I will still be working at Vernon Elementary School this term but because of my new school schedule I also have a new schedule at work. I'm now working all day (8:45am-3pm) on Monday and Wednesday. I will also be working from 8:45am to 11 or 11:30 on Fridays. This is a few more hours than I was working before, so hopefully I can earn a little more money for rent that I did last month. There were so many days off in November and especially December that I really made very little. I do have some wiggle room and can take off earlier in Mon. and Wed. if I need to without messing up anyone else's schedule.
I will admit that I was getting a little bit frustrated with what I was doing last term. Working with 5th graders can be taxing. That's just about the time kids start thinking that they know everything and don't want to do stuff that's not "fun". I'm still working with the same class, but only for the first hour hour. Then I go help with a third grade class. This is fun. I really like kids this age. For the most part, they haven't turned into little snots yet and thoroughly enjoy me helping them. Once again I am generally working with the kids who need the most help, but that's fine with me.
The only thing I don't like about this schedule (for now anyways) is that I have to take a one hour lunch from 11:30 to 12:30. I haven't taken an hour lunch at work in a very very long time. It seems like a waste of my time, especially since I rarely eat anything at that time of the day. I'd much rather just work through and go home an hour earlier, but that's not a choice that I have at this time. I guess it could be worse.
After lunch I spend the rest of the school day helping my supervisor, Mr. Rogers (yes that's actually his name) in the computer lab. Each afternoon three different classes spend 45-60 minutes in the lab. We are currently helping the students learn how to type. Except the really little ones. They just get to mess around on various kids learning web sites. I was amazed that they are teaching kids this young to type, but I suppose it makes sense to start them early and most of the kids seem to enjoy it.
I was thinking about changing jobs to something more suited to my career aspirations and temperament, but I decided to stick this out until the end of the school year if I can. I feel really good about what I am doing and its definitely good for me to do something outside my comfort zone.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
First impressions...plus a little rant
Hey! First post of the year. Hooray!
Yesterday I started my new term in school. It might be a little early to make any decisions regarding my classes, but here are some thoughts on them.
Twice a week (Tues. & Thurs.) I will be driving to the PCC campus at Sylvania. Ugh. Hopefully the weather and traffic will be cooperative. On a good day this trip takes about 20 minutes from my house to the parking lot on campus. Yesterday I showed up about 1/2 hour early so I could locate the two classrooms and pick up an activities book for my stats class. I was surprised at how many people were already there. I've heard a lot about how their parking areas just aren't large enough any more, even though they have the largest parking areas (and campus) of any of the PCC campuses. And there isn't anywhere close by that I could park without a permit. I suppose its a good thing that my first class is at 9am rather than later in the day.
My first class is Statistics I. I might be wrong, but I think that I am going to actually like this class. I've told that to a couple of people who have taken statistics and they looked at me like I was crazy. But statistics is used a lot in economics and I can actually visualize using this stuff for that purpose. I just couldn't see any of that in calculus. The instructor has high ratings on "Rate My Professor" (for whatever that's worth) and appears to be no nonsense. She has been teaching stats for 37 years, seems to know what she's doing, and wants everyone to succeed in her class. I hope my enthusiasm continues for the whole term. Especially since I have another stats class to take next term. Apparently the second term is where the real meat of stats is taught. More applications than anything else.
The class immediately after stats is my philosophy class. It is called Critical Thinking: Science and the Occult. The name of the class is a little misleading. Several of the others in the class seemed disappointed that we weren't going to really be talking about the occult much. This class is actually geared towards learning about the scientific method, which is all about accurate observing; coming up with theories, hypothesis, or explanations; experimenting to test theories; establishing causal links. We will also spend time examining fallacies, anomalies, and pseudoscience. This class should be very interesting, but there is probably going to be a lot of work to go along with it. I was a little disappointed that the original professor assigned to this class isn't going to be teaching it. He is the reason that I decided to make the commute to this campus. But he had a heart attack and had double bypass surgery about a week before classes started. Bummer. Probably more for him than me though. The new instructor seems pretty good though. She seems like she has an interesting past, loves what she is doing, and is kind of funny. Funny in a good way, rather than some of the professors who make horrible jokes or thinks things are funny that no one else has any clue what they are talking about. I am a little hot about the textbook though. It's tiny. And way too expensive for what it is. It is a small paperback (about 6-1/4" x 9") and only 140 pages long. A friend of mine let me use the book he bought for this same class, but there have been two new editions since then and the old one just won't work (thanks anyways, Chuck). So I went to the campus bookstore after class, waited in an insanely long line, and paid $59.75 for this tiny book. What a rip-off! At least its a lot cheaper than most other textbooks. And I was able to buy the majority of my textbooks used again. That helps a lot. It's a real shame about how many people are in business to gouge college students, most of whom don't have a lot of money to start with.
