CTY Class Experience
Cynical
The first day I walked into class, I didn't see anything wrong. It was just hustle-bustle, getting things set up and doing icebreakers so everybody knew everybody else.
It was on the second day that I noticed strange things. When the instructor had some spare time, it seemed that she would check their e-mail and other things on their Macs.
On the third day, I noticed some more things. When our instructor finished with their business on her Macs, she started with their iPads. I decided I would delve into more detail the next day.
On the fourth day, I asked them 'questions' a few times to see what she was doing on their iPads that she would deliberately hide from us, using their iPads so that the iPad was facing the wall. Whenever I got close, however, the teacher immediately closed out of her apps and flipped the cover over the iPad before I could see.
The next day, I tried to look quickly at what she was doing before she could close it. To my horror, I saw FarmVille. I was really surprised. When I asked one of my best friends, Andy, he confirmed what I saw. I decided to sit with it. After all, it should be okay if they were still doing their job well, right?
The start of the second week. I have not learned anything yet. I am starting to get a bit nervous. How long are they going to keep this 'intro' up?
During the next few days, I struggled to keep my eyes open. Fundamental Counting Principle, everybody knows that already. Permutations, Combinations - I get it already. And while we are doing loads of worksheets - at least 5/day, and working on extra work packets, which are basically more worksheets. Who blames kids in class for dozing off? (actually a few did.)
At the start of the third week, I was alarmed. How was this going to work out? I haven't even learned much yet! Through the third week, its still worksheets. And while we are working our butts off, the teachers are just living the life, playing music on her Mac and playing games on the iPad and checking their e-mail and surfing the web.
Did I forget to mention? We took a field trip on the second-to-last day. It was a great field trip, 20 minutes long. We went to the bathroom. (just kidding). It seemed like it was kind of a last-minute oh-we-need-to-do-this-to-please-the-kids-because-someone-had-a-bad-opinion-of-the-class thing. We went to the Stanford Church and walked around in it for somewhere from 5-10 minutes (the first 10-15 were spent in the bathroom). If you haven't noticed, there's something called *cough* *cough* SARCASM.
This is our schedule after we finish anything:
1. Help Partner. (Partner usually says I do not need help)
2. Complete In-Progress Work (Essentially the worksheets you did not finish in the ~30 minutes given).
3. Address (very helpful) Instructor Comments (Try Again... etc.) (Oh yeah, forgot to mention that when you get one problem wrong, they don't check the rest, and when you turn it back in, you might need to wait about a week to find out you got the next problem wrong too.)
4. Review Vocab (75 Cards) (3 weeks. Seriously?)
5. Complete Something From Extra Work Packet (I explained that above.)
6. Explore Your Calculator (The first activity that is kind of 'fun' in a teacher's way (aka boring))
7. Play Games Introduced In Class (Got to this step exactly somewhere from 3-5 times out of all the times I've finished something (about 30)(kids, figure out the probability and the expected value while I play on my Ipad!))(all the games are probability games, based on dice and not very exciting).
Non-cynical
The first day I walked into class, I didn't see anything wrong. It was just hustle-bustle, getting things set up and doing icebreakers so everybody knew everybody else.
It was on the second day that I noticed strange things. When the instructor had some spare time, it seemed that she would check their e-mail and other things on their Macs.
On the third day, I noticed some more things. When our instructor finished with their business on her Macs, she started with their iPads. I decided I would delve into more detail the next day.
On the fourth day, I asked them 'questions' a few times to see what she was doing on their iPads that she would deliberately hide from us, using their iPads so that the iPad was facing the wall. Whenever I got close, however, the teacher immediately closed out of her apps and flipped the cover over the iPad before I could see.
The next day, I tried to look quickly at what she was doing before she could close it. To my horror, I saw FarmVille. I was really surprised. When I asked one of my best friends, Andy, he confirmed what I saw. I decided to sit with it. After all, it should be okay if they were still doing their job well, right?
The start of the second week. I have not learned anything yet. I am starting to get a bit nervous. How long are they going to keep this 'intro' up?
During the next few days, I struggled to keep my eyes open. Fundamental Counting Principle, everybody knows that already. Permutations, Combinations - I get it already. And while we are doing loads of worksheets - at least 5/day, and working on extra work packets, which are basically more worksheets. Who blames kids in class for dozing off? (actually a few did.)
At the start of the third week, I was alarmed. How was this going to work out? I haven't even learned much yet! Through the third week, its still worksheets. And while we are working our butts off, the teachers are just living the life, playing music on her Mac and playing games on the iPad and checking their e-mail and surfing the web.
On the last day, we took a 20-minute field trip to the church. The teacher said that the people who wanted to go in could go and the people who didn't want to go in didn't have to.
This is our schedule after we finish anything:
1. Help Partner. (Partner usually says I do not need help)
2. Complete In-Progress Work (Essentially the worksheets you did not finish in the time given, usually around 30 mins).
3. Address Instructor Comments (Try Again... etc.) (When you get one problem wrong, they don't check the rest, and when you turn it back in, you need to wait a while to find out what else you got wrong, because they check about once every 3-5 school days.)
4. Review Vocab (75 Cards, 3 weeks)
5. Complete Something From Extra Work Packet (I explained that above.)
6. Explore Your Calculator (The first activity that is kind of fun)
7. Play Games Introduced In Class (Got to this step very few times because of the overload of work)
The first day I walked into class, I didn't see anything wrong. It was just hustle-bustle, getting things set up and doing icebreakers so everybody knew everybody else.
