Reflections project

Editor's Notes

• #2: Slide 1: Introduction Slide; my reflection project is going to be about a final exam grade that I had taken in my financial accounting class that caused my grade to drop down to a D+, resulting in having to retake the class the nest semester all because of procrastination and being over worked.
• #3: Slide 2: Location & Time: It was Thursday, May 5th of 2011 at 5:45 pm. I had just arrived to my Financial accounting class to take our final exam for the semester. I had about 15 minutes before the exam to start to open up my book to do a quick review, I thought I had this exam well figured out without the need of studying and all I needed was that 15 minutes to review the material. I had been working over time the past two weeks and I also had been through 4 other exams and I was just tired and strained out overall.
• #4: Slide 3: Now it has become 6:00pm. Our professor leaves no time unused and tells everyone to clear their desks to start the final exam. She starts passing out the exam and tells us to start as soon as we get the booklet. I turn the booklet around to start to my surprise it was not only for the last few chapters that we went over but a cumulative exam. “ohhhh Boy!” I started going through the booklet and half of the stuff I don’t even remember, all the formulas and the tables I just started to panic I knew I wasn’t going to pass this exam. And just gave up before I even started I tried to do all I knew and just guessed through the rest, I was way too tired to even try.
• #5: Slide 4: As I finished the final exam I packed all of my stuff and handed the booklet to the professor who as he was taking it from me told me good luck. In my head I said yea right I’m going to need all the luck I can get and walked away. I walked away very disappointed in knowing I did such a horrible job in taking this exam and regretting not taking the time to at least study the material and if I had checked blackboard more often I would of realized that it was a cumulative exam and took the time to study.
• #6: Slide 5: Now it is May 9th of 2011 and I had just received and email from my professor stating that all final grades are now up. I knew I had done badly on my final exam but I didn’t think that it would affect my final grade much. But what did I know? I opened up blackboard and checked the grade to see that I had received a D+ (69%). I was so disappointed I started to cry, I was only one percent away from passing the class. The final exam turned out to be the biggest percentage of our grade taking me from a high C to a D+. I started to cry and I was so upset that now I have to take financial accounting again next semester causing me to push back graduation another semester.
• #7: Slide 6: it is now 5:30pm I get into my classroom to find several students already in class trying to cramming in some studying before the final exam begins. I find that to be responsible and I helped a few students with some questions they had. As I am answering questions more students start to roll in 15 minutes before class started. I could tell that everyone was nervous and I tried to fill the students in to what to expect by writing a few pointers on the board and left the students to get themselves ready as I prepared the final exam booklets.
• #8: Slide 7: It is now officially 6:00 pm and I don’t want to waste any time and have the students start on their final so that they can use their time wisely and not have to rush through it. I tell all of the students to clear their desks and that they may only use their calculators for this exam. I start to pass out the booklets to the students and I tell them to start right away.
• #9: Slide 8: As the students started on their final exam I took a seat at my desk and thought that this would be a great time to get a jump start on grading the final exams from the previous class I just had. While grading the last class’ finals I kept looking up to make sure all the students were doing ok and had no questions.
• #10: Slide 9: It is now 7:00 pm and we are half way through the time period of the final exam. I get up out of my seat and I start walking around the classroom. Not one person had finished their exam yet and I was beginning to worry that a lot of the students were getting stuck but afraid to ask. So I went around and checked on every student and noticed they were just finishing up. When I got done with all the students I went back to my desk and waited till they all got done.
• #11: Slide 10: 7:30 rolls around and I see that the students have started to pack their things and started to bring their final exam booklets to hand in. I told all the students that I wished them good luck on their final and good luck in their future.
• #12: Slide 11: The two management concepts that relate to my scenario are planning and organizing. Planning as defined in our text book is “a process to determine and implement actions to achieve organizational objectives” (Hitt, Black, and Porter, 3rd ed. P.113). Organization as defined in our text book is “Systematically integrating resources to accomplish tasks” (Hitt, Black, and Porter, 3rd ed. P.11).
• #13: Slide 12: Planning is separated into three different types of plans: Strategic Plans, Tactical Plans, and Operational Plans. My two specific components that relate to my scenario are Strategic planning and Tactical planning. Strategic plans are “Plans that focus on the broad future of the organization and incorporation both external environmental demands and internal resources into managers’ actions” as defined in the text (Hitt, Black, and Porter, 3rd ed. P.113). Strategic planning relates to my scenario because if I had focused on me passing the class in a whole I would have created a plan on how I would have needed to study for the class to keep my grades high from the start of the semester.
• #14: Slide 13: Tactical Plans are “Plans that translate strategic plans into specific goals for specific parts of the organization” as defined in the test (Hitt, Black, and Porter, 3rd ed. P.113). Tactical plans related to my scenario because if I had created a strategic plan from the beginning of the semester I would have been able to create a tactical plan for the final exam and I would have been prepared to take the final and not be surprised in the outcome.
• #15: Slide 14: Organization has many different types of concepts from individual organization to group organization. In my scenario the two concepts that relate are Organizational structure and Value. Organizational Structure is defined as “The sum of the ways an organization divides its labor into distinct tasks and then coordinates them” (Hitt, Black, and Porter, 3rd ed. P.134). Organization Structure relates to my scenario because I had no organizational structure. I just allowed myself to believe that I had everything under control with taking extra hours at work and not thinking how it would affect my outcome at school. If I had created an Organization structure I would have been able to manage my time more wisely and I would have made time to study for the final exam.
• #16: Slide 15: Value plays a huge role in my scenario. Value as defined in the text book is “The fundamentally important behaviors, activities, and outcomes” (Hitt, Black, and Porter, 3rd ed. P.137). Without value I was not ready to take the final exam. My behavior of thinking that I was ready to take the final, when I was not, caused me to become ignorant to the fact that I needed to study. My actions or activities, where to take in more hours of work causing me to over work myself and not have time to study. And final the outcomes of my decisions and behaviors caused me to fail the class with a D+ resulting in having to retake the class the next semester.
• #17: Slide 16: I have learned that I am the type of person that likes to leave things for the last minute. I do not plan ahead causing me to lose track of time and not manage my time correctly. I am also very lazy when it comes to school work that it sometimes causes me to incomplete major assignments or not study well enough for a final exam like my situation stated above.
• #18: Slide 17: From my situation I learned that I need to start planning accordingly as well as organizing my time for school. By creating a plan from the begging of the semester I will be able to better manage my time and have things done in time such as studying for a major exam or turning in a major project. I will organize my schedule to meet all of my deadlines so that I don’t over work my self during one specific week, but to have everything spread out accordingly.
• #19: Slide 18: My understanding of the situation changed because it made me realize that I could have done a lot to have changed the outcome. I should have been more aware of my school work than to just assume that I have everything under control. This helped me be aware of my actions and will help me be better at taking things one step at a time instead of giving up in the last minute and taking my time in studying.
• #20: Slide 19: My experience will help me better manage my future by allowing me to do things ahead of time and not waiting till the last minute. I learned that by organizing my time and plan my way through college I will be able to get things done in a timely manner and finish a lot sooner. If I had planned accordingly and had studied before my exam I would not have to waste another semester because of a horrible decision. Procrastination is a horrible thing.