“ACTION EXPRESSES PRIORITIES” –Mohandas Gandhi

This past week had to be by far the most hectic week this semester. I needed some kind of order to help me with planning out all of the things that had to get done this week. I had quizzes, homework assignments, projects, and tests to do this week. Dr. Blumins’ problem solving strategies came to the rescue and helped me execute a plan!!! The two strategies that provided frameworks for systematically solving problems were Ranking Priorities and One Step at a Time.

When using the Ranking Priorities Strategy, I was able to categorize various tasks and responsibilities that I had due throughout this past week of 9/26-10/2. The way that I identified the importance of each task was by ranking each of them by their due dates and by the level of difficulty each task entailed. I grouped the items by letter and ranked them numerically within each group. For instance, A=absolutely essential, B=important, C=optional. My tasks that I had this week were to complete my CLS faculty interview project due 9/30, math Web Assign, study for HTW 307 exam on 9/29.

My absolutely essential priorities were to study for my exams. My important priorities were my assignments that were due earlier throughout the week. None of my assignments were completely optional except for one, which was the faculty assignment, which I had the option of handing it in early on Friday 9/30 as opposed to handing it on the original due date of 10/3. I did the most important task first, which was to study for my exams. I completed my other tasks by pretending I only had half of the time to accomplish them. Due dates were a major factor for determining my priorities. This strategy definitely helped me survive this past week. I am a combination of a visual and kinesthetic learner. Therefore, writing out what I had to do and visualizing when my tasks needed to be done really useful in getting my tasks done.

The next strategy got me to focus on the consequences of problems and to attack them in one action, one step at a time. I identified two problems and I mentioned two significant consequences that I would experience as a result of the problem. I then thought out possible actions that I could take to minimize the problem. After that, I decided on one of the actions that I would actually do.

My first problem was to study for my CHE 106 exam. Two possible consequences for this problem could be:

1. Doing well on the exam

2. Not passing the exam.

Some actions that I decided to take to minimize the problem were:

1. Go to tutoring

2. Form a study group

3. Study Alone

As my final action I chose to study alone everyday my rereading lecture slides and my textbook, practicing problems in past homework assignments at the end of each chapter in the textbook.

My second problem was completing MAT 194 web assign homework assignments. Two consequences of this problem would be:

1. Not getting a good homework grade

2. Getting full credit for my homework

Possible actions that I listed to eliminate this problem were:

1. Meet with a tutor and go over math problems

2. Meet with my assigned homework group

3. Do it alone

Math is a course that I find to be pretty difficult. As a result, I decided to implement the action of meeting with my tutor to solve the problem of completing my math homework.

I believe that this was a very helpful strategy, mainly because it pinpointed the consequences of each problem. As a college student, one wants to do everything at once, but in reality there is no time. With the use of this strategy, I implemented an action and stuck to it by taking one step at a time.