Sunday, November 16, 2014
Concrete Sequential Thinkers tend to be based in reality. They process information in an ordered, sequential, linear way.
This is what I got for the personal thinking style quiz. Even though I took this quiz three weeks ago, it wasn't until this week I realized that is true - the most effective learning style for me is learning on my own at my own pace and then working with others. I always thought I was better learning on my own - after all I passed all my classes on my own because I ditched so much in college. So in college, I typically avoided voluntary group assignments and study groups. However, this week I learned so much talking to Amadou in one hour compared to the first half of the week. Man, that man is a great teacher. It also helped working with Andrew side-by-side (he's my neigbor and good friend irl) that I learned more as I explained things to him.
The one thing I really need is structure. Without structure, I feel lost and overwhelmed. When I solve problems, I tried to see if there is a pattern in structure. I think it's from taking so many calculus math classes (why the hell am I not better at this then?!).
Man, this week was tough. I couldn't believe how much I was struggling with what seemed like a relatively simple iteration (or is reclursion?! I don't know!) problem. My worries started snowballing until it became this emotional avalanche. I was so worried that if I couldn't even get the basics of Ruby, how the hell am I going to succeed in DBC, next week's Ruby challenges that build on this week's basics, as a developer?
Today I realized that it is okay, I am still learning everything. I also realized just because I am terrible with the control flow problems, it doesn't mean I don't understand other things in Ruby. I mean yeah it sucks that I don't know as much as other students and that I may be struggling more than most of them, but I am making progress, little by little. I am trying, which is way better than me not trying/caring during high school and college. I am utilizing Office Hours, soliciting help from other Squirrels, and using different resources like Treehouse video tutorials. I use up every free minute to study, including washing dishes while watching Treehouse videos. Also, it feels so good to successfully overcome a hurdle.
Let's see how Week 4 goes. I am worried, but I think at this point, I need to just get used to it, celebrate small victories, and SUCK IT UP!
