I'm a College Kid: It's Too Easy.

It's too easy.

Much too easy.

Somehow, I have already settled back into the routine of school, and it's only been a week since classes have started.

I'm pretty sure these were my thoughts this time last year, when everything was new and cool:

Can't wait for my next class!

How the heck do I buy textbooks? Someone come with me so I don't look stupid.

Living with a stranger is really awkward...

Holy cow, look at all the food I can eat at every meal!

Cool, college is like a constant sleepover; all my friends live right down the hall!

Hey, look at that cute guy. *Practices wink and fails miserably

It takes 15 minutes to get to class? Ugh, that's so far!

Need to straighten my hair and put on makeup and dress nice for the first week!

Woohoo, Syllabus Week! No homework!

Oh my gosh, where's my map? I think I'm already lost.

The dramatic difference for this year:

Ugh, I have to go to class.

Textbooks cost $500 this semester?! I don't have that kind of money, college.

I love my roommate!

I'm already bored of the dining court.

All of my friends are living off-campus this year :(

None of these guys are attractive.

Can totally make it to class in 10. #rolloutofbedandgo

How many days in a row is acceptable to wear Nike shorts and a t-shirt?

I already have to read 4 chapter ones in textbooks...Syllabus Week is supposed to be easy.

Oh my gosh, where's my map? I think I'm already lost. (Some things will never change)

Many of us have marveled over the maturity difference from the first year of college to the second. You honestly learn so much the first year, both about college and yourself.

But, in case you were wondering, here's what went down the first week of sophomore year. (By the way, I'm pretty sure the more in sophomore indicates more homework.)

The week was, (how should I put this? boring? dry? monotonous? unimpressive?) average. Nothing particularly bad happened, but nothing particularly good happened either. My theory? After the excitement and unpredictability of BGR, how could a week of class compare? I'm sure for the freshmen, it was great. So many new people! So many different professors! So many new buildings! Such an adventure! My life is beginning! Yay college!

And as I write those "freshmen thoughts," I laugh at myself (in my head of course; Jess would be slightly concerned if I just burst out laughing as I'm typing), because I was the same way, exactly a year ago. But I guess the novelty has worn off, and instead, I know what to expect from class.

Kasey Kaisershot's Quick Notes on Sophomore Year Classes

EDPS 23500: Learning and Motivation

Dr. Yough (pronounced Yo, like how cool is that?) is as legit as his name. He has lot's of energy and seems pretty cool...so far.
This class is straight up educational psych, and a lot of it is common sense, but I think I'll be able to learn a lot of helpful things teacher-wise.

EDPS 26500: The Inclusive Classroom

Honestly don't even know my professor's name. Pretty sure she didn't introduce herself. She's this short woman with really long, dark hair that she pulls back into a ponytail. She's really dry and has a snarky sense of sarcasm, but it's not funny. It's almost demeaning. And let's talk about the lack of inflection in her voice.
What's worse? We're in the same classroom as the class above, and directly after. So if our prof. didn't make me look forward to the class, then the fact that we're stuck in the same seats with the same people for 2 hours does it.
The class itself focuses on students with special needs in the classroom, which will actually be really beneficial. Even though I'm not a Special Education major, I'll surely encounter students with special needs in my classroom, so I'm glad to be learning about ways to work with those students so they have a meaningful learning experience.

EDST 20000: History and Philosophy of Education

Yeah, no.
Boring.
Both the lecture teacher and recitation teacher are TAs, not even professors.
Oh well, at least they're cool.
The class is self-explanatory based on it's name

HIST 10500: Survey of Global History

The course is required, but perhaps it will be interesting
I mean, we've talked about the Bubonic Plague, so that's interesting at least.
My professor is really awesome. I mean, her name is Tithi Bhattacharya. That's pretty cool. She's really passionate, which is good. That means I won't fall asleep during class!

