Before we look forward let's take a quick look back at last semester (since I've been so negligent in posting, sorry). The semester was long and tedious and I finished it with two A's, an A-, and a B. Fortunately, I've learned that a B is acceptable so I am a happy camper.
Looking forward, after a five week break from school my last semester begins tomorrow. I have one last class to take before I graduate on May 18. The subject of the class is Murder and Memory in the Ozarks. Each class member will write a research paper about, you guessed it...a murder that took place in the Ozarks. Much of the information for this paper will come from the county archives, where I just happen to be a volunteer.
I do have a few plans that will hopefully come to fruition sometime prior to my last day of school. I'm going to begin two new blogs at Wordpress...that is, if I can figure out how to use Wordpress. This blog will end by May 18 and I would like to have my new ones already up and running. One will be a family history blog and the other will be about the Ozarks and Ozarks history. My plan is to incorporate this semesters research paper into my Ozarks history blog.
Hopefully at least one of these new blog subjects will be of interest to someone besides myself though, quite frankly, I'm still a little amazed that I have followers on this school blog. I've been both surprised and pleased to have enjoyed an audience of friends and fellow non-traditional students like myself, who have been willing to listen to my rants about my school experiences and to have had the privilege of following them on their journey as well. These blogging friends have been a tremendous support group during my long journey through school. Though this oft-neglected blog is about to runs its course, I will still be following the blogs of those friends I've made here during the last few years. I appreciate each and every one of you.
I still can't comprehend that I'm finally almost finished; what will life be like without school; who will I be when I am no longer a student? I already feel lost and apprehensive and the end is still four months away.
Showing posts with label non-traditional student. Show all posts
Showing posts with label non-traditional student. Show all posts
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Rant #5
I was in the depths of despair (remember Anne Shirley?) Friday as I drove to school. I was mentally calculating exactly how many more times I would have to go to Spanish class over the remainder of the semester, eleven more weeks. Twenty-nine more times x fifty minutes per class equals a whole lot of misery. But it's too late to turn back now.
When I got to class, I told CP that I if the teacher yelled "Venga,Venga" or "Rapido" one more time, I just might have to kick him in the shin. She pointed out the he had been really "pissy" lately. I thought that was an understatement. I usually don't know what is going on in class anyway, and an angry, impatient teacher does not help. Whatever I do know how to say in Spanish gets buried under the terror I feel when required to speak in this class. As a result, something stupid usually comes out of my mouth, and I know it as soon as I've said it, but it is too late to take it back.
Fortunately, we had a new teacher in class Friday. He looked just the same as the original teacher, but he was much nicer. He smiled, he was friendly, and he didn't yell, not even when he said "Rapido". And most shocking of all, he spoke English! Not much English, but a few sentences. It was more English than I have heard in class since he read the syllabus to us the first week of school. If this nice teacher stays, I just might survive the semester with my sanity intact, and he won't have to fear for the safety of his shins.
It's no big surprise that I'm the oldest student in class. And I'm older than the teacher. All the students are about twenty, and for the most part, have taken Spanish all through high school, which wasn't very long ago for them. I can't even begin to speak as well as they do, and I feel very intimidated by this fact. Added to this is an intimidating teacher (and I'm not alone in this feeling)and my overall feeling is that I'm swimming in the ocean with no life jacket.
I respect his decision to forbid English being spoken in class, and he is entitled to hand out avisos (warnings) to anyone who does. And it is not entirely his fault that I feel so terrorized in class (partly his fault, but not entirely). It's not his fault that I apparently don't perform well under pressure. When we have the nice teacher, he calls on me to speak, I guess to try to draw me out of my wall-flower mode. This is when I become paralyzed with fear and say stupid things. If only there was a rewind button. I don't know if my age is an issue, or if it is my overall lack of experience with speaking the language, but it takes me a little time to get my thoughts together in Spanish to be able to answer a question. I have to think about it longer than the other students; I can't just spit out sentences like they do.
It isn't all bad news. I'm actually getting good grades on the quizzes and on the skit we had to write and perform in class. That was terrifying as well, but at least I knew in advance what I was supposed to say. We had very little time to prepare, but we pulled it off anyway!
Only eleven more weeks.
