i started my spring semester class today, and there are two amazing things about it:
1. IT’S MY LAST CLASS FOR MY MASTER’S DEGREE! LIKE, EVER!
2. it actually seems like it will be cool. and interesting. and, dare i say, fun.
if it isn’t obvious why the first item is amazing, let me just say that i’m having a hard time believing i will actually graduate in the spring. mostly cos it’s difficult to imagine that i’ll have been in grad school for three years.
THREE YEARS. that’s almost as long as college! and yet, it doesn’t feel that long at all. maybe cos college was a world in and of itself, and grad school has been, for me, sort of an afterthought, a footnote in my everyday life.
you guys, it’s actually been… psst… pretty easy. but don’t tell anyone, cos i want them to be impressed with my shiny new M.Ed and give me a totally fabulous job. and yeah, i think i’ve learned some stuff, most of which can be filed under, “how not to run a university.” and i’ve also made some friends, like kiersten and john, which allow me to conclude that this has all been worth it (especially given my staff $$ benefit).
the second item on my list is amazing based on my previous encounters with “fun” classes. see: last semester’s YA course, which was the biggest waste of time i have ever experienced academically (and yes, i wrote that on my teacher evaluation, and no, it will make no difference whatsoever in this man’s career). every elective i’ve taken in grad school has, to put it bluntly, totally blown. like, chunks.
so, when i signed up for art museum education, i had my doubts. would we end up writing descriptions of renaissance paintings of naked ladies? would we have to watch videos that teach kids how to appreciate picasso?
after the first class day, i’m convinced (well, pretty sure) that this course is actually going to be amazing. we began the class with an exercise to get to know each other which involved choosing an item of significance on our person and then describing it as a museum piece (meaning we had to describe its importance and relate that to the viewer). i selected samantha, of course, and here’s what i wrote:
* * *
“SAMANTHA”
IPOD, ON LOAN FROM THE SARAH PITRE COLLECTION
this ipod reflects both large scale advances in technology as well as the unique preferences and emotions of its individual owner. the introduction of digital music files revolutionized the sharing of music and forced the music industry to change its methods of marketing and copyrighting. mp3 players allow people to carry their entire musical library with them, which provides a soundtrack to their lives.
while the appearance of this ipod is not unique, the music it holds reveals much about its owner. playlists of the seasons provide a time line of her experiences, and the “top 25 most played songs” offer clues to whether she’s happy, sad, pensive or angry about her job.
when you think about the music you listen to, what does it say about you and yr experiences?
when you can carry your music with you, does it become a more tangible part of yrself?
* * *
yeah, that was fun. especially cos imagining yr personal items as museum pieces makes you feel v. v. important and historical. i recommend it!
even the WORK in this class sounds great. we get to create an interactive website for a new exhibit at the blanton, which means editing film and taking pictures and interviewing artists!!! and, O… M… G, the final project entails creating a tour and guiding an actual elementary school group through parts of the exhibit!!!!!!! i get to hang out with kids and show them art!!!! it’ll be just like ferris bueller, and i’ll make them hold hands and everything.
anyway, i’m swamped at work, and my brain hurts, but i wanted to tell you about this class, cos it’s exciting. and also cos it represents a positive challenge, which is something i don’t often encounter nowadays, to the detriment of my mind. i might actually (CAN YOU HANDLE THIS) *grow* in this class. as a person. as a thinker. as an art appreciator.
which i secretly suspect is the point of grad school.
so i guess it’s better late than never.
I might have to use that assignment in my class.
PSSSTTT… I had a 4.0 for my MFA. I wrote papers that I swear my professors never read. That’s what happens when you have the same two professors for like 12 classes over 7 semesters. Sucked for the people they didn’t like!!
That’s totally the way things go at UT. As Caitlin can attest right now, the first years are a total waste of time. That’s actually why I didn’t feel like a failure at all when I stuck around for a fifth year, because that just meant I got to take a whopping 1 and a half years of classes that actually mattered and taught me something. The rest of that “education” was just a bunch of pre-requisites, but E325M, an essay writing course, was AMAZING, and the film thesis class finally made me realize how much I didn’t want to be a filmmaker, which was a very important conclusion to come to.
So basically, your UT experience sounds about right. And you should really enjoy this class and expect it to change your life in unexpected ways. It will *almost* make the YA class seem worthwhile.
Never happens a lot, to a lot of people. I know grad students that will never get it at all. Really, university is like a lot of things, and you get what you can out of it.
I am glad to hear the degree is ending with awesomeness though. You’ve been subjected to some awful, awful courses.
as the proud owner of my very own b.f.a. in art education, i can safely say that this class seems like something you’ll not only enjoy, but definitely excel in! if it somehow gives you thoughts of working in arts education, let me know- i teach over 20 art classes a week at my school, any of which could be yours (seriously- you can have ‘em. really.)!
What are these “other things” that university is like, John? I want to see you run with that metaphor until you’ve trampled all other blog comments ever.
Ready, set, go!
That sounds like a great class. I’m excited for you & I hope you’re able to link to your final project… ’cause I know it’s going to be AWESOME.
I’m really enjoying learning in law school (as an older person) - can’t say I felt the same about college. I guess it’s easier to see the relevance of my current classes to my potential future career, which motivates me to learn the stuff, but I think it also has a lot to do w/ developing emotional maturity, which I hadn’t quite developed to a sufficient degree before the age of 27 or so… I was kind of on the slow train there… because I know there were tons of people (my college roommate, for example) who seemed to have it pretty together at 18… but I was not one of them.
I don’t want to be in school right now at all, so I’m not. Done, but I am a bit jealous of getting to do some work at the Blanton. I am happy that exist in Austin.
Okay!
Bye1
This post wings.
Finishing up at the west coast farm university, I took an improvisation course via the drama department. Literally, it was in the top 3 courses of my academic education in terms of enjoyment, self-reflection and life skill development:
a) how to deal with chaos
b) how to say yes instead of no
c) how to share control.
This leads me to remember a conversation i had recently: what we should be teaching in US high schools?
Having used about 22 years of my life in educating myself, I think we do some disservice in high school. Where is the focus on life skills? (what is a budget? what are taxes? cooking skills? how to change your oil?). I can think of only a few high school classes that really taught me anything (thank you American Studies).
s/e
it also wins.
Sorry, Seth, but now days most high school students can’t even measure, much less do their taxes.
Was anyone else expecting Posh to pull a cupcake out of her pocket?
I could create a large list of items that are taught for a test but never used in every day life. For example-the poor 5th grade science teachers at my school fear that our students may not pass the TAKS test due to the fact that they cannot accurately identify the moon phases.
Really Governor Good Hair? Is this something that you use on an everyday basis? Does it assist you in making “quality” decisions concerning the education system in our state?
I agree with Seth-academics should be balanced with real world classes. Unfortunately, some people think that the “real world classes”-read vocational track-are only for those who will not go to college. Remember how we all had to take summer school so that we wouldn’t have to take things like PE during the year in order to meet all the requirements for graduation?
Ooh-I didn’t realize how opinionated and vehement I would become while typing this post. I should stop before I set something on fire.
One last comment-one of my best college courses was Greek and Roman Mythology. I took it as one of my Fine Art credits (along with music and theatre appreciation). The class kicked my butt; however I would take it over again in a heartbeat.
Katie