I was an indifferent student.
It’s true. I shouldn’t admit this, because now some of my own college students are subscribed to this blog, but I was woefully immature as a college freshman.
I grumbled at assigned readings, as if they were a punishment rather than a necessary part of a course. In-class exercises were designed to make my life miserable. Working in groups was something the professor made us do because he or she was lazy and did not want to lecture. Projects? Mid-terms? Final exams? Early morning classes? All of these things were like Biblical plagues to me.
While my more academically-minded friends preferred tests with essay questions because they’d be able to BS their ways out of an answer they did not know, I preferred multiple choice, because I could pick the likely answer and be out of the test room quickly. I had a 1 in 4 chance of being right, which I figured were pretty good odds. You almost don’t even need to study for multiple choice. I liked True and False questions even better.
Admittedly, I test well. And I’m also a decent aural learner, so I was able to pick up information from in-class lectures. I must have been a frustrating student though, because although it was my education, I was never proactive about it. At least not as an undergrad.
What gets me now is my attitude toward my professors and the reading they assigned me. While I was freaking out because I had to read a novel in a week (no big task for me when it was a novel I wanted to read) or furiously powering through an all nighter to write the paper that would serve as my final exam, I would picture my professor relaxing at home, calmly watching television or sleeping peacefully while I wrestled with my work.
Now I know that few – if any – of my professors were relaxing while I did my readings.
I have class tonight. I just re-read my readings for the third time, completed several pages of notes and an outline, and did a lot of supplemental research and prepped the class website for this evening’s class.
It might be said that I’m still cramming for class, but the difference this time, is that I did all my work back in November. Now I’m doing it again, but I only teach two classes. What must my professors at college, who taught at least four sections apiece, have been doing with their time before every class? And they made the lectures look effortless. They knew their readings backward and forward.
So if anyone who taught me at Trinity College between 1996-2000 – whether you were a full professor, grad student, or (like me) adjunct – is reading this post, please know that Ann J. O’Connell, Class of 2000, is sorry she took you for granted.
I think anyone who moves on to teach becomes painfully aware of the levels of slacker-tude they expressed toward classes and instructors because now the shoe is on the other foot.
To make myself feel better, I imagine I can grade papers using an EPIC FAIL stamp…
That would be pretty cool, although I’d also like a _____, FTW! stamp. (As in “Proper grammar, FTW!”)
Haha, that is one of the only advantages in waiting to go to college, I was sooo thirsty for knowledge and to soak it all up until my fingers were pruny with it. More importantly, I refused to waste a single dollar I was spending.
That’s a really big advantage! I kind of wish I’d had to pay more up front, rather than workstudy and loans, because maybe I would have had more of a concept of how much I was spending to go to college. Or, more likely, not. It took a while for me to grow up.