I lied.
In reality, I'm writing past the half-way point into my first semester of freshman year! I like to think I've come a long way since then. It's simply impossible to try to fill my readers (if they truly exist) on what's been going on since then, so I'll just address some main points of my year so far:
Classes:
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have three classes.
My day begins at 11:30--a reasonably late time--with Western Civilization until 12:20. I suppose that it is appropriate that this is my first class of both the day and the week because it is my least favorite. My professor, a priest, is more than competent on the subject, but his lecture-and-note-taking style of teacher does not work for me. I require some form of activity to create comprehension, and not just listening and writing pages of notes. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed the emphasis the class subject matter has had on Rome, considering my vacation over the summer. Just today, during our class on the Italian Renaissance, we looked at several pieces of Roman art and sculpture, most of which I can now say that I have seen (Birth of Venus, David, Pieta, etc.). I have even taken to pulling up my own photos from iPhoto to reference during class, mostly because my own photos spark personal memories of the experience of being there in a real experience, rather than a vicarious one.
Right from Western Civilization I go to Theatre from 12:30-1:20. This is a class that I enjoy greatly, as many might imagine. About once a week, including today, we have a guest speaker who comes to our class to talk about something in theatre. Today, for example, we had someone talk about set design. The speaker was none other than my advisor, who I will mention when we get to my Tuesday-Thursday schedule. In theatre, we also do many little skits and acting activities that go along with chapters we read in our textbook. We're currently in the process of presenting skits that we did as part of a lesson on directing. In groups of three, we got and "empty scene," which is basically a short scene where, when taken out of context, there is no purpose evident within the lines. As directors, each person in the group directed the other two members in acting out the scene in a different way. Since the scene was "empty," one director may have seen it as the dialogue between a mourning woman burying her pet and a teenager, while another may have seen it as the dialogue between two men in a line-up. The possibilities are endless.
After a short break for lunch, I have Psychology from 2:30-3:20. Since psychology is (currently) my major, I'm happy to say that this is definitely one of the most interesting classes I'm taking. Taught by a Jesuit of Le Moyne, my professor is not only fully intrigued by his subject matter, but obviously applies WHAT he teaches to HOW he teaches--a refreshing change. Today, we had a quiz on learning, which is obviously relevant to someone like me who has a concentration in elementary education. We've been studying the different experiments scientists have done to test learning, such as the "Bobo Doll Experiment," where young children watched a "model" adult beat up a bobo doll (the inflatable ones that have sand at the bottom and look vaguely like people). The children, when placed in a room with toys, were significantly more aggressive towards the doll than the other group of children, who did not witness the adult model's example behavior towards the doll. This proves that children are very impressionable when it comes to mimicking the actions of adults around them, and therefore translates to explain why families with abuse between parents often lead to the children living abusive lifestyles.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have either two or three classes--it varies.
At the beginning of the year, it was typical to have three. I would start my morning at the way-too-early time of 8:30 for advisement until 9:20. This class, with the theatre professor involved in set design (who I mentioned before), is not exactly a 'class.' It is a required class for freshmen to promote involvement, as well as to support new college students by assisting with organization and other techniques to make college an easier adjustment. Since I am in the Performing Arts Learning Community, the students in this class, as well as my Theatre class, are the same, for the most part. We all are also located on the same two floors in our residence hall. Advisement is also involved with our year-long theme of Evolution, including reading "Only A Theory," by a guy named Kenneth R. Miller. I have come to despise Miller because I do not agree with many of his ideas on how evolution and religion can co-exist. Regardless, advisement is meeting less and less as the year progresses, bringing my Tuesday-Thursday down to two classes.
From 11:30-12:45 I have Critical Writing, which is easily one of my favorite classes. With its focus on grammar and writing and lack of emphasis on reading, I immediately fell in love with this class. The professor is a kind, little old woman. One of my friends is famous for saying, "I wish she was my mom!" Not only is she quite agreeable, but we also do various activities to learn the subject matter repetitively, making it exceedingly easy to pass her (few) grammar quizzes. We write rough drafts of essays in class, so that we never have huge writing assignments hanging over our heads for her class. Then, she organizes us into small groups and we work together to critique each other's papers. The next draft would focus on global revisions (content), followed by a draft with local revisions (grammar), and then a final, graded copy. Our first essay of the semester was on drugs and alcohol, and our current one is on academic integrity and plagiarism. Before an essay, we read a series of articles on a topic and fill out Critical Reading worksheets that analyze the thesis of the article, the counter-argument, and various other elements of it. The semester will culminate with an efficiency exam for three hours of writing on a specific topic. I feel as though English AP prepared me greatly for this class, since my last meeting with my group members for the essay on plagiarism found little to criticize in my hastily-written first draft... though I know my professor will have plenty to critique!
