Put It On (Virtual) Paper

         Cue Alice Cooper.  This week begins my summer break from school:  not as a teacher (someday), but as a returning college student of 3 1/2 years.  With my final semester allowing for a glimmer of light before I pass into a credential/masters program, I have reflected on what lessons I have learned in and out of the classroom.  My best teachers have been my peers, if you can call 20 year-olds the peers of someone old enough to be their mother.  So, with thanks to teachers and students alike, I share my lessons learned.


1.  Sit at the front of the class.  Sure, you'll look like a studious nerd (is that redundant?), but go for the complete package.  The looks you get from being the oldest in your class eclipse anything you might get from being in the front row/table.  It has also allowed some of my professors to benefit from my ability to provide fact checks.  "Caesar Chavez organized a boycott of, uh, . . ."  Whisper:  "Grapes."


2.  Make sure you always bring your glasses.  Sure, it's easy to view large rambling writing on a white/black board, but if you really want to know what's going on in the classroom, you need to be able to read the projected web-pages on the screen.  Don't try to look younger by keeping your glasses off.  Your squinting will give you away.


3.  Always ask questions.  Sure, you'll be annoying some of the time, but your younger peers will love you for it.  With age comes courage, and the firm belief that no question is a dumb one.  Just know that you might get an occasional rolling-of-the-eyes from a less than passionate professor.  You'll need your glasses to catch that.


4.  Professor titles can be awkward barriers.  Professor, Dr., Mr., Mrs.  Conversations before and after class  are wonderful, but what do I call you?  Seeing a professor while walking briskly across campus or shopping at Target allows for very little time to determine the appropriate greeting.  "Hey, there!" covers most bases.


5.  Parking permits are over-rated.  When your school has expanded into residential neighborhoods, the walk to your classes can be motivation for the post-graduate life.  "So, this is what it looks like to be home at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday."  People do graduate and live a life void of night classes.


6.  An A- is more valuable than an A+.  Please don't share this with my professors, but this has been my belief since going back to school.  It means that the paper or essay was actually read.  A glossy A+ on a 20 page paper sounds like a major achievement, but did the professor fall asleep after page 6?  At least that's where the comments stopped.  An A- will always spark me to dig deeper and analyze more, that is after I take a few minutes to gripe about it.


7.  Power Point is a read-aloud for college students.  Read-alouds word for K - 2, but usually it is to reinforce concepts of print.  While more entertaining than becoming motion-sick from an overhead projector, Power Point is not a replacement for the content and real-world knowledge of a PhD.  Sharing with students and inviting discussion feeds both the student and the professor.


8.  The best advice can come from the most unexpected sources.  If you haven't guessed it already, I like to write.  Writing doesn't necessarily flow from the formed thought.  Rather, the act of writing can spark the thought process.  Kick start it, if you will.  A "thank you" to a professor who encouraged her students to write when they felt that they had no answer for a test question.  "I will follow the trail of your writing, because in the end you will lead me and yourself to the correct answer."  And this advice came from my Power Point professor.   Here's to new discoveries through writing.