Online Education Review

I am actually a fan of online classes, though, as I mentioned in my earlier post, I think the grading is generally a little too lax. I did like that this class still challenged my creativity and my writing skills, while also letting my learn about a fascinating topic. However, I know that I would have worked harder had I felt it was necessary to obtain an A. God, I hope I don't get failed for that comment. I know that compared to the courses I took at Redlands, those at OU have been better. I enjoy the freedom to do the work needed at my own pace, which this course especially allowed for. I also enjoy not being forced to attend a lecture. As a future educator myself, I am actually firmly against attendance policies for college students, but I am firmly in the minority on this issue. I like that it is my responsibility to complete the assignments and seek help if I struggle with the reading or anything else. I prefer to do the reading on my own, whereas many of my classes assign reading but the professor proceeds to summarize every bit of it in class, making me wonder why I bother with the reading, knowing if I skip class too often I will be penalized. I took another online course, "20th century India," and that class allowed me to draw connections between this class and the more modern culture of India that I learned about. It was also a good experience of an online class, but I still felt the grading was very lax. The meme below is not related to online classes but accurately reflects and explains why I am wholly against group projects. I am the guy on the left. I'm also the person that emails the professor to explain exactly how much every one of my partners did, or did not, contribute.

(Meme taken from Pinterest)

Gen. Ed. Review

I think my perspective on this course is a little different, because it could have actually went towards my major--Religious Studies--but I chose to put it towards my second minor--International Studies. Considering my major, I haven't really had to think about the Humanities general education requirements because they were all filled by my major anyways. However, I do think having these humanities requirements is important because it ensures that students from all backgrounds have a chance to broaden their worldviews, something I place immense value on. I think the only thing that bugs me about the humanities is that so few professor grade very strictly, which contributes to the stereotype that the humanities are the "easy" courses. I don't think it benefits students to baby them, especially at the collegiate level. Not that they should be graded super harshly either, mind you. Personally, I didn't have much experience with gen ed classes at OU. I took comp one and two online via Redlands. I learned nothing, put in minimal effort, and received an A. My professor made no attempt at constructive criticism. I took Algebra one as a concurrent evening course at a community college near my hometown. That was fine, but the professor also had really low standards. He curved quite a bit and allowed note cards with no restrictions at all on content for every exam. I never memorized a single formula, but I had mixed feelings about whether or not this was a bad thing. I also took American History concurrently, via IETV, which is basically a professor standing in a (usually) empty room teaching to a webcam, which is streaming live to various schools. I sat in a room with one other girl, no monitor, listening to the most monotone man I have ever known in my life. I mostly slept. I got an A. Our final exam was one of those READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING THE EXAM, then you read them and it says not to do the questions and just sign your name and submit it and get a 100. It bothers me knowing I learned nothing and still did well. I expect more from our education, but its my experience that smaller institutions as well as any non-traditional format (IETV, online, evening) all have lower standards of education.

(Meme found via Pinterest)

College Writing Review

I think my favorite thing about writing in college has been that I actually feel I have improved. In high school, I was already a fairly gifted writer. I am way too anal to allow myself to be bad at grammar. My classmates rarely put in considerable effort into their writing, so I was left looking like a super star. It was nice getting easy A's, but I also appreciate the challenge that some of my college courses have presented me. I took a course, "Violence and the Sacred" with Professor Scafe. Not only was the content we studies EXTREMELY interesting, but it also challenged me in a way that I had never been challenged. He was the most helpful writing professor I have ever had. He not only corrected grammar, he taught me how to research more effectively, improve overall structure, and present my ideas more clearly and concisely. This class, however, has helped me specifically with my dialogue punctuation, which I pretty much just made up as I went along before now. Below is my favorite grammar-related meme as of late:

(Favorite Meme)

