College

[Darth_Rob]

AHHH...ITS DONE!!!

 

This semester was a bit rough. I had a grad-level History course on global diplomacy from 1890-1945. I had to do a 6000 word research paper in the end, and ended up writing about why it took the U.S. 15 years to recognize Soviet Russia (although I concentrated on just the years 1917-1918).

 

My other three courses were all education courses (since Im in grad school to get my masters in education with a concentration in social studies). All three involved an insane presentation. One was a group presentation which we gave in class today, on the good and bad of standardized testing. Let me tell you, working in a group of six is not as easy as it sounds. Smaller groups are definitely better.

 

My second group presentation was actually for an online course on integrating media into the classroom. My partner and I did ours on how different media agencies (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, CNN, and Comedy Central) depict the news in different ways, based on each sources political bias.

 

My final presentation was the one that was most realistic and helpful. Basically, everyone had to write up a 10-day unit plan, and then present one of the lessons in class, which I did on Tuesday. I chose to do mine on a Participation in Government class, and the unit was "the rights and responsibilities of citizens." The entire unit was actually pretty interesting in the end, and I ended up using three different episodes of The Simpsons in order to teach about the process of naturalization, the differences between Republicans and Democrats and how they are viewed, and on running for office. I taught the lesson on naturalization in class, and it went over well. I really liked working on the Participation in Government lesson. I think that would be a real fun class to teach.

 

So yeah, I am just so happy that Im done for the semester. Well, at least at college. Starting in a few weeks, I will be going into the middle school I was assigned to and start observing. I basically observe until February, then I begin to help out in class and do stuff, and by the end of March I will actually be teaching lessons every couple of days. Im looking forward to getting into the classroom and out of the college classrooms. Ive just been there so long it makes me sick.

 

But by December 2009, I will be a certified teacher in NYS!!!

[Mad78]

Today is the last day of my exams... Not a moment too soon!!!

[DarthTex]

Congratulations Rob & Mad! I'm done with exams too! Of course my last exam was ... uh ... umm, yeeeaars ago

 

Enjoy your Christmas break

[Mad78]

Worst thing is that i have another two weeks of class before christmas break.

[DarthTofu]

... whereas I have another two weeks until exams.

 

Exams that I'm not looking forward to: AP Statistics, AP Physics, AP Calculus, AP Literature.

Exams I'm indifferent to: Advanced Volleyball, AP Economics

Exams I'm looking forward to: Latin III.

 

I had a 180 percent average in that class at the issue of Interim Reports. Thank you, trebuchet project.

 

AP Stats, though not horribly hard, is taught by a mentally retarded teacher, who will take points off for getting the correct answer and showing your work, but not writing out the original formula in variable form. My personal favorite "Really? You're that stupid?" moment was when I answered a questions reading, "Find the value of P(X=5)." I proceeded to solve it and drew a circle around my final answer. She wrote "is equal to P(x=5)" and took off half a point. Wanted to throttle the stupid woman for it...

 

AP Physics is going to be tough- everything from the simple, basic kinematics, to the complicated world of gravity and rotational kinematics.

 

AP Calc... I've got a low A going in (93%), and the test promises to be difficult, seeing as it's going over everything that we've studied since the start of the year, and L'Hospital's rule is a pain to remember in full.(as are the derivatives of every trig function and every trig function's inverse)

 

AP Lit: That one would be so much easier if the teacher were more open to dissenting opinions. As it stands, if your interpretation isn't her interpretation, you're wrong, and that's that. No room for different viewpoints.

 

Anyway, yeah... that's my rundown. Who else has some fun exams coming up?

[Darth_Rob]

@Tofu: How are the college apps. going?

[DarthTofu]

Uh... slowly. And they need to start going quicker, because the deadlines are coming up. I've applied to Rose Hulman Institute of Technology and Colorado School of Mines. I have my essays completed for Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University, but I haven't finished my common App essay, so I can't submit either.

 

I have a rough draft that I like for my Yale essay/could be my common App essay, and I haven't managed to get anything but the "fill in the blank" stuff done for Stanford so far... This stuff is hard to write about.

