My last class.....

After taking classes in the evenings for the past 4 years I am finally in my last class before being eligible to apply to the nursing program. I have managed to suffer through Algebra, Nutrition, Human Development, Psychology, English Comp, Human Anatomy, Chemistry and Microbiology and pull off an A in all of them without a whole lot of effort. So this semester I am in Human Physiology and felt pretty sure that I could do the same. Boy was I wrong!!!
Just looking at the cover of my book you can probably guess how intense and boring this class is! I have been in the class for 5 weeks and I do not feel any better about it now than I did on the very first day of class....all of my other classes were pretty intimidating at first but I felt much better about them by this time.

My guess is that it is because up until now I have been lucky enough to have great teachers. I have to say that my current teacher is impossible! After the 16 weeks is up I will have been in 31 classes and have taken 25 tests in that time period! We are constantly studying for quizzes in both lecture and lab while trying to not only read the text for the upcoming class but also read the lab manual for the lab we will be doing that week and studying for the exams we have every month. Now in all of the other classes the quizzes were great study tools for the upcoming exams because that's what quizzes do, prepare you for the test, right? Well not this class......she said on day one that her quizzes will have nothing to do with the exams. What is the point than? It is so hard to try and study for so many different tests at the same time! And we are assigned homework every week as well and a major lab report that we get exactly one week from the time of the lab to write up.

She also told us that her tests are from her lectures not the books....but she talks so fast that it is hard to write down everything she is saying (and she walks around the room so trying to tape record her doesn't work) and she asks questions that she wants answers to while we are trying to write down what she said. Now maybe it's just me but I can't try to write down everything you said from my memory while trying to process the answer to a question you are asking. I am great at multitasking but I'm not that good. I know many people take more than one class at a time and this must be pretty similar to what they are trying to do....but I work full time as well as have kids with extracurricular activities, I can only do so much. You should see me standing at the stove cooking dinner while holding the flashcards in my hand or driving down the street asking myself questions or repeating definitions out loud.

Here is a brief summary of what the book/class is about.....

Human Physiology: An Integrated Approachbroke ground with its thorough coverage of molecular physiology seamlessly integrated into a traditional homeostasis-based systems approach . The newly revised Fourth Edition strengthens the coverage of the “big picture” themes in the study of physiology and helps students tie concepts together in a logical framework for learning. BASIC CELL PROCESSES: INTEGRATION AND COORDINATION, Introduction to Physiology, Molecular Interactions, Compartmentation: Cells and Tissues, Energy and Cellular Metabolism, Membrane Dynamics, Communication, Integration, Homeostasis, HOMEOSTASIS AND CONTROL, Introduction to the Endocrine System, Neurons: Cellular and Network Properties, The Central Nervous System, Sensory Physiology, Efferent Division: Autonomic and Somatic Motor Control, Muscles, Integrative Physiology I: Control of Body Movement, INTEGRATION OF FUNCTION, Cardiovascular Physiology, Blood Flow and the Control of Blood Pressure, Blood, Mechanics of Breathing, Gas Exchange and Transport, The Kidneys, Integrative Physiology II: Fluid and Electrolyte Balance, METABOLISM, GROWTH, AND AGING, Digestion, Energy Balance and Metabolism, Endocrine Control of Growth and Metabolism, The Immune System, Integrative Physiology III: Exercise, Reproduction and Development. For all readers interested in the study of human physiology.

If you managed to actually read that whole book description I am impressed. I can barely listen to her talk about it let alone try and read it.....plus what I read from the book just doesn't stick. I learn by doing not reading....and unfortunately we dont' "do" anything for lecture, it is all reading and listening.

We had our first exam last week and I got a disappointing 81%, only two people got higher than me and it was only by 1 point. So the teacher felt the need to stand up in class last night and rant for over 15 mins about how she has never in 18 years of teaching had a class not get at least one A on this test. She was basically telling us that we are the stupidest class she has ever had, and I currently have an 87% overall in there. She was actually mad.....I finally got PO'd and her and I went back and forth during class. Not exactly arguing but I was most definately pointing out what I thought the problem was. So she proceeded to ask me if I was planning on going to the nursing program...when I answered yes she said well it's going to be harder than this so how are you going to do that. Biatch! I rather promptly and rudely informed her that when I am in the nursing program I will NOT be working a full time job at the same time. It shut her up.

Sorry for such a long post and all my venting but I just needed to get it all off my chest....this class is going to kill me....and to let everyone know that I had not disappeared off the face of the earth. I hope to be back to having a life on Dec. 14th!