Anatomy professor

The anatomy professor at our school is a 4'10" dynamo. She's one of the nicest people I've ever met, and she (like most of the rest of the faculty here) is a charter member of the full-plate club: She teaches us (four hours of class a week, plus eight hours of lab a week), plus she is starting a wound care clinic at the local hospital, plus she treats people at said hospital, plus she publishes research papers, plus she is a mom.

Okay... I'm a hyperfocused, pretty organized and efficient triathlete, used to fitting in 2-3 workouts a day where you might not think there was room for those, and I am still stunned by the sheer amount of stuff this particular professor manages to get done-- plus, when she noticed that I seemed upset, she made arrangements to meet me outside class to chat. I'm not the only one she's done that for, either. She's rapidly become one of my favorite professors, so when I heard that one of the people in my class (who's been snotty to just about everyone, incidentally) had complained to her that anatomy "wasn't being taught in sufficent depth".... and this particular professor was very upset about that... I was displeased.

Survey says: Gail Must Shred Offending Party!

Whoops, wait a minute. Physical therapists have to pass a background check. Can't practice as a PT if felony shreddage is lurking on your record. Time for Plan B.

I ended up telling the professor that I was really enjoying the class, and getting a lot out of it, and that if she ever happened to need another cadaver for the lab, I would be happy to arrange that for her (even if it was slightly bruised when she got it). <-- this last was funny at the time, probably because of the words I chose and the facial expressions I was using. She laughed. Mission accomplished.

I further suggested to her that anyone who wanted more out of the course could certainly arrange to do some extra work in more depth after the quarter had ended... say, a special course that would take nine days to do... exactly the length of our current spring break. (Devious? Me? Naaaaah....)

Physiology Quiz

I'm pretty disappointed. Oh, sure, I did okay on the physiology quiz (I probably got a 70%, which is a survival grade, and the class has been giving me fits, so that's fine with me)... but really now, I would like to actually learn physiology. Instead, I'm learning a random collection of miscellaneous facts, and they'll stick in my memory for approximately 10 minutes after I take the final, and then they'll join the vast collection of PR times, commercial jingles, and desperately important information that I no longer use that's swirling around my subconscious... in short, completely inaccessible to my conscious mind.

I'd like to think that the classes I'm taking will help me to become a physical therapist and pass the boards. This one will not do that. The only thing it may possibly do is keep me from becoming a physical therapist if I fail it. Grr.

At least I now have a reasonable strategy to memorize the material quickly and easily: I determined, after talking to my classmates, that they don't read the book. They listen to the lecture with the study guide questions (that the professor writes) open in front of them, and they take notes only on the material that appears in the study guide questions. If they crack the book, it's to read ONLY the material that is mentioned in the study guide. Aha. If I want to see my bike again between now and July, when this class ends, this is the way to go. (I also plan to turn in all the study guide questions to the professor after I complete them, even though she only asks for half of them. That way she can check that I really do understand what is going on. She also tends to contradict herself, so if there's a dispute about a test question, I have a written record that what I put down was the right thing (assuming I can accurately reproduce what was on the study guide in a test situation.)

Sheesh. I say again, sheesh. What a waste of my time and energy.