Field Trip!
The educati0n dep@rtment at my school recently sponsored a trip to Big State University to listen to someone give a talk about their research involving education.
I went on this trip, along with a couple handfulls of other students and 3/4 of the professors from the educati0n dep@rtment at my school. It was really exciting to be able to listen to this speaker - the speaker is someone who has written a fairly "famous" (depending on the circles you follow) book, and was clear and enjoyable to listen to. I was expecting there to be other undergraduate students at this presentation, but the audience was comprised of graduate students and professors. We were the only undergrads. Before going to Big State University, I had not read the speaker's book and didn't know much about the research the speaker has done. After viewing the presentation, I really want to read the book (and have checked it out of the library), and its follow up which is coming out some time next year.
While on the trip (we had about an hour of driving time to get to Big State University, and another hour of driving time to get back to my school) and at dinner afterwards (which the department payed for!) I feel that I got to know my professors better, as people, which was really nice. Despite the fact that I will be a teacher myself within the next few years, I still sometimes forget that teachers and professors are people too. They have their own lives and worries and do not devote their entire lives to their job. Being able to spend a lot of leisurely non-classroom time with my professors allowed me to see them as not-professors, and allowed them to act as not-professors. I already called all of these professors by their first names, instead of Professor -----. And that certainly helped me to see them as real people in the past, but this extra step helped as well.
I'm really glad I was able to go on this trip. In addition to the interesting speaker and the fun conversations with my professors and the other students, I also learned something very important. Just like the students at my school, some of the professors may be incredibly intelligent but seriously lacking in any basic form of common sense.
I went on this trip, along with a couple handfulls of other students and 3/4 of the professors from the educati0n dep@rtment at my school. It was really exciting to be able to listen to this speaker - the speaker is someone who has written a fairly "famous" (depending on the circles you follow) book, and was clear and enjoyable to listen to. I was expecting there to be other undergraduate students at this presentation, but the audience was comprised of graduate students and professors. We were the only undergrads. Before going to Big State University, I had not read the speaker's book and didn't know much about the research the speaker has done. After viewing the presentation, I really want to read the book (and have checked it out of the library), and its follow up which is coming out some time next year.
While on the trip (we had about an hour of driving time to get to Big State University, and another hour of driving time to get back to my school) and at dinner afterwards (which the department payed for!) I feel that I got to know my professors better, as people, which was really nice. Despite the fact that I will be a teacher myself within the next few years, I still sometimes forget that teachers and professors are people too. They have their own lives and worries and do not devote their entire lives to their job. Being able to spend a lot of leisurely non-classroom time with my professors allowed me to see them as not-professors, and allowed them to act as not-professors. I already called all of these professors by their first names, instead of Professor -----. And that certainly helped me to see them as real people in the past, but this extra step helped as well.
I'm really glad I was able to go on this trip. In addition to the interesting speaker and the fun conversations with my professors and the other students, I also learned something very important. Just like the students at my school, some of the professors may be incredibly intelligent but seriously lacking in any basic form of common sense.
posted by Not Quite Grown Up... at 9:44 PM
4 Comments:
If you let me know your email address (or email me), I'll email it to you. I'm really paranoid about getting "found out" and am trying to make my posts as general as possible.
No problem. I'm paranoid. :-)
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