It was on the second day that I noticed strange things. When the instructor had some spare time, it seemed that she would check their e-mail and other things on their Macs.
On the third day, I noticed some more things. When our instructor finished with their business on her Macs, she started with their iPads. I decided I would delve into more detail the next day.
On the fourth day, I asked them 'questions' a few times to see what she was doing on their iPads that she would deliberately hide from us, using their iPads so that the iPad was facing the wall. Whenever I got close, however, the teacher immediately closed out of her apps and flipped the cover over the iPad before I could see.
The next day, I tried to look quickly at what she was doing before she could close it. To my horror, I saw FarmVille. I was really surprised. When I asked one of my best friends, Andy, he confirmed what I saw. I decided to sit with it. After all, it should be okay if they were still doing their job well, right?
The start of the second week. I have not learned anything yet. I am starting to get a bit nervous. How long are they going to keep this 'intro' up?
During the next few days, I struggled to keep my eyes open. Fundamental Counting Principle, everybody knows that already. Permutations, Combinations - I get it already. And while we are doing loads of worksheets - at least 5/day, and working on extra work packets, which are basically more worksheets. Who blames kids in class for dozing off? (actually a few did.)
At the start of the third week, I was alarmed. How was this going to work out? I haven't even learned much yet! Through the third week, its still worksheets. And while we are working our butts off, the teachers are just living the life, playing music on her Mac and playing games on the iPad and checking their e-mail and surfing the web.
Did I forget to mention? We took a field trip on the second-to-last day. It was a great field trip, 20 minutes long. We went to the bathroom. (just kidding). It seemed like it was kind of a last-minute oh-we-need-to-do-this-to-please-the-kids-because-someone-had-a-bad-opinion-of-the-class thing. We went to the Stanford Church and walked around in it for somewhere from 5-10 minutes (the first 10-15 were spent in the bathroom). If you haven't noticed, there's something called *cough* *cough* SARCASM.
This is our schedule after we finish anything:
1. Help Partner. (Partner usually says I do not need help)
2. Complete In-Progress Work (Essentially the worksheets you did not finish in the ~30 minutes given).
3. Address (very helpful) Instructor Comments (Try Again... etc.) (Oh yeah, forgot to mention that when you get one problem wrong, they don't check the rest, and when you turn it back in, you might need to wait about a week to find out you got the next problem wrong too.)
4. Review Vocab (75 Cards) (3 weeks. Seriously?)
5. Complete Something From Extra Work Packet (I explained that above.)
6. Explore Your Calculator (The first activity that is kind of 'fun' in a teacher's way (aka boring))
7. Play Games Introduced In Class (Got to this step exactly somewhere from 3-5 times out of all the times I've finished something (about 30)(kids, figure out the probability and the expected value while I play on my Ipad!))(all the games are probability games, based on dice and not very exciting).
Non-cynical
The first day I walked into class, I didn't see anything wrong. It was just hustle-bustle, getting things set up and doing icebreakers so everybody knew everybody else.
It was on the second day that I noticed strange things. When the instructor had some spare time, it seemed that she would check their e-mail and other things on their Macs.
On the third day, I noticed some more things. When our instructor finished with their business on her Macs, she started with their iPads. I decided I would delve into more detail the next day.
On the fourth day, I asked them 'questions' a few times to see what she was doing on their iPads that she would deliberately hide from us, using their iPads so that the iPad was facing the wall. Whenever I got close, however, the teacher immediately closed out of her apps and flipped the cover over the iPad before I could see.
The next day, I tried to look quickly at what she was doing before she could close it. To my horror, I saw FarmVille. I was really surprised. When I asked one of my best friends, Andy, he confirmed what I saw. I decided to sit with it. After all, it should be okay if they were still doing their job well, right?
The start of the second week. I have not learned anything yet. I am starting to get a bit nervous. How long are they going to keep this 'intro' up?
During the next few days, I struggled to keep my eyes open. Fundamental Counting Principle, everybody knows that already. Permutations, Combinations - I get it already. And while we are doing loads of worksheets - at least 5/day, and working on extra work packets, which are basically more worksheets. Who blames kids in class for dozing off? (actually a few did.)
At the start of the third week, I was alarmed. How was this going to work out? I haven't even learned much yet! Through the third week, its still worksheets. And while we are working our butts off, the teachers are just living the life, playing music on her Mac and playing games on the iPad and checking their e-mail and surfing the web.
On the last day, we took a 20-minute field trip to the church. The teacher said that the people who wanted to go in could go and the people who didn't want to go in didn't have to.
This is our schedule after we finish anything:
1. Help Partner. (Partner usually says I do not need help)
2. Complete In-Progress Work (Essentially the worksheets you did not finish in the time given, usually around 30 mins).
3. Address Instructor Comments (Try Again... etc.) (When you get one problem wrong, they don't check the rest, and when you turn it back in, you need to wait a while to find out what else you got wrong, because they check about once every 3-5 school days.)
4. Review Vocab (75 Cards, 3 weeks)
5. Complete Something From Extra Work Packet (I explained that above.)
6. Explore Your Calculator (The first activity that is kind of fun)
7. Play Games Introduced In Class (Got to this step very few times because of the overload of work)
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