8 people, and I think it almost at that capacity."(Self-study journal, Day 1)The instructor begins class by introducing herself and by going over the syllabus. Her voice shocked me because she had the same Eastern European accent like my other instructor. I was like I was operant conditioned to dislike or fear chemistry instructors with that type of accent. The instructor stand infront of the lecture hall and taps her microphone to cue us that she is ready and that we should stop talking and focus our attention on her. Cueing provides a stimulus that "sets up" a desired behavior(Woolfolk, p. 214). Our instructor began class by introducing herself and going over the syllabus. Our schedule of exams where on a fixed schedule, all the dates for the exams where pre-set. The quizzes where variable and unannounced. The instructor explained that this is so that students will keep up on their work instead of planning just to work before a quiz or test. The instructor stressed that we must put a lot of time in this class, approximately ten hours a week. Ten hours seems like a lot, but I am sure she knows how much it takes to get a good grade in this class. I want to do well in this class so I thought of goals and way I am going to achieve those goals. My ultimate goal is to get a good grade 3.0 or better. Now to achieve that goal ultimate I must go to class, read my book, do my homework, find a study partner, and study. Going to class wasn't going to be hard because it was at 10:20 a.m. and I usually can get to class by that time. Reading my book was going to be a little harder. Reading a chemistry book isn't like ready a nice thick novel where you can read the words and keep going on. When I read a chemistry book I read the section, do the problems, re-read the section and then a quiz at the end to the section to see if I could remember it a do it. Doing my homework went along with reading the book. Using guidance from the book...
