What is the most interesting course you have ever taken in school? On the other hand, what is the most boring course you have ever taken in school?
The most interesting course I took in school was English 30. That is saying alot for that teacher because, after 8 years of university I can still remember her lesson plans. We studied an amazing book called Night by Elie Wisel. In the book Elie talkes about his experience with his dad as Jewish people in Nazi German concentration camps. What a powerful book to read! The teacher's theory was that we could apply the subjects in the 100 page book to any diploma exam essay question they could throw at us.Overcoming adversity- check, life and death- check, family relations- check, love- check.....
Because it was so short and we worked on it so long most of us could remember quotes and page numbers, which seemed to impress the exam markers. Our class all passed with honors, which is amazing compared to standard marks for that diploma exam.
Most boring class would have to be History of Architecture. It had such potential, an amazing textbook and class description, but it didn't live up to it. The teacher for this one was a bit crazy, and instead of talking about architecture we talked about his last few vacations, his kids and his projects at his other job. He marked our final projects by laying them all around his living room and letting his kids and wife choose their favorites. The favorites got the top marks and it went down from there. Shannon and I were in this class together, so we got to see the marking unfairness first hand. My project was crap, I bought Architectural Digest, found a house I liked, used scrap booking stuff and threw the board together. Overall I put about 3 hours into the assignment. Shannon decided to do her parent's house so she could learn some of the history in the process. She spent hours measuring and drafting their home, went to the provincial archives to look up details, found photos of the house over the last 100 years, scrap booked it all together on the board and put about 72 hours worth of work in. I got a 95%, she got a 60%......so not fair!
Maybe it is the teacher that makes or breaks the class, not the class material itself. What do you think?
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