Feeling the stress....(a vent)

[Italiahaircolor]

This summer I decided to go back to college and finish my degree...

I dropped out at the end of my 2nd year to go to beauty school and for other reasons...it wasn''t a mistake at the time, but it was something I''ve grown to regret. So, in order to correct that, I re-enrolled in my old school and decided to ease my way back in since my plate if far more full than ever before (marriage, work, dogs, and my multiple properties).

I am finishing my degree in social work and also getting my CACD (basically certification in drug/alcohol dependence counseling). I am taking one class online this summer that is typically offered as semester long class, so instead of being 3 to 4 months long...its 8 weeks. My requirements are a research paper, a debate paper, a speech, attending 4 AA meetings and writing papers on each one, and 4 unit tests which span the entire book as well as online BB participation.

Okay.

Just from the above list I was feeling overwhelmed...in my teachers requirements were pretty strict...but then this morning I received an announcement about the class ending early! Apparently instead of the set date the college laid out, my teacher has decided to end it 2 days early. Okay, now I know 2 days isn''t life changing...but those are two weekend days that I could have been very productive since weekends are my "hit it hard" time.


I know college isn''t supposed to be easy...and I knew that it was going to take some serious time management...but I''m feeling really overwhelmed right now and stressed out, too. I have to take my first unit test week/end in order to stay on track...and I haven''t taken a test in over 6 years!

Thanks for letting me get it out...now, back to the grind.

 

[Porridge]

Sorry to hear it Italia. Are you generally organised with your time? I''m totally not, but I find making a timetable helps a lot when I''ve a load on my plate. Then you can just concentrate on what you have to do next and take it bit by bit. It makes things a lot easier to manage. Well done to you!

 

[luckystar112]

I agree that it sounds like a lot of work. I'm actually taking two online 8-week courses right now--one of which requires reading/assignments/tests, and another one that sounds a lot like yours minus the speech/AA meetings. Like you, I'm completely overwhelmed with the work in the second class. I find it fascinating when profs require a term paper in that little of time, but you just have to suck it up and deal with it.

It's really the luck of the draw with summer classes. Some profs are laid back and let the book teach the course. They don't require papers or any big "project" because they know that there isn't enough time for effort--students will do the job sloppy because they have to start the project before they even get to chapter 2 in their book! These are the types of profs I like.

The other type of prof tries to squeeze a semester's worth of assignments/tests/quizzes/discussions/reading/papers into one 8-week course. It doesn't make sense to me, but it definitely is a lesson on time management!

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Date: 6/5/2009 10:18:00 AM
Author: Porridge
Sorry to hear it Italia. Are you generally organised with your time? I''m totally not, but I find making a timetable helps a lot when I''ve a load on my plate. Then you can just concentrate on what you have to do next and take it bit by bit. It makes things a lot easier to manage. Well done to you!

I''m very organized generally speaking.

Like, at this point, I have the majority of research done for my marijuana debate paper and for my intoxicating women paper. All I have to do is write them.

But it gets overwhelming when you look at the amount of work that needs to be done. That''s where I get emotional. I don''t want to fail...heck, I don''t want anything less than a B. But I feel like there is so much information to be covered, assessed and completed in such a short amount of time that I am going to have to spread my time/resources thin to get it all done--which means I fear none of it will be to my level of perfection.

I mean, we have a 700 page book which dry reading to complete and test on...that takes a lot of time to just get through.

The meetings for AA...although often, we can only attend OPEN meetings...which are actually pretty infrequent.

The papers each need to be over 10 pages long with a minium of 6 sources each. A technically there are three papers...my speech, my debate, my research.

I''m just struggling with how to actively balance everything in 8 weeks. If this course had been spread out over 3+ months and not ended early, no problem.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Date: 6/5/2009 10:30:12 AM
Author: luckystar112
I agree that it sounds like a lot of work. I''m actually taking two online 8-week courses right now--one of which requires reading/assignments/tests, and another one that sounds a lot like yours minus the speech/AA meetings. Like you, I''m completely overwhelmed with the work in the second class. I find it fascinating when profs require a term paper in that little of time, but you just have to suck it up and deal with it.

