A Writer's Wanderings

    The end of the semester is approaching. Almost half a year of homework, papers and reading has been completed and now for the finishing achievement, finals. This final week is undoubtedly stressful. You’ve been working all semester, balancing school, work and family and now you can finally get a break. It’s easy to succumb to giving up early, but what were all those months of dedication for if you don’t buckle down for finals? It’s almost over! Here are some tips on how to survive and push through this last week. 1)    Stay Focused. I know it’s hard to resist throwing in the towel early, especially with so many exams and papers due all at once. But, you can stay focused by talking about everything you’ve been learning this whole semester. Talk about what you’ve read and been studying in everyday conversations with family and friends. This will help you stay interested and focused on the material, and it’s also a great way to better retain that informa...

Around this time of the semester, I tend to get a few students who are feeling defeated and need a boost. Sometimes I put on my motivational speaker hat and I try to help them gain the confidence to continue. But sometimes, motivation can’t come from an external source, it has to come from you. No one is naturally great at everything. It’s a matter of having the confidence to know that if you work at something and seek creative solutions, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Many times, I have seen a student say that they are just not good at something, and as a result they are more prone to dismiss the challenge at hand and give up. What’s the difference between failure and success? The power of the mind. Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck in her research paper, “Is math a gift? Beliefs that put females at risk,” found that women who believe mathematical ability can be developed, as opposed to seeing it as a natural gift, are more likely to have higher grades...