One Semester in the Life of a Physically Disabled College Student: Why It's Called Your CourseLOAD PDF Print E-mail

It is called that because sometimes, along about the second half of the first college semester, it seems like you will never get out from under the LOAD of work!

But never fear, students always do. This installment of "One Semester in the Life..." covers exactly how much work Tom had to accomplish during his first semester at his new college.

Tom took four classes this semester -- something we realized early on was probably too much -- but he wanted to know just what he could expect and what he could do. They were World Literature, Environmental Science, World History and American Government. They required:

Literature: 3 papers; oral/visual presentation; weekly short essays; extensive readings; reading exams and discussions; multiple extra credit opportunities

Science: 3 exams; 4 labs; readings; extra credit opportunities

History: 4 exams, semester-long mapping/writing assignment; approx. 40 pages reading per week; no extra credit

Political Science: 4 exams; extra credit paper; weekly readings from text and from The Economist

An important thing to remember here is that Tom needs assistance with things such as writing, getting books, doing research, highlighting, etc.

Although work was constant throughout the semester, it really began to build up after spring break as the map project, political science extra credit, English presentation were all coming due. Those last weeks working on these in addition to all the daily reading and continuing tests made the LOAD pretty substantial. I know - I did the typing and assisted in keeping track of assignments.

It's finally over for the semester now and grades are coming in. The best thing so far, as a parent, is the exposure Tom's had this year to so much writing, reading everything from Dante to Kafka, debating ethical questions in science and following the "Arab Spring" in the Economist.

Although they probably won't read this, here's to some very caring and literate professors -- and especially to Tom for one marathon semester!

 

Comments (0)
Write comment
Your Contact Details:
Comment:
[b] [i] [u] [url] [quote] [code] [img]   

!joomlacomment 4.0 Copyright (C) 2009 Compojoom.com . All rights reserved."

< Prev   Next >