Learning How to Learn

In class we have been talking a lot about learning how we learn. I am in the stage in my life where I am trying to figure out who I am, and who I want to be. Even just coming to University has been a big step in discovering more about myself. I took an extra year, a "victory lap" so to speak, in high school so I could figure out what the heck to do with myself. Although the extra year was one of the best things I could have done for myself, it was also frustrating. I had no idea what I wanted to do, all I knew was that I had to further my education. My sister was the only one in my family to go to college, and she had always put such emphasis on how important going to school and getting a good job was. Then all my friends had up and left for University, setting the bar for me yet again. At this point in my life however, I had no idea what I wanted to do or where I pictured myself in ten years. I was never one to get good marks in high school, I've always been just average, which was alright with me, but all my friends were some sort of prodigies, getting 80's and 90's, participating in all sorts of extra curricular, getting scholarships and awards coming out their ying yangs... I kinda felt like I was left in their dust.... waa waaaa, poor Caitlin :P Then I was hit with a stroke of luck.I always knew I wanted to do something with English, or writing, but I could never put my finger on it. I was reading Marilyn Mansons' autobiography actually, and he says something about his publicist... BAM. I would make a perfect publicist. I'm obsessively organized, I love working with people, I want to organize and plan events and promote organizations and people, why not? thats it from there I started researching public relations and I spoke to my guidance councilors, who helped me create an awesome portfolio and I got accepted into every university I applied to, Don't ask me how. My highest mark in all of high school was maybe an 85 and my over all average barely touched 75%. None the less, Guelph-Humber was my first choice and here I am. Last year alone really helped me gain confidence, and helped me realize that I can get a lot done in a very short amount of time.
Now in my first year of university I am beginning to learn more about what is important to me, where I need to improve and where my strengths lie. I am getting better marks now then I ever got throughout my entire high school, or elementary career. I know thats because I am doing what I want to do. I know I am not the type of person who can sit down and memorize names and dates, I can't figure out atoms and electrons or any of that. I can figure out basic math, and I can read a story and tell you how it made me feel, or what it meant to me, or why the author used certain words. I'm not good at regurgitate information, which is to say I can't memorize, which is probably why I wasn't the strongest of students. But I passed because I can gather information, and I comprehend what I'm reading, and take time to figure out what it means to me. Some people just read information and then spit it right back out without forming an opinion. These are also the people who can't have a conversation, but ironically they also tend to be the students to do amazingly well in school. Many mistake memorization for intelligence simply because that is how we are tested in school. But I am finding that University is a whole different game. The media studies program in particular seems to be based on how one collects and present information, and for the first time ever we are allowed to say "I" in an essay. Finally essays and assignments are weighed heavier then tests and exams. This is so exciting for me because this is how I want to learn. I want to be graded on how well I can express an opinion or idea, oppose to how well I can memorize some one else's work. At the same time, this system is so new and so much more work the I'm used to. I'll hand in an assignment and think I did really well, only to get it back and find that I failed, or visa versa. In either case, I find that I'm learning what I want to learn and now I have to learn to absorb everything and use it to create something uniquely my own. These blogs for instance, I am not a horribly creative person, I can't do all the cool things I've seen some other people with their blogs, but once I get writing I can't seem to stop. However, I have also learned the more I write, and the more I read the better I'll become. Pretty soon I'll be able to cut this blog in half, and still say everything I have just said, and it will probably read that much more fluently.