Throughout undergrad and graduate school I was always finding new ways to be resourceful, whether it was emailing a company with questions related to a topic of interest, finding websites, visiting the library, or requesting free pamphlets of information to be sent in the mail. There are many ways to find useful resources to answer questions or to just add to your resource box. I have a variety of resources that include the following:
~Websites that I have compiled in a file ~Email addresses of professionals in the field of speech language pathology that have answered questions ~Phone numbers of companies that have sent me free information pamphets in the past if I was doing research on a particular topic. ~Colleagues and professors that I keep in touch with via email And the list goes on...Some of the pamphlets, catalogs, powerpoint presentations, or resources that I have received from different companies include the following: ~http://www.fragilex.org/html/home.shtml ~http://www.oraldeafed.org/ ~http://www.tfeinc.com/ ~http://www.hatchearlychildhood.com/default.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1 ~http://www.superduperinc.com/ ~http://www.superduperinc.com/ ~http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ1Ai There are many other resources, but this is a few of the resources that I have used to access more information about a topic whether I was working on a project, paper, or any other educational assignment. Do not be afraid to ask professionals, send emails, or call companies to ask for information, the worse they can say is "no."
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Throughout undergraduate and graduate school, I would print out a calendar at the beginning of each week. A sample calendar that I used is shown below. I also included the Microsoft Word document for the calendar, feel free to download the file. I highly suggest writing everything down on a calendar or using some type of system to organize assignments, daily readings, projects and any other events. I used a color coded calendar because it helps me to differentiate between each task and it looks pretty :) Each week I would change the week number because it helped me to stay motivated and to visualize graduation. I brought my calendar to class each week to write daily/weekly assignments down. I need structure and it really helped me to have a calendar because it helped to me to stay organized, stay on task, and to keep track of all assignments. After I completed each task, I would check it off on my calendar, this allowed me to feel a sense of completion. Using a calendar worked for me, but there are many other systems to organize tasks that may be better for someone else. So find the best system that works for you! What system keeps you organized?
From the beginning of undergraduate school I kept all my papers, handouts, worksheets, etc. that professors provided for me in one big box. Before entering graduate school I organized all the loose papers into categories in a big box so that everything was easy to find. Even when I entered graduate school, I always made one extra copy of activities, handouts, and any resources that I used throughout therapy sessions and grad school classes. I highly recommend keeping everything in notebooks, filing cabinet, boxes, etc, whatever is easiest for you. Start to organize everything from the beginning or at least try, I know it sounds very tedious and I know you have a lot on your plate, but it is definitely worth it in the end. When you start working in your career it is nice to have easy access to all of that great information that you have accumulated over the years. Your professors will give you a lot of great information and you will accumulate a lot of papers over the years, keep it, and file it away in your own "resource box," so that you will always have it. Try not to reuse notebooks if you do not have to, that is half the battle, because it is easier if you just buy a new notebook for a new subject so that you can keep all your papers together. Also you can organize your documents by uploading them and storing them on an external hard drive. I provided the pictures above to give you an idea of what my resource box looks like on the outside and then what is on the inside. To the left you can see I put a label on the outside of the box with all the topics that can be found on the inside. To the right is the format that I used on each folder, all the folders are in order by the number.
Ask Questions, Ask Questions and Ask More Questions. I know it seems obvious, but it is so true, if you do not ask questions you will never know the answer. No question is a stupid question! I know sometimes I need information reiterated more than once, so I continue to ask questions until I understand. Do not be afraid to ask, just because one professor/supervisor may want something one way does not mean everyone does. It is better to ask in the beginning for clarification or even if you get stuck in the middle of something, do not wait and do not assume either! Assuming gets you in trouble and you can never have too many questions. "Sometimes questions are more important than answers" ~ Nancy Willard~ |
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