It''s really the luck of the draw with summer classes. Some profs are laid back and let the book teach the course. They don''t require papers or any big ''project'' because they know that there isn''t enough time for effort--students will do the job sloppy because they have to start the project before they even get to chapter 2 in their book! These are the types of profs I like.

The other type of prof tries to squeeze a semester''s worth of assignments/tests/quizzes/discussions/reading/papers into one 8-week course. It doesn''t make sense to me, but it definitely is a lesson on time management!

God love you for taking two classes...I almost did that, but now I''m praising my husband for talking sense into me!

My teacher seems like a mix of the two. He is leaning heavily on the book to "teach" us, he makes no BB comments on our reading...just posts articles that may be of some interest. But, he also has a ton of demands when it comes to our work. He''s very "interesting" as he refers to dogma a lot and calls us "grasshopper"....

. Sometimes I feel like he is talking in code. He never really gets to the point...you know what I mean? Yes, he "answers questions" but it''s never straight forward. I guess it''s hard to explain.

 

[luckystar112]

Date: 6/5/2009 10:30:53 AM
Author: Italiahaircolor

But it gets overwhelming when you look at the amount of work that needs to be done. That''s where I get emotional. I don''t want to fail...heck, I don''t want anything less than a B. But I feel like there is so much information to be covered, assessed and completed in such a short amount of time that I am going to have to spread my time/resources thin to get it all done--which means I fear none of it will be to my level of perfection.

The meetings for AA...although often, we can only attend OPEN meetings...which are actually pretty infrequent.

The papers each need to be over 10 pages long with a minium of 6 sources each. A technically there are three papers...my speech, my debate, my research.

I''m just struggling with how to actively balance everything in 8 weeks. If this course had been spread out over 3+ months and not ended early, no problem.

Honestly Italia, that IS a lot of work for an 8 week course. Wow. And I was complaining about my prof, who just wants ONE article review of 2-4 pages and ONE term paper 6-8 pages with 5 sources!
I definitely agree that you are overloaded. I''m surprised that more students aren''t complaining? As for perfection...it certaintly won''t happen. How are you supposed to apply what you''ve learned in the class to your papers when you had to start writing the papers NOW so you finish them in time? I think your prof''s demands are ridiculous.

BUT

I think you can do it!

You just have to keep telling yourself that you can do it and do your best to manage your time. Maybe spend one day reading, the next day doing all of your assignments, the next day reading again and working on your paper....etc.
Reading, to me, is the worst part because it''s so boring and time-consuming (I spent all day reading yesterday. 11am to 6pm

) Plus I forget 75% of the information as soon as I put the book down! But now that the reading is done I can hop on the computer and complete all of my discussions/quizzes/tests for that unit and chill out for a day or two.

So manage your time, tell yourself you can do it, and just do things to the best of your abillity in the little time you have. Your work won''t be perfect, but rest assured that no one else''s is either. When the course is done, be sure to review your prof through the school (our school makes us review our profs).
When you''re ready to sign up for another class, go to ratemyprofessor (or is it rateyourprofessor?) to check out what others have to say about the workload. It has saved me from some pretty bad profs in the past.

Good luck!

 

[Haven]

I know how you feel, the entire program for my second master''s degree consisted of five-week classes during the school year (met two nights per week for four hours each night) and then two-week intensives during the summer (met eight hours per day for four to five days per week.) AND I was teaching full-time, coaching a demanding team, and teaching on Saturdays. (Not to mention planning our wedding and a two-week summer student trip to Greece.)

Oh, boy do I remember how stressed out I used to feel looking at a syllabus on the first day of each class and thinking "Do they really think we can do all of this in five weeks? And still teach?"

But, I did it. This is what I did at the beginning of each new class:

- Rank-order the assignments by priority, as they were usually all due on the day of the last class. My criteria were: point value, amount and type of research necessary, and my personal interest level. I''d end up with a list of assignments ranging from easy-and-not-super-important to difficult-and-really-dreadful-sounding. I''d type up a list in that order, and use bullets that were big empty boxes so I could check them off as I completed them. I usually ended up doing one easy assignment from the top of my list, and then one dreadful assignment from the bottom. Regardless of how I attacked it, I always felt very much in control of the classwork because I had that list to look at and conquer, one step at a time. I had done this since college, so it worked for me through undergrad, my first master''s degree, and then my second.
This process also ensured that I knew exactly what was expected of me in a class from the very first day. For me, this is key, because we have so many other responsibilities. I also needed to be very aware of when I assigned major projects for my students so I didn''t end up grading 135 essays during crunch time.

