Bry and I recently finished our very first grad school class!!! It was hard work but we pulled it off! Here are Bry's grades. We had different "mentors" for our classes. Her mentor couldn't be satisfied by anything.
The first activity was a discussion post. We were supposed to write about ourselves and why we had made the decision to join grad school. We had to mention our previous schooling and background, and mention where we were in our life now. The thing was, we were supposed to do it in 150-200 words- which is a real challenge to someone as long-winded as I am. Here is what I wrote:
"I studied at Humboldt State, and Xi'an International Studies University in Xi'an, China. I majored in International Studies concentrating in Chinese Studies. I'm currently teaching English at Xi'an Aeronautical Polytechnic Institute in China. In five years time I hope to be fully employed at a school or private company, though I do not care if it is int the United States or a foreign country. Northcentral fits perfectly into my life plan! Eight months ago I was torn between coming to China to teach English or to attend a two year Master program in Beijing. My husband said being long-distance for two years was too long, so I searched around for an online program. Now, I am teaching and working on my degree at the same time!
I believe I need to peruse the site to feel more comfortable with it. I am also concerned with acquiring textbooks internationally. I read an article today in China Daily about National Teacher's Day expressing the concern that some teachers are overcompensated for their time, this conflicts with my readings in Culture Shock: China which states that teachers are highly respected."
It is 194 words. I also had to write a response to another student's post, which I found problematic as I could not see anyone else's posting, so I had trouble basing what I should write off of the zero examples I had to work with. The teacher created a fake post just so I could get credit for the response. I was graded on both my original post and the response I wrote. I had 75-100 words to formulate a response, and this is what I came up with.
"Ni hao, Stu Dent! That is how we say hello in China. I have often considered environment to play a large role in learning outcomes. My students are currently in a classroom that is overcrowded and cumbersome for me to navigate around, so I have been considering trying to conduct one lesson outside to see how that would work for them. Unfortunately I rely on my blackboard to convey concepts by drawings and examples, I fear I may never get to try this out with these ESL learners. I would be interested in hearing more about any findings you may have."
Technically, that was 101 words. Bottom line is, I was assured that the post should be about ourselves, and was to help acquaint us with the online format before we would get into the more difficult projects and papers. The 87% felt like a slap in the face! Like, here is what I think about your shitty life story. I noticed that other students after me were writing lengthier responses, and I can't help but wonder if sticking to the word count cost me points on the overall grade.
We'll never know.
This DID prompt me to work very hard on each assignment, and it paid off. My scores started ootching up the scale. And then the directions for the assignments became increasingly vague, and my interpretations were apparently not what the intended results were supposed to look like. Also, as a first time APA writer... the format is NOT intuitive. And, online resources give conflicting examples on what something should look like for the final product. My final counted for 20% of my overall grade. The teacher reminded us to take it very seriously.
I prayed that I would get a divine intervention- which is a pretty big deal for a pagan like me... there are a lot of gods and goddess to ask!
Suddenly, *POOF* deus ex machina! I received an e-mail from my teacher saying that she was going on vacation and thus the duty of grading my final assignment would go to a substitute! Sweet mother of monkey milk, this was my chance. I put even more effort into this, and spent two whole days creating this blog (which was only half of the assignment, but the other half is too dull to post here):
http://justaquickfix.blogspot.com/2013/11/brys-motivation-inspiration.html
It is best if you read the blog with the music playing.
When my grade came in it was clear that my first teacher must have been grading me far too harshly. I received an overall 97% on the last assignment! As it was worth 20% of my grade in the class, I was bumped from an 88% to a 90%! Fantastico!
I feel that I should mention, during the fourth week of the program we began our second class (and are still in the process of taking this class) and I have received a 100% on all but one of these assignments. It is clear from my grades in the second class, and Rachel's grades in both classes, that this professor who was grading all my work for the first 7 assignments in the first class was judging every aspect of the work with far too much scrutiny.
Though I was initially worried, it was clear from the beginning that my "mentor" was less of a harsh grader. Bry and I did our homework together, at the same time, often reading each other what we were writing. The amount of effort we put into our work was always the same. In fact, I frequently felt like her writing sounded more like graduate work than mine did. Nonetheless, though, our grades were vastly different. Here is my first assignment for the same class.
Hello, my name is Rachel Fix. My undergraduate work focused on International Studies and Chinese Studies. My area of specialty would have to be Chinese history. Currently, I am working in China at the Xi'an Aeronautical Polytechnic University teaching English to various majors. Five years from now I hope to see myself happily married and settled into a teaching job somewhere in the Bay Area. I am hoping that my time with Northcentral will help me round out my knowledge in the areas I've already begun filling with information about teaching English in my free time as well as prepare me for actually working in the American education system. So far, I feel very comfortable logging in to the learning portal. Beyond that everything still feels far too new. In my undergraduate studies I only took one online class and it was in my last semester. I never felt comfortable with the online setting. The two books most relevant to my goals that I have read recently would be "English the American Way" and "Culture Shock: China".
Take a look at the picture below for my grade on that assignment and the rest.
