Big epiphany! I realized I needed to approach the subject with a learning mindset, a receptive mindset, to be successful in this class.
I began my college journey in the Spring of 2024. I had never been an overachiever, but the semester was very successful. I finished with a 4.0 and felt very confident.
My degree is an AA in General Business, and with that comes Brief Calculus. Spoiler alert, it is not so brief and it will test you. That class was in my schedule for the Fall of 2024.
The professor teaching the class was Marianne Smith and she is an amazing instructor. She makes sure you are comfortable with the material. She will even give you her notes – very well written – and make sure you know where her office is and what her office hours are. She encouraged us to use the tutors in the Learning Resource Center (LRC), and I did.
The LRC is equipped with highly skilled tutors. One of them, Ben, was my guy. He was very smart and very patient. About halfway through the semester, we were trying to get through an assignment, but I was having a really hard time understanding the process and the concept.
The tutoring area in the LRC is right in the center, between the faculty offices. Ms. Smith’s office was on one side, and Dr. Bechir’s office was right on the other side of the space. Ben had been helping me with this problem for over ten minutes. I was very vocal about my frustration. I felt like I was wasting his time. “Ben, I’m so sorry. You have been so nice and giving me one way and another to solve this, but it's just not sticking. I don’t understand how you get to this answer!”
I wasn’t yelling but other people could definitely hear me expressing myself.
Dr. Bechir came out of his office and approached our table. He asked, “Hey Ben, what’s going on?” Ben very kindly filled him in on what we were working on as I listened with a little embarrassment. Here was another very smart person who was going to realize that I just couldn’t get it.
But then, Dr. Bechir spoke directly to me, “What are you not understanding?” I responded, “Everything. I don’t understand anything.”
He looked at me and asked, “Perla, were you born walking? Were you born talking? Were you born knowing Brief Calculus?”
I gave him a big no, but I could feel my tension easing.
He then explained that I was beating myself up for not knowing Brief Calculus, when there was no reason that I should, and that that was what was holding me back.
Big epiphany! I realized I needed to approach the subject with a learning mindset, a receptive mindset, to be successful in this class.
Everything changed. I took that advice and applied it to all my classes. I was more gracious with myself and my learning journey.
I finished Brief Calculus with a victorious B, and I credit it to that moment of insight from Dr. Bechir.