Success in Math and Success in Your College Studies

Hector R. Valenzuela

Description

With the challenges that every college student faces in getting their degree, there is an ever increasing need to help students pass their college-level math courses and provide each student with successful learning strategies to achieve their college degree. As you reflect on this critical topic whether you are a student, instructor, education Administrator, or parent, consider these questions: What are the most effective learning strategies to pass a college math course? What are the best learning strategies for achieving a college degree? As a student, what learning strategies position you for success in your college education? Dr. Valenzuela’s background in teaching and research at the college and university level form the basis for this critical topic. In this book, the reader will begin a journey with Dr. Valenzuela on discovering effective college learning strategies for all students. These strategies will assist them in passing their college math courses and help them succeed in their college classes. With the rising costs of a college education, this topic is of the utmost importance in our society.

Sujets

• Sciences et techniques
• Mathematics

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 24 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977253880
• Langue: English

Extrait

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Success in Math and Success in Your College Studies Learning Strategies for All Students All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2022 Hector R. Valenzuela, Ph.D. v3.0
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Outskirts Press, Inc. http://www.outskirtspress.com
ISBN: 978-1-9772-5388-0
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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Acknowledgements
This book is dedicated to my amazing and loving children Cooper, Ellie, and Sophie. They are an inspiration and foundation for my success, eternal joy, and infinite ∞ happiness. My hope is that Cooper, Ellie, and Sophie each live a life of purpose, that they find and know their individual talents, and that they use their distinct talents to serve others. By doing so, they will live fulfilling and purposeful lives, and they also will be very successful.
Dr. Hector Valenzuela, Ph.D.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. An Excellent Student
3. Overcoming Obstacles
4. Time Management
5. Learning is Not a Transaction
6. Setting Big Goals
7. Dealing with Catastrophic Events in Your Life
8. Ganas (pronounced Gaaa-Naas)
9. Remember Your Motivation
10. Pursue Graduate School
11. Math Shop Talk
12. Select a Mentor
13. Taking Care of You
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
The Importance of this Book
This book is a necessity in our current environment in which many students are struggling, not only in their college math classes, but in their college education. With my experience of 16 years of university and college mathematics teaching, I bring a unique perspective regarding what I’ve seen as the challenges for college students as they seek to pass the course requirements their degree. Moreover, many of those challenges are not unique to students in face-to-face classes, but they extend to college classes taken online. In fact, students taking college math courses online may feel even more isolated, yet there are opportunities here too that will help students succeed in their college math courses and college education. There is also another major component to the failing of college math courses. It is not only very disheartening for students to fail a college course, but also very expensive for students to have to retake the failed math course or failed college course. Failing college math courses and not being able to get a college degree has a huge financial impact. Many students are borrowing money to attend school, and therefore, that money needs to be repaid whether a student fails or succeeds in getting their college degree.
Development of Successful Strategies
The development of successful strategies in passing a college math class is critical for all students. However, as students develop their skills for passing their math classes, they are also developing effective skills for passing all their college classes. As I refer to the term "college" in this book, this reference is for both colleges and universities. Colleges are now offering bachelor’s degrees and, in some cases, master’s degrees, and so, when I mention the term college, I am also including all colleges and universities in my reference to math courses or courses in general. Typically, the math classes required for a bachelor’s degree at a college tend to be specific math courses such as College Algebra and another required course might be Introduction to Statistics. Therefore, when you hear the term college throughout the book, keep in mind that I am referring to both colleges and universities.
My Own Personal Stories
I will be sharing my own personal stories to help motivate and uplift students on their math journey to complete their college education goals. The sharing of my own personal stories will offer a foundation of a sense of purpose and goal-setting that I used in getting my degree. Some might see people successfully reach extremely high levels of college achievement and think that they could never reach that level perhaps because of their lack of money or family background or history. The reality is that students can reach almost any goal and achieve any degree if they have the right strategies and motivation. My goal in this book is to provide those strategies and motivational techniques so students can succeed in passing their college math courses and succeed in getting their degree.
One of the first things that many of my college math students tell me is that they are not good at math. Therefore, I wrote this book for all students, regardless of their skill level and regardless of their level of math knowledge.
The strategies that I will review will not only help them build successful techniques for their math classes, but will also help students in other college classes as well. Hence, the title of this book: "Success in Math and Success in Your College Studies."
My goal is to provide students a window into my own education and background, and how I have developed specific strategies and techniques for learning math and also successfully navigating the college experience in getting a college degree. For the most part, I’ve been in school most of my life, yet even with many obstacles in my life, I have been very successful in higher education. For instance, I was a first-generation college student. I paid for my own education by taking loans and working. I had a significant back injury at the age of 16, which left me with a lifetime of chronic pain. Even with these obstacles, I met all my higher education goals. I obtained my Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in mathematics. It took me four and a half years to get my bachelor’s degree. I then worked my way through graduate school to get my Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in mathematics at a major college in California. This degree took me two and a half years to complete. Later in life, I completed my Ph.D. in Math Education at a major college. My Ph.D. degree took six years to complete. Whether students feel it is fair or not, achieving big goals in life takes hard work and commitment.
Life After Graduate School
After my master’s degree, I began working for a major insurance company north of San Francisco. I immediately started studying and learning about the insurance business. I went on to complete an insurance designation called the Chartered Life Underwriter designation, which required the passing of 10 college level courses in the insurance industry. I also completed nine additional college level courses in a casualty and property program. Throughout my business career, I was not only working in the business field, I was also teaching business courses to employees within the insurance company where I worked. Teaching, learning, and understanding how students and adult learners think and learn has always been a major part of my life.
Moreover, my success in education took many years of college education/work from the start of my bachelor’s degree to the completion of my Ph.D. This proves that it does not matter where you come from or where your parents came from or what your present circumstances are in life.
What matters is that everyone has the potential and ability to reach more goals in life than they ever imagined. You just have to work toward those goals each and every day. This book will provide students those strategies to not only complete their college math courses, but also help them succeed in getting their college degree. Moreover, the strategies in this book can also help other students. The strategies listed throughout the book would certainly be appropriate for high school students.
Setting and Attaining Goals
As students go on this journey with me, they will be developing learning strategies to ultimately help them succeed in getting their college degree. In my own life, I knew that I wanted to go to graduate school after I completed my undergraduate degree. Since I already had my sights set on a Ph.D., I knew that I had to work hard and be focused on getting my bachelor’s and mas-ter’s degrees before moving on to the Ph.D.
After getting my bachelor’s in mathematics and master’s degree in mathematics, I worked in business for a Fortune 500 insurance company in the U.S. As I worked for this large insurance company, I decided that I wanted to get into upper management, which I did at a very young age. After working in business for almost 15 years (all for the same company), I moved toward another one of my life goals that of teaching college mathematics. This is what propelled me into starting and completing my Ph.D. degree.
As I focused on getting my Ph.D. in Math Education, I set my focus on this. It took six years of research and work, but I obtained my Ph.D. The pattern that you see in my life is that I always set high goals for myself. Then, I used every day, every minute, and every ounce of energy I had to achieve those goals. As I mentioned before, it took 13 years of college work and education to get to and complete all the degrees prior to and up to the completion of my Ph.D. The reality is that any students can achieve almost any goal they set for themselves. They only have to work on those goals each and every day consistently.
Getting Your College Degree
To achieve a college degree, students have to pass their required mathematics courses. This brings us back to the focus of this book, which is to help students succeed in their college