A miracle has occured in the last twenty-four hours.
Somewhere in between the meetings and the nap and the stress I learned something.
No--scratch that. I learned A LOT.
And granted it is all stuff that I am not sure if I use once I'm out of my Statistical Analysis class, but still! Today? When the professor quizzed us? I was smart!
I know non-cognitive variables! I know the differences between an ANOVA test and a MANOVA test and a T-Test! I know what a continous variable is and when it's needed!
Let me rewind for a second. My Wednesday class is the hardest course I have taken since I've started my graduate coureload. I've loved my development theory class and my leadership classes and my general affairs-like classes. But one class I have not been able to wrap my mind around has been my Statistical Analysis course. It. Is. Hard. Dude! When am I going to have to interpret data from surveys and determine if the ratios are relevent? And what the hell is SPSS? Yes, it's like a glorified version of an Excel spreadsheet, but still! I had no idea how to manipulate the freakin' program.
One reason that I decided to go into Student Affairs is because I hate science and I loathe math and figures and numbers. I am no good at these things. I can whip up an essay in an hour if necessary and public speaking? Not an issue for me. I'm creative and I can communicate well. But when it comes to facts and figures my brain flatlines. So when I found out that I needed to take a course called Statistical Analysis, I was not happy.
(Actually! The story of how I found out about this class is kind of funny.
Advisor: A class you have to take in the Spring is Statistical Analysis.
Me: Woo. THAT sounds like fun. Who teaches it?
Advisor: Um, me.)
For the first half of the semester reading for the class was mind-numbing and frustrating. I don't know SPSS! I hate figures! I didn't care! It wasn't connecting because they were concepts.
Somehow, though...
In the past twenty-four hours something clicked. The catalyst that helped the clicking? My classmates. A study group--why didn't I think to do that before? I realized that my classmates are all super-geniuses who are well-versed in the art of SPSS and teaching it to dumb ones who are not--like me.
Once I got my happy ass to the library--click! Click! Cliiiick! It started to make sense. Which lead to me raising my hand and answering numerous questions in class today. Which lead my teacher/advisor to think that I am smart. Which leads to a happy me which leads to less stress and an overall good day.
And a good day it is.
Ciao, dahling!