Tonight's class was, as the title indicates, Exceptional Children, a psychology class taught by Mr. B. There are about 100 people in this class, which makes a welcome change from small classes and their infuriating "meet and greet" time wasters.
Speaking of time wasters, the first hour was taken up with The Reading of the Syllabus That I Just Handed Out and You Have In Front of You. Oh, what a masterful tradition this is! I wish professors wouldn't do this, but I suppose if they didn't, they'd be inundated with e-mails from students who can't read about what the class is going to cover and when.
The second hour and a half of the class was taken up with some good old fashioned lecturing. I took copious notes, which is wrist-straining but keeps the mind, body and spirit focused on the material and moment and is infinitely preferable to the soul-deadening boredom of hearing the syllabus read aloud for an hour, which makes me want to punch someone in the back of the head.
Oh --- the sentence below from our syllabus made me think of IB a Math Teacher. Especially this post.
"Exams (75% of final grade): There will be three non-cumulative, equally weighted exams (each counting for 25% of your final grade)."As IB might say, why is that second paranthetical phrase included?
Bonus tip for those in seminar classes that take place in expansive auditoriums: sit on the second seat in from the end of a row, look surly and read a paperback as other students come in. People will feel weird about sitting on the very end with you right there, and will traditionally sit two seats down on the other side as the room fills up, and you may well end up one of the few students in the place to have an empty seat on both sides of you. Score! One seat for me, one for my bag (I call him "Mister Holder") and one for my aching, kid-corralling feet.
1 comment:
Maybe the "each counting for 25% of your final grade" is written there for the teachers who still have yet to pass their state teaching exams!
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