[DarthTofu]

Alright, so sorry to double post, but, hey, I filled this out way back in the day.

 

Long story short: I'm going to Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, out in Terre Houte, Indiana. Rose is actually a much better school than I originally gave it credit for being; it's a small, engineering-centered school, on par with Franklin W. Olin Institute of Technology and Harvey Mudd. I plan to go into ME (Mechanical Engineering, not a highly emphasized version of studying myself), so Rose is a great deal for me. They're giving me a $13,000 per year merit-based scholarship, and they're cheaper than anywhere else to top that off. Oh, and they're the top-ranked school in the nation for undergraduate engineering. I'm excited to go; if I hadn't gotten rejected by Carnegie Mellon, I wouldn't have looked into it so much, but now I really pretty pumped to go visit next week. It's within an hour of Indianapolis, and within three hours of Chicago. I'll actually be very close to former-recurring-member Mitth's alma mater, Purdue.

[Darth_Rob]

Congrats dude! The feeling of knowing what you're doing, what college accepted you, is a great one. Glad to hear that you are pumped about the school. Too bad Rochester was out.

[Mad78]

Well done Tofu!!!

 

Speaking of school: had my first exam today. Think it went okay. Only five left before the holidays!

[DarthTofu]

*Shakes fist* I have another month before I get to exams and freedom! On the upside, Spring Break starts as soon as I finish school tomorrow, so that's good.

[Mad78]

Well I have another set of exams on about a month's time. Then I'll be free.

[Darth_Rob]

The thing thats great about grad school is that I never study, because there are absolutely no tests. I have to do group projects/presentations for my education classes, which is pretty easy, and research papers for my History classes. Its not a bad deal.

[Mad78]

Sounds like the kind of studies i want to do.

[Darth_Rob]

Yeah, grad school is such a joke. At least for education. I have learned absolutely nothing in college courses, and have learned all I have so far from my experience with student teaching.

[DarthTofu]

lol- how's that gong for you, by the way? What sort of kids are you responsible for right now, Rob? I checked your website and saw that you were teaching, and I was like- "Woah! Rob? In charge of kids? When does the apocalypse get here?"

 

Are you teaching inner-city kids, preppy kids, what?

 

On a note related to my attendance at Rose, I'm heading up north to visit tomorrow, so I won't be on 'till around Saturday (I'll pretend you're all going to miss me/argue over who gets to have the desert in my lunchbox), but while I'm up there I'm going to ask about the Fast Track Calculus program. They approached me about it, and I've been pulling in A in AP Calc with minimal effort all year, so it's less a question of if I can manage in that environment, more of a question of whether or not I want to surrender five weeks of my summer to take what has been described as "24/7 Calc" when I could be chilling with my high school friends for the last time, doing fun stuff that I never seemed to have time for up until now. On the upside, it would free me up to take an extra elective my freshman year, taking me out of Freshman calculus, and this program apparently has some long-term benefits for students who enroll in it; first pick of classes, meet the other students earlier, get acclimated to college life, etc.

 

I'm still weighing it over in my head, but I'm leaning toward going for FTC.... I'll know more day after tomorrow when I visit.

[Darth_Rob]

Im at one of Albany's middle schools. Albany is an extremely urban city. The school is not as bad though. It is the best Albany's three middle schools. It is only a few years old, so the building is in great condition and has a lot of technology and other good things that the other schools dont have. Im teaching 7th grade Social Studies, which covers American history from the Native Americans up to right before the Civil War. 8th grade covers the Civil War up to the present.

 

The student population is about 70% African American, 20% white, and maybe 8% Latin American, with the other 2% being a small mixture of everything else. I go to school for half a day, and I am in charge of three classes. The honors level class is great. The majority of that class is white, and the kids are the most motivated, engaged, and able students I have. I am able to do things with them (such as different kinds of assignments) that I cannot do with the other classes.

