree.
http://www.brainyquote.com/words/pe/perfection201127.html


Imperfection


Quality or condition of being imperfect is imperfection thefreedictionary (2012).
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/imperfections

According to theamyrarecords (2008), instead of striving for perfection practice to see the perfection in the imperfection of things. when you focus on something negative keep your attention on it until you see the beauty of its surface.
http://theamyrarecords.com/2008/08/13/the-perfection-of-imperfection/

                                                                               meitantei.deviantart (2009)

There is no person who is perfect in this imperfect world. If it is a perfect world there would not be any thing to achieve further because everything which is supposed to achieve is already achieved. but when it comes to an imperfect world there is always a possibility to make things better. Therefore instead of demanding the perfection for making things better you can realistically assess the probabilities of things being better and then act accordingly Elliot D. cohen (2011)

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-would-aristotle-do/201105/is-perfection-even-desirable 

                                                      Combineboth.blogspot (2011)

According to the authors view the idea of perfection is imperfect. there is no person in the world who is perfect. each and every person has got even a single weakness with them. But a person can be perfect in one of his abilities but he is not always perfect. imperfection can lead you to perfection which means you are able to find out the mistakes which make you imperfect and then find out the way to be perfect. therefore even though everyone is not perfect, the imperfect in them makes them success.

Communication Skills

Communication is an important thing of life. Communication skills are essential in all parts of life. It could be an interview or dealing with a leader or working out solutions with a team or writing a article. When doing this, all that matters is getting the points across effectively.(Publishyourarticles, 2012).

http://www.publishyourarticles.org/knowledge-hub/articles/communication-skills.html

Communication can be of three types, as shown in the image below.

sydney.edu.au (2012)

Points to Consider when Communicating

When communicating people should consider three main points. They are: (Expressyourselftosuccess, 2012)

• The point of the the message- they person should be clear on what points he wants to get across to the listeners. He has to think through what he wants to say, in order to stay on track and get the points out clearly so that the listener is not confused.
• How you're going to say it- select words carefully and accurately in order to avoid misunderstandings as much as possible. Avoid ambiguous words and phrases in order to avoid confusions.
• Know the audience- know the level of understanding of the audience and consider their level of understanding when getting points across. Determine what is the most effective way to communicate with the audience.

Likewise the people listening should also consider three main points. They are: (Expressyourselftosuccess, 2012)

• Listen- look at the speaker and concentrate on what he is saying. Get involved in listening and interact with the speaker by at least with some non verbal cues to show that you understand or not. Avoid distractions.
• Ask questions- When not clear on what the speaker is talking about, ask relevant and specific questions for added clarification and explanations. Ask for examples so that you can clearly get a picture. Ask questions at the right time.
• Respond respectfully- listen and gain perspective. If you agree with the speaker, say so. Respond carefully and appropriately. Choose words and phrases to encourage conversation and discussion.

http://www.expressyourselftosuccess.com/the-importance-of-communication-skills/

Causes of Communication problems

• Limited vocabulary
• Inaccurate grammar
• Lack of fluency
• Imperfect pronunciation
• Lack of active listening
• Fear of speaking in public
• Fear of expressing certain views
• Lack of confidence
• Lack of group skills
• Fear of making mistakes
• Lack of exposure and practice

http://www.publishyourarticles.org/knowledge-hub/articles/communication-skills.html 

To try out a communication skills test go to the following link.

http://www.queendom.com/queendom_tests/transfer

Time Management

The time management skill should be improved when the students attain collage for their higher education. collage has less class hours and more individual learning hours so that more time is needed to be allocated for their out side work. therefore it is important for students to improve their time management skills.

                                                                 the-ibenefits (2011)

The art of arranging, organizing, scheduling and budgeting an individuals time for generating more effective work and production is time management (Wise Geek, 2012)
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-time-management.htm

                                                          personaldevelopment123 (2012)

According to timethoughts (2011), time management is a set of Principles, Practices, Skills, tools and systems that is working together that help to get more value out of the time you got with an aim of improving the quality of your life.
http://www.timethoughts.com/time-management.htm

 09.03.2012


How do you manage time?


According to sucessfulacademic (2012),

• Have a long term goal, so that an individual will have a vision on his or her future. Therefore an individual is motivated to make their dreams come true.
• Identify the most important actions and mainly focus on the priorities. so that they can give priority to the most important and then go for the other actions if they have enough time.
• have a plan and Schedule the time every day, so that an individual know what action to be done and at what time.

http://www.successfulacademic.com/success_tips/Manage_time_organize.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxIyfwrH2Go&feature=related

Advantages of time management

strategicselfmanagement (2009)

According to iloveindia (2011),

• If the time is managed properly it helps u to wind up things on time and also help you to relax your mind where you will reduce stress and frustration
• when you manage time it helps you to save your time

http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/benefits-of-time-management-5873.html

According to personaldevelopment123 (2012), when time is managed well less time is wasted, more productivity, less missed appointments, more organised, less stressed, save money and more free time can be achieved.

http://www.personaldevelopment123.com/learn-time-management/

According to the above benefits time management is very important  to an individual to organize his work on time. therefore each and every individual is responsible to manage their own time and give priority to most important and then go go for the others.

Reflective blog

What is a blog?

Its a type of a website, which is similar to a forum or a social bookmarking site. It

 is defined by the technical aspects and the features around it. (Denial scocco, 2011) http://www.dailyblogtips.com/what-is-a-blog/

According to susan Gunelius (2012), The blogs were started in late 1990s as online diaries. The individuals were able to post information about their lives and opinions on a daily basis where the posts were listed in a reverse data order, so that the readers viewed the most recent post first.
http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/p/WhatIsABlog.htm

The following vedio shows tht features of the blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Rcd12Y5Qc&noredirect=1

According to better business blogging (2010), some of the charecteristics of a blog is as follows :-

• Technical knowledge is not required
• The readers can leave comments
• Organised automatically
• Information is distributed instantly
• Multiple authors
• Internal and external links available

http://www.betterbusinessblogging.com/what-is-a-blog/#2

Advantages and Disadvantages of a blog

According to internet affiliate info (2011), David Pakinson (2008).

Advantages

• Make money
• Cheap and easy
• Share knowledge with othr people
• Updates

Disadvantages

• The new content will burie the old content
• Less control
• Need to keep constantly updates
• Even though its easy to start, hard to maintain

http://www.internetaffiliateinfo.com/blogging/advantagesofblogging.html

http://daparky.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-blogging/

The critical reflection of an experiance which can be written in a critically reflective manner can be identified as a reflective blog  (Jones Peter,2010).