The First Week...

Well, the first week has come and gone. Honestly, it may take another week to get a more definitive feel as to how this semester is going to turn up. It’s been okay so far, but it could’ve been much better.

Again, my classes are only on Tuesday and Thursday. My first class starts at noon. It is a weird feeling walking into class in the dead middle of the day, but it’s not too bad. The class is Intro. to Mass Media Communication. The professor, Dr. Jamison, seems to be nice and knows what she’s doing. However, we didn’t have any sort of class introduction, so nobody knew anybody during that first day; yet we still had to sign up for a partner project due later in the semester. Point being, you don’t know if the person you signed up with is going to be a studious partner or one who really doesn’t care. Here’s praying mine is the former.

During our first day, Dr. Jamison noticed that many students had two books with them. The UIS bookstore’s website listed two books with two completely different titles. Suffice it to say, many students went ahead and got both books. Come to find out, one of the books was an earlier version of the book actually required for the class. Of course, I got my books online and therefore cannot return it for a full refund, which is entirely not fair an error which should be put on the shoulders of those running the bookstore’s website.

*deep breath*

During my 2 hr, 45 min. break, I went to check on textbooks deemed close enough to online-used cost to go ahead and purchase, including my Japanese textbooks. You have no idea how stoked I am about that class. Moving on…

My break was fairly short lived, but in the future, it will be nice to sit in the lounge area on the second floor of UHB and have lunch while dabbling with various homework assignments or browsing the Internet.

Japanese class!

The first day of Japanese class felt very rough and little somber due to a tragedy suffered by someone in the classroom over summer break. The course review was nice and very much needed as many of us have forgotten quite a bit of material *grimace*. However, the second day felt like the Japanese class I remember from last year. Some of us joked here and there, and for the most part, we had fun. The second day consisted of grammatical review which again was rough, but very much needed. Now that we’ve gone back over it, we should be okay. Key word: should. J We’ll see.

My third on campus class only meets on Tuesdays from 6 – 9:30. Ugh. But it should be okay as there are times where we don’t meet at all during the week. Read: it’s a blended class. The professor we have for the class was attending a family matter and so we had a substitute teacher by the name of Nan. No, she’s not an Australian grandmother… her name really is Nan. She is a delightful woman who had us introduce ourselves to other classmates by filling out a sheet of various topics and finding people to fulfill that topic. For example, one of the topics was “Is left handed,” and so you would find someone who fit that bill. It was actually kind of fun, and now that the class knows one another, it could be a very enjoyable class.

Oh yes, I’m also taking an online class – Introduction to the Teacher’s Education Program, which is run by Professor Dunn. Our first week consisted of online introductions answering several different questions: where are we from, what type of community is it, what do you find are problems facing today’s schools, etc. Many of the students in this class seem very outgoing and friendly, which is awesome.

This is also the class that I have yet to receive my textbook for. It’s been nearly 2 weeks. Needless to say, the person I ordered it from is going to get hammered for this! Thankfully, Professor Dunn is a God-send who has put up online PowerPoint lectures that go over the first couple of chapters!! Because of this, I was still able to participate in our first class discussion question: What is a school?

Other projects for this class seem interesting, such as a family tree going back three generations, including what education they achieved. Also, there is a movie review where the plot has to be based on education. Oh, “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

School is shaping up okay. It is currently Friday evening, and I am about to go volunteer at the American Legion again before going in to work a little early in order to get LEADS certified. Work today is from 11p – 3a. It should be interesting. J Wish me luck!

My question for you is: What do *you* think a school is?

Take care all!

~N.