Thursday, May 08, 2008

The Week That Was

I worked fulltime last week; it was a contract job to grade the portions of the Colorado standardized achievement test that could not be scored by computer. My group of 15 were scoring 3rd grade math. In retrospect, I was very pleased with my ability to hear and very