HONR 19900: McDonaldization of Society

This class seems quite interesting. We talk about how the principles that McDonald's functions on (efficiency, control, predictability, and calculability) are permeating almost all aspects of society.
What does this have to do with education? On the surface, nothing. It's not a required course for the major, but rather an honors course that's offered here. But education is actually a McDonaldized subject we discuss!
The professor, Dr. La Lopa, is pretty cool, too. He likes to provoke us to make us discuss things.

EDCI 32500: Literacy in the Primary Classroom

We basically learn how kids read and write and how to teach them. So far, it's a pretty enjoyable class since I love reading and writing and want my students to love it and excel at it too!
My professor is so cool. Why? She used to be a first grade teacher, and you can tell. Some people would say, "I don't want to be treated like a first grader in a college class!" But the way she doesn't isn't demeaning in the least. Instead, it's her way of modeling the appropriate actions to take and words to use when in a classroom, so it's cool. Plus, who doesn't love to have children's picture books read out loud to them in class just for the heck of it?!

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is what my semester will consist of. I'm pretty excited for the content of most, but unfortunately, the way I will be learning that content is by reading it in the textbooks. Because here's how many of the classes are set up:

Read the chapter from the textbook, then we'll take a quiz on what you read, and then I'm going to lecture you on the exact same thing that you already read about, with no extra information and sometimes with exact wording from the textbook. Not ideal if you ask me. But whatever, I'll suck it up. Or complain on my blog on the daily. Whichever.

Some other information that you may or may not want to know but that I'm going to tell you anyway:

I'm done with math classes...FOREVER!! I mentioned that I took a credit exam last week, and I found out that I passed and don't have to take the last math class required for my major. Hallelujah, because I hate geometry.
I got my classroom assignment for my Block II class. This is the classroom I'll be visiting for 2 hours each week to work with the teachers and the students so I can practice what I've been learning in classes. My assignment: Kindergarten at Wea Ridge Elementary, about 20 minutes away. My first thought? Oh no. I don't want to work with kindergarteners! I want to work with the older students, because that's who I want to teach when I'm older! But I think it'll be a good experience to work with the little guys, and I'm sure I'll come away with lots of stories :)
On Wednesdays for the rest of the semester, I'll be going to Happy Hollow Elementary to tutor for an hour and a half! The school has a remediation program to help students with subjects/homework they're struggling with, so I get to volunteer to help them out, which will be very rewarding!
On Thursday night, I attended the Big Gathering for the leadership conference I'll be attending next weekend. This was essentially a chance to meet everyone who's going on the retreat and to meet our small groups. There were actually a ton of girls from the fourth floor last year who are going on this retreat! I'm pretty excited about it. We also had to take this quiz thing that assessed our strengths as leaders. Mine? Empathy, Maximizer, Developer, Achiever, and Positivity. Also on Thursday night, the fire alarms started going off like crazy, and then we realized it was a fire drill. So, we all filed out of Shreve a little grumpily, but all of a sudden, we saw a ton of guys run up and they started serenading us. What??? It was the Glee Club, capitalizing on this opportunity to spread their word about the free show they were having the next night to a bunch of girls who a) love getting serenaded and b) had nothing else to do but listen since we were forced outside. It was great.
Friday was busy! I got to see my friend Annie's apartment and we got Den Pops together. Also, we had fancy floor dinner where we all dressed up, and then we went to the Glee Club's First-Nighter, which is their opening show, and it was free! It was really good, and let's be honest, who doesn't want to watch a bunch of attractive guys in bow ties singing to you? After that, some of us went to Fairway for their first party of the year. Theme? PAINT PARTY!! It was a blast! We were all outside wearing white and having pant thrown, squirted, and sprayed at us. We were covered! It was so much fun though. We danced like crazy and had a blast. Me at a dance party? Who woulda thought? #sarcasm

Alright, time for me to shut my mouth. Enjoy this week, everyone!

Photos, yo.