Well, a couple of days ago (which was part way through the first week of break) I decided to look on Blackboard to check my grades from the term I just finished and saw that one of my teachers for fall had already posted all of the class info we needed. I thought I'd take a little peek at the syllabus because the professor had warned me the reading load for this class was pretty massive so I thought I'd find out just what the damage was going to be. Here's what I found out:
- Three text books I have to buy and about eight more that are on course reserve in the library, as well as many <- (I will define this word later) articles and books she has on electronic reserve. Doable. I think.
- Fifteen films we have to see outside of class and write reports on. Ouch.
- Six 7-page papers. Yikes.
- A written mid-term. Oral final. Now this is NOT a language class, so I have no idea what this oral final is going to consist of, but I have a terrible hunch that it is going to be me and my prof sitting across a table from each other and she gets to ask me any question she wants and if there is something that I seem slightly unclear on she gets to probe until I have proven my idiocy and ignorance in her pet subject!
- Finally I decided to open the document that has the title of all our reading assignments for the semester and what did I find? With just the bibliographic info (Title, Author, Year), the list of reading assignments was... anyone want to take a guess how long? A page, two, maybe five? (Keep in mind this is in adition to the regular text books we'll be reading). Ok, are you thinking of a number? Ok, here it comes... The document is thirty pages long! Those are just the names of the articles, studies, and books I have to read, and they take up thirty pages!!
Maybe I'm over-reacting. But as someone who is just begining to take uper-level courses on a university level, I was completely unprepared for this. I am going to have a full semester as it is without this class, so as I read the syllabus, my heart began pounding out of my chest. What was I going to do? Drop the class? If I drop the class I drop my minor. Drop my other classes? If I drop those I drop my major. So, I finally decided that the only thing to do was drop out of school all together! Ok, so I didn't actually do that, I just considered it. So, since there was very little I could cut out of this upcoming semester there seemed to be only one thing to do... Get started on that 30 page list now... Sigh...
So, instead of the two weeks I had anticipated, a half a week break will have to suffice, because once again, I am speanding my days in the library. And the guy at the reference desk thinks I'm crazy. Who in there right mind is checking out 6 books on course reserve in a day with a week and a half before school starts? Me... apparently... At least I like school! :D
5 comments:
Sweetie, I know that I was there when you found some of that out, and that you told me about the rest of it later...but no matter how many times I hear about that workload, I'm not comforted. I thought maybe I'd get used to it, like sensory adaptation...you know, jump in the cold pool and eventually your senses will be comfortable with the chill. However, every time I hear about your workload, I re-experience that chilly water for you! You are NOT overreacting, silly, that's a CRAZY workload! If you want to drop out...I will too, and we can run away to another country.
We can live as nomads and teach underprivileged children about sensory adaptation.
Yay!!! Let's do it! :D
will you please post this 35-page spectacle?
Poor Nana. I would have dropped the minor. No joke.
So...I think you have an update (a fabulous one) to add to your busy life.... ;)
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