What is wrong with me? I go to Dr. Dianne Cloche's class today and discover I should have read The Northwest Passage. Should I? Did she tell me this last week? I don't recall. So I sat in the class feeling like a complete lemon because we were talking about a story I hadn't read. I really need to get a handle on things. I mean, I'm very good at bluffing, it must be said, but this just will not do. I'm deadly serious when I say that I am concerned about the early onset of senile dementia.
In the class before with Matthew Durham, I had it relatively easy, because we read The Snow Child in class- only at the critical moment I was bursting for the loo and excused myself. That moment being when we actually read the story. The upside? The toilets in Main Arts, an Edwardian building, are really opulent.
I managed to catch up and I contributed a fair chunk of the classroom discussion towards it. I don't think that is a particularly sensible idea, especially if your observations are sometimes shrewd or left-field. You don't get any marks for classroom contribution and others simply borrow your better ideas for their essay, if they have any sense, thus devaluing their currency. Chinese students have the right idea. The teacher asks a question, everybody stays stony silent.
Overall, I'm still feeling worried about a hundred little things. The worst of it is simply being sat in a class where there is nobody I can connect with. At some point I'm sure things will click. I live in the hope that they do.
You really need a friend from within the same classes, if not just for friendship purposes then as a 'wingman' to keep you on task with what the homework is, in other words to be frank, do what I do if I were there. You need a Mr Oxford.
ReplyDeleteLie, cajole, promise favours, brown-nose, whatever it takes.
Oh and yes, the stealing of ideas from innocent looking female students at Durham was particularly annoying. But I didn't let it stop me, if they stole them then it's a big compliment. A few times in class I would get annoyed at being the only one to speak and then I'd withdraw a bit, but then afterwards I'd be annoyed at MYSELF for doing so and I'd be back in the game next time. It's your university time, don't let what anyone else is doing or thinking mess that up.
But yeah, do the homework and if you're worried you don't know if there is any, find out what it is at the end of each class.