SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW!
That is all.
Dead Week and Fun Week
Logansport High School enacted a policy going into my sophomore year that made final exams optional if a student did not miss class more than two times that semester, and was able to maintain a 72% or higher in the class. Thus, in a span of five years, this will be my second time ever having to take a final exam or write a final paper.
The one thing I keep hearing is, “Get sleep, study hard, take a break, and get more sleep.” I feel like an almost logical idea would be to pull an all-nighter at some point, and to study hard and long to try and prepare myself. That however also seems like an extremely ignorant thing to do, as it will only put you behind the very next day for more studying. Yes, rest seems far more important than saying, “I pulled an all-nighter studying for finals.” To simply paraphrase what I see as a positive message from Head Track and Field Coach Morgan.
Jake Ponton ’14 hard at work in the FIJI House Library
I think another good thing is to have fun when writing papers and studying. Stress is already present when you get to the exam room or turn in that final paper. I do not see any positives from sitting at my desk, revisiting my 400+ Latin flashcards, and thinking how I will ruin my life if I don’t do well enough. I see positives from sitting at my desk, reviewing my 400+ Latin flashcards, and thinking how well I CAN do on this test. I see positives in writing a final paper, and telling myself how much more on I know on the subject than I did a full semester ago. I see positives in keeping a smile on my face, coffee out of my system (I loath coffee, sorry Dad), and studying with an attitude to have fun.
So have fun this Dead Week and coming Finals Week, Wabash.
WAF
Test? What are they good for? (Good God Y’all!)
I’ve been quiet this week. Partially it’s because I don’t want to burn through my ESH hours too fast (I still want to write my blog, after all), and partially it’s because of Finals Week.
I don’t like Finals Week.
Yeah, I know that it’s an evaluation of everything we’ve learned over the last semester, but I think it has the capability of hurting us more than it helps us. Students have to spend long hours studying multiple topics, and then have to keep all those topics in order in time for essays, papers and tests. What’s wrong with that? Well, in the process of learning all this, we have to sacrifice such things as sleep in order to make sure that we get everything ready, and when the time comes we forget half the things we were supposed to know. Thus, we fail, and when we fail it makes us look bad and no one will hire us for jobs later in life, and it makes the college look bad because a whole bunch of students failed.
…
That might be a bit excessive.
I think it stems from America’s obsession over tests. We’re always testing things, and making a list of the things we test would take way too long. This is a bigger problem with lower level education, but what it boils down to is that we focus so much on the tests that we lose track of what we’re really supposed to be teaching our students. Shouldn’t the focus be more on getting good content to our students rather than churning out test after test?
I’m no teacher, but maybe excessive testing isn’t really a good thing. As evaluation, maybe, but as the benchmark, the deciding factor on whether or not we got a good education? No, it’s not good.
Dead Week?
Well besides my three papers, a class presentation, piano jury, and Glee Club performance this week is dead. If you didn’t catch it, there was a whole lot of sarcasm in there.I suppose I have very little to moan and groan about since the first day of class I received a syllabus that listed out all of my assignments. But still, as a student we will always have something to be upset about.
“I don’t want to go to class.” Why “It’s Monday.” Or it’s Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday. They are all fair game.
Nevertheless, I am feeling bled out and done. But as bad as I want to be done, I am not done yet. I am still pushing myself through this week to finish this semester strongly and proudly. I have been giving myself some time for leisure and I think that it might be more than ok especially on such a week as dead week. Glee Club Winter concert is today and it could not have come on a better week or day. Getting up there and performing hymns for the Wabash and Crawfordsville community feels great. I have to go get all dressed up and showered for this now.
Karruling
Don’t mistake the misspelling of “caroling” above, I did it just to just draw attention. Today the pledges and a few brothers of Phi Gamma Delta spent their afternoon going around Crawfordsville to nursing homes to carol Christmas carols. Very caroling. Lolz. Don’t take life serious readers, you’ll never get out alive. For those of you who don’t know where I ripped that quote off from go watch Can’t Hardly Wait (1999). It is a classic movie and highly recommended for seniors entering the rest of their lives.
This was the first time I had gone caroling, and it was a pretty fun experience to go an see some of the smiles we brought to the elderly. It is the Christmas season and it is time to be jolly! Hanukkah just recently ended but nevertheless Happy Hanukkah to my two Jewish pledge brothers and all those of Judaism! To my Catholic readers happy Advent season! To my readers who are not religious Happy Winter Solstice/Lots-Of-Gifts-On-The-25th! 