School Progress Report

I got my invitation to Phi Theta Kappa today. Once I come up with the $55 I’ll join, but I haven’t decided if I’ll attend the induction ceremony yet. I hate ceremonies, and it’s not like I’m graduating or anything. I’m thinking I’ll skip it.

When I finally graduated high school (I was as relieve as the teachers, believe me,) they told us to turn out cap and gowns in at the end of the ceremony because they were rented (we got to keep the tassels.) I did as instructed, only to find out how disappointed everyone was when I walked out without it on. My family wanted to take pictures of my in that ridiculous garb. They had to settle for the work clothes I was wearing underneath.

I hate ceremonies, especially when I’m involved in more than watching. If the number of people being inducted into PTK this year is anything like last year, the group will be the size of my graduating class in high school.

Anyway, Pre-Calc is going well. I got a 96 on the first exam and nearly full credit on every other assignment, but it’s still only trigonometry. Believe it or not, I like the class. The instructor hardly wastes a moment and tries to keep everyone engaged. That’s the best thing he can possibly do for me. As soon as I get bored it’s all over. I’ve gotten bored in every other class so far (unless you count the ways I’ve found to occupy myself.) He has been close to boring me a few times, but he recovered. It helps that I sit in the worst seat in the room. The monitor on his desk blocks my view of 1/3 of the board, so I have to try harder to figure out what’s on the other side by listening instead. I’m getting better at taking notes too. I’ve taken page after page of notes for a change. For once, it actually matters what I do. If I wasn’t paying attention I’d be lost, but I think I’m actually in the top end of the class instead.

People are starting to catch on and ask me questions too. One woman, an engineering student that sat next to me in a programming course last semester, asked for some help last class. She’s having trouble with the application (word) problems, and she scored half as well as I did on the exam. Even though I was done and ready to leave, I had to stop to answer a couple of other questions on my way out too. I like helping and I’d like to do more. Helping other people reinforces it all the more for me – I consider it the second stage of learning, really. It’s one thing to take a lesson, learn it, and use it yourself. It’s even more to take that lesson and understand it well enough to explain it in terms someone else can understand.

I have another exam coming up on Tuesday, and this time I want to prepare because there are things I’m supposed to have memorized, and if I don’t practice, I’ll never memorize them. The exam is going to cover everything we’ve learned since the start of class too, so I can’t forget everything from the last exam. I really want to learn this stuff too. I can see using it down the road in other classes, so I want it to be as easy as factoring and cross-multiplying proportions. I am such a nerd! There’s no question anymore. I’m a nerd.