My Freshman Year: May 10, 2010

Hi group members! Please post a paragraph or two and state what you thought of the book/your perspective on it! :)

Thanks!!

Beka's Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed reading this book for my Lit Circle group. Before reading this book I thought the content would not be quite as dense and I didn't think about the conclusions the professor might have by researching my culture group. However, as I started reading the book, I was surprised at the results Nathan found while researching. It was interesting to note the fact that there is a lack of diversity among the students on campuses across the United States as well as the persistent racism that is still not addressed. I was also surprised at the lack of knowledge about other cultures displayed by students on campuses. While Nathan's research was done to the best of her ability and her findings were interesting, I believe that in some of her findings her own personal perspective influenced the results. She was a professor doing research on a student group - I believe it would have been different if an ordinary person had been doing the research. Also, I believe that the group she was researching was all freshman and that definitely is not an accurate reflection of the entire college. If Nathan wanted her results to be a little more accurate than she should have researched perspectives and lifestyles of most students on campus, not just the freshman. Overall, I am glad I read this book because it gave me a different perspective on student life and allowed me to see campus from the lens of a professor.

John's final thoughts
I signed up for this book to see how other people viewed the college subculture. I was very interested in how she would portray our behaviors. As I began reading, I realized this book was a little more difficult than I originally thought. Throughout the readings I was constantly comparing and contrasting what I was reading and what I personally experienced. To be honest, her findings were accurate for the most part. However, there were things that she did to make it slightly inaccurate. I thought it was very interesting getting a look at my own culture from someone else's point of view. I would recommend this book to anyone who would be interested in learning more about the college freshman culture or any college student who would like to see their own culture from another perspective.

Natalie's Final Thoughts

I was excited to read this book as to the fact that I wanted to see how a teacher would portray college. Right from the get go Nathan seemed extremely one sided as she ripped on college freshman from the things placed on their doors to their time management. I found it funny at the end of the book when she started slacking and not caring about her grades just like the freshman did that she previously was ripping on. I did not like the book as much as I thought I would it even angered me. She failed to mention anything about the college freshman who were not actually here to party and get wasted every weekend. Its a good book to read as it shows one persons view of college, but I'd read it with a grain of salt as it does not hold true to every ones college experience.

Chip's Final Thoughts
I was interested in this book right when the title was introduced in class. I thought it would be very interesting to be able to see what another person thought about the same experience I am just finishing. When I started reading this book I was interested in what Nathan was saying because I kept thinking about how well that described my experience. However, I do think that her findings about the dorm life, were somewhat influenced from her opinion. Something that really stood out was how different relationships are between American students and students in other countries. I have grown up with American customs and I never thought anything of it. I wonder if her findings would be any different if she was in a smaller school than ASU since many people who go to a big university go with a set group of friends. I definitely enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. It is a fairly good description of what goes on freshman year of college, except for the off-campus life and social aspect. I do however, feel that Nathan had a major handicap due to her age because some people might not feel as comfortable around someone older than them.

Ch. 7 Lessons from My Year as a Freshman

Ch. 7 Graphic Organizer by Chip Fox

The cross-cultural conversation between Professors and Students is where Nathan starts off, talking about how most professors don't look at how their students are living or how hard it is to achieve a good GPA with multiple classes, and how most students don't understand faculty rank or how professors advance in their careers. The next section, the student as teacher, is where she notices how her classes are from a student's perspective, and how some readings are not done by the students because they need to prioritize what needs to be done. After that is the teacher as the student section, this is where Nathan talks about how not all students take the easy way out and just because someone sleeps in your class does not mean they are doing it out of disrespect. Then comes the Student Culture and "Liminality" section, where Nathan asks the reader whether the students from the "college culture" will take a new stance on how they see the world and change our world as we know it, or whether they will just wait in line for a job and conform to society. And then the end of the chapter, is the Final Reflection, where Nathan looks back on the entire experience.

Discussion - Beka W. (Chapter 7)

How do you believe Nathan changed as a person and as a professor due to her research?

We as a group believed that Nathan became a better professor due to her new-found awareness of students and even developed an empathy for the students she was teaching as well as finding compassion for her students. We thought that the individual at the end of the book was very different than the person in the beginning of the book.

How does Nathan become like the typical college student she researched?

Our group saw Nathan becoming more and more like the students as the book progressed. For example, Nathan began to slack off and saw herself starting to do poorly in a particular class and even marveled at how easy it is to fall behind. It was interesting to see Nathan becoming less diligent and an "average" student as the book went on.

Do you feel that student-teacher relationships play a vital role in a student's first year experience or a small one?

Our group agreed that a professor can truly make or break a class. If there is a professor that is easy to approach and takes a general interest in students then a freshman's first year could really improve academic wise. A few of us have met several professors that we enjoyed getting to know and have truly made our first year at college both memorable and enjoyable.

Do you feel more teachers/professors would benefit from seeing students "on the other side"?

We definitely thought that professors would be different if they saw life at college from a student's perspective. They would deal with the pressures, joys, lows, and triumphs of college life and notice the struggles and the simple acts of kindness from professors that go a long way.

Vocabulary Ch. 7 - Natalie

Bimodal (133) - relating to or consisting of a series of observations with two peaks, representing two statistical values that occur with equal frequency and more often than any other value

Placating (134) - to make somebody less angry, upset, or hostile, usually by doing or saying things to please him or her

Officious (pg 134) - characteristic of somebody who is eager to give unwanted help or advice

Superlative (pg 134) - of the highest quality or degree

Anthropological (pg 135) - relating to the study of humankind, especially the study of cultures

Relativist (pg 135) - the belief that concepts such as right and wrong, goodness and badness, or truth and falsehood are not absolute but change from culture to culture and situation to situation
Tacit (pg 135) - understood or implied without being stated openly

Interim (pg 136) - serving as a temporary measure until something more complete and permanent can be established

Appreciable (pg 137) - large or important enough to be noticed

Colloquium (pg 155) - an academic conference or seminar in which a particular topic is discussed, often with guest speakers

Chapter 7 Summarizer Mr. Pesavent

Chapter seven is titled "Lessons from My Year as a Freshman." In chapter seven, Nathan explains that, "This chapter serves as a response to questions others ask me and questions that, since my freshman year, I keep asking myself. What did I personally learn from this experience?" (132). In the first part of the chapter, Nathan explores the cross-cultural conversation between students and teachers. The author explains how most teachers don't see how students live or how hard it is to balance several classes and maintain a good GPA. The second section of the chapter is about how Rebekah Nathan goes back to being a teacher after being a student. Nathan now realizes how classes are from a student's perspective. She learns that many of the articles and readings won't be read or how other students have to prioritize their classes so her's isn't always the most important one. The third part of the chapter is titled "Reflection: Teacher as Student." Nathan explains that students don't always want the easy way our or the easy A in class. She also realized that when students sleep in class or invent stories about their missing paper, it is part of their culture and they don't mean to insult the teacher. In the fourth section of the reading, Nathan talks about student culture and liminality. She asks the major question "Will the liminal life of college culture allow students to arrive at inspired new ideas for society and transformative visions of our world? Or will it simply train young people to become adults who take their place in line in the workforce of existing society?" (148). Rebekah Nathan titled the fifth section "Student Culture, the Public University, and American Culture." In this section, Nathan talks about how universities are funded and how they are changing due to lack of funding. The final section of chapter seven is a final reflection of Nathan's experiment. Nathan reflects on her experiment and compares messages students receive when they first arrive at college.

Chapter Six - The art of college management