I have the worst microbiology teacher

1. I have the worst teacher. I have 100% in the class so far, but I have to look everything up in the book to understand what is going on. Supposedly everything you need to know is from the lecture and he skips around all over the book. He gives out an outline to go with his lecture so that is the only thing that is saving me. The outline gives me the subjects so I can track everything down and look it up. I am so frustrated! I am glad that I am doing well, but his lecture is such a waste of time. I sit there the whole time not having a clue what he is talking about. He might as well be speaking Japanese. I know I am not stupid because when I look it up in the book it makes perfect sense. I just dread going to class because it has become a complete waste of time. I feel like I might as well be doing a correspondence course.
   
   Also on a related note, do you all have any good microbiology websites? Particularly any sites showing DNA molecules.
   
   Teresa

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2. 

   About TeresaRN2b

   Joined: Jun '01; Posts: 564; Likes: 2
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   9 Comments

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3. 
   Sep 30, '01

   I had it last semester. Friday nights and Sundays from 1-4. Usually ended up there until 5. Pulled an A by the skin on my teeth. It sucked, pardon the expression. But I am glad that I took it before A&P because now some of this stuff is review. My teacher was a tyrrant. We had to do term papers with a 15 minute oral presentation, each test covered 5-6 chapters, except the last one which had parts of 10 chapters (of course we had to guess WHICH parts). It was truly awful. My hardest class ever. The Tortora Book has a website, but I sold mine back to buy my books for this semester so I don't have the address to give you. Back a while ago, there was a microbiology thread in the student nursing forum, I bet you'd find some web sites there. Also, did your book come w/ a cd? Mine helped me, especially with immunology. Good luck, hang in there. Email me for moral support any time!
4. 
   Sep 30, '01

   I had the absolute WORST micro teacher. He would stand there and talk for two hours about who knows what (because we never could understand what was going on), gave us an outline, but it had nothing to do with the test, and the book was NO help (they must have picked the worst one on purpose). Then, he would give us a test that most people would not pass (it was fill in the blank and yes, he counted off for spelling) and then he would review the test with us after the fact and talk to us like, duh, you guys should know this stuff and then explain it where it made some a little sense -- after it was too late to do anything about it. The man could not understand why micro was not our first love and treated you like you were an idiot if you asked for help. I got a low C in that class and I had to bust my butt to get it. If I had to take it again, I would probably change my major based on that experience (even though I love nursing).
5. 
   Sep 30, '01

   Sounds like all of us are in the same class!!! My teacher's favorite saying when asked a question is:
   
   "Don't worry about it! You'll do fine!" and, "Oh don't even bother to read that chapter, I don't know why it is in our book!"
   
   Well, I WAS a straight A student, NOT ANYMORE! I have failed more tests than I have passed, and I get increasingly more frustrated as time goes on. I did well in A & P, and now I am totally lost.....
   
   I want to know WHAT bug causes WHAT illness, and HOW to treat it.....I haven't the slightest care as to HOW the bug travels about in a petri dish.....
   
   Ah, well, so much for my GPA..... I am hoping for a C, and working my butt off for it.
   
   Sucks.
   
   We use the Talaro book, and I bought the Tortura book off the net so I have something that makes sense.
   
   Marla
6. 
   Sep 30, '01

   Well, I'm afraid I've got you all beat! Not only did my micro teacher do everything you've mentioned he berated us, calling us stupid at every turn. He told us one day that if most of us became nurses that he prayed to God that he never got sick! He called us slackers saying we'd never had to work for anything in our lives and that was the only reason we complained about his "teaching". The class average on all tests was about 52% and a class that started with 25 people ended up with 10 people at the end. He read straight from the book during lecture, made up his own tests relying on all his knowledge and blamed us for failing because be didn't "get familiar with the material".
   
   As bad as it was, I can say I learned a LOT... not because he taught us but because I was determined to do well and taught myself.
   
   Hang in there, sounds like your grades are good and I know you'd like to be learning more but the reality it you will be "re-taught" all the important stuff in the nursing program... (or at least I have been)
   
   Much Luck
   Paula
7. 
   Sep 30, '01

   I am so sorry to hear that you guys have such awful teachers.....we have one that is really bad at my school(that I have heard of so far) and he is the ONLY one to teach A&P 1 during spring and summer. I know a girl who changed her major after failing him 3 times. My sister-in-law is on her second and is thinking of changing her major. Scares me so....I am going to do something some may think stupid....they have a different teacher for summer...a MUCH better teacher so I am going to take A&P in the 6 week summer course. I figure I have a better chance. The class average for the one teachers last test was 62. I would rather have a good teacher and work hard to get my grade while understanding it...ya know? To all of you struggling....good luck.....I will be there next semester.....
8. 
   Oct 1, '01

   Wow, what horror stories! I guess I was really lucky to have an EXCELLENT micro teacher who went out of her way to help a student who was struggling. She worked for several years in the field, and really loved it, which was reflected in her teaching. Our labs were so fun!! I also had this same instructor for A&P I, which wasn't her specialty, but she made that class very understandable as well. She was a very visual teacher, and one of my favorites. As a result, I really enjoyed micro. What a difference a good teacher makes!
9. 
   Oct 1, '01

   Originally posted by MRed94
   Sounds like all of us are in the same class!!! My teacher's favorite saying when asked a question is:
   
   "Don't worry about it! You'll do fine!" and, "Oh don't even bother to read that chapter, I don't know why it is in our book!"
   
   

   Oh I had to respond to this one!! That sounds EXACTLY like my Micro teacher with the 'Don't Worry About It".. she would even say "You nursing students stress yourselves out too much!".. the problem was, the material on the exams did NOT match the material she lectured!
   
   Not to mention she gave us lots of essay type questions and it was up to her discretion whether to give you points or how many, and NEVER explained her reasoning.
   
   I selected the 5 week semester for Micro and it was torture but only because of her way of teaching. I honestly feel that I would have enjoyed Micro if I had a good teacher.
   
   bon
10. 
    Oct 1, '01

    Hopefully, I 'll get something out of this class. We'll see.
    
    Teresa
11. 
    Oct 3, '01

    i can totatlly symphathize with you. last year i took micro and it is so hard when he talks in another language. my teacher has been doing this for like 30 years and he teaches the same stuff he taught back then and he teaches like we should already know this stuff. if you ask him questions he still doesn't put the information to our level. we are nursing students not microbiologists. he is so bad that the nursing department advises us to take micro at another school just so we don't have to go through that. well good luck with the rest of your semester. you'll do just fine.

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