Okay, so throughout my many years of schooling, I have prided myself on having the ability to pay attention and not fall asleep in spite of the material of the class and the tone of the professor’s voice. There are only two classes that I specifically remembering falling asleep in: the first was my freshman year taking Intro to Psychology on a Wednesday afternoon for three hours. Mind you, this was in Florida, so it was extremely hot outside and thus comfortable inside the classroom and this particular professor defined monotone. While the topic was interesting, the professor had a hard time convincing me thus I got a regular dose of sleep every week. The second, which Melissa can attest to, was my junior year (first year at the University of Washington) taking a class in geology (which I can’t even remember the name of the class) at 9:30 in the morning in a warm room with another professor that loves monotones. Everyone fell asleep in that class.
So, like I said, proud of my ability to at least stay awake and alert in classes. Well, the class I am currently taking, Fluvial Geomorphology, has been testing me to the extreme. The professor teaching it is brand new to teaching. She stated the first day of class that she has never taught a class before, only guest lectured…and it is apparent in her teaching abilities. She has a very rough time engaging the audience and despite the fact that this topic is extremely interesting, she cannot convey it. Her slides are dull (always white) and packed full of sentences and equations (which she proceeds to explain every single variable, and read sentences directly from them). When she is asked questions, they fluster her, and she will read through her slides for about five minutes and then provide an inadequate answer. The students have now figured this out, and avoid asking questions.
The only way that I have learned to survive this class, is by bringing my laptop and entertaining myself by accomplishing work while sitting HERE in boredom. If you didn’t guess, I am writing this post in class right now. And…..she just gave some very incorrect information about the Mississippi Delta. Ohhh, that pisses me off. About half of the class isn’t here right now and that is normal, and the ones that are are either working on something else (me and four others), sleeping, or staring at the screen (obviously not really listening).
I don’t know if it is my senioritis kicking in or what, but I can’t wait to be done with this class.
“Fluvial” is a neat word. You taught me that word.
My abnormal psych prof at UCSC was horrible. He mumbled, directly from his notes, in a monotone, with an accent. I just stopped going.
By: Morgan on May 20, 2008
at 11:59 am
You’re almost done!! Once I was out of school my narcoleptic tendencies diminished. It’s nice! And are you talking about the minerals class with Chopelas? I don’t remember what time of day that class was, but I’m sure I slept through a lot of it. I remember you having a box of kleenex a lot of the time? I don’t know if I was a better student to be there and asleep or to have not been there at all….
By: Melissa on May 20, 2008
at 6:53 pm
Every astronomy class I ever had put me to sleep. Without fail, every professor has a slew of pretty star slides to show. I had one professor who had a slide show for every class. It was a winter course, so the class was warm, and he even played soothing music! When he turned out the lights every class to show the slides, I was out too!
By: lilypadjohn on May 20, 2008
at 7:35 pm
Hehehe, that’s so funny that you remember me having a box of kleenex in that class. That was like two years ago when I got really sick in December, and stayed that way until half-way through January. Man, that was a hard winter for me.
Not the minerals class. That one was rough! The class I was talking about was (I had to do some research to figure this out, it obviously made a huge impact on me, I can’t even remember the fucking name) the one where John Stone and Darell Cowan switched off (211, I think). Both of them were really monotone and the class was in that old ass building far away across Brooklyn…can’t remember the name of the building, hehe.
And as far as being a better student, I figure you might have adsorbed something by coming to class as opposed to skipping…however, I have to say, I haven’t missed this class once yet and have not adsorbed ANYTHING! The only reason I go every time, is because at the end of the quarter when I fail, I can seriously state: “Well, I was there every day. It’s not my fault I didn’t learn!” Granted it is, at least a little bit!
By: brittastic on May 20, 2008
at 7:38 pm
Having a boring class for a semester is nothing. Trying getting stuck in graduate school with a boring topic for your desertation. Every waking moment is hell.
By: yahya on June 8, 2008
at 3:39 pm