When I got to class, I told CP that I if the teacher yelled "Venga,Venga" or "Rapido" one more time, I just might have to kick him in the shin. She pointed out the he had been really "pissy" lately. I thought that was an understatement. I usually don't know what is going on in class anyway, and an angry, impatient teacher does not help. Whatever I do know how to say in Spanish gets buried under the terror I feel when required to speak in this class. As a result, something stupid usually comes out of my mouth, and I know it as soon as I've said it, but it is too late to take it back.
Fortunately, we had a new teacher in class Friday. He looked just the same as the original teacher, but he was much nicer. He smiled, he was friendly, and he didn't yell, not even when he said "Rapido". And most shocking of all, he spoke English! Not much English, but a few sentences. It was more English than I have heard in class since he read the syllabus to us the first week of school. If this nice teacher stays, I just might survive the semester with my sanity intact, and he won't have to fear for the safety of his shins.
It's no big surprise that I'm the oldest student in class. And I'm older than the teacher. All the students are about twenty, and for the most part, have taken Spanish all through high school, which wasn't very long ago for them. I can't even begin to speak as well as they do, and I feel very intimidated by this fact. Added to this is an intimidating teacher (and I'm not alone in this feeling)and my overall feeling is that I'm swimming in the ocean with no life jacket.
I respect his decision to forbid English being spoken in class, and he is entitled to hand out avisos (warnings) to anyone who does. And it is not entirely his fault that I feel so terrorized in class (partly his fault, but not entirely). It's not his fault that I apparently don't perform well under pressure. When we have the nice teacher, he calls on me to speak, I guess to try to draw me out of my wall-flower mode. This is when I become paralyzed with fear and say stupid things. If only there was a rewind button. I don't know if my age is an issue, or if it is my overall lack of experience with speaking the language, but it takes me a little time to get my thoughts together in Spanish to be able to answer a question. I have to think about it longer than the other students; I can't just spit out sentences like they do.
It isn't all bad news. I'm actually getting good grades on the quizzes and on the skit we had to write and perform in class. That was terrifying as well, but at least I knew in advance what I was supposed to say. We had very little time to prepare, but we pulled it off anyway!
Only eleven more weeks.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Rant #2
Today, for the first time since I began my adventure as a non-trad, I felt like a real student. I've always been an evening or online student and have missed out on a large portion of the traditional college experience. Today was my first day of daytime classes, and somehow it made me feel like a real college student, at long last. It was an exciting and satisfying experience.
It was also quite terrifying. Spanish class was as bad as I expected; the instructor spoke nothing but Spanish. In fact, he kept reiterating, in Spanish of course, that in this class there would be no text book required, as we would be spending our time actually speaking Spanish. Yikes!!!!
Fortunately, my companero from Spanish 202 is in the class with me. CP is a sweet young 20 year old girl who spent a year living in Mexico, so she has a handle on this Spanish thing. I guess I'm going to have to find my own handle; after all, it is my minor.
Latin American Civ. is the class I've been most excited about, and I think it will be a fun class. The teacher will not be boring, as was evident this afternoon during the introduction. I've never heard a college professor use the "F" word in class! Oh boy, it's going to be an interesting semester.
After surviving my first two day classes, I went on to the gym and spent 1/2 hour on the treadmill, then went to Taco Bell with H. Then back to school for a three hour marathon about the British Empire. Actually, we got out early tonight, which was fortunate because the professor was very dry and by this time I was very tired.
One of the differences between traditional and non-traditional students became apparent to me today as I was making my way across campus amidst all the students - I was carrying a purse and I don't think I saw any young college girls carrying purses. Just one more thing that sets me apart. I have never noticed this before, since I'm used to evening classes when the campus is fairly quiet with not many students around.
I found out today how busy the campus really is during the day when most students are in class. I hadn't factored in all the people when I was calculating how long it would take me to get from Siceluff to Strong Hall. In fact, I barely made it on time. It takes every bit of the ten minutes that I have between classes to get there, as it is a long hike between buildings.
All in all, it was a big adventure and despite my many fears, I can't wait to go back again on Wednesday.
It was also quite terrifying. Spanish class was as bad as I expected; the instructor spoke nothing but Spanish. In fact, he kept reiterating, in Spanish of course, that in this class there would be no text book required, as we would be spending our time actually speaking Spanish. Yikes!!!!
