Scanning on Elective Hall

Professor Dione

May 04, 2005 9:54 PM

Scanning by Professor Dione

OOC: Hey, the lesson is still up. Besides, there have been other students posting pretests recently. Don't worry about it. The amount of work you put into this post definitely makes up for it.

BIC

By this time, Dione was just passing over the students, glancing quickly at each paper as she passed by. She had acquired enough information on what she should focus on from the previous tests she had looked over, so there really was no need to look at another set of almost identical answers. However, as her eyes glanced over Zack Dill's paper, she stopped in her tracks as she graced over the word "Charon."

He knew that Pluto and Charon were sometimes considered a double planet?! Her gaze softened slightly and her lips turned into a barely noticeable smile, signs of her elation. At least there was at least one student that actually had an interest in the subject, not just regurgitating the information on the page. Looking over the paper further, she noticed that he had put Charon as the smallest plane. She would have to correct that. Hmmm, his answer for number four was not as detailed as she would have liked, but as long as he knew it involved its atmosphere. He was missing Callisto, but as long as he knew what the Galilean moons were, she was content.

What really impressed the professor was his answers for eight and nine. Most of the other students had either skipped these two questions or kept the answers as simple as possible. He had not only named the playwright, but examples of some of the characters used and what plays each came from. Also, he had made clear contrasts of the terrestrial and jovian planets, something that had proven difficult for the majority of the class.

"I am extremely impressed. This is probably the best pretest I have seen in this class so far. There were only a few questions I could have had more from you, but on other questions, you answered with more than I would have ever asked for. The only thing I would like to point out is that even though Pluto and Charon are sometimes considered a double planet, Charon is never considered a planet on its own. Still, just the fact that you knew about this is excellent. I'm sure you will have no problems in this class." \n\n

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Dana Smythe

September 27, 2011 9:38 AM

The future is.... by Dana Smythe

The closer the examinations got, the more difficult Dana was finding it to care. She could stop studying now and probably do okay. Or she could put no effort in at all and flunk everything, and nobody would ever even know about it (and those who did know wouldn't care). Or, she could keep studying, interspersing her sessions with moaning to Alison and eating more sugary treats than was strictly necessary, and do fairly well, make her parents proud, and still have it all count for nothing. Which, considering Dana's personality and history, was by far the most likely option. Sometimes she wished she had a little less conscience, or maybe that she could switch it off from time to time. It would be fun to stop trying every once in a while, but then she'd only feel guilty for her lack of effort, and have to work twice as hard to make up for it afterwards.

When the professor mentioned exams, Dana found it difficult to care, yet at the same time was automatically paying more attention in case this subjct did come up on her exams. It was pathetic, really, but no doubt for the best. She listened well but didn't take notes during the short explanation and demonstration, and Dana thought that so long as learning the meansings of the runes didn't prove too difficult that this topic would be just fine by her. So she turned to the person at the adjacent desk, and automatically assumed they would be working together as partners for the class. "I'll go get us a set of runes," she volunteered, pushing her chair back to stand. Techincally, the professor had stipulated they'd need a set of runes each, but Dana couldn't see a problem arising from just sharing the one set, as they were already sharing a textbook. So she walked to the professor's desk, chose a set of polished amethyst runes that were aesthetically attractive, and went back to her partner.

"These were prettiest," she explained her reasoning as she placed the bag of runes down in front of her partner before resuming her seat. She didn't know whether different materials had different magical properties, but frankly she didn't care. The assignment had been clear, and the type of runes used hadn't been mentioned at all. Dana was not an extra-credit sort of person. "Would you like to try casting first?" she didn't especially mind in which order they worked, but she had yet to think of a question herself.

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Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

May 20, 2012 11:33 AM

It's misleading by Sullivan Quincy, Pecari

Sullivan arrived at Muggle Studies a minute late. He'd gotten turned around trying to find the unfamiliar classroom since it wasn't in one of the corridors he'd been travelling in the previous two years. Fortunately, when he did see it, he knew he was in the right place because of the Christmas lights. Being from Las Vegas, he found the display helpful instead of gaudy.

He entered the room and his eye drifted over the things that would look perfectly normal at home but which looked somehow foreign at Sonora. He could identify the vast majority and for the first time since hearing about magic, he felt he might have a step up on the people who grew up knowing about it. It was a good feeling, and his report card could use all the help it could get.

He wondered if Mom had picked up yet that 'Muggle' meant 'non-magical' or if he could maybe pass this off to her as some sort of magical study. Probably not, he decided glumly. Simon would explain it, most likely.

He snagged an empty seat that was left and was only just in time to hear what the professor wanted them to do. When it came to Sullivan's turn to introduce himself, he began with the easy part. "I'm Sullivan Quincy. You can call my Sully."

What he wanted out of the class was actually very simple but a smart student didn't just tell the teacher that he was there for an easy A (er, O, an A meant something entirely different in the Magic World) because he had grown up muggle and thought he could breeze through without studying or doing much work. Sully was hardly the smartest student at Sonora - he was barely passing most of his classes when he was passing at all - but even he knew that much.

"Um, I'm here to keep up with the muggle education I'm not getting by coming to Sonora." Which was a lie, a terrible horrible lie. He didn't care at all about what he was missing from middle and high school. Magic might be more difficult for him than history and math had been, but it was magic and he wouldn't give it up for anything.

He looked to the next person to show he was done and the introductions continued on down the line.

On the topic of communication, Sully raised his hand, eager to show off that here, at least, he knew something. He couldn't tell the difference between a bat's wing and boomslang skin (nor, for that matter, did he even know what a boomslang was), but this, this he was on top of.

"We communicate by talking and writing. You can talk directly to somebody, you can talk on a howler, you can talk over the weird fire flame things if you're connected to the flume network, or if you're a muggle, you can talk on the phone or by video chat online. You can write on paper and send it by post, or you can hand deliver, or you can write emails or chat or blog online. Or you could publish books or articles in newspaper or magazine, I guess, but most people don't do that for ordinary communication, unless they're using the classified ads to find or sell something."

Feeling smart for the first time since he came to Sonora, he smiled and sat back in his chair.

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