Posted by alexandra_k on March 6, 2015, at 19:27:41
In reply to Re: does 'suits' get better?, posted by alexandra_k on February 23, 2015, at 1:01:28
near the end of season 2. it started to get more... arty. that was what it was going for. still-shots or whatever that are beautiful / arty to look at. in a sin-city cartoon come to life kind of a way. some of the 'witty banter' (not to witty) had a visual kind of a rhythm / tone to them... something... catchy about it, yeah.
end of week one. HOLY CRAP. things got really intense really fast. 8am classes 5 days a week... well... actually 9.30am class on Wednesday but 8am bus to satellite campus. i have, like, 6 hours of class on monday. and 5 on wednesday. and class is intense... exhausted at the end of the first week... everyone is.
the crowds are intense. around 500 or 700 students packed together waiting for security to let them into the theatre. at which point there really is something like a stampede. crowds start around half an hour before most lectures... i see they are doing us a favor with the 8am starts... since there isn't a class in there who has to clear it means people can stagger in over a half hour period and thus far anyway i can get a seat (middle of a new row only a couple back from the front) at 7.45am...
we did like, a whole chapter of the book in 50 minutes of epithelial tissue. then the next day we did, like, the whole next chapter of the book in 50 minutes of connective tissue. Like... all of the chapter. for reals. SO FREAKING GLAD i enjoyed the textbook over the summer. helping me HEAPS now... and of course i don't have any time at all to read it now... not with all the printing of powerpoints and cutting them into cue cards i need to be doing...
biology is crammable when you are tired... chemistry needs to be done when i'm fresh. manageable thus far. i think... it will be. it really is just about keeping up. she sets us 'learn this by tomorrow' and... she means it. but then... we are doing foundations / review for now... and i hear the pace picks up when they get to craploads of functional groups later...
satellite campus day is hard work... the 'easy pass' paper is... nod and smile... nod and smile... pretend like, we are 12 years old. lets have fun by learning everyones name and throwing a ball around... and everyones idea / opinion is equally valid... and... there is a bit of an edge to it... i think there might be... with them sort of wanting to give a prize to people who haven't won prizes so far... and perhaps taking delight in people who do well maybe not doing so well... a bit more of the 'tech mentality' i think... it is about equity... yes... but, again, it upsets me when people think equity is about blowing smoke up peoples *ss*s... doing that makes it so very much harder for people to discover the valuable talents that they in fact have... the source of... genuine esteem... but try and not let them see your eyes glaze over and nod and smile and nod and smile and nod and smile... maybe i'll get the 9.05 bus to the satellite campus and nap in the overflow room, after all...
(it actually... reminds me a bit of one of the early episodes of scrubs in season one... JD was getting upset with Carla calling him Bambi all the time (seeming to disrespect him in front of everyone) so he came out with some comment about her being a nurse and him being a doctor and her showing him appropriate respect... and then she was very upset with them, because they had started to become friends... and then... she said something about how... she'd never felt bad about being a nurse (rather than a doctor) until he said that... and... during the episode i didn't really understand her explanation of why she was upset, or whatever... but i guess... the thing is... the not-doctor people involved... there is some deep seated insecurity or something... probably not least because they are well aware they don't earn anywhere near as much and they didn't train for as long and so on and so forth... and that... because all of that is glaringly obvious... i think that is why... well... the conclusion was that he came to accept that he would always be... Bambi. in front of everyone. and i feel like... i kind of get that. and that there is something valuable about nodding and smiling. insofar as it conveys... respect for persons. and sometimes... whatever is going on... isn't the forum for critique.)
then... after 3 hours of that... one hour of lunch time (where i think i will be able to find a room to sleep in)... we have 2 hours of 'teamwork' where... all answers are not equally valid.
it is a bit hard to explain... we have a bunch of forms. firstly, we individually fill in a form. we basically answer a bunch of questions... there are 4 different answer options and we can distribute a total of 4 points. so... if we are certain one option is correct we can assign 4 points to that option. if we are split between two, we can assign 2 to each of the two etc.
Then we need to come to group consensus and fill in a form as a group (but with a single, final answer).
Then we get a scratchy card that tells us we got it right... or... if we don't scratch the one with a star after 2 attempts... we have to write some blurby blurble thing... which of course nobody wants to have to do... the sooner we get it done... the sooner we get it done... everybody is cranky and tired and wants to go home...
first one i did better individually than the group. yay teamwork. seond one i did very badly and the group did very well. maths test. bastards.
the team dynamic thing was really cool. i mean... it is designed to teach us how to be team players. to represent our opinions to others in a way that is likely to track truth (e.g., whether we are certain or are guessing)... etc... the two people who were fairly quick to try and lead everyone... weren't the truth trackers of the group. and one of them liked the sound of her own voice in explanation... the group members are fairly young... 18 or so... and they've grown up with a lot of 'just get in there! in ya get! stand up!' smoke been blown up their *ss*s...
anyway... we have the same team of people (i think 6 of us) for the rest of the semester... will be interesting to see how much better we get at identifying the ones who know... especially if they mix up the tasks so different people are likely to be the truth trackers for the different scenarios). i guess it is mostly about getting a reputation for being reliable with respect to 'listen to me' or 'i don't know' or 'don't listen to me'. better at succinctly explaining our rationale. i think most people are used to the idea that there must be one leader who always leads by default instead of thinking that different people might be better or worse suited to lead depending on the nature of the problem / task... anyway... first time i've EVER enjoyed group work. Because we hand ALL of the forms in. And because the answer is relatively clear (though I hear it gets a bit hazier with likely treatment outcomes eventually... but clear at this stage...) So it it obvious to everyone at the end who should have led the group.
i know they do a LOT of that kind of thing with the problem based learning stuff in med school. to get inter-disciplinary teams working together etc etc etc. it really is ingeniously designed...
anyway... feeling... good. not much time to think... very very very very busy. not much time to do anything other than study / do little tasks worth about 0.5% each... a constant succession of them to check we can manage our time / to get us used to busy-work, one can only suppose...
the kids are pretty good. smart... friendly... i was a bit worried some of them were starting to think i was cold etc with headphones... preferring to sit by myself and focus on pre-post readings rather than smalltalk with yet another new person... but i think people are getting to know me... to not take it personally... that it is my way of coping with stress whereas smalltalk is their way of coping with stress... And... I guess I'm trying to be kinder, too. Because everyone is feeling insecure and taking things personally and sleep deprived and overcrowded etc etc etc...
anyway...
week 2... onward ho.
i like my lab partner for bio :)
fingers crossed i get a kind and patient lab partner for chemistry on monday... i surely need it...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1076978
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20150214/msgs/1077356.html