This is an older article, but reinforces the fact that Fresno ranks high on poverty compared to other places in the US. When I read articles like this I am forced to question myself: Sometimes it doesn’t seem that bad to me, is it because I am hiding away from it? What am I doing, as a resident of one of the poorest cities in America to help the poor? What are my feelings toward the poor? Do I see myself in them, or simply look down on them as suffering for their own bad decisions?
Dealing With The Accuser
“Satan accuses Christians day and night. It is not just that he will work on our conscience to make us feel as dirty, guilty, defeated, destroyed, weak, and ugly as he possibly can; it is something worse: his entire play in the past is to accuse us before God day and night, bringing charges against us that we know we can never answer before the majesty of God’s holiness.
What can we say in response? Will our defense be, ‘Oh, I’m not that bad?’ You will never beat Satan that way. Never. What you must say is, ‘Satan, I’m even worse than you think, but God loves me anyway. He has accepted me because of the blood of the Lamb.”
—D.A. Carson, Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 98-99
The Financial Collapse and Porn
The article linked below provides a slightly different piece of the puzzle as we unravel what brought us to our current financial crisis. It seems that while crooks on Wallstreet were lying and stealing, all of the folks who were supposed to be enforcing the laws we already had were looking the other way. And they were looking the other way a whole lot….
How to Succeed in Anatomy and Phsiology at AVC
I am just reposting this entry from a couple of years ago to be useful to the masses once again…
How to Succeed in Anatomy and Physiology at AVC
Well, who am I to write about this? I have been in these classes and have done pretty well. Some students have asked me for advise, and so I will offer some suggestions of what has worked for me (and what I have seen work for others).
1) Try to take the introductory human biology class (Bio 100) with Dr. Ezzedine if you can. This is an acceptable prerequisite in lieu of general biology, though it might affect you qualifying for Microbiology in the future. Check with a counselor. Anyway, it covers much of the same info that is presented in the Bio 201 and 202 classes. It is more of an overview of the 2 semesters of A & P. I did this and felt like large portions of the Anatomy and Physiology classes were repeating this information. This will give you more time to process the info, and more times going over it. The benefit, you will probably do better in the class, and you will probably remember more of the core material in the long run.
2) Go to the learning center and have your learning style assessed. Work smarter not harder. If you are an auditory learner you are going make more progress in listening to lectures, and pod casts than in reading or other methods. We should all try to immerse ourselves in many different approaches so that we remember more of the material, but you may be able to save yourself a lot of heartache by focusing on your strengths. In my case, I am a listener, and in some portions of the curriculum I listened to the lectures on my iPod 2 or 3 times and that is all I needed to get it.
3) These are serious college classes, none of the sissy general ed. stuff. Plan accordingly. Often instructors say you should spend 2-3 hours outside of class for every hour in class, but in my experience that is more than you need. Not for these classes. Expect to put in your time; there is no way around it. That might mean that you have to only take 1 or 2 classes so that you can focus. If you have expectations that while taking anatomy you will also have plenty of time for TV watching and hobbies, you will end up feeling like you have been wronged. Just set your mind that learning human anatomy and physiology is one of the main purposes of your life for a couple semesters. It is called sacrifice. That is why the people who persevere and succeed make more money than the rest of us. If you expect to work hard and study you won’t be shocked or disappointed.
4) Remember why you are taking the class, especially when the going gets tough. If you keep your goals in mind (nursing school or whatever) that will keep things in focus when your inner slob is screaming, “why do I need to know this!” Remind your spouse of this often as well.
5) Take it from me, if you are going into the practice of medicine, you will need to understand this stuff. When you are training, your preceptors won’t talk in laymen’s terms. When you are going through CE’s (continuing education) in the future, your teachers will be speaking this lingo. When new drugs or procedures come out, they will be referring to the stuff you learned here. And when you are faced with a sick patient who doesn’t fit nicely into a recipe in some protocol, you will need to think your way through the problem, and all that you have learned will come back to you. I worked as a paramedic for many years and found this to be a lifesaver.
6) Go to the SI (Supplemental Instruction) sessions. They have these for classes with high failure and withdrawal rates for a reason. It is like having a study partner, but more structured. The SI leader communicates with your instructor. It is a great way to help. Students who use SI traditionally score 1 letter grade higher than those who do not.
7) DO NOT MISS ANY CLASSES. Sounds like common sense. But even if you attend all of the classes you will often still feel like you are behind. If you miss a class, you may feel like the task is impossible. Also show up early so that you don’t have added stress. Parking is usually a nightmare for the first 6 weeks.
8) EXPECT TO BE OVERWHELMED EVERYDAY. This has been my repeated experience. Most of us feel like quitting when we are overwhelmed, or at least avoiding the work that is before us. But I recommend that you tell yourself that every new class will give you information that you don’t understand, and that this will seem like an academic Everest. Be assured that this feeling of being “lost” will slowly erode as you go over the material again and again. I have been surprised by how many times this has happened to me. It helps me to tell myself that this feeling is normal, and that it will go away. Just think of when you learned to drive. Everything made you nervous: driving at night, checking your blind spot, getting lost, etc. But now you can do it with a Big Mac in one hand and the radio on. Why the change? Because you have done it many times.
9) See the instructors during office hours if you have questions or need help. They all say this every semester, yet very few students go in for help. But think about it, your instructors are really the best ones to help you through some confusing point. They are the experts; they are going to write the exams! Also, they will often see your effort and be willing to do more to help you if they see you are willing to stretch and sacrifice.
10) Do whatever extra credit is offered. It will help you learn and might push you over the edge on a borderline grade. Better to have more points than you need. If can do it, I recommend taking the time to do a Cadaver project. You can get lots of extra credit from this, and learn a lot about anatomy and yourself. If you do it you will know what I mean, MWAHAAHAA HAA! Also it is likely that several questions on the lab practical test will come from your work! Easy points! Also the teachers are eager to help you with this stuff.
11) Buy and listen to the lectures a second time. When I took the class I listened to Professor Langjahr’s lectures, even though I was not taking his class. I did it, and helped me immensely to hear the same material covered by 2 different teachers. Professor Langjahr is probably the best teacher I have ever had. He is tough, but if you want to learn you will enjoy the work. In any case you can buy the CD’s in the IMC, or get them off of the pod cast site. Just ask him.
12) Spend some time focusing on effective methods for memory. Things like acrostics, mneumonics, flash cards, etc. may seem like voodoo or tricks, but applied properly these memory aids can not only help you remember the material, but do it with much less work!
Why we think we can’t sing
Here is an interesting article on singing. If our insecurities are fed by a society inundated with artificial images of “perfection,” is it possible that the average person also feels inadequate when it comes to singing for similar reasons? God wants us to sing well, but deeper than that he wants our hearts.
Paramedic Lessons on Motivation in Learning
This is a photo taken by a friend of mine of a pile up on the Cajon Pass that happened when I was working in Victorville. If you have ever wondered why you should pay attention in class this picture is worth a thousand words.
After several years as a paramedic I decided to get involved with training. Many of the classes I took to become an EMS instructor spent a lot of time on theories of “adult learning.” Adults learn different than children. One important emphasis is on motivation. If adult students don’t see any value in learning the material you are presenting, then most of them will drift off. I had this theory drummed into my head, and tasted it in the many classes I taught.
I personally had sat through so many lectures and CE classes (continuing education) that were a form of legalized torture. The teacher was boring and ineffective. The students were rowdy and everyone wished they could go home. Often it was worse than a just a waste of time because there were few precious hours available to “raise the bar” of health care provided by EMT’s and Paramedics. I hated sitting through classes like this, and probably muttered a vow to myself that I would never teach a class like that. My classes would be worthwhile….My students would learn…My students would even enjoy it! Easy to say, hard to do.
