Pediatric Audiology Presentation

I go in to Pediatric Audiology, totally stressed out. We have fifty slides, and forty minutes to present them. Then we had a quiz, which means we would only have thirty-five minutes to present, at best. I get one question into the quiz, and what happens? Fire alarms.

Yep. Some little kid set off the fire alarm. No real fire, which means we went back in after five minutes or so. Of course, that means we only had thirty minutes for fifty slides.

It's a good thing I talk so fast.

Here are a few of the comments from the other students in the class. I feel the need to post them, because it is so rare that I get compliments in anything.

"I liked how they elaborated after reading their slide. That to me showed that they had a high level of knowledge on their topic."

Ha! Little do they know I was making everything up!

"I like how they expanded on what was on each slide. I really liked the sign-language video. I found this information very interesting. They were professional, well dressed, and organized. Sometimes they talked a little fast, but it’s understandable because of the time constraint."

That's me, the fast talker. But I got us through everything with fifteen seconds to spare!

"Good balance of reviewing old information and incorporating new information. Included helpful visuals to illustrate information"

Yeah, you see, for someone like me that doesn't pay attention in any of her classes, it was all new information...I'm glad this person had heard of some of it before though...

And from the professor:
"You both did a great job. Content was relevant and your presented material was consistent with college seniors in this major. You went into good depth, given the time constraints, and I think class members received a good review of some information and gained new information and knowledge. Your presentation was well organized, clear, and concise. You defined terms and answered questions well. You both presented very well. Be careful with filler words and reading too much from the slides. You both spoke loudly and clearly. You were both professionally dressed. Overall, great job."

I definitely put in "ums" all the time. It's just the most natural sound when you're clicking for the next slide. But if that's the worst thing I do, I think I'm pretty well off. I'm just glad it's all over.

And I didn't get a parking ticket today! Yay!

Bottom of the Crop, Cream of the Barrel

So we went over that stupid test that I failed in class today. I'm tempted to put all the questions and answers on here, if I could only figure out how the linky thing works. Although I might get kicked out for that...I don't know. I don't think he'd have gone over the test if we weren't allowed to share the notes. Though I get the feeling he recycles questions.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic. The average score in the class was 81%. Two people got 100%. Now, we all know I'm pretty terrible at math, but I'm pretty sure that means that I had one of the lowest grades in the class. Surprise! Not everyone failed. Just me.

To quote Shrek, "I need something deep fried and smothered in chocolate."

Wanting to pay attention in class, and not being able to

So, I failed the Speech Science test. Yep. 63%.

You know, (warning, I feel a rant coming on) I'm so sick of my self-esteem teetering on how well I do on tests about topics that do nothing to help me. These classes are not beneficial to me. They are teaching me nothing that I care to know. Or need to know. I will never need to know whether a FFT would show harmonic peaks or fundamental frequencies or a clown smoking weed with Michael Phelps. It doesn't matter, and I don't care. And I shouldn't have to feel bad about myself because I don't know it.

I think I came closer to a mental breakdown in the Testing Center than I ever have in my life. I know I say that all the time, but I really do mean it. I panicked, I really did. Air raced in and out my lungs at about the same speed as my heartbeat, which rivaled a psycho woodpecker. I was certain that I was going to faint. The words sort of swirled around, I know now what it's like to be dyslexic. I couldn't read, I could barely see, and I was positive that I would fail. Which I did. Self-fulfilling prophecy? Probably. But what else could I do? I had to get out of that place. I answered what I could and guessed on what I couldn't. I've never been a good guesser.

I wish I could feel some inspiration to write. That would soothe me, I think.