{"id":14609,"date":"2017-10-18T16:04:09","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T23:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14609"},"modified":"2017-10-18T16:04:09","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T23:04:09","slug":"doc-it-hurts-when-i-do-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/doc-it-hurts-when-i-do-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Doc, it hurts when I do this…"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Do you remember the old joke that goes…”Doc, it hurts when I do this.” So then the doctor says, “Then don’t do that.” I keep getting that frustrated feeling with some of these books, wondering how books on how to read a book, how to talk about a book, and now, how to study could be at all pertinent at the level of education we are at. I don’t know if it is the denial that I may still have some things to learn on those levels, or just the resistance to learning more of those things that I need to do, when I am so used to doing things the way that I do them already. I’d say that I am not stubborn, but let’s be honest, you have all met me already, and thus, know better. With that all said though, I was pleasantly surprised with Derek Rountree’s message…maybe I’m not a complete lost cause.)<\/p>\n

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Education is more than just learning; it is a growth practice. With each grade one climbs, skills, both social and educational are progressed to hopefully match that student\u2019s progress in life. However with such a rite of passage, difficulties are bound to arise. In Derek Rountree\u2019s book, \u201cLearn how to Study: Developing the study skills and approaches to learning that will help you succeed in University,\u201d he addresses these difficulties, as well as helps to define the very nature and purpose of studying itself. This work is clearly intended for readers who are either beginning their work in a university, or even possibly already enrolled in upper level education; however, it is written in a manner that is so easy to understand and relate to that it is my belief that students on the High School level could comprehend it, and students in graduate or doctoral work could still grow from it.<\/p>\n

Roundtree is masterful at his ability to identify obstacles to learning, as well as obstacles to the desire to learn. \u00a0Chapters are filled with challenging questions, tools for learning, and even potential group building exercises to perform with your peers. Though skeptical at first by the title of this work, instead I kept finding myself nodding my head in agreement as my own traits, struggles, and even desires for my own doctoral work were spelled out in great detail before me. At one point, Roundtree wrote, \u201cstudents who get too attached to a favorite type of learning activity or situation will sometimes miss out on valuable learning if they don\u2019t try a bit harder with others they are less keen on.\u201d[1]<\/a> It was this observation that was so easy to connect with; there have been times when I knew all I was doing was \u201cbuying time\u201d with a class until I could ultimately get the real goal\u2026a diploma or a degree. When I started my master\u2019s degree, I knew I wanted more than that; I wanted to grow through the experience. Now as I work on my doctorate, the journey is even more important to me; after all, I am investing three years of my life and a whole lot of money into the path I have chosen. Roundtree made me start taking a closer look at the methods by which I was going to obtain that goal.<\/p>\n

One impacting statement made was that \u201chigher education is not about remembering but about understanding.\u201d[2]<\/a> When I did my undergraduate work, many moons ago, I would brag about being the \u201ccramming king\u201d. I could stay up all night long shoving as much information in my head as I could so that by 8:00 a.m., I could walk into class, fly through a test with great ease, and then usually get a pretty good grade as a result (Greek class is not included in this analogy). My retention however, absolutely stunk. Within two days usually, most of the information was lost or at least recessed somewhere too deep in my brain for benefit. Roundtree challenges the student to determine what they are truly trying to achieve with their education. Though there were points in which this book truly seemed \u201celementary\u201d to me, there were also times that I decided that maybe some of my thinking in regard to scholarship was elementary. I needed to recognize that I was doing doctoral work, and perhaps the old methods were not supposed to be used anymore; higher education would require higher devotion to learning and methodology.<\/p>\n

Another point that Roundtree made was that \u201cnot all ideas are going to be at odds with your existing ones, of course. Some you will be expected to use alongside some existing ones, though they may throw some fresh light on them and make you rethink them.\u201d[3]<\/a> I had the chance to do my course review with Jason this week, and to be honest, I have never minded a fair evaluation from my instructors or even church elders. However, I must also admit that sometimes (maybe more times than l care to admit) I am resistant to the suggestions or feedback that I have been given. This was NOT the case with Jason, because I heard his words ringing out exactly what I found Rountree saying to me; \u201cShawn, you need to rethink your approach to your work.\u201d It was seeing the way I express myself in the same manner that I expressed myself in my early college work that made me realize that though I was growing, maybe my work still had a little way to go, if I was going to reach the goals I have set for myself in this endeavor.<\/p>\n

I found a website online that was perhaps a more elementary view to the one projected by Rountree, but at the same time, set on the very similar principles. The website, https:\/\/www.how-to-study.com\/<\/a>[4]<\/a>, seemed to also work to show students the importance of learning not just study habits and methods to achieve them. However, the difference I found between the website and what Rountree was attempting was that Rountree made the pursuit of knowledge and education a personal accountability to the student. The desires, the methodologies, the very intent that one comes to their own education pursuits with are the very things that will determine what they gain in the process. Though the language was simple, the concepts very specific, and the learning exercises almost impractical at this level of the game, I still found myself soul-searching much more than I expected throughout this reading. I believe at this level, we have all invested so much to get to this point; we are almost terrified we are going to waste it or screw it up.<\/p>\n

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Bibliography<\/h1>\n

Roundtree, D. (6th Edition 2016). Learn How to Study: Developing the Study Skills and Approaches to Learning that will Help You Succeed in University.<\/em> Derek Rountree.<\/p>\n

Strickart, D. C. (2017). How-to-Study<\/em>. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from https:\/\/www.how-to-study.com\/<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a>Roundtree, D. (6th Edition 2016). Learn How to Study: Developing the Study Skills and Approaches to Learning that will Help You Succeed in University.<\/em> Derek Rountree.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, Kindle, p 287.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, Kindle, p. 674.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u00a0Strickart, D. C. (2017). How-to-Study<\/em>. Retrieved October 17, 2017, from https:\/\/www.how-to-study.com\/<\/p>\n

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(Do you remember the old joke that goes…”Doc, it hurts when I do this.” So then the doctor says, “Then don’t do that.” I keep getting that frustrated feeling with some of these books, wondering how books on how to read a book, how to talk about a book, and now, how to study could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1051,1031,1052],"class_list":["post-14609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-derek-rountree","tag-dminglp8","tag-learn-to-study","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14610,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14609\/revisions\/14610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}