Every quarter the head of our program meets with the each cohort to allow a platform for the students to voice their comments and concerns about how the program is going and get an overview of what next quarter is going to look like. Now I've been with my cohort for a couple of months, four days a week. Needless to say, you get to know people pretty fast. Knowing that we have a few "squeaky wheels" in our group, I was not looking forward to what I foresaw as a B.M.W. session (bitch.moan.whine.). It started off pleasant and professional, but soon turned into what I anticipated. I sat there quietly rolling my eyes at half of my colleagues. I understand that we are paying close to a thousand dollars a month for tuition, but some people were getting so defensive and nit picky about stuff that I felt my time could have been spent elsewhere. Maybe it's because I've been on the other side of it as a teacher, but I wanted to put duct tape over a few peoples mouths and remind them that they are adults in a professional graduate program. My eighth graders weren't even that ridiculous!
Now what they were complaining about... tensions are high because of the high expectations Rush enforces on their students. You need to get a B or above in our Core Concepts class or else you are pushed back a cohort and need to retake it. With that being said, the government doesn't see a C or D as failing so you would have to pay out of pocket to take it again. Also, our cohort is in a unique situation because Rush is transitioning from 10wk terms to 15 wk terms so people wouldn't be able to continue the program until September. Yes, kinda a big deal, but complaining that your teachers aren't fair and rude is not the way to go about it. Frustrated with the second test, I made an appointment to meet with my teacher and go over it one-on-one right as I turned it in. I saw how unproductive "test review" was for the first one and just didn't want to put myself around that negative energy.
The trick with our core tests is you need to learn how to "think like a nurse" however we are all novice nurses and have hardly had the experience to do so. I explained to my teacher that I felt there was a huge disparity between the blunt facts that were taught in class and the level of cognitive thinking that was expected on the test. I may or may not have asked for an IEP too (an education plan for special ed students :o). She was like, sounds like someone use to be a teacher. When we met she kindly went over with a group who had the same idea as me why the right answer was right and the wrong answer was wrong. It was far more beneficial than the free for all test review. My grade currently stands at a solid B going into the final. An A is out of the picture but I've already come to terms with that. Now it's time for the sprint before the finish...
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