Thread: motivation
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Old Jan 28, 2016, 10:25 AM
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DesigningWoman DesigningWoman is offline
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Member Since: Dec 2015
Location: USA
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It can very helpful to have mentors and teachers who pay more interest in you and that you have great conversations with. I really enjoyed discussing teaching with a prof last semester. I started going early and staying late because I respected her opinions.
However i do have one caution. As a child of two higher Ed profs, I can say this: be careful about getting your feelings hurt. Some instructors at every level are more responsive than others with students. You may run up against a prof who seems to want to have nothing to do with you. Don't take it personally. You are most likely running up against their personal boundaries. It may be they think it is unethical to socialize or maybe are concerned other students might think you are getting special favors. Some are simply extremely busy and don't have time to get to know students. This happens most in undergraduate college classes. In intro classes, they might have literally hundreds of students. Taking time to get to know any particular one just doesn't make sense.
I have had some wonderful relationships with teachers and yes I have gotten energized about their subject and class. I have gotten completely brushed off too.
I would advise to remember all teachers are 100% human. Some are jerks. Some are caring individuals. Many are just going each day to their job. It trick with education is to figure out how to motivate yourself through all their classes.
My sister who 2 and 1/2 years ago completed a PhD at a top research university in a very difficult field with very few women in it. She got to the point where she visualized her goal as in a video game. She took it one obstacle and one reward at a time, never forgetting the end game. The day she walked and was hooded at graduation she sent out a message that she had finally after 30 something years of education defeated the final boss level.
Thanks for this!
winter4me