PrincessMommy Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 I'm supposed to be putting the finishing touches on a paper I'm writing, so I thought I'd procrastinate by coming here to complain. 🙄 I'm taking a Human Evolution and Archaeology class, but our first paper (of 2) is about Endangered Gorillas and it's annoying me far more than it should We're heading into our 3rd week of a 5 week class and we've barely touched on *Archaeology* I didn't mind a whole week and a half on the history of Archaeology and Evolution.... really didn't mind upping my game on genetics and biology. But, I'm stomping my feet like a spoilt child at having to study primate behavior (including a trip to the zoo) and do a 5 page paper on endangered Gorillas in an *Archaeology* class. This is NOT an anthro or an environmental biology class. I feel like all my energy is being wasted on this stupid paper that has very little to do with Evolution and even less with Archaeology. We have 5 weeks - let's get down to business!! Here's hoping the 2nd half of the class is more on-topic. vent, whine, complaining session over... 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Do you have a syllabus for this class? It seems like you should know what's going to be covered and been able to drop at the beginning if it wasn't going to meet your needs. If the professor isn't following the syllabus, I'd complain. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 That’s so annoying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 @chiguirre - I should have dropped it and seriously thought about it after the first class. The paper is labeled on the syllabus as "Endangered Gorilla Paper" which I thought was odd. He said we'd get a handout explaining what the paper should be about at a later class. The handout is very specific (which helps). Of course, now that I've actually delved into writing it, I'm wishing I had gone with my gut and dropped this class right away. I really want more archaeology. Unfortunately, I had one class to decide whether to drop it for a refund. Our school doesn't give us much time to think about it in the summer and this is an elective for me. I still have another week to drop it and get a "W", but I don't know if I want another one of those on my record (I already had a few over the years). I'm sure I'll do fine on the paper but it isn't exactly what I wanted to learn about this summer. So I whine while I bitch 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 ugh hugs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) I hear you. I've been working on a certificate at the college I work and am taking a disappointing class as well. Thankfully I'm not paying for it. The professor knows how to teach and engage, but he's majorly distracted by his wife's pregnancy. It's midterms in an 8-week session, and we've only had two weeks of assignments made available to us. I'm in contact with some of the other students, and we've all been emailing him with no response. His wife is on bedrest and has a C-section scheduled for Thursday. The topic is not something I'm in love with, but I like the book. His in-class labs are outstanding. So I keep checking, but all I can do at this point is study the book. I had a class in graduate school with a professor in his 70's who was retiring in May. In early April he announced that he had covered all he wanted to cover. He assigned a final project with a due date, and that was it. I always wondered if anyone found out. Edited June 17, 2019 by G5052 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 18 minutes ago, G5052 said: I hear you. I've been working on a certificate at the college I work and am taking a disappointing class as well. Thankfully I'm not paying for it. The professor knows how to teach and engage, but he's majorly distracted by his wife's pregnancy. It's midterms in an 8-week session, and we've only had two weeks of assignments made available to us. I'm in contact with some of the other students, and we've all been emailing him with no response. His wife is on bedrest and has a C-section scheduled for Thursday. The topic is not something I'm in love with, but I like the book. His in-class labs are outstanding. So I keep checking, but all I can do at this point is study the book. I had a class in graduate school with a professor in his 70's who was retiring in May. In early April he announced that he had covered all he wanted to cover. He assigned a final project with a due date, and that was it. I always wondered if anyone found out. oh gracious. I hope everyone got an "A"... 🙂 I'm kind of counting on a decent grade because this professor is new and overly nice. I think it's his first time teaching at this college and he's working on his dissertation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Just now, PrincessMommy said: oh gracious. I hope everyone got an "A"... 🙂 I'm kind of counting on a decent grade because this professor is new and overly nice. I think it's his first time teaching at this college and he's working on his dissertation. Yes, first time teaching is always a little rocky. My professor hosted a technical conference for students on Saturday that I helped with. It was a really good experience, and I told him that I'd be glad to help him again. He gave credit to anyone from the class who attended, so I figured why not help? He's going to have to somehow work out the grades, so I'm guessing that anyone who has kept up is going to do well. Typical of community college classes, about 1/3 have disappeared at this point. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 IMO, archaeology is the lowest of the anthropology courses in some schools. I know one school, no one wants to teach the intro anthropology course, so it seems like they draw straws and the shortest one has to teach it. The only reason we had an archaeology course (all online) is because a member of the community was an archaeologist and did digs in the Mediterranean about 25 years ago. Even his videos were about 15 years old by the time I took the course. Seems like oddly weird topics to put together, primate biology and archaeology? Is the professor doing his dissertation on primates? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Ugh... Can I vent? I am doing an online Class on early literacy for my teacher recertification, and honestly, the teaching examples are diving me nuts. Like if you want to teach phonics, teach phonics. Don’t read a relatively complex text and expect kids to internalize that jiggle and wiggle rhyme when you have not yet taught the kids enough skills to segment jig and wig.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, elegantlion said: IMO, archaeology is the lowest of the anthropology courses in some schools. I know one school, no one wants to teach the intro anthropology course, so it seems like they draw straws and the shortest one has to teach it. The only reason we had an archaeology course (all online) is because a member of the community was an archaeologist and did digs in the Mediterranean about 25 years ago. Even his videos were about 15 years old by the time I took the course. Seems like oddly weird topics to put together, primate biology and archaeology? Is the professor doing his dissertation on primates? no. Oddly enough his dissertation has something to do with archaeological digs he's done in Bolivia. It has something to do with household changes in the last 100yrs. Don't know it exactly, but nothing to do with primates or animal ecology . I've found that sometimes new profs inherit syllabi from previous teachers. Edited June 17, 2019 by PrincessMommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Well, my professor posted one assignment. His wife had the baby on Sunday. So I did that one last night so it's done. He says that he'll be in class Saturday, so hopefully he has a plan for the remaining weeks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Y'know, after final grades are in, I might be sufficiently curious to go back to the prof and what the h3ll he was thinking. Nicely, of course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 21 hours ago, PrincessMommy said: no. Oddly enough his dissertation has something to do with archaeological digs he's done in Bolivia. It has something to do with household changes in the last 100yrs. Don't know it exactly, but nothing to do with primates or animal ecology . I've found that sometimes new profs inherit syllabi from previous teachers. That is odd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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