Collective Groans from Literature Students (and Other Bits)
My myspace mood yesterday evening: mentally winded. Wednesday included the regular battery of work and classes in addition to the grueling Literature exam and both making a presentation and receiving a paper back in Italian History.
Exam over 16th and 17th century British literature yesterday. Ouch. Fairly sure I read everything assigned (maybe not when we were assigned to read it, but before I walked into the exam) ... and there were still four-ish passages out of twenty five that I looked at and said: "Well, it's in iambic pentameter, and, um, I think, nope, that's not rhymed couplets, and, uh, that bit is a metaphor for love ..." Seriously. That bad. I was supposed to be able to name author, title, context within the text, in come cases approximate dates, and political associations.
Good news: He asked us all as we were leaving if it was better than the last exam, and all 30 of us groaned "worse" in unison. Which is only good because there is at least a portion of the exam's difficulty that was in the exam, and not because I was the only goombah who didn't absorb everything we were assigned to read.
The four of us who did the best on the first exam were all standing around afterward, and Dr. K. asked us, "So, you're all good students, did you really think it was harder?"
Yeah!
"Well, man, I really tried to make it easier. Which passages were hard for you, give me some examples?"
So, the four of us dug through the stack of tests to find our own exams. "Eight," I said, "eight was really hard for me."
Dr. K. flips to that page of the exam on his blank copy. "Oh. Really? Eight? But," he shrugs helplessly, "'fallen fruit!'"
'Fallen fruit'? Two words in eight to ten lines of iambic pentameter which used a multiple metaphors about freedom of movement's equivalency to love with water and wing images, and 'fallen fruit' was supposed to make the work, author, and context perfectly clear. The guy's not sadistic - just brilliant. Really - one of the brightest teacher's I've had (which is saying something, because I've had a lot of amazing teachers).
After lots of extra credit and a curve, I've done fine. But the down side is that everyone else did badly enough that even after the curve he decided to re-weight our final grades; so now the essay/take-home exam I have to hand in on Wednesday is worth 30% instead of 20%. I said this to an old friend a few minutes ago on the phone who lightly dismissed me with, 'that shouldn't be a problem, writing has always come easily to you.' And while the former is true, the latter is certainly skewed and exaggerated.
Italian history went from monstrous to mellifluous. My presentation, while entirely too long, was well received by peers and instructor alike. The quote research paper unquote came back with a fabulous grade. And the final exam has gone from exam to two page, double spaced: what did you learn which was most surprising/interesting in this class? Tough assignment from Dr. G? I think not.
Also, tomorrow will be my last Greek class for a while (forever is too much to face) from one of my favorite professors. I'm feeling uber nostalgic about it, and a little sad.
Post Script: in case you haven't heard The New York Times says the book industry is doing badly. I'm sure (since I largely live under a rock) that this isn't news to most of you. But I'm bummed. Part of me wants to rush out and tell everyone to buy more books - but I hardly have tons of any money to do such myself.
Exam over 16th and 17th century British literature yesterday. Ouch. Fairly sure I read everything assigned (maybe not when we were assigned to read it, but before I walked into the exam) ... and there were still four-ish passages out of twenty five that I looked at and said: "Well, it's in iambic pentameter, and, um, I think, nope, that's not rhymed couplets, and, uh, that bit is a metaphor for love ..." Seriously. That bad. I was supposed to be able to name author, title, context within the text, in come cases approximate dates, and political associations.
Good news: He asked us all as we were leaving if it was better than the last exam, and all 30 of us groaned "worse" in unison. Which is only good because there is at least a portion of the exam's difficulty that was in the exam, and not because I was the only goombah who didn't absorb everything we were assigned to read.
The four of us who did the best on the first exam were all standing around afterward, and Dr. K. asked us, "So, you're all good students, did you really think it was harder?"
Yeah!
"Well, man, I really tried to make it easier. Which passages were hard for you, give me some examples?"
So, the four of us dug through the stack of tests to find our own exams. "Eight," I said, "eight was really hard for me."
Dr. K. flips to that page of the exam on his blank copy. "Oh. Really? Eight? But," he shrugs helplessly, "'fallen fruit!'"
'Fallen fruit'? Two words in eight to ten lines of iambic pentameter which used a multiple metaphors about freedom of movement's equivalency to love with water and wing images, and 'fallen fruit' was supposed to make the work, author, and context perfectly clear. The guy's not sadistic - just brilliant. Really - one of the brightest teacher's I've had (which is saying something, because I've had a lot of amazing teachers).
After lots of extra credit and a curve, I've done fine. But the down side is that everyone else did badly enough that even after the curve he decided to re-weight our final grades; so now the essay/take-home exam I have to hand in on Wednesday is worth 30% instead of 20%. I said this to an old friend a few minutes ago on the phone who lightly dismissed me with, 'that shouldn't be a problem, writing has always come easily to you.' And while the former is true, the latter is certainly skewed and exaggerated.
Italian history went from monstrous to mellifluous. My presentation, while entirely too long, was well received by peers and instructor alike. The quote research paper unquote came back with a fabulous grade. And the final exam has gone from exam to two page, double spaced: what did you learn which was most surprising/interesting in this class? Tough assignment from Dr. G? I think not.
Also, tomorrow will be my last Greek class for a while (forever is too much to face) from one of my favorite professors. I'm feeling uber nostalgic about it, and a little sad.
Post Script: in case you haven't heard The New York Times says the book industry is doing badly. I'm sure (since I largely live under a rock) that this isn't news to most of you. But I'm bummed. Part of me wants to rush out and tell everyone to buy more books - but I hardly have tons of any money to do such myself.