- I also broke up the reading assignments into tiny chunks that I could manage in 45 minutes or less. My last degree was in reading and literacy, so much of the assigned reading consisted of dry, scientific text about the brain and such, which is not my usual cup of tea. I would do 45 minutes of reading for grad school, and then an hour of work for my job (grading, researching, lesson planning, returning parent phone calls, etc.,) then another 45 mins of reading, and hour of work, etc. until I got all the work done.

I know your job is different, and you can''t exactly squeeze in a client between each reading chunk, but for whatever reason switching tasks really helped me stay focused and productive.

Good luck! I know it isn''t easy, but half the battle is finding the rhythm that works for you.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Lucky, you''re right...I probably can do this...it''s certianly mind over matter.

My units are about 5 chapters a peice...and thankfully there is a study guide. I just fill it out as I go along reading, because really, I cannot remember most of what I read from memory...and going back to find the specific part that needs to be focused on is like a needle in a haystack. I have about 1.5 chapters left to cover for Unit 1...so I am hoping I can finishing that up today/tomorrow and test first thing Saturday morning.

As far as my papers...I''ve finished researching and have outlined my marijuana debate paper (which took days)...and I''ve compiled the research for my intoxicating women (research) paper but that still needs to be laid out.

I haven''t attended a meeting...but I''m hoping to take a day off and hit all 4 back to back to back.

I think I''m going to spend the next 3 weeks finishing my testings...and then really commit to the papers for the last 3 weeks. (fingers crossed)

 

[luckystar112]

Date: 6/5/2009 10:41:36 AM
Author: Italiahaircolor
God love you for taking two classes...I almost did that, but now I''m praising my husband for talking sense into me!

There are some students in my classes right now that are taking three classes! This past spring semester I was taking 12 hours and I met a guy taking TWENTY-FOUR.

No thank you!

Honestly though, I think you just picked a bad prof this time. You just got a bad egg. Don''t let it get you in the dumps. It won''t always be this demanding, I promise!

Don''t worry young grasshopper.

One of my prof''s from last semester had the last name "Skiles" but apparently he thought it was cool and hip to call himself "Skillet". He signed all email correspondence and any address to the class that way.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Haven, thank you thank you thank you...what a brilliant idea!!

You certainly were busy! But it''s so wonderful that you were able to successfully accomplish everything...amazing, really.

I quickly went through my assignments after reading your posting...there are no "firm" deadlines...but everything would be appreciated early (in my teachers words)...but since there are no deadlines, what the heck is considered early???

 

[Haven]

Oy, your prof sounds like a piece of work.

I really can''t stand it when I get directives like that--no due date, but I''d appreciate it early. What that means, to me at least, as a teacher, is that he would love to get them early so he can have more time to grade them. That still doesn''t help you, though.

You have SO MUCH going on that I would just submit the work when I completed it. This is an awful lot of work for ten weeks, and my inclination is to believe that profs give out more work for online courses because they don''t have the logged hours of meeting time in an actual classroom. It''s silly, in my opinion, but it''s something I''ve noticed.

I really always find that chunking my work up into smaller bits makes it all more manageable. (Think of when you have a bridal party of 12 women to work on--that must be overwhelming! But you get it done, one face at a time. If you can make brides happy on their wedding day, you can do anything, Italia. Seriously.)

Good luck!

 

[Snicklefritz]

I SO know how you feel, and I think what you''re feeling is VERY normal. At the beginning of the semester, when everything is being thrown at you and you''re trying to figure out how all this stuff will fit into your already busy life, it seems COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE. And the more you think about it, the more scary it becomes. I went through this nearly every semester in school, psyching myself out about all the work to come. But then weeks would go by, and I would take each assignment at a time, and plan ahead (which it sounds like you''re good at doing). While it was still stressful, it was one stressful thing at a time, not five looming assignments. So I guess my suggestion would just be to focus on this first unit test, and then move on to the next thing. Trust that you will get it done, and you will. And if it really can''t be done, there''s always extensions.

