This is me not panicking
See? Perfectly calm. Perfectly calm ignoring the nagging sense of dread in my gut. Because I'm stupid and signed up for a class not realizing what it was or what I would be expected to do.
What happened is this: I arranged my schedule around my "writing intensive" course. A writing intensive is a course that teaches you how to write in your chosen discipline. In my case, my writing intensive is "The Historian's Craft." Everyone I've talked to has said it's not difficult at all. You'll discuss how to find sources and how to cite in Turabian. But I went ahead and signed up for a notoriously tough teacher. He handed us packets at the beginning of the course. Not syllabi. Packets. Thick ones that detailed all of the projects we will be expected to complete this semester. Well, it's a writing intensive, and I can handle that, I suppose.
I also signed up for a Selected Topics history course. ST courses are whatever the available professors feel like (and are qualified) to teach that semester. In this case, I'm learning about National Parks. (As an aside, my local PBS station is airing the documentary that is my main source for this class, "National Parks: America's Best Idea." They're decent and you might be interested in watching them if your local PBS affiliate is also showing them.) This course requires me to turn in class notes, a personal journal, and write a presentation on the park of my choice (I requested Mammoth Cave with Hawaii Volcanoes and Petrified Forest as my second and third choices). I feel comfortable with this course. I enjoy it. It is my safe, quiet spot.
I enrolled in Ohio State history online through a regional campus. Going through a regional campus saved me a *ton* of money and the teacher has excellent reviews. The downside is that the regional campuses have smaller classes and require more work. I have weekly discussion posts to write, five papers, and a research project. Plus midterm and final, as per usual. Luckily, I can work ahead in this class because everything opened on Day 1. I've spent every spare moment researching and writing my papers to get them out of the way so I can focus on other projects.
I also stupidly enrolled in "Intro to Communications" thinking that it would not be very work-intensive. I thought it would be like my other online classes where you watch a lecture and then take a quiz, but I was wrong. I've never been wronger, not even on the wrongest day of my life. It didn't occur to me for one second that "Communications" is speech class. So the one class I was counting on to not be research and writing-intensive has turned into one of my most research and writing-intensive with the added bonus of having to give five speeches. And that's when I started to freak out a little.
Because I have roughly 15 papers to research and write this semester when I have in the past only had 3 or 4 papers, and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do it. I'd drop a class, but if I do that, I will have to put off graduation for an additional six months and I desperately want to graduate on time.
But I'm not panicking.
In other news, Justin interviewed for and got a new job with his current company. He is now a corporate trainer and will fly around the country teaching the stores how to use the new Point of Sale system. There are a lot of upsides to this: increased pay and increased opportunities for advancement being two. The downside is, he will be gone for 7-10 days at a time, which leaves just me to handle everything at home in addition to my stupid school schedule.
But I think I have everything in-hand and I'm not panicking. I drop Dominic off in the morning and go to work. Go to class in the afternoon and head back to work. The in-laws will pick up Dominic from school and I will pick up Dominic from them. Then he will practice his piano lessons, eat his dinner, and take a bath, and then we will spend time together doing his homework or reading together. Then, I can use my last 90 minutes of the day to do my reading/writing.
I've already completed one of my papers and I'm working on the second for Ohio history. None of the other classes have given me enough info to work with, so I'm a month ahead in just the one class and I'm hoping to get a bit further ahead because the other classes will soon need some writing done.
But I'm not panicking.
This entry was originally posted at http://annissamazing.dreamwidth.org/425909.html. Feel free to leave comments here or there. I'm not picky. Dreamwidth comment count:
What happened is this: I arranged my schedule around my "writing intensive" course. A writing intensive is a course that teaches you how to write in your chosen discipline. In my case, my writing intensive is "The Historian's Craft." Everyone I've talked to has said it's not difficult at all. You'll discuss how to find sources and how to cite in Turabian. But I went ahead and signed up for a notoriously tough teacher. He handed us packets at the beginning of the course. Not syllabi. Packets. Thick ones that detailed all of the projects we will be expected to complete this semester. Well, it's a writing intensive, and I can handle that, I suppose.
I also signed up for a Selected Topics history course. ST courses are whatever the available professors feel like (and are qualified) to teach that semester. In this case, I'm learning about National Parks. (As an aside, my local PBS station is airing the documentary that is my main source for this class, "National Parks: America's Best Idea." They're decent and you might be interested in watching them if your local PBS affiliate is also showing them.) This course requires me to turn in class notes, a personal journal, and write a presentation on the park of my choice (I requested Mammoth Cave with Hawaii Volcanoes and Petrified Forest as my second and third choices). I feel comfortable with this course. I enjoy it. It is my safe, quiet spot.
I enrolled in Ohio State history online through a regional campus. Going through a regional campus saved me a *ton* of money and the teacher has excellent reviews. The downside is that the regional campuses have smaller classes and require more work. I have weekly discussion posts to write, five papers, and a research project. Plus midterm and final, as per usual. Luckily, I can work ahead in this class because everything opened on Day 1. I've spent every spare moment researching and writing my papers to get them out of the way so I can focus on other projects.
I also stupidly enrolled in "Intro to Communications" thinking that it would not be very work-intensive. I thought it would be like my other online classes where you watch a lecture and then take a quiz, but I was wrong. I've never been wronger, not even on the wrongest day of my life. It didn't occur to me for one second that "Communications" is speech class. So the one class I was counting on to not be research and writing-intensive has turned into one of my most research and writing-intensive with the added bonus of having to give five speeches. And that's when I started to freak out a little.
Because I have roughly 15 papers to research and write this semester when I have in the past only had 3 or 4 papers, and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do it. I'd drop a class, but if I do that, I will have to put off graduation for an additional six months and I desperately want to graduate on time.
But I'm not panicking.
In other news, Justin interviewed for and got a new job with his current company. He is now a corporate trainer and will fly around the country teaching the stores how to use the new Point of Sale system. There are a lot of upsides to this: increased pay and increased opportunities for advancement being two. The downside is, he will be gone for 7-10 days at a time, which leaves just me to handle everything at home in addition to my stupid school schedule.
But I think I have everything in-hand and I'm not panicking. I drop Dominic off in the morning and go to work. Go to class in the afternoon and head back to work. The in-laws will pick up Dominic from school and I will pick up Dominic from them. Then he will practice his piano lessons, eat his dinner, and take a bath, and then we will spend time together doing his homework or reading together. Then, I can use my last 90 minutes of the day to do my reading/writing.
I've already completed one of my papers and I'm working on the second for Ohio history. None of the other classes have given me enough info to work with, so I'm a month ahead in just the one class and I'm hoping to get a bit further ahead because the other classes will soon need some writing done.
But I'm not panicking.
This entry was originally posted at http://annissamazing.dreamwidth.org/425909.html. Feel free to leave comments here or there. I'm not picky. Dreamwidth comment count: