Psychology

So I was in a bad mood for most of the day since my I/O psych class...until abou 4:35.

My I/O professor gave us a little suprise :) A ten page group paper...not listed in the syllabus (or so we all thought). I remembered her saying "paper" earlier last week and I thought...O she must have her classes messed up.

I'm pretty sure that she's a first time teacher. She's a fourth year grad student. She gets nervous when she's in front of the class speaking...I know because she does exactly what I do: hold my breath while trying to speak so I have to gasp for air, shaky voice, and standing behind the podium the entire time instead of walking around the room. And she speaks with a monotone most of the time. So, part of me feels a little sorry for her.

But the other part...

Everyone was pissed when she announced this. One girl that sat behind me said "Are there going to be any more surpise papers that we should know about?".

To which she responded "Actually it's in your syllabus, under class exercises". Well, dang that's clear ain't it. Clear as mud.

To me, the purpose of a syllabus is to let the student be able to judge for him or herself if they want to take the class, if they think the subject sounds interesting, if the course load is too much or just right, etc. This was not clear, and I feel like it was unfair to the students in my class.

So, I had had enough. She's also graded an exercise wrong. And the exercises that she hands out, she introduces the concepts in the same class (not in much detail I might add) and expects us to be able to answer the questions correctly. She assigns readings, but lectures on things that are in assigned readings for the next class. It's all so confusing! Which leads to stress!

So before my viola lesson today I went to go in for a grad check and at the same time I wanted to see if I could make my class a pass/fail class (deadline tomorrow). So the grad check is fine, I'll graduate in May. The lady was so sweet. I mentioned that I was having some problems with my I/O professor and she said "O, uh oh, yea I've heard some things about her" (!!!).

Apparently, I wasn't the only one upset by the surprise 10 page paper. She told me at first that I wouldn't be able to take it pass/fail or else I wouldn't be able to graduate! That it had to be graded. I was about to cry. This teacher makes me nervous.

She told me that she thought that she saw a final try and to come back after my lesson. So I did.

GOOD NEWS! I can take it pass/fail, and I get to keep my specialization (this had been called into question) and I get to keep my minor (also called into question) and I get to graduate in May! So hip hip horray! They simply forgot that I had previously been approved for another class to count for my specialization so everything works out.

And, a project that was due tomorrow got postponed because of the weather, also very very good news!

So, now I'm going to go watch Private Practice and work on a mini-assignment. Good night.