Page 39 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

“Don’t just live the length of your life, live the width of it as well.”
Diane Ackerman, American author, poet, and naturalist

2 STRENGTHENING IDENTITY

Who Are You Now? Who Are You Now?

Introducing John In Chapter 1, you were asked to assess yourself as a learner. Who you are as
a college student, however, is a sum of many factors, including who you are
What is a Life Vision? as a person and how you see yourself as part of a college community...in other
words, your identity. To continue our map metaphor, it is helpful to reflect on
What is a Life your journey along the road that has brought you to this point. Chapter 2 will
Vision Portfolio? help you with that reflection and give you some additional suggestions on how
Components of a Life to map out what lies ahead.
Vision Portfolio
Of course, life never goes exactly as planned; it would not be very exciting if
LVP: Worksheet it did. Keeping a Life Vision Portfolio, however, will allow you to adjust your
vision to the successes, changes, and challenges of your life. Having a vision
Making the promotes action: “If you have a vision, do something with it,” Anthony J.
Transition to College D’Angelo (author, Chicken Soup for the College Soul, and educational leader)
recommends in The College Blue Book.
Setting Goals
John is in the second semester of his first year in college. John tried
Journal Writing college for a few weeks right after high school, but he didn’t have
any clear idea of what he wanted to do. He left while he could still
LVP: Key Highlights get some of his tuition back. John’s parents had been saddened
by his decision. As Hmong immigrants who had spent many years
Activity 2.1 in refugee camps, they felt that a college education was the ticket
to a better life for their children. John worked for
Creating Your Life a computer trouble-shooting company for two
Vision Portfolio years before he came back to school. He also
did some work detailing cars at a family friend’s
Activity 2.2 shop. John knows his parents want him to go
into something connected with computers,
Exploring Your but he has also found that he loves graphic
Campus design–and history. He knows he needs to make
some decisions on whether or not he’ll be doing a
two-year degree at this college, majoring in graphic
design or information technology. Or does he want
to do a four-year degree in history? That would
mean taking college transfer courses now. John
knows he’ll need to talk to a teacher or advisor
before he makes these decisions. Then, he’ll talk
with his parents.

GLOSSARY Life Vision Portfolio learning community self-actualization

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