Grad School, Oh My!!!
Have finally decided to write about classes, because (once again) I'm procrastinating on homework :)
So yeah. I really am liking the whole grad school thing. Truthfully, the classes and expectations aren't that different from Scripps. Lots of reading, lots of writing and intense class discussions. It's good, and for the most part, the people in my classes aren't idiots. However, there are the occasional stragglers about whom you wonder how they even got a BA. But hey, there are those types in every class!
My first class is an undergrad grammar course. I figured that if I'm going to eventually be marking essays, then I should actually know some grammatical terms so that instead of writing "this is wrong" next to a sentence, I can actually write something like "split infinitive" or some other equally confusing term (grammatical terms have never been my strong point!). So yes, grammar is grammar. The prof. tries to make it as interesting as possible, but it's sill grammar.
Next, I have Methods and Materials of Literary Research. So far this semester, the class has consisted of: let's put English grad students in front of a computer screen and teach them how to use the MLA database and use MLA citations. I actually leaned over to a friend in the class and asked if they did this as undergrads and her answer was, "not really." So I guess I have yet another thing for which to thank Scripps! Supposedly there's supposed to Literary Criticism somewhere in the class. But so far whenever we sit down to discuss readings, the professor talks about his publishing experiences and how he's so much smarter than the rest of the faculty. Whenever this professor talks, I can't get Professor Harper's words out of my mind: "A PhD is not a prophylactic for idiocy." I miss that man.
Perhaps my favorite (non-seminar) class is Theories of Teaching Literature. In this class we sit around and talk about why we read, why we should read, why we should teach others to read and how. It's made me both question and celebrate my relationship with literature. It's reaffirmed my decision to teach English and has also put the fear into my head that I won't be able to do it justice. It's just an amazing course and the class period always just flies right by!
My last two classes are literature-based seminars. On Monday nights I have a class called The Ethics of Black Verbal Aesthetics. It's a really interesting class based on a really interesting idea. We're discussing Black literature from the 1930's to today and looking at the reclamation of the stereotypical Black dialect and its use in the Black National Movement and other civil rights movements. We're reading authors such as Wright, Morrison, Hurston and Walker among many others. I've only had two class periods of this, so I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later.
On Wednesday nights I have a seminar on William Faulkner. Absolutely love it. We pretty much read a Faulkner novel every two weeks and discuss them in class :) So far we've worked through Light in August and this next week we start The Sound and the Fury (both of which I've read). After that, we're on to novels that I haven't read before, which will be really nice!
So those are my classes: four grad level, one undergrad. I'm in class from noon until 9:30pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. I think I figured out that I have about 600 pages a week to read. I've already been told by another grad student whose been in the program for three years that I'm going to fail because I'm taking too many classes. According to her, I should be taking a maximum of two grad courses and one undergrad. Then I hear her talk in class and I know why she only takes three classes a semester, at the most.
OK, I've procrastinated enough and now it's time to read a bit and head to bed.
Goodnight everyone, and I miss you all!!!
So yeah. I really am liking the whole grad school thing. Truthfully, the classes and expectations aren't that different from Scripps. Lots of reading, lots of writing and intense class discussions. It's good, and for the most part, the people in my classes aren't idiots. However, there are the occasional stragglers about whom you wonder how they even got a BA. But hey, there are those types in every class!
My first class is an undergrad grammar course. I figured that if I'm going to eventually be marking essays, then I should actually know some grammatical terms so that instead of writing "this is wrong" next to a sentence, I can actually write something like "split infinitive" or some other equally confusing term (grammatical terms have never been my strong point!). So yes, grammar is grammar. The prof. tries to make it as interesting as possible, but it's sill grammar.
Next, I have Methods and Materials of Literary Research. So far this semester, the class has consisted of: let's put English grad students in front of a computer screen and teach them how to use the MLA database and use MLA citations. I actually leaned over to a friend in the class and asked if they did this as undergrads and her answer was, "not really." So I guess I have yet another thing for which to thank Scripps! Supposedly there's supposed to Literary Criticism somewhere in the class. But so far whenever we sit down to discuss readings, the professor talks about his publishing experiences and how he's so much smarter than the rest of the faculty. Whenever this professor talks, I can't get Professor Harper's words out of my mind: "A PhD is not a prophylactic for idiocy." I miss that man.
Perhaps my favorite (non-seminar) class is Theories of Teaching Literature. In this class we sit around and talk about why we read, why we should read, why we should teach others to read and how. It's made me both question and celebrate my relationship with literature. It's reaffirmed my decision to teach English and has also put the fear into my head that I won't be able to do it justice. It's just an amazing course and the class period always just flies right by!
My last two classes are literature-based seminars. On Monday nights I have a class called The Ethics of Black Verbal Aesthetics. It's a really interesting class based on a really interesting idea. We're discussing Black literature from the 1930's to today and looking at the reclamation of the stereotypical Black dialect and its use in the Black National Movement and other civil rights movements. We're reading authors such as Wright, Morrison, Hurston and Walker among many others. I've only had two class periods of this, so I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later.
On Wednesday nights I have a seminar on William Faulkner. Absolutely love it. We pretty much read a Faulkner novel every two weeks and discuss them in class :) So far we've worked through Light in August and this next week we start The Sound and the Fury (both of which I've read). After that, we're on to novels that I haven't read before, which will be really nice!
So those are my classes: four grad level, one undergrad. I'm in class from noon until 9:30pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. I think I figured out that I have about 600 pages a week to read. I've already been told by another grad student whose been in the program for three years that I'm going to fail because I'm taking too many classes. According to her, I should be taking a maximum of two grad courses and one undergrad. Then I hear her talk in class and I know why she only takes three classes a semester, at the most.
OK, I've procrastinated enough and now it's time to read a bit and head to bed.
Goodnight everyone, and I miss you all!!!