I have always had good grades, from the elementary years, through high school, and into college. But much of the time I still felt like I was faking it, not really learning. It was not until I went to paramedic school at Mt. Sac in 1995 that I feel like I really “learned how to learn.” For the first time in my life I felt like I had to remember something that was for more than just an exam. Our instructors intentionally rattled our cages with a healthy amount of stress. Stand and Deliver. I felt like I needed to know this stuff or people might die. And that was true. So I studied and buried myself in the material. My Goal: mastery. Well of course you can’t master anything until you have gone out and done it for a while. But my hard work in school did pay off, and many years later I was still reaping the benefits of the knowledge I had gained. Some of it was above and beyond. But there were many times when I was able to pick up on some piece of information in an assessment, from a patient’s history or medication list that might have gotten missed. And it was because I had worked hard in the class room. And after School I was committed to keep on learning. And when I became an instructor I was determined that I would keep my students interested.
I mention this because I have often heard people belly-ache in various classes about what they have to learn. Even if they pass, they leave ignorant because they are not convinced that it matters. Who needs to know that stuff. It is stupid. I don’t want to deal with all of these details, I want the glory! Yeah, uhuh. And who wants you to come to their rescue, Mr. I just barely passed by the skin of my teeth.
I read some of the Horatio Hornblower books several years ago and a statement in one of the books has stuck in my mind. One of the sailors said, “for every 2 minutes of excitement in battle, there are 2 weeks (or was it months?) of monotony at sea.” This is definitely true of medicine, and EMS in particular. Much of it is routine, even boring. But it is in those in-between hours of average work, of routine, of study, and diligence in mundane things that no one notices; this is what really defines who you are as a person, and a professional. It will define your reputation, and establish the habits (or ruts) that will bleed over (pardon the pun) when the heat of battle rages on. You may only get one shot to make it big.
Sadly, I have had many instructors who do not make the subject matter exciting. They have lost connection with the idea of motivation and purpose. Want to be successful? Convince yourself that you NEED TO LEARN when you are taking classes. Ineffective teacher? In my opinion, it is during these times that we have to motivate ourselves with a sense of the significance of study, and remind ourselves why we are learning. Furthermore, being able to learn from a bad teacher might be the most valuable thing you gain. If you can learn from a clod, you can teach yourself. Stay motivated, even if you have to tell yourself a lie like, “I really need to know this for the future! Maybe there will be a job interview question about this someday.” Truth is, it probably isn’t a lie. I have heard of stories about that, “oh I see on your resume, that you have taken a class in XXXX, tell us about YYYY…”
Stay motivated. This is one of the keys for learning for adults ( and I think kids too).
Freso has the worst pollution
Fresno has been said to the be “the first of the worst” in many things. I don’t believe all of the claims, but the bad press seems to come in droves for us. Lots of health problems, and this is probably one of the reasons why healthcare is so expensive here too.
For anyone who thinks Rape is a Crime simply of lust….
N.C. Man Allegedly Rapes Woman and Carves “Mine” into her Stomach
What is involved with rape? is it simply a matter of sexual lust? or is there more. This disturbing story is an example of the deep darkness of sexual sin.
Why So Tired?
Interesting to see how tired we are in America. We have more time saving devices and prosperity than ever, and we still can’t sleep. What is perhaps most interesting are the causes of this problem, and its effects. It is not good for your marriage either. Too tired for sex? That is really tired.
Do animals have rights or do we confer them?
The Swiss have decided not to give animals lawyers. This raises an interesting question. All moral questions are either raised by humans or about humans. This is profound, especially in light of the fact that the natural world is rather brutal, and that is the way of things. The weak are eaten by the strong. One organism survives at the expense of another. That is true of all organisms to some degree. Yet we all make exceptions for people. Why? I believe it is part of the inescapable reality of the image of God. The difference between people and animals is more profound that our location on the food chain. Humans have distinct value because they are like God.
MattTroupe.net 