Really Reading Break?

Today, after getting started on cleaning my aquarium, I am wondering: for how many students is this really a break? That's what we're calling it, right? "Reading Break"? On the VIU website, under "Important Dates", it's actually called "Study Days". That's what it's mostly going to be for me. As usual for this time of year, I have a pretty decent stack of books I should have read by now (see below). One of my profs was joking about all his students rushing off to the mountain after class to ski, but I doubt many of us really have the time!

Besides reading, I'm probably going to be doing a lot of knitting. My grandmother has been trying to pass on her skills (German style), and I've been working really hard to impress her. She seems to have a lot of faith in me, because she has me starting with a sweater! So this is what I'll be doing between chapters of Historical Fiction, and Literary Criticism, and writing poetry for my poetry workshop class.

If you're doing something besides catching up on readings, and researching your term papers, comment below, and let us know.

Lecture vs. Seminar

I don't know if it's an official policy, or just a trend in the English department, but many of my professors devote a significant amount of class time to group work, or the seminar-like format. I guess the idea is that students have short attention spans, and cannot sit for a full hour and a half, and listen to a prof lecture (even I have difficulty staying awake now and then). Maybe this works for some students—maybe this covers different learning styles too.

Today I'd like to go on record to say that I am sick of seminars. When it's stated from the beginning, as in the Liberal Studies department, that there is going to be a large seminar component, and a lot of planning has gone into it, and students are prepared, that is fine. I'm not complaining about that. But in the English department, when a prof breaks the class into several small groups, and gives them a discussion question, I don't find this useful at all. One reason is that a large number of the students in a group have usually not read the material under discussion (now and then this includes myself), and are not prepared to talk about it; but the main reason is that what I really want to hear is the lecture.

Maybe what I'm saying has gone out of fashion, but I'm paying to hear the prof lecture. I'm here to learn from the prof, not from my fellow students.

Lamp Cosies

Today I'd like to mention the strange lamppost decorations that I saw on campus today. They are mostly in the area around the Art building, so I am assuming that they are an art project. That would make sense, right? :P I guess I could have asked someone, but I am the laziest investigative reporter ever. I can tell you that this is not the first time I have seen this, so perhaps the class that does this is offered regularly.

My favourite one was the black garbage bag thing, because it looks like the lamppost is bulging unlike most of the others which look like tea coseys. There were several that looked like they were made of knitting, and I wondered if they were knitted by the artists, or if they were made from deconstructed sweaters. If they were knitted for this project, then bravo! I am in the process of learning how to knit from my grandmother, and it is not an easy task. Below are two others I enjoyed particularly. The one on the left looks like alien fruit.

I'd say the semestre is going fairly well for me so far. I may be being lulled into a false sense of complacency though, because out of my three upper-level English classes, I haven't had a single assignment due yet! They are coming up, but so far it has just been readings. Luckily, this has given me time to finish up my applications to the Education programs here at VIU, and at UBC.

I hope the first month went smoothly for everyone :)