The Sounds of Stress

I'm sitting at the front of a room in the physics building, listening. It's exam time here at McGill and today, students in my COMS330 course are writing their final exam. What's taking place in front of me is happening across campus; the sounds of stress are ringing out in almost all available classrooms and lecture halls.

There are 90 students writing the COMS330exam, split into two rooms. And while the noise level is a lot quieter than I've ever heard from this group all semester, it's by no means quiet.

Ambient room noises reverberate much more than they should. The room, mostly concrete, plastic, and fake wood, bounces inside sounds around and keeps outside sounds out. The humming and rumbling of the air conditioner is loud and annoying, if only in its constancy. Then there's the worried shuffling of papers, the sniffling of noses, and the hmmms, hawws and sighs from students that are only audible because there are few other sounds to mask them.

The two grad students supervising the exam are walking up and down the aisle, ruffling their clothes and shoes as they do. And every time I move to answer a question, I tip toe as quietly as a tap dancer.

Over the last 4 months, I had hoped to get more reports up about the course, the students and the whole experiment that was COMS330. Instead, all the time I had went into the class. It was an exhausting but rewarding experience and I'm already thinking about what to do (and not do) the next time I give this course.

Thanks to the students who made this semester such a great experience for me. If they learned even a quarter of what I did, then I'll be happy. After spending the better part of this week marking, I'll return to my much ignored dissertation. And subject myself to my own sounds of stress.