Fortunately, my companero from Spanish 202 is in the class with me. CP is a sweet young 20 year old girl who spent a year living in Mexico, so she has a handle on this Spanish thing. I guess I'm going to have to find my own handle; after all, it is my minor.
Latin American Civ. is the class I've been most excited about, and I think it will be a fun class. The teacher will not be boring, as was evident this afternoon during the introduction. I've never heard a college professor use the "F" word in class! Oh boy, it's going to be an interesting semester.
After surviving my first two day classes, I went on to the gym and spent 1/2 hour on the treadmill, then went to Taco Bell with H. Then back to school for a three hour marathon about the British Empire. Actually, we got out early tonight, which was fortunate because the professor was very dry and by this time I was very tired.
One of the differences between traditional and non-traditional students became apparent to me today as I was making my way across campus amidst all the students - I was carrying a purse and I don't think I saw any young college girls carrying purses. Just one more thing that sets me apart. I have never noticed this before, since I'm used to evening classes when the campus is fairly quiet with not many students around.
I found out today how busy the campus really is during the day when most students are in class. I hadn't factored in all the people when I was calculating how long it would take me to get from Siceluff to Strong Hall. In fact, I barely made it on time. It takes every bit of the ten minutes that I have between classes to get there, as it is a long hike between buildings.
All in all, it was a big adventure and despite my many fears, I can't wait to go back again on Wednesday.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Rant #1
It is official; I have lost my mind. What makes me think I can work full-time and take 12 hours of school is beyond me. Today is day one for my OTC class, Introduction to Ethics. It is a requirement for my history degree at MSU, but costs about half the price at OTC, so I rashly decided to take it online this semester whilst taking 9 hours at MSU. I would have taken Intro to Philosophy, but the guy who teaches the Ethics class is a teacher I have had before, so I decided to go with the devil I knew. I think it will be an interesting class, and he gives unusual assignments.
I've already completed our first assignment, but I wasn't the first one. There is always at least one person in an online class who seems to sit on top of the computer waiting for an assignment to be posted so they can hop right on it. As I am at work all day, I am not that person. But let's not talk about work; this blog isn't big enough for that rant.
My classes at MSU are: Latin American Civilization, British Empire, and Spanish Proficiency Skills. I'm quite nervous about the Spanish class. My previous Spanish instructor was an easy "A" and we weren't usually required to learn much vocabulary. Those of us with a Spanish minor where very aware that we could be in difficult straits when we had to move on to another teacher. That time is now. If he speaks only Spanish in class, I am doomed.
I'm very excited about my history classes although also quite nervous. These will be the first upper level classes I have ever taken and I don't know for sure what the work load will be like. Also, I've always been an evening and/or online student and have never before taken a day class. It's a safe bet that all my classmates will be under 21. Even my teachers are frequently younger than I am. I should be used to it by now, but it would be so nice to have a class with someone my age. I know they are there somewhere, I've just never seen any of them.
I guess that is enough ranting for one day. I need to get started on my next Ethics assignment. Somehow I have to stay ahead of the game and not let myself drown. Wish me luck!
I've already completed our first assignment, but I wasn't the first one. There is always at least one person in an online class who seems to sit on top of the computer waiting for an assignment to be posted so they can hop right on it. As I am at work all day, I am not that person. But let's not talk about work; this blog isn't big enough for that rant.
My classes at MSU are: Latin American Civilization, British Empire, and Spanish Proficiency Skills. I'm quite nervous about the Spanish class. My previous Spanish instructor was an easy "A" and we weren't usually required to learn much vocabulary. Those of us with a Spanish minor where very aware that we could be in difficult straits when we had to move on to another teacher. That time is now. If he speaks only Spanish in class, I am doomed.
I'm very excited about my history classes although also quite nervous. These will be the first upper level classes I have ever taken and I don't know for sure what the work load will be like. Also, I've always been an evening and/or online student and have never before taken a day class. It's a safe bet that all my classmates will be under 21. Even my teachers are frequently younger than I am. I should be used to it by now, but it would be so nice to have a class with someone my age. I know they are there somewhere, I've just never seen any of them.
I guess that is enough ranting for one day. I need to get started on my next Ethics assignment. Somehow I have to stay ahead of the game and not let myself drown. Wish me luck!
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