Week Fourteen: Famous Last Words

This past week I have been so TIRED, which is getting really old because—let’s face it—ain’t nobody got time for extra sleepin’ during dead week and finals. Haha. Over the weekend, I tried to have a girl’s night with a good friend of mine, who happens to be dating my boyfriend’s roommate and close friend. That reality can be both super convenient and fun, but it can also get really annoying. The two don’t have a very strong relationship, but for some unfathomable reason they refuse to just break up. So my boyfriend and I just get to sit on the sidelines and watch their drama, which I normally don’t mind too much. However, this weekend my friend and I decided to go clubbing and we had JUST arrived at the club, not even ten minutes in, and her boyfriend called and they got in an argument and next thing I know she is sad. So we ended up just going home. She said she didn’t mind staying, but mopey friends do not make good dance buddied, haha. I understand how she felt though; I would never want to stay out partying if my boyfriend and I were on the rocks. The night wasn’t a total bust though; her and her boyfriend made up promptly upon our return to our boyfriends’ apartment and my boyfriend and I spent the remainder of the night drinking wine and watching “Bon Cop, Bad Cop” which was a pretty funny movie, made especially funny by my boyfriend occasionally yelling at the characters to “Parler Français!” He is a native French speaker, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has virtually no accent in either language, which is interesting. The movie was made in Quebec and the general consensus is that Quebec is the Alabama of the Francophone world (they have really strong hick accents), so my boyfriend was REALLY annoyed by their strong accents and occasional use of weird words that only exist in Quebec. But for me, it was just really entertaining to watch him get annoyed. My French is not good enough for me to just listen anyways, so it was subtitles for this chick!

(Image from Wikimedia, movie poster)

Week Thirteen: Famous Last Words

This week was pretty busy but things seem to be slowing down just a bit—right before the finals rush, of course. I went to the Bird’s Nest on Friday for my friend’s 21^st birthday. Its nice, all of us finally being 21. It was a good time, but I was pretty tired so my boyfriend and I went home a little early. I was planning to go to my congregation’s Sunday service today, but I overslept so that didn’t happen. Today, I need to finish up this week’s Epics homework, make a Power Point for the group presentation I have tomorrow, and then meet up with my group to practice the presentation. Yesterday I babysat a little boy while his dad coached his older brother’s soccer team. I usually do this on Monday’s during their practices, but I also do it occasionally on Saturday’s when they have games. The little boy is almost completely silent, so it can be hard to know what he wants sometimes. But he is cute and well-behaved, which is nice. I am now getting off at six, instead of 7:30, on Thursdays, which is such a relief as we approach finals. I only have two more weeks left caring for the disabled woman. Since her mother is an account, she hires extra help during tax season, but once April is over the extra help really isn’t necessary. She did ask me if I might be interested in doing some evening care in the future, so that she can go out. I was really surprised she asked, but I think it would be really good for her. Everybody deserves a little fun, right? She is a really dedicated and hard-working mother, too. I hope she decides to do it. I don’t think she has went out on the town—even just for a dinner—in years. Overall, it was a good week. I’m looking forward to finishing up this semester and enjoying the summer. I wasn't sure what picture to include, so I chose this selfie I took back before I started growing my hair out. Lately all my friends have been fascinated with how long my hair is compared to back then. Ps: Yes, my step-dad is a giant.

