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Feb. 23rd, 2010 11:10 pmThis is my first semester back at school in over a decade. In some ways I'm scared, I admit it. Part of it is wondering if I have the mental rigor to handle it. So far most of my classes have actually been pretty easy, actually, as my life experiences have helped a *lot* in classes. I would not have been able to discuss things this way back in the 80s.
I am concerned that so far I have not done enough reading for most of my classes. I'll get back to that later. I am in a way more concerned that so far I have been a relatively major presence in each of my classrooms, appreciated by my profs, and have been able to do so without cracking the books too much.
I need to not slack off on the books.
So far the class that has required the most rigor from me has been my 100 level Philosophy course. We are discussing moral and social problems, and the professor has not wanted us to take it easy. We are studying the underpinnings of violence and racism, among other things. The violence part right now discusses ritualistic and mass murder. Like I said, gruesome.
He does have a unique approach to classwork and homework. For every class you have to do a paper detailing what the author was talking about, paraphrasing themes from the book. But that's not all. The pages are bisected. You put the paraphrase on the left and any comments you might have on the right. It could be questions, it could be responsive dialogue, but you need to keep it light on snarky one-liners. You can leave some of them blank if you want to let it stand.
Then you need to be able to ask questions about it in class or discuss the section. You don't know if you'll be on the questioning or the discursive side. Your paper gets graded in part based on your attendance. So, you have to read every week, respond at least on your paper every week, and show up every week.
As a system its hard to beat. The class was a lot smaller this week than our last class.
I found myself on the discursive side this time and found myself talking a lot. I did my level best to make sure I didn't interrupt people or hog the limelight, though I still worry about being the class equivalent of being a filk-hog. I found myself in a somewhat heated debate with somebody about the nature of free will. He basically said that a relatively simple effort of will should be enough for people to keep from stress overloads. I asked him if he'd ever had a nervous breakdown, to which he said Yes - but still, they should be able to...
I pointed out that when you have a nervous breakdown, a stress overload, that your normal behavior goes by the wayside and you are in an abnormal mode where behavior you normally consider beyond the pale can easily be in reach for you. He once again went back to Yes, but a simple act of will...
Oy. I mean, in many ways I would rather be right simply because it means my thought processes are clear, but I am perfectly willing to be wrong and adjust.
This week's paper was not, I fear, as good as last week's. Still, I got back last week's paper. We'd been given a choice for the first two weeks, to have our papers graded and counted toward our average or simply counted as present. I decided I would bite the bullet and submit mine for the grade, nervous as I was. I even put down I may regret this butGraded.
He wrote next to it You Won't. I got an A- on it.
I am concerned that so far I have not done enough reading for most of my classes. I'll get back to that later. I am in a way more concerned that so far I have been a relatively major presence in each of my classrooms, appreciated by my profs, and have been able to do so without cracking the books too much.
I need to not slack off on the books.
So far the class that has required the most rigor from me has been my 100 level Philosophy course. We are discussing moral and social problems, and the professor has not wanted us to take it easy. We are studying the underpinnings of violence and racism, among other things. The violence part right now discusses ritualistic and mass murder. Like I said, gruesome.
He does have a unique approach to classwork and homework. For every class you have to do a paper detailing what the author was talking about, paraphrasing themes from the book. But that's not all. The pages are bisected. You put the paraphrase on the left and any comments you might have on the right. It could be questions, it could be responsive dialogue, but you need to keep it light on snarky one-liners. You can leave some of them blank if you want to let it stand.
Then you need to be able to ask questions about it in class or discuss the section. You don't know if you'll be on the questioning or the discursive side. Your paper gets graded in part based on your attendance. So, you have to read every week, respond at least on your paper every week, and show up every week.
As a system its hard to beat. The class was a lot smaller this week than our last class.
I found myself on the discursive side this time and found myself talking a lot. I did my level best to make sure I didn't interrupt people or hog the limelight, though I still worry about being the class equivalent of being a filk-hog. I found myself in a somewhat heated debate with somebody about the nature of free will. He basically said that a relatively simple effort of will should be enough for people to keep from stress overloads. I asked him if he'd ever had a nervous breakdown, to which he said Yes - but still, they should be able to...
I pointed out that when you have a nervous breakdown, a stress overload, that your normal behavior goes by the wayside and you are in an abnormal mode where behavior you normally consider beyond the pale can easily be in reach for you. He once again went back to Yes, but a simple act of will...
Oy. I mean, in many ways I would rather be right simply because it means my thought processes are clear, but I am perfectly willing to be wrong and adjust.
This week's paper was not, I fear, as good as last week's. Still, I got back last week's paper. We'd been given a choice for the first two weeks, to have our papers graded and counted toward our average or simply counted as present. I decided I would bite the bullet and submit mine for the grade, nervous as I was. I even put down I may regret this butGraded.
He wrote next to it You Won't. I got an A- on it.
