So Far...

It is the first week out of three weeks, and I still haven’t felt the strain of getting everything covered in class. It is a friendly environment where everyone works at his own pace—I get to focus and completely understand the biotechnological techniques. I can go up to my professor and ask questions; it is a place where I can get help, compared to High School where there are too many students for the teacher to handle, and instruction are simple and concise. Since there is no group work, which is the best deviation from High School, I am not doing the work for other partners, but focusing on myself, on what I can learn.

I really thought I was going to struggle more in the class, which I experienced in the first quarter of my AP Bio class. I was concerned that the work would be harder but, my professor discusses material, contraire to my assumption that college professors explain the concept rather than application, that I read in the book. Instead, I understand most of the book and am only confused about material Professor Hall covers after corresponding lab work is done. I do have problems with the articles she assigns because they are very dense with scientific words and proof from complicated graphs—that is just something I must overcome with my work habits. I feel that my AP Bio class, despite all the hours of sleep I missed because of it, has prepared me well for this class and for science classes in college.

My professor’s teaching is entirely different from what I have expected from teachers. She explains techniques after we have used them so then we care about what happens. I would like to know what to expect, but it does work, and I am always curious how my mistakes can be corrected.

I am surprised that my professor did not give our class homework this weekend. Kathleen, Erin and Andrew were assigned problems for Macroencomics, and there is so much biotechnology that cannot be covered in three weeks. This year it is a compact class so we have less time to get everything done, and Professor Hall has already cut some laboratory work. In my AP Bio class, we did not have enough time to cover everything in class and it was supplemented as homework. I like how lax the class is, but now I have nothing other than going to Summer@Brown events to do. I would have liked to read something because my books I brought are already finished.