(no subject)
Aug. 30th, 2011 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflameThings I've Learned in College so Far:
1. A semicolon can only be used in circumstances when the words on either side of it could each be a complete sentence.
2. How to graph an equation.
3. All about this whole "power of now" movement as represented by the film "The Secret".
4. The name of a good art therapist that Annie now sees.
5. That in Iraq, when soldiers catch a guy asleep at his post on the cots they have in the desert, they put their nuts on his eyes with their penis draped down the dude's face (as a mock up of a "long Arabian nose"), and this is called "Arabian goggles".
6. APA formatting guidelines, and how to make them happen easily in Word 2007.
7. Exactly what all this talk of our country's debt is all about and what it could mean in the future.
8. A little bit about honing my (assigned, or for-publication) writing through having a more defined thesis.
9. That for many other intelligent people, analyzing literature or constructing an essay is as difficult as math is for me (this was actually an epiphany).
10. A couple of poems I'd never heard before, most notably "Here a Pretty Baby Lies".
11. Several definitions of plagiarism I'd been previously unaware of (like reusing your own work, or paraphrasing in certain ways even though you cite the source in your reference page).
12. How to use the college library's online database for research.
13. Where the bike racks and vending machines are, and that one of those vending machines will continuously refund your dimes while racking them up on the total you have to spend.
14. Way more than I ever wanted to know about appeals processes, financial aid stipulations, how the advisement department operates, parking decals, book advances, requirements for my own major and different degrees, and so on. Sometimes I think I'm really getting a degree in (not at) Miami Dade College.
15. How fully determined what and how you learn and even the grade you get can be determined by the professor you have. Also, fulltime (not adjunct) professors with tenure are sort of insane, and I love that.
16. I might really enjoy teaching college, at least as an adjunct or temporarily.
The extent to which I am more confident than almost everyone else (to answer questions or volunteer for something, to be honest or comfortable speaking in front of a class, to take the lead and make it happen when working in groups) is continuously jarring for me. I truly just do not understand what the hell the big deal is for everybody else. I thought raging anxiety about things like this were something a minority suffered from related to "conditions" (like an anxiety disorder or a problem leaving the house). It's also interesting to me how it SEEMS anecdotally to be the kids right out of high school and the older, middle aged folks who are most shy and panic the worst when called upon for anything, and the 27-35 set that is most chill, but I'm not sure if that's really accurate from the 8 classes worth of experience at two local campuses that I'm drawing on here.
I mean, we had an assignment (in english, to come up with writing prompts) to work in pairs sharing embarrassing moments and I was actually shocked and confused at, A, the things these people thought were embarassing (mixing up words in a way that caused people to laugh is one example; I would laugh along with others at myself in that situation and never think of it again), and B, that it was HARD for people to share them (ok, your shorts slipped a little and someone saw your underwear in high school...how long ago was that? It's not like we can see them right now? That is a totally standard embarassing experience, not some CUH-razy wild thing that reflects so terribly on you...). I am not an asshole who calls others out or voices these things, but I sit there thinking to myself, uh...seriously?
How can people even go through daily life with these levels of self consciousness?
I find myself in the very awkward situation of either answering every single question asked or enduring these long, uncomfortable pauses while the teachers stare around the room paraphrasing different ways until giving up and stating the answers with explanations. I don't think I'm some kind of super genius (and I sound more like The Dude than Hermione) - I think other people are afraid to put themselves out there in even the most minor ways. Which I find baffling as all get out.
For the past two days I've been considering how this could be hugely advantageous to me as I pursue various goals. It is apparently a real edge that I've been taking for granted.
Sidenote: I REALLY prefer going from one hour and 15 minute long class to the next with a short break in between, on Mondays and Wednesdays (as I am now that we're in the Fall semester), vs sitting in a single 3 hour long class a couple of times per week (like I was in the summer). The religion class I wrote about a couple of entries back is still 3 hours long once a week, but that I can deal with since it freaking rocks.
1. A semicolon can only be used in circumstances when the words on either side of it could each be a complete sentence.
2. How to graph an equation.
3. All about this whole "power of now" movement as represented by the film "The Secret".
4. The name of a good art therapist that Annie now sees.
5. That in Iraq, when soldiers catch a guy asleep at his post on the cots they have in the desert, they put their nuts on his eyes with their penis draped down the dude's face (as a mock up of a "long Arabian nose"), and this is called "Arabian goggles".
6. APA formatting guidelines, and how to make them happen easily in Word 2007.
7. Exactly what all this talk of our country's debt is all about and what it could mean in the future.
8. A little bit about honing my (assigned, or for-publication) writing through having a more defined thesis.
9. That for many other intelligent people, analyzing literature or constructing an essay is as difficult as math is for me (this was actually an epiphany).