 

I have an "integrated" class, which is a combination of Regents-level kids (the majority of students are Regents-level/ you can call them "normal" or "average") and kids with "special needs" (whether its a learning disability or an emotional disability.) That class is the hardest. The kids are all unmotivated, and its like pulling teeth to get them to do anything. Some of them refuse to do any work or take notes or anything, and will just sit there and stare into outerspace. There are two Teaching Assistants assigned to that class, to help the flow and keep them focused and under control.

 

My third class is probably my favorite. Its a smaller class (only twelve kids) of just Regents students. They are not as able as the honor students, but they are very engagable (I think I just made that word up). They are a lot of fun. I feel like I connect with that class the most, and I like them more personally. Sure, they can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but something about them always makes me laugh or smile, and its a great feeling.

 

So thats the story so far. I have two weeks left here before my student teaching assignment for this semester is done. In April I receive my next assignment for the Fall. Then, I will be assigned to a rural high school, and be there the entire day. So I pretty much cover the teacher's entire day. Of course, I dont get paid to do this, and in fact, I PAY to do this. Its a pretty hectic schedule, between planning lessons for my student teaching, doing college assignments, and working. I'll be happy in December when I graduate, get my degree and certification, and can finally say goodbye to being a student.

[DarthTex]

... I'll be happy in December when I graduate, get my degree and certification, and can finally say goodbye to being a student.

And work constantly for the next 50 years, remembering how carefree and uncomplicated life was when you were in college. Best of luck to you Rob (and the future little misses )

[AdmiralToguroAni]

Congrats, Tofu! My advice to you is to avoid drinking, smoking, and anything else that will jeopardize your chances at graduating at the top of your class.

 

Now that I've given you the traditional answer, just have fun. Truth is that as long as you have your degree, employers will rarely care about the GPA. The important thing about college is that you learn about your major. If you can do that while going on one of Mad's famour benders, then great. Just make sure you're getting what you want out of your degree, and you'll be good to go.

[DarthTofu]

I'm back. My opinion sort of varied from day to day- I'd describe it as a sinusoidal opinion (get it? Like a sine wave? 'Cause it goes up to one, then down to negative one, then back up and... nevermind). There's absolutely nothing wrong with the school, not by any stretch of the imagination. The facilities are all pretty darn-tootin' great (they have their own machine shop, and even a (relatively weak) machining laser!), and the faculty is composed of top-notch professors and the like. No TAs handing out homework at Rose, so that's not the issue.

 

My biggest issue, I guess, is the student population. I'm worried there, because looking around, there seem to be two preeminent types of students: The "look at me, I'mageekI'manerdI'mageekI'manerd!"-style students, with exotic facial hair that reaches down to their knees and pimples popping up everywhere, and the "jocks" for lack of a better word. I mean, to get in you have to be pretty bright, but a lot of the kids are local, from Indiana, and not necessarily brilliant. I don't want to have a swollen head, but looking at the academic standards Rose has, I'm overqualified according to high school grades. That doesn't mean that there aren't bright people attending- far from it, because some of these kids are ridiculous- but it'll be like high school, I think, where out of the 350 kids in your class, you only wind up interacting with around thirty of them, because only about thirty of them can really keep up with you academically (and you don't wind up liking all thirty of them).

 

I just... I want college to be a place where I can have fun, and grow as a human being. I'm pretty sure about engineering, but by the same token, I'd love to be able to have a conversation with someone about something unrelated to math and science, and I'm not certain that I could do that at Rose. I like to think that I'd be able to, but.... well, we'll see. My options are pretty limited right now, as I already turned down other stuff (yeah, I know, dumb, but I was thinking Rose was a sure-fire thing), but the worst-case scenario is that I go there for a year, passionately hate the experience, and then transfer to a different school. In the event that that happens, I'd probably go to UF. And on the upside, I'll be able to transfer my credits over more likely than not, and I can get ahead in mathematics credits before I transfer if I take Fast Track Calculus (pretty much the most brutal summer calculus session you can imagine)

[Mad78]

...If you can do that while going on one of Mad's famour benders, then great. Just make sure you're getting what you want out of your degree, and you'll be good to go.

I see that I still have a reputation