Personal photo of myself and my step-dad, Terris

Week Twelve: Famous Last Words

This past week was the week from hell, academically speaking! I actually turned 21, but I hardly got to celebrate as my birthday fell on a Wednesday (I have class from 11:30 until 9:20) and I have to wake up at six in the morning every Thursday in order to get to work in Oklahoma City on time. I also had a four page French midterm due on Wednesday, as well as an oral French exam and an assignment for my Techniques of Teaching a Foreign Language course. I am really far behind in my Jews/Other Germans course because I had such a hectic week. With this class, we only have a midterm, final, and group project as far as grades are concerned. However, we have weekly reading that you need to do in order to do well on those assignments. At the moment, I am about two full weeks behind, which is very unlike me! I also had to post-pone a meet-up for my group that we were scheduled to have tomorrow because I had not yet done the reading for that, either. I felt bad, but my partner did not seem to care and he said he was behind, too. I felt better after that, haha. But I still need to get on it, our presentation is in a week! Geez, I just realized that. Now I am more nervous. Otherwise, my best friend from high school came to Norman to visit me for the weekend. Her birthday is exactly a week before my own, so we like to celebrate together. We spent Friday at Art Walk, which is super fun if you have never been, by the way. Saturday we went to Copa, a gay club in north OKC. That was fun but my straight self was pretty disappointed by the male dancers. They gotta step up their game! Just sayin’. Then Sunday we went to my congregation (West Wind Unitarian Universalist Congregation, also awesome, if you’re interested in attending hit me up!). Overall, my weekend basically evened out my sucky week! The picture below is of my friend, Steph, and I.It is not from this weekend, but it is a good picture!

(Personal Image of Steph and Myself)

Week Eleven: Storytelling: The Great Escape

“Alright dear, it’s time for bed now.”

“Ah, but mom, I don’t want to go to sleep yet!”

“I’ll make you a deal. You go to bed without arguing and I’ll tell you a bedtime story, okay?”

“Oh, yay! Will you tell the one about the Great Escape?

“Sure, honey. Let’s get you tucked in first.”

“Alright, mama.”

“Now then, this story began a long, long time ago. Once upon a time, in our beautiful Indian homeland, two brothers began to build their families. One brother had one hundred sons, while the other had just five. However, these five sons went on to be exceptionally well trained in various battle techniques, while the one hundred brothers remained average in every way. The five brothers, who came to be known as the Pandavas, were staying in a guest house of their cousins when they discovered an evil plot being hatched against them! The Pandavas’s cousins, Duryodhana and Dushasana, had hired a treacherous man to build a fire trap underneath their guesthouse! The Pandavas were horrified at their cousins’ trickery and jealousy! Their cousins had always been envious of the Pandavas battle skills, but it wasn’t the Pandavas fault! Their father had hired a teacher for them and he had spent many months training them. The Pandavas didn’t feel it was fair to compete among family, either. After all, this can only lead to harsh feelings and one should always value love above pride—especially concerning your family!”

“Mama, what happened next? Did they get away from the fire?”

“Oh, sorry sweetheart. Yes, they did not get caught in the fire. They made a secret tunnel underneath the house so that they could escape when the time was right, with some help of course. Then, Bhima set fire to the house himself, while the man responsible for building the original fire trap was still inside. However, they had to find a way to ensure that their wretched cousins believed the Pandavas to have died in the house fire. In order to achieve this, the Pandavas placed six dead bodies—“

“Eww! That’s gross, mama!”

“Haha, I agree, honey. But it had to be done. There were six—one for each of the Pandavas and one for their wife, Draupadi, who had been staying with them in the guesthouse. The six of them escaped using the tunnel they had planned previously and went into hiding, each of them wishing they knew how to repair the hole is their hearts, left by their cousins’ lack of love. What did we learn from this story?”

“That jealousy is bad and I should be nice to my cousins.”

“Right, that’s a very important lesson, you know. Get some sleep, dear. Good night.”
“Good night, mama. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”

Author's Note: I chose to write this story because I thought it would be interesting to make the life lesson I found in it more clear, which you often see in bedtime stories. I liked the idea of a nurturing mother putting her child to bed with this story. I included the remark about their "Indian homeland" because I think it is important to continue honoring and practicing your culture, even if you move elsewhere, so the idea of the mother being from India and telling traditional Indian Hindu stories to her son was perfect for me. I did not change anything in the story. But I did leave out some unnecessary details, such as names of less important characters, why the Pandavas were staying in the guesthouse, and where they went after escaping. I felt taking out these details made the story more kid-friendly. My main goal was simply to try out the bedtime storytelling style and see if I could make this story a good children's story.

Image Information: DailyMail

Bibliography:Buck, William (1973). Mahabharata