Self Check-In: A Working Parent's Honest Look at Goals, Study Habits, Confidence and Stress in the First Week of College
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
PSY/110: Psychology of Learning
Week 1 Self Check-In Worksheet
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The student is a composite written for a model worksheet.
I am starting college at 33, after eleven years of work. I schedule deliveries for a regional trucking company from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., I have a seven-year-old son, and I am enrolled in a bachelor's program in business. This worksheet is my first honest look at how I learn, what drives me and what could get in my way. Answering these questions made me notice that most of my worries are about time, not about whether I can do the work.
1. Why did you decide to go back to school now?
I have been passed over twice for a dispatch manager position, and both times the job went to someone with a degree. I also want my son to see me finish something difficult. Ryan and Deci (2000) distinguish between motivation that comes from outside, such as a promotion, and motivation that comes from inside, such as interest or a sense that the goal is truly one's own, and they found that the second kind tends to last longer. My reasons include both. The promotion is external, but the wish to prove something to myself and my son is internal, and I expect that is the reason I will lean on in week eight when I am tired.
2. What are your strengths as a learner?
At work I am organized. I keep track of forty trucks, their drivers and their loads without losing anything, and I am good at breaking a big day into steps. I also ask questions when I do not understand something, which I learned the hard way in my first dispatch job. I think those two habits, planning and asking, will carry over to school. I am also used to deadlines that cannot move, because a late truck costs money.
3. What challenges do you expect?
Time is the biggest one. After work I pick up my son, cook, help with his reading and put him to bed by 8:30. That leaves about two hours a night, and I am tired by then. My second challenge is writing. I have not written a paper since high school, and I worry that my writing will look worse than my thinking. My third is a habit I already know I have: when something feels hard, I find easy tasks to do first. Steel (2007), reviewing hundreds of studies, found that people put off tasks they find unpleasant, that they doubt they can do well or whose rewards are far away. Writing a paper due in five weeks fits all three.
4. How do you currently study or learn new things?
Honestly, I reread. When I took a freight dispatch certificate course, I read the manual three times and highlighted most of it. I passed, but barely. This week's reading surprised me. Dunlosky et al. (2013) rated rereading and highlighting as low-utility techniques, and they rated practice testing and spreading study sessions over time as high-utility. I plan to change how I study by quizzing myself on the reading instead of rereading it, and by studying a little on most nights instead of all day Sunday.
5. How confident are you that you can succeed in this course?
About a six out of ten. I am confident I can do the work if I have time, but I am less sure about writing. This matters more than I thought. Richardson et al. (2012), combining results from many studies of university students, found that a student's confidence in their ability to perform well academically was one of the strongest predictors of grades. That tells me my confidence is not just a feeling; it affects what I will do. I want to raise it by turning in the first writing assignment early and asking for feedback.
6. How do you handle stress?
At work I handle stress well because I can act on it. When a truck breaks down, I call the next driver and reroute the load. At home it is different. When I am worried about money or my son's school, I tend to scroll on my phone instead of dealing with the problem. I recognize that pattern now, and I want to use the same approach at school that I use at work: name the problem, list the options and take the first step, even a small one.
7. Who will support you?
My sister lives ten minutes away and has offered to take my son two evenings a week. My supervisor agreed that I can leave at 3 p.m. on Thursdays if I start at 6:30. My son is also excited, and he has decided that we will do homework together at the kitchen table. I also plan to use the university's writing center before my first paper instead of after it.
8. What will you do differently this week because of this check-in?
Three things. I will set a fixed study time from 8:45 to 10:15 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and put it in my phone calendar like a work shift. I will quiz myself on each chapter instead of rereading it. And when I notice myself avoiding the writing assignment, I will open the document and write for ten minutes, because starting is the part I put off, not finishing.
Summary
This check-in showed me that my main risks are time and avoidance, not ability. I have strong planning habits from work, a clear reason for being here and people who will help. What I need to change is how I study and how I respond when a task feels hard, and the research in this week's reading gave me specific ways to do both.
References
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266
Richardson, M., Abraham, C., & Bond, R. (2012). Psychological correlates of university students' academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 353-387. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026838
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65-94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65
How this PSY 110 Week 1 example is structured
Student-shared copies of the PSY/110 Week 1 assignment show a Self Check-In Worksheet that asks for a short written response to each of several reflection questions. The sample answers each question in its own section, names a concept from psychology in every answer and ties it to evidence, because the worksheet rewards specific self-awareness. Your worksheet may set a word range for each answer; trim to it. Students search this week as PSY 110 Week 1, PSY110 Wk 1 or PSY/110 Wk 1; all three are the same assignment.
PSY/110 Week 1 questions, answered
What does PSY/110 Week 1 usually ask for?
Student-shared copies of the Week 1 assignment show a Self Check-In Worksheet: short written responses to reflection questions about your goals, strengths, study habits and challenges as you start the course. Your own worksheet sets the exact questions and word range.
How personal should the answers be?
Personal enough to be specific. The worksheet is graded on self-awareness and on using the week's concepts, so a concrete habit or situation from your own life, named honestly, earns more than a general statement that could describe anyone.
Do I need sources in a self check-in?
Check your instructions. Many PSY/110 sections expect the week's reading to be cited where you use a concept, and one or two citations show that your reflection is grounded in psychology rather than opinion.
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