readings for intellectuals

Whenever I rewrite an in-class essay, I spend an hour or so developing my ideas, rewording awkward sentences, and analyzing more evidence. The  actual time spent rewriting is almost the same amount of time allotted during the in-class write, an hour. Why then do my ideas flow better, words connect seamlessly, and evidence united my essay cohesively during my rewrite? Is it the pressure of a ticking clock that makes my ideas jammed in my head and my words jumble out in a sad reflection of my ideas? Or maybe it's not the pressure of time but the pressure of a grade that will be reflected on my Schoology page and may, O no!, alter my chances of getting into college. Maybe it too is the dead silence of the class during in-class essays that drowns my brain in a black hole of nothingness, no inspiration to draw from. Or maybe it is a combination of all of these and more, or maybe it is none of them at all. See, I don’t really know what causes it, but for me, and I’m sure most, if not al...

In the class GBBE, standing for genetics, biotechnology, bacteriology, and embryology, we are completing a lab to determine two unknown bacteria from a list of about 30. This “unknown lab”  is done in groups of two. At the end of the lab, which spans about eight days, the bacteria names are written on a piece of paper, turned in and graded on the spot. If both identifications are correct, 100 point are awarded, and no lab reports or journals need to be checked. If one identification is incorrect, 25 points are immediately deducted. Points, up to 40 point for each bacteria, can be regained if an organized journal is kept and a mistake can be recognized. Even with point being able to be won back, this lab is basically a pass or fail grade. This places a lot of stress and responsibility on students as they must finish the lab within the time frame, share work evenly, complete every step with accuracy, and correctly combine all the steps to identify the bacteria. This kind of stress an...