I think that's the punchline of a joke about the guy who jumps off the top of the Empire State Building. About halfway down he passes a window washer who asks "How's it going?". The jumper says "So far, so good".
Anyway, 4 days of school, 3 quizzes later and I have 3 perfect scores.
The class is called health assessment, and it's just the basics- listening to hearts, taking blood pressure, deciding more or less what someone's physical state is right then. It's not really about doing anything to make them better if they're ill. The idea is that as a nurse I might ask "How are you?" and then check to see if what you say really jives with what your measurable physical state is. I have no idea what to do with that information once I have it.
The instructors are pretty good and are good lecturers. Most of them seem to have ER backgrounds and the way they talk reminds me of the way my Mom and her friends used to talk. In a way I find it comforting. They don't put up with BS, they're serious about what they do and best of all they're very willing to answer any questions we have and demonstrate the skills as many times as we ask. And in my opinion you can't ask for anything else.
One of the lectures was delivered by a grad student yesterday and I could tell she was really out of her comfort zone. She was hard to hear, had trouble going through the lecture and really botched a lot of basic terminology.
The day before when we were in lab with her she was talking with a small group of us and telling us to be confident when we walk into the room with a patient for the first time. And the next day she's in front of us and her instructors and the wheels come off. I felt kind of bad for her and really wanted to take her aside and talk with her.
I would have told her that she did fine, and that she should try to keep in mind that she's up in front of a friendly group of people who want to be here. I would also have reminded her that she's the expert and because she's already a nurse she knows more than we do so there's not much to be nervous about. I might also have suggested a Dale Carnegie course (I took one, it was great) to help her polish her speaking skills.
I realized that even though I've done some teaching and delivered talks to post-doctoral students at places like Harvard, NYU and the University of Michigan (and many others) as a student in her class it might be presumptuous.
So I just quietly told her she did a good job. I think the faculty had a talk with her about her lecture, and might have made some stronger points because she was a little more careful about her terminology this morning. I hope they weren't too hard on her.
Also it turns out that class is from 8 AM to noon, so I have a fair amount of time to do my studying for the next day. Which also turns out to be less than I expected.
I know it will get busier, but right now it's going well.
The cohort has 37 people in it, so we're down about 11 from the people who showed up at orientation. We were supposed to have 38 in this class but one guy pushed back to the next program because his current employer agreed to pay his tuition if he stayed at work for 5 more months. Hell, I would have taken that deal. I'm enrolled in a Jesuit university and tuition ain't cheap.
The people in the class seem like a good mix, lots of younger students, some 22 and just graduated with their bachelors and some like me going back to change careers. I am at the older end of the spectrum to be sure, but I am not the oldest.
We practice the day's lab skills on one another so I've met a fair number of people, and they've met me. The instructors are pleased with us, saying that so far they don't seem to have any "whacko's". It seems that in most classes there is one student who really shouldn't be there at isolates himself or herself from everyone else and ends up as something of a pariah. I just hope that doesn't end up being me.
The midterm is tomorrow, the written final is Thursday and the practical exam is Friday. I'm looking to start off the program with an A.
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4 comments:
So, because I am the spelling nazi...and I think you can handle it and know better...why do you use an apostrophe in whackos?
Yeah, that whole "You know more than the people taking the class." does actually help when you're scared to death of public speaking. Just saying since I just did that class last year and I spoke at the speed of light. It wasn't good and I hope I don't need to do it again.
Yay on the great start! Keep up the good work.
It is really hard for grad students in general because they don't really feel like they are speaking from a position of authority yet. Being evaluated all the time does not help. She will probably be fine in a year or so, they generally have it down by then.
But I am really glad that things are going well! Great start - 3 perfect scores!
You know, I have issues with Apostrophes. Seriously.
I seem to recall that they are supposed to be used for contractions (don't, I'm) and to show possesion (players vs. players') and I have some trouble with where they go for the possessive.
Although I think I write clearly, if not exactly concisely, I actually really suck with grammar. My writting is passable only because I am able to set words down exactly as I would say them. So when you read what I write you are getting pretty much exactly what I would be saying if we were having a talk face to face.
And what class did you do? Carnegie? It should have been like 12 weeks long. If you didn't do that one I highly recommend it. If work pays I'd jump on it. I went in comfortable about speaking and I still got a lot out of it.
I can identify most nouns, lots of verbs and if I sing the Schoolhouse Rock song I'm good with adjectives. But heaven help me I can't tell the difference between an adverb and a hole in the ground. And I have no idea what a participle is. I'm pretty sure that gerunds have something to do with old people.
I am a decent speller but a poor proof reader (which is why I sometimes spell feel as fell to answer your earlier question).
But there you go.
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