Strategies for My Success in College
My name is Audrey and I am a freshman at San Francisco State University. This is my first semester here and I feel a lot of pressure to succeed in my higher education. When I arrived here, I was shown a whole new world of learning strategies that would ensure my development.
I will need the proven strategies of exercising grit, deliberate practice, and the revision strategies of experienced writers to be successful at SFSU.
As I enter college, it is crucial that I exercise grit in my courses. I recall my experience using grit in my acting performances to remind myself of my strength and capability in the face of challenges. Angela Lee Duckworth describes grit as perseverance in one’s present which sets one up for long term success. Duckworth speaks of how the high school kids whom she studied that showed more grit were more likely to graduate. To build grit, you must adopt a willingness to persevere through difficulties in order to grow. I showed grit when I got laryngitis which caused me to lose my voice days before my performance as Nora from “A Doll’s House”. I had been preparing for weeks with in depth analysis of the character through creating her personal journal and rehearsing with my colleagues, so naturally I was disappointed. My acting teacher, Mrs. Duerr, directed me to proceed to act physically, packing my suitcase and preparing for the break up of a lifetime with my character’s spouse which aids in Nora’s search for agency, while a fellow actor would read the monologue onstage with me. Although, I felt a sense of defeat that I couldn’t express my performance through words, I am grateful that I gained an acting experience where I was challenged to portray my emotion through action and physicality. This semester I will certainly need grit in my critical thinking class. I have difficulty internalizing the material on argument forming. I will need to push myself to take the time to understand and get the help I need rather than viewing my confusion and struggle as failure. I must actively participate in class, and make use of my teacher’s office hours in order to secure an understanding of the material. I will begin to view my failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, so that I set myself up for many opportunities for success.
In the past, I have used deliberate practice to gain new skills and improve at the things I am passionate about. K. Anders Ericsson, a psychologist known as the expert of expertise, explains how intended rehearsal of tasks that you struggle with is the only formula for mastery in one’s field. One must be persistent in this rehearsal if one is to gain the level of skill they are after. I used deliberate practice when learning to play chess. My brother Jack acted as my mentor, teaching me rules and strategies. The first game I played, Jack won with a move called a “scholars mate” which swiftly ends the game in four moves. We replayed the game so I could observe the moves that led to his win. We then discussed the alternative moves I could’ve made instead of the one that led to check mate. In chess, you must visualize every move before you make it to ensure success. I am not very experienced, but I continue to learn from my mistakes and do better. This semester I will need to use deliberate practice in acting class. I will have to push myself to face my anxiety around performing. Due to Covid, I was unable to perform in front of a live audience in over a year, so this will be a long overdue return, yet a source of major anxiety given that I haven’t been able to face this anxiety consistently. I will be sure to deliberately practice techniques of emotional substitution to connect to the material in order to grow my skill for the art that I am passionate about.
Revision strategies of experienced writers allow me insight into more effective writing habits that I can use. Nancy Sommers studies college writers’ development and wrote a work comparing and contrasting experienced writers from student writers. Before reading this study, I wrote one paper on the book Native Son in Ms. Hennesee’s English class junior year. The prompt of the paper was to analyze the recurring themes in the text and analyze the symbolism of the main character. Although I had read the book, I was unable to assemble my thoughts in a cohesive manor because of my linear writing process. When I was given back my first draft, I would only revise my vocabulary, doing the least possible reviewing for my second draft knowing that I had already solidified a structure in my paper. My paper was less than ideal because my concepts weren’t in order or clear, and I payed no mind to making a change to the body of the paper. This strategy led to some very confusing essays. A more successful strategy I could’ve used would be revising my paper in cycles. This is the strategy of giving attention to each part of my essay at different times. This way I can revise without getting overwhelmed by having to face the whole paper at once. I would be able to give different levels of attention to each paragraph, concept, and sentence even. If I had given myself the time to use this strategy, I could’ve had more cohesive papers to turn in. This semester, I will need experienced writers’ strategies in my English class of course. Over the course of this semester, we will be given multiple writing prompts in which I intend on giving myself enough time to revise my paper in cycles so that I can pay attention to each sentence, paragraph, and transition. I set the goal for myself to ingrain these strategies into my writing process so that I may become an experienced writer myself.
I will be sure to use these strategies this year and beyond at San Francisco State University to be sure I get the most out of my education. I feel more prepared for college having learned these strategies within my first few weeks at San Francisco State University. I can call upon proven techniques to be successful in each of my classes for years to come!