I haven't gone to my political science class yet. That class starts on Friday. I'm looking forward to this one. The name of the class is International Relations: Conflict and Cooperation. A couple of years ago I could have not cared much less about this subject. But I've been paying a lot closer to politics, business, and the rest of the world lately. Maybe a little too much? I know that a lot of people just don't want to know about a lot of this stuff because they think they will just be angry, frustrated, or have feeling that it just doesn't matter, but I personally don't think that is a realistic or responsible position to take. Sure, a lot of this stuff upsets me too, but I feel that being informed (and not by Fox News or anyone who is related to that organization) is an important duty of all Americans. At the same time I have come to the conclusion that a huge percentage of people are woefully lacking critical thinking skills, so maybe its better that not everyone wants to know what's going on. I don't know what's worse. Involved citizens who don't really know what they are talking about or a country full of people who just don't care.
Yesterday I started my new term in school. It might be a little early to make any decisions regarding my classes, but here are some thoughts on them.
Twice a week (Tues. & Thurs.) I will be driving to the PCC campus at Sylvania. Ugh. Hopefully the weather and traffic will be cooperative. On a good day this trip takes about 20 minutes from my house to the parking lot on campus. Yesterday I showed up about 1/2 hour early so I could locate the two classrooms and pick up an activities book for my stats class. I was surprised at how many people were already there. I've heard a lot about how their parking areas just aren't large enough any more, even though they have the largest parking areas (and campus) of any of the PCC campuses. And there isn't anywhere close by that I could park without a permit. I suppose its a good thing that my first class is at 9am rather than later in the day.
My first class is Statistics I. I might be wrong, but I think that I am going to actually like this class. I've told that to a couple of people who have taken statistics and they looked at me like I was crazy. But statistics is used a lot in economics and I can actually visualize using this stuff for that purpose. I just couldn't see any of that in calculus. The instructor has high ratings on "Rate My Professor" (for whatever that's worth) and appears to be no nonsense. She has been teaching stats for 37 years, seems to know what she's doing, and wants everyone to succeed in her class. I hope my enthusiasm continues for the whole term. Especially since I have another stats class to take next term. Apparently the second term is where the real meat of stats is taught. More applications than anything else.
The class immediately after stats is my philosophy class. It is called Critical Thinking: Science and the Occult. The name of the class is a little misleading. Several of the others in the class seemed disappointed that we weren't going to really be talking about the occult much. This class is actually geared towards learning about the scientific method, which is all about accurate observing; coming up with theories, hypothesis, or explanations; experimenting to test theories; establishing causal links. We will also spend time examining fallacies, anomalies, and pseudoscience. This class should be very interesting, but there is probably going to be a lot of work to go along with it. I was a little disappointed that the original professor assigned to this class isn't going to be teaching it. He is the reason that I decided to make the commute to this campus. But he had a heart attack and had double bypass surgery about a week before classes started. Bummer. Probably more for him than me though. The new instructor seems pretty good though. She seems like she has an interesting past, loves what she is doing, and is kind of funny. Funny in a good way, rather than some of the professors who make horrible jokes or thinks things are funny that no one else has any clue what they are talking about. I am a little hot about the textbook though. It's tiny. And way too expensive for what it is. It is a small paperback (about 6-1/4" x 9") and only 140 pages long. A friend of mine let me use the book he bought for this same class, but there have been two new editions since then and the old one just won't work (thanks anyways, Chuck). So I went to the campus bookstore after class, waited in an insanely long line, and paid $59.75 for this tiny book. What a rip-off! At least its a lot cheaper than most other textbooks. And I was able to buy the majority of my textbooks used again. That helps a lot. It's a real shame about how many people are in business to gouge college students, most of whom don't have a lot of money to start with.
I haven't gone to my political science class yet. That class starts on Friday. I'm looking forward to this one. The name of the class is International Relations: Conflict and Cooperation. A couple of years ago I could have not cared much less about this subject. But I've been paying a lot closer to politics, business, and the rest of the world lately. Maybe a little too much? I know that a lot of people just don't want to know about a lot of this stuff because they think they will just be angry, frustrated, or have feeling that it just doesn't matter, but I personally don't think that is a realistic or responsible position to take. Sure, a lot of this stuff upsets me too, but I feel that being informed (and not by Fox News or anyone who is related to that organization) is an important duty of all Americans. At the same time I have come to the conclusion that a huge percentage of people are woefully lacking critical thinking skills, so maybe its better that not everyone wants to know what's going on. I don't know what's worse. Involved citizens who don't really know what they are talking about or a country full of people who just don't care.
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