My next class is Education, from 4-5:15. This is not specifically for elementary education-studying students, but for the ones doing adolescent education, as well. Our professor has made it clear to us that the point of the course should really be our practicum hours in an actual classroom setting; there is only so much one can learn from a textbook about teaching. The technical name for the class is "Teaching in a Diverse Society," so there is a lot of emphasis on diversity in a classroom. We recently had a mid-term exam (my only class that gave one) with many short answer questions on everything from a specific field on which we did research (mine was theatre arts, naturally) to describing extrinsic rewards of being a teacher (summer vacations!). We also had to choose between two essay topics for a short essay, and I chose one discussing the pros and cons of inclusion for special education students--a topic I think my mother would love to discus or write about for an essay.
My schedule, however, does not end with classes. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I participate in a group of about 20-25 other students in the Le Moyne Singers. This groups is vaguely equivalent to Pilgrim's Chorale. The girls had to tryout because we were greatly overpowering the boys, but I successfully made it through auditions and was placed in the Soprano voice part--obviously. We sing many tunes from musicals and movies, including Into the West (Lord of the Rings), Seize the Day (Newsies), and Little Shop of Horrors. We also sing some John Williams Christmas songs, The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire), and the Star Spangled Banner (for sports events). Just Wednesday we started learning Linus and Lucy, which is quite a challenge. We got the music from the Jazzuits director (the Jazzuits are a far more select musical ensemble), so it makes sense that it is difficult. We are also expecting to get Seasons of Love (RENT) any day. We'll be having a concert some time in December.
On Sunday nights I always have to make sure I check my school email because I get an email from the executive editor of the Le Moyne Dolphin--our school's newspaper that publishes every Thursday. I get two or three emails of articles that I copy edit and send back to her. Though this task comes easily to me, I find myself getting aggravated with how unprofessional these writers for our paper sound. I am aware that articles that are editorials are not supposed to be completely formal, but how can anyone take a writer seriously if it is written in a VERY amateur way?
I mentioned practicum when I was describing my education class. My practicum hours, which must total up to ten hours by mid-December, are spent at a tutoring center in an apartment complex right off campus. It is a ten minute walk to get there, and I am supposed to be there at 3:30 on Mondays. In case you're keeping track, this means I go right from Psychology (ending at 3:20) to practicum. I spend my time there working with a few kids on homework. I am not entirely happy with my placement here because I was hoping to get a taste of actual classroom life. This lacks one of the most important parts of elementary education: a teacher who requires the characteristics of leadership and patience. There is no teacher or teacher-type role in the tutoring center. How can I decide if I want to be an elementary school teacher without being in a classroom? Working the with children one-on-one is fine--I don't mind explaining and describing things or giving an example to help them understand what a vocabulary word means. Nevertheless, I am conflicted with my want to be in an actual classroom for my practicum hours.
The most demanding of my extracurricular activities, however, is as one of the two assistant stage managers of one of the plays our school is doing. There are two groups that put on shows here. One is Boot and Buskin, which is managed and directed by the faculty. They are currently working on Shakespeare's "As You Like It," which is being directed by my Theatre professor. The other group is Major Arcana, which is completely run by students, which the exception of having a faculty advisor. The director, stage manager, set designer, etc. are students. My roommate (Kari) and I are the two assistant stage managers. Rehearsals are usually four or five hours a week, generally from either 6:30-11:30 or 8-11:30. It is a very rigorous and time-consuming schedule, but I truly enjoy it.
As you can tell, my schedule has very little free time, which is why I tend to stay up until the wee hours of the morning on the weekends when I have a bit of time to relax. However, I am enjoying all of my extracurricular activities thoroughly--so thoroughly that no matter how bogged down I am with work, I do not want to drop any of them. My classes, though I favor some more than others, are a refreshing change from high school because the professors seem genuinely intrigued by their subjects. All in all, I am having a wonderful college experience so far.
