Saturday, May 19, 2018

To Use or Not To Use

... a highlighter!  I know pot will be legal on July 1st, and that may be related to student life.... but I'm talking about a highlighter.

Since when was this such a big question?  Getting through the materials means finding more efficient ways to read.  I started using a pen... underlining important things and writing notes in the margins and on separate paper.  Needless to say, it took much too long... 3 days to get through one chapter.  Not gonna work.

I'm taking my skills learned in Lean and efficiency and identifying where the waste is... then cutting it.  No more underlining with pen.  Use a highlighter.  Take fewer notes.  That may not be the best decision for the course that has exams... I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Sooo.... does everyone highlight about 90% of the content?  What is the sense of highlighting if you highlight nearly everything?  Seriously.  I do that.  Did I always do that?

I highlight EVERYTHING.  I'm trying to reduce it.  I'm down to highlighting the really essential pieces of information only... mostly so I can find something when I go looking to validate with APA.  And, really, I'm not doing too great at that.  Yesterday, I posted something on the discussion board and said I know I read it somewhere but I did not have time to look for it.  Yes, I did that.  I did not use APA format nor did I even say where I read this piece of information.  But I had something to say.  I wouldn't have done that in my 20-somethings.  Have I become efficient, more at ease, or arrogant? 

I digress... back to the highlighter... I've been re-reading paragraphs after a break from reading.  Maybe the highlighter is a good tool after all - at least I know where I left off.  And, if I'm arrogant, at least I'm becoming aware of it.  That's the first step towards change.

#the47yearoldstudent #thepossiblyarrogantstudent

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