Rach in real life

Well, I’m being a good girl and taking classes during the spring term so I can graduate somewhat on time with the proper endorsements. I’m in a web design class and a physical science class. When I enrolled, I thought, “no big deal, right?” HAHA. Try colossal deal. My strengths, according to my prospective degree and training ought to be Physics, Engineering, and Multimedia, seeing how my major is Technology and Engineering Education and all. Well, no, actually. At least not when it comes to theory, sequence, and logic. I once took a test to see what kind of learner I was. As I predicted, my learning style was overwhelmingly visual, off the charts visual. My logic level was at about 5%. This explains a lot about me and my childhood learning experiences, with my awful math scores even though to this day I can tell you about almost every picture in my math textbooks from the beginning of time.

So logic… not my thing. Which makes the theory of Physics quite difficult. Ironically, give me pictures and numbers and I’ll be fine. But, when it comes down to what one thinks might happen, I can trick myself into thinking that any one of the scenarios outlined on the test is indeed true, even when the answer really is NONE OF THE ABOVE. In my web design class this is equally frustrating as I fight through the syntax and logic of programming. There’s a serious disconnect between all that programming garbage and the visual product. WYSIWYG is my friend, CSS is not.

As of today, I am (hopefully) pulling out of floundering. I learned that sometimes you can’t be the best at everything, and I am doing my best to be OK with that. I am also coming to grips with the idea of asking questions. I am not above that, I realized. Last night my friend and I had a great discussion about what makes a great learner, based on President (then Elder) Eyring’s talk, “A Child of God.” Here are some great points I drew from it that apply equally to spiritual and intellectual growth:

1. A great learner welcomes correction.
2. A great learner keeps commitments.
3. A great learner works hard.
4. A great learner helps other people.
5. A great learner expects resistance and overcomes it.

We were having Family Home Evening together and it was my turn to give the lesson. I knew I had some old talks stashed away somewhere, so I grabbed one without looking and it ended up being exactly what I needed to hear. It certainly put me in my place and reminded me that God loves me.

Here’s to a better week in the world of academia.

[RACHEL]