That's right! I got a 97% in my very first grad school class! Right now I'm sitting at a 4.0. I haven't had one of those since fall 2006.
The first activity was a discussion post. We were supposed to write about ourselves and why we had made the decision to join grad school. We had to mention our previous schooling and background, and mention where we were in our life now. The thing was, we were supposed to do it in 150-200 words- which is a real challenge to someone as long-winded as I am. Here is what I wrote:
"I studied at Humboldt State, and Xi'an International Studies University in Xi'an, China. I majored in International Studies concentrating in Chinese Studies. I'm currently teaching English at Xi'an Aeronautical Polytechnic Institute in China. In five years time I hope to be fully employed at a school or private company, though I do not care if it is int the United States or a foreign country. Northcentral fits perfectly into my life plan! Eight months ago I was torn between coming to China to teach English or to attend a two year Master program in Beijing. My husband said being long-distance for two years was too long, so I searched around for an online program. Now, I am teaching and working on my degree at the same time!
I believe I need to peruse the site to feel more comfortable with it. I am also concerned with acquiring textbooks internationally. I read an article today in China Daily about National Teacher's Day expressing the concern that some teachers are overcompensated for their time, this conflicts with my readings in Culture Shock: China which states that teachers are highly respected."
It is 194 words. I also had to write a response to another student's post, which I found problematic as I could not see anyone else's posting, so I had trouble basing what I should write off of the zero examples I had to work with. The teacher created a fake post just so I could get credit for the response. I was graded on both my original post and the response I wrote. I had 75-100 words to formulate a response, and this is what I came up with.
"Ni hao, Stu Dent! That is how we say hello in China. I have often considered environment to play a large role in learning outcomes. My students are currently in a classroom that is overcrowded and cumbersome for me to navigate around, so I have been considering trying to conduct one lesson outside to see how that would work for them. Unfortunately I rely on my blackboard to convey concepts by drawings and examples, I fear I may never get to try this out with these ESL learners. I would be interested in hearing more about any findings you may have."
Technically, that was 101 words. Bottom line is, I was assured that the post should be about ourselves, and was to help acquaint us with the online format before we would get into the more difficult projects and papers. The 87% felt like a slap in the face! Like, here is what I think about your shitty life story. I noticed that other students after me were writing lengthier responses, and I can't help but wonder if sticking to the word count cost me points on the overall grade.
We'll never know.
This DID prompt me to work very hard on each assignment, and it paid off. My scores started ootching up the scale. And then the directions for the assignments became increasingly vague, and my interpretations were apparently not what the intended results were supposed to look like. Also, as a first time APA writer... the format is NOT intuitive. And, online resources give conflicting examples on what something should look like for the final product. My final counted for 20% of my overall grade. The teacher reminded us to take it very seriously.
I prayed that I would get a divine intervention- which is a pretty big deal for a pagan like me... there are a lot of gods and goddess to ask!
 |
| We do not actually acknowledge the deity Grilled Cheesus. But we support your right to believe. |
Suddenly, *POOF* deus ex machina! I received an e-mail from my teacher saying that she was going on vacation and thus the duty of grading my final assignment would go to a substitute! Sweet mother of monkey milk, this was my chance. I put even more effort into this, and spent two whole days creating this blog (which was only half of the assignment, but the other half is too dull to post here):
http://justaquickfix.blogspot.com/2013/11/brys-motivation-inspiration.html
It is best if you read the blog with the music playing.
When my grade came in it was clear that my first teacher must have been grading me far too harshly. I received an overall 97% on the last assignment! As it was worth 20% of my grade in the class, I was bumped from an 88% to a 90%! Fantastico!
 |
| Bry's grades |
Though I was initially worried, it was clear from the beginning that my "mentor" was less of a harsh grader. Bry and I did our homework together, at the same time, often reading each other what we were writing. The amount of effort we put into our work was always the same. In fact, I frequently felt like her writing sounded more like graduate work than mine did. Nonetheless, though, our grades were vastly different. Here is my first assignment for the same class.
Hello, my name is Rachel Fix. My undergraduate work focused on International Studies and Chinese Studies. My area of specialty would have to be Chinese history. Currently, I am working in China at the Xi'an Aeronautical Polytechnic University teaching English to various majors. Five years from now I hope to see myself happily married and settled into a teaching job somewhere in the Bay Area. I am hoping that my time with Northcentral will help me round out my knowledge in the areas I've already begun filling with information about teaching English in my free time as well as prepare me for actually working in the American education system. So far, I feel very comfortable logging in to the learning portal. Beyond that everything still feels far too new. In my undergraduate studies I only took one online class and it was in my last semester. I never felt comfortable with the online setting. The two books most relevant to my goals that I have read recently would be "English the American Way" and "Culture Shock: China".
Take a look at the picture below for my grade on that assignment and the rest.
 |
| Rachel's grades |
That's right! I got a 97% in my very first grad school class! Right now I'm sitting at a 4.0. I haven't had one of those since fall 2006.
 |
| Falcor!!! |
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