How can I handle school ?

How long do you have to go until you’re out of school?

I would view this as a challenge and try my best to learn from the guy (after all, in life you will meet people like this and not have a choice whether to listen or not, so you might as well get the practice now).

Sometimes when I find it hard to concentrate, I let my brain “cool down” and I doodle and draw random things on my notes, and after drawing for a bit I can pay attention to even the most boring of things.

I get out of school in June. My last class is June 22.

To me it seems forever away. In class all i do is “cool down”. Hahaha, you should see my notebook, you would think I’m taking art class instead of history. Maybe tryign to doodle a tad more might help?

Why not spend a bit of class each day writing a journal about how much you are excited about getting out of school?

Of course, you should make sure you are absorbing enough material to be able to pass the class – the worst thing would be if you failed and had to take it again!

You got to force yourself to listen and take notes. We ALL hated classes. Life’s a bitch. Wait until you work full time and see the assignments you get that you’ll hate even more but HAVE to do.

Oh my gosh, if i failed and had to take the class again I would honestly go INSANE ! no joke there.

Maybe writing in a journal will relieve stress for me and create a better mood for me to pay attention.

It’s also a once-a-day task, meaning you may start looking forward to writing in the journal, thus negating the negative feelings that arise from the boring teacher. :)

Are you talking High School?

Grow up and participate in school fully. The time will pass very quickly for you then.

Stop texting in class!!! Right now!!!

@basp: I do participate when we have hands on things or interaction. But when He is just sitting in front of the classroom talking for two hours, I lose interest very fast.

@lupin: I don’t text, haha. I actually leave my phone in my car half the time.

kayysamm, I know exactly how you feel!. I have a Macroeconomics professor who is so monotonous it’s not even funny! It sounds like he says the same thing day after day after day. What helps for me is to actually GO to class and take notes no matter how repetitive. Also, I doodle the number of class meetings left on each sheet of notes, it helps a little.

THANK you @lisaj89: It just seems liek every word he says is the same word and I’m writing down the same lesson everyday. It’s almost to the point of being annoying to me at times.

@kayysamm Studying before class can be helpful. Check out the syllabus to see what he’s going to be going over that day and spend an hour or so reading over it beforehand. Try to absorb the material before class; think of questions to ask during class. This will serve a couple of purposes: first, being involved will make the time pass quicker. Second, it will show the teacher that you’re interested in the material, and he might be more likely to be more lenient when grading time comes.

And, if one of your questions sparks a class discussion, or causes him to go off on a tangent on something else, that works too. Also, since you are already more comfortable with the material, you can zone out while he’s talking and still know what you need to know.

@poser: wow, thank you. That is really helpful and I think I’m goign to go try to read some of it now. Ugh kill me.

@kayysamm Good luck. Just remember. Only two more months.

Two more months ! seems like four thousand years.

I used to have the same problem in history. What I started to do was draw a comic based on what I was being taught. I would exaggerate things and make up ridiculous dialogue to make it interesting and funny (to me), but I would keep the facts straight. It was fun and I ended up learning the material more effectively than with any other method I’d used previously. I love history now. Lecture notes became new material for my comic. Maybe you can do something similar? If you can’t draw maybe just a story if you like writing. Turn it into something you like doing.

idk, as long as you are doing well in the class, do what you have todo to remain sane. A lot of my notebooks from high school look more like sketch books. History was boring, English Lit was worse, I would draw my own stickgirl episodes.

kayyeamm
If your tacher lectures for two hours then you need to learn how to actively listen.
Participating fully doesn’t just mean when there is a hands on project. One can, and should, fully participate even in a lecture setting.

You need to figure out how to cope with this now if you are in high school, because college will be a whole bunch more of the same.

If need be, can you sneak a recorder in so you can go back to the bits you missed while “cooling your brain”? Then, take notes only when you can, doodle or journal when you can’t. Pre-reading the book can help you figure out if he is giving additional information that you have to hear or if you can simply let your mind freewheel in class because he is simply repeating the book.

As @basp says, active listening is a very important skill to develop. Can you try to listen with a critical ear so you can ask a real question periodically? Again, having read the material before class may help you see conflicts that are worth questioning.

In any case, it is only two more months, so hunker down and Nike (“Just do it”).

First of all, @kayysamm, you’re not alone in your problem. Teaching research tells us that lectures are the least effective way of transferring information. The things you like; the things that get you involved—that’s the best way to teach.

There’s more good news. A recent study that I heard about in the radio—or maybe in the newspaper, found that doodling enhances attention. It is not, as people normally believe, a sign of lack of attention. So doodle away. You’re learning more than you think you are. I believe doodlers retain more than people who are actively listening and taking notes.

Thank you so much. I think the whole doodling things worked a tad today. It got my mind to relax but yet still focus on the conversation the teacher was trying to have with he class.

The comic book idea sunds like a good way actually to learn things I may try it out tomorrow :D