Class isn't going so well

Dont sell your self short. Your only as smart as you believe you are. The fact your here, asking, and being honest shows you aint no fool. So dont let you beat you.....

We have a few guys in class who learn at a slower pace. We all try to help when we can. What I see is it aint they cant learn, it's that they try to hang on every word. When the meat and potatoes of the lesson are likely in a paragraph. What I mean is the teacher can talk for an hour, chapter can go on for 20 pages. But the stuff you really need to grab would fit in a few sentences. Every word might be important, but you cant learn every word at one time.

For example, parts of a lathe is a whole chapter and a teacher could talk all day on it. All you need to retain, carriage, head stock, tail stock, compound and crossslide. Everything else you learn as you use. Gears, speeds, feeds, lathe dogs, face plates, all that is no relevant for today's lesson so to speak.

When you talk threading theres 14,000 terms on that picture. None of it means crap today. Focus on the principle to forming the thread because you have a book to reference all the tech terms.

The key to being a machinist is not knowing everything. It's knowing where to look to find everything, and knowing the principles behind that info.
 
Sm412 said:
So I'm two weeks into my Machining class and it's been frustrating to say the least. I understand maybe 20% of what's in my textbook and remember almost none of it. I find myself frequently confused and frustrated. The other people in my class are picking right up on it. It's almost like they've done it before, and I'm the only one having trouble. They've sort of picked up on the fact that I'm the dumb one and hover over me ready to correct my mistakes (which is both helpful and irritating). It isn't all bad though. I've almost got tool bit sharpening down and I did well on the drill press today.

I've paid for the class and I'm committed. I want to be a machinist. I guess I want to know, what can I do to help myself? My instructor is almost surely sick of me because I ask a million questions. I just feel overwhelmed and way out of my element.
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I can understand your frustration. Some textbooks are hard to understand. Some students have parents who are machinists and mechanics that have taught them some of the basics. I was in apprenticeship that included a few young ladies. One day our instructor asked a question about tapped holes. He asked if you were removing a bolt and if makes a popping sound when you first loosen it what does that mean? About thirty of us were sitting there and a one lady said it wasn't tapped deep enough. The instructor said that was the correct answer. My Dad was a maintenance man, he never told me. So hang in there.
 
chuckorlando said:
Dont sell your self short. Your only as smart as you believe you are. The fact your here, asking, and being honest shows you aint no fool. So dont let you beat you.....

We have a few guys in class who learn at a slower pace. We all try to help when we can. What I see is it aint they cant learn, it's that they try to hang on every word. When the meat and potatoes of the lesson are likely in a paragraph. What I mean is the teacher can talk for an hour, chapter can go on for 20 pages. But the stuff you really need to grab would fit in a few sentences. Every word might be important, but you cant learn every word at one time.

For example, parts of a lathe is a whole chapter and a teacher could talk all day on it. All you need to retain, carriage, head stock, tail stock, compound and crossslide. Everything else you learn as you use. Gears, speeds, feeds, lathe dogs, face plates, all that is no relevant for today's lesson so to speak.

When you talk threading theres 14,000 terms on that picture. None of it means crap today. Focus on the principle to forming the thread because you have a book to reference all the tech terms.

The key to being a machinist is not knowing everything. It's knowing where to look to find everything, and knowing the principles behind that info.
Click to expand...

Ditto what chuckorlando says. Focus on the "meat and potatoes" first, and the details will make more sense later. It's a fact that people who read at 60 words per minute can't explain the paragraph they just read. If you can see the big picture first, the hard stuff in the details gets easier to understand and remember.
 
My first thought is to remember that there are people who learn quite a bit, but quickly, and then there are people who learn more slowly but will eventually know something in, out, up, and down.

We all learn differently, and at different speeds. Don't feel bad. Fell bad if you DON'T ask questions, or give up. That is the ONLY thing to feel bad about.

Besides that, enjoy the class you PAID for.

:)

Bernie
 
Don't be intimidated that the others "seem to know what is going on." Trust me, after many years teaching in a classroom, the majority are usually just as lost as you feel but are just better at hiding it (or worse - unaware of their ignorance). For the classroom stuff, ask around and see if you can find (or start yourself) a study group.

The real secret is that you need to learn to be comfortable with not knowing things. Then you can focus on learning instead of just worrying about what you don't already know.
 
This is a long post but if you read it through, I promise it will help you.

My profession is one of an educator and I have been teaching in some form or other for close to 16 years. I currently work with building courses for engineers in very specialized fields in the subsea oil industry and have found that one of the most lacking competencies in adults is the understanding of how to learn by creating your own objectives.

Ignore the objectives given to you by others and create a set for yourself at the start of each class. Break down what you are learning into a series of individual behaviors that are to be applied to a specific task or activity and ensure it is measurable.

For example, if you were to be single point threading you could start with:

By the end of this session I will be able to select the correct profile tool and the appropriate speed and feed for metric threading mild steel.

In the above example yopu have 3 components required to make an objective that can be completed. You have the behaviour = select. You have the conditions to which you apply the behaviour = metric threading of mild steel, and you have the criteria = correct profile tool, appropriate speed and feed.

