THE ’BIRD THE VIDETTE PRESENTS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016 Vol. 129 / No. 02
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Syllabus day or syllabus week? MALLORY LOVINGS News Reporter | @mallorylovings
Fall back into the swing of things
The first week of classes is better known as “syllabus week” at Illinois State University, but whether students and professors use this time to prepare is a different story. Syllabus week is notorious for being a week full of fun for students. Many attend their classes unprepared with the assumption that lecture and class work will be pushed off until the next week. “I believe that the paradigm that students are entering the class with is that today is syllabus day and then we are done,” ISU communication professor Jodi Hallsten-Lyczak said. “Even if I told them we had homework, I think that half of them would be like, ‘Oh yeah, I didn’t get the book.’” Hallsten-Lyczak is a laid-back professor and understands students need to get back into the swing of things. However, she is a firm believer students do not need an entire week before jumping into course content. While she says syllabus week should be more like syllabus day, she does use the week to tweak her lesson plans and make sure everything is good to hit the ground running. “That’s what I think… it’s obviously not what I do, but it’s like, do what I say and not as I do,” HallstenLyczak said. When it comes to students, most are not fans of the professors that dive right into lectures, even though upperclassmen might find their syllabi more vigorous than incoming freshmen. “I think we should do nothing the first week,” freshmen elementary education major Jessica Eberly said. “I feel like it’s just getting all of the classes started and getting everything together and making new friends. For me at least, since I’m a freshman.” For students in their major courses and taking higher-level classes, their view of syllabus week changes. Even though they would appreciate a week of adjusting from summer back to being a full-time student, they realize they are here to learn. “I feel like people are going to hate me,” sophomore biology-chemistry major Hana Koppel said. see SYLLABUS page 6
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Junior mass media communications major Anthony Irsuto studies on the Quad between classes.
Photograph by JENNA KADZIULIS | Vidette Photo Editor