Best of luck. I''m sure you''ll do great!

 

[Thomperchik]

Date: 6/5/2009 10:51:20 AM
Author: Haven
I know how you feel, the entire program for my second master''s degree consisted of five-week classes during the school year (met two nights per week for four hours each night) and then two-week intensives during the summer (met eight hours per day for four to five days per week.) AND I was teaching full-time, coaching a demanding team, and teaching on Saturdays. (Not to mention planning our wedding and a two-week summer student trip to Greece.)

Oh, boy do I remember how stressed out I used to feel looking at a syllabus on the first day of each class and thinking ''Do they really think we can do all of this in five weeks? And still teach?''

But, I did it. This is what I did at the beginning of each new class:

- Rank-order the assignments by priority, as they were usually all due on the day of the last class. My criteria were: point value, amount and type of research necessary, and my personal interest level. I''d end up with a list of assignments ranging from easy-and-not-super-important to difficult-and-really-dreadful-sounding. I''d type up a list in that order, and use bullets that were big empty boxes so I could check them off as I completed them. I usually ended up doing one easy assignment from the top of my list, and then one dreadful assignment from the bottom. Regardless of how I attacked it, I always felt very much in control of the classwork because I had that list to look at and conquer, one step at a time. I had done this since college, so it worked for me through undergrad, my first master''s degree, and then my second.
This process also ensured that I knew exactly what was expected of me in a class from the very first day. For me, this is key, because we have so many other responsibilities. I also needed to be very aware of when I assigned major projects for my students so I didn''t end up grading 135 essays during crunch time.

- I also broke up the reading assignments into tiny chunks that I could manage in 45 minutes or less. My last degree was in reading and literacy, so much of the assigned reading consisted of dry, scientific text about the brain and such, which is not my usual cup of tea. I would do 45 minutes of reading for grad school, and then an hour of work for my job (grading, researching, lesson planning, returning parent phone calls, etc.,) then another 45 mins of reading, and hour of work, etc. until I got all the work done.

I know your job is different, and you can''t exactly squeeze in a client between each reading chunk, but for whatever reason switching tasks really helped me stay focused and productive.

Good luck! I know it isn''t easy, but half the battle is finding the rhythm that works for you.

Haven - This is excellent advice!

Italia, I work 45+ hours a week and I''m finishing my master''s degree that I''ve been attempting to finish for the last 3 years. It''s very demanding and with a social life, it makes it even harder.

I agree and follow what Haven mentioned. Breaking up your time and assigning to your self assigments each day of the week, or blocking time during the week for school work works very well for me. I also live and die for my planner, which sadly I have my life planned out through out the week to help me with school.

Good luck to you!

 

[FrekeChild]

Good thing I don''t have a job, seeing as how I have 2 4 week classes back to back, layered with an 8 week class. I''m looking forward to it though. IMHO it''s much better to get it over with faster, than to trudge through a 16 week class. But I''m the push it out and get it done type.

 

[alli_esq]

aw, Italia--that does seem like an awful lot on your plate...I can totally see how that could feel overwhelming. But I know you can do it!!! I think you got some great advice on how to budget your time accordingly (I always do better with lists and timelines for myself), and just think how accomplished you''ll feel when this bit is over with!!

Sending sympathy but also lots of encouragement your way!

 

[tlh]

First off I am really excited about you going back to school w/ everything else on your plate. That says to me you are a hard working motivated and determined woman. Though it is frustrating now, and it stinks, you aren''t the type to dwell on it for too long. I''m sure you''ll really wow this professor.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

Date: 6/5/2009 4:08:31 PM
Author: tlh
First off I am really excited about you going back to school w/ everything else on your plate. That says to me you are a hard working motivated and determined woman. Though it is frustrating now, and it stinks, you aren''t the type to dwell on it for too long. I''m sure you''ll really wow this professor.

Awe...thank you...that''s just so sweet of you to say....it made my day for sure!!!