This means that if you select the tool correctly but miss the speed and feed, you are on your way but need to revisit the speed and feed information. This is why some form of criteria in objectives is critical. By having well designed objectives, you stay on track with your learning and are given achievable waypoints. Notice that only one, observable behaviour has been selected. Avoid verbs like "understand", "get a basic understanding" or "know", as these are mental skills and can't be observed until they are demonstrated (look into Bloom's taxonomy for a good list and break down of verbs to use)

If being mentored or shown by an instructor, you should always ask; "what is the objective and how can I demonstrate that I have achieved it?". This will force the person mentoring you to put some thought into what they want from you, and will define exactly where the goal posts are.

As a general rule, keep objectives at a minimum as these need to be measured and you need to ensure that you have sufficient time to meet the challenge.

Good luck. I have tried to squeeze in what I spend days teaching teachers, lecturers and instructors in lectures. There is a lot more that can be added but if you work on having personal, clear, well designed objectives, you are much further along than many others.

Paul.
 
Sm412 I think I understand what you are going through, so I am going to take a bit of a different tact.

I have worked with many different types of people over the years. I have seen folks "promoted" into roles that turned out to be totally unsuitable for them and then ended up not being successful, whereas they were totally successful prior. In other words there was a job that they loved, related to and just seemed to fit them, but for whatever reason the new one didn't.

I can think of tonnes of occupations that I would not be good at regardless of how much reading I did or coaching I was given. I am a big time introvert, so don't assign me to situations that require me to be an extrovert. Yes perhaps I can do some, but it wouldn't be in my comfort zone, and I would really struggle with it.

I have known people that seemed to be in your situation who eventually went to assistance centers that can give tests to try and determine where their strengths are and types of suitable careers that match them. That helped them immensely.

Since there are some folks here helping that are in the teaching profession I would hope that they could comment, just in case there are careers that may be more suitable to your style.

BTW I love hobby machining and I am in no way trying to turn you off being a machinist...just wondering if there may be a better fit somewhere as a career choice.

David
 
Hang in there, I am the same way, Monkey see monkey do. I get more from a lecture than the book, but still put the lecture and hands on together and It is even better.

After that then go back to the book, and see what you can make from it. What all of these people are saying is true, They will help you here if you ask questions, Teachers that are worth anything will help you, and in todays age the internet will help you, you may have to search for things in a couple of different ways, but you can find information on most of it out there.

I have been watching YouTube videos, and stuff to try and learn and refresh what I knew. I'm a beginner at it all over again as things have changed. All of my machining was over 35 years ago and things have changed, and I was not doing anything close to this for those 35 years. This site, these people and the internet have all helped, even more than the books that I have got. They make good reference to get specifies for information that I have seen here, or on a video.

And I know what it is like to think you can not do things, and want to keep giving up, But if you keep at it, you can do it if that is what you want to do. Again hang in there and do not let things get you down, Have some fun.
 
The key to success is showing up. Keep showing up. Keep asking the instructor and others for help. You'll be just fine.
 
​Hang in there, my friend…you WILL get there. You obviously have it in your heart and soul to eventually succeed at machining (or you wouldn’t have bothered to come here and ask questions in the first place, right?)…which is half the battle right there. If you have it in your mind and your heart (which I think you do) that you really want to accomplish something, anything in life no matter what that may be, then you will find a way to accomplish that task no matter what hurdles you may face along the way. The real trick is finding a way to learn (and retain that info) that works for YOU. As mentioned earlier, everyone learns at a different pace, and sometimes ‘how’ you learn that particular skill plays a big role.


Being a newbie to machining myself, I can’t offer any more advice than what has already been said by the great members here, other than to say that you are already a better man than I for two reasons:


1) you actually took the initiative to sign yourself up and take a course to learn the proper methods of machining before learning any “bad habits”….kudos, man! I never did. If I had, it sure would have saved ALOT of trial, error and frustration instead of doing the “self-taught” thing (not to mention the $$$ wasted on said trial/error/frustration :banghead:)


2) when you did hit a road block, you sought out help/advice by coming here and asking for it. Again…kudos and also something I never did do. Instead, I will research everything I can here and elsewhere on the 'net and if I can’t find the answer I’m looking for (or find it and not understand it), then I usually either forge ahead and try to figure out how to do it on my own (sometimes it works, most times not so much), or if I’m really having trouble, just admit defeat and move on to something else instead of “bothering” the fine folks here with my (to me) trivial problems.


I’m a couple months shy of turning 45 years old and although I’m getting better, I've had low self-esteem issues for most of it. I know it’s a stupid way to go through life (we are, after all, only on this ‘rock’ for but a short time, so make the most of it!), but have never been very good at handling personal failure at any level. I let my pride get in the way all too often and although I do sometimes ask, I hate it when I have to ask someone for help…I always feel like I’m being a burden and preventing them from doing “useful stuff” by helping me figure something out that seems so easy for everyone else.


I guess what I’m trying to say in my own weird sorta way with this long, rambling post is: Please don’t make the same mistakes I have. You’re a young man with a seemingly good head on your shoulders and your whole life ahead of you. Stick with it, bud…you are going about it the right way and even though you are having a bit of a struggle with it right now, one day it will all “click” for you, and when (not “if“) it does, it will make that accomplishment all the sweeter!


On a final note, I (as I’m sure most here do) have several hobbies and as such belong to numerous forums, and I can tell you that the members on this forum are some (if not thee most) helpful, courteous, understanding bunch of guys you will ever come across. Don’t be shy with the questions and I will try to do the same!


Take care, man…you’ll get there!
:thumbzup3:
 
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