10. A couple of poems I'd never heard before, most notably "Here a Pretty Baby Lies".
11. Several definitions of plagiarism I'd been previously unaware of (like reusing your own work, or paraphrasing in certain ways even though you cite the source in your reference page).
12. How to use the college library's online database for research.
13. Where the bike racks and vending machines are, and that one of those vending machines will continuously refund your dimes while racking them up on the total you have to spend.
14. Way more than I ever wanted to know about appeals processes, financial aid stipulations, how the advisement department operates, parking decals, book advances, requirements for my own major and different degrees, and so on. Sometimes I think I'm really getting a degree in (not at) Miami Dade College.
15. How fully determined what and how you learn and even the grade you get can be determined by the professor you have. Also, fulltime (not adjunct) professors with tenure are sort of insane, and I love that.
16. I might really enjoy teaching college, at least as an adjunct or temporarily.
The extent to which I am more confident than almost everyone else (to answer questions or volunteer for something, to be honest or comfortable speaking in front of a class, to take the lead and make it happen when working in groups) is continuously jarring for me. I truly just do not understand what the hell the big deal is for everybody else. I thought raging anxiety about things like this were something a minority suffered from related to "conditions" (like an anxiety disorder or a problem leaving the house). It's also interesting to me how it SEEMS anecdotally to be the kids right out of high school and the older, middle aged folks who are most shy and panic the worst when called upon for anything, and the 27-35 set that is most chill, but I'm not sure if that's really accurate from the 8 classes worth of experience at two local campuses that I'm drawing on here.
I mean, we had an assignment (in english, to come up with writing prompts) to work in pairs sharing embarrassing moments and I was actually shocked and confused at, A, the things these people thought were embarassing (mixing up words in a way that caused people to laugh is one example; I would laugh along with others at myself in that situation and never think of it again), and B, that it was HARD for people to share them (ok, your shorts slipped a little and someone saw your underwear in high school...how long ago was that? It's not like we can see them right now? That is a totally standard embarassing experience, not some CUH-razy wild thing that reflects so terribly on you...). I am not an asshole who calls others out or voices these things, but I sit there thinking to myself, uh...seriously?
How can people even go through daily life with these levels of self consciousness?
I find myself in the very awkward situation of either answering every single question asked or enduring these long, uncomfortable pauses while the teachers stare around the room paraphrasing different ways until giving up and stating the answers with explanations. I don't think I'm some kind of super genius (and I sound more like The Dude than Hermione) - I think other people are afraid to put themselves out there in even the most minor ways. Which I find baffling as all get out.
For the past two days I've been considering how this could be hugely advantageous to me as I pursue various goals. It is apparently a real edge that I've been taking for granted.
Sidenote: I REALLY prefer going from one hour and 15 minute long class to the next with a short break in between, on Mondays and Wednesdays (as I am now that we're in the Fall semester), vs sitting in a single 3 hour long class a couple of times per week (like I was in the summer). The religion class I wrote about a couple of entries back is still 3 hours long once a week, but that I can deal with since it freaking rocks.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 02:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 03:18 pm (UTC)In my defense, my approach to teaching is based on the fact that I've spent most of my career teaching non-traditional students (adult second language learners) who don't have time to fuck around writing movie reviews. They want jobs, yo! Sometimes I find it hard to relate to students who came to college just because it was expected and for whom the stakes are very low.
In conclusion, I would like to have a student like you in my class. Silent classes = death.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 06:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 06:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-31 07:54 am (UTC)I have a great deal of stories I can tell depending on how comfortable I am with a given group, or how comfortable I want them to be with me. Everyone has their own triggers, tho I'm with you on not really understanding nudity/comfort with one's own body as being anything to be phobic about!
I agree with you on the scheduling stuff... seminar classes seem like a good idea (especially with the rigamarole that is driving to and from and PARKING for classes) but honestly it's hard to be engaged and focused on the material for such long stretches.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-31 07:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-31 01:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:Education Failings
Date: 2011-11-10 01:38 am (UTC)2.) Many of the situations your are describing in those classes are the same thing I complained about my entire college career thus far. I'd attribute about 30% of it to laziness, 10% to genuine anxiety and genuine ignorance, but almost all of the rest I attribute to students being utterly TERRIFIED of being "wrong" or failing. The educational system set in place for k-12 is one of utter reliance on NOT being wrong. Every question has a right answer and to get any of them wrong will label you a failure and taint you with shame forever.
Part of this has been brought about by the way we evaluate schools at the district and national levels. The FCAT and other standardized tests have forced teachers to be far less bold in their teaching styles, they are unable to take risks and teach through failure. Ultimately this is a terrible system because failure is the thing that teaches children the MOST about themselves.
As a result college classrooms are full of people that just want to get the answer that will "be on the test" and don't want to explore the material any further than that. Therefore they do not speak up in class because they might be wrong, and being wrong is akin to outright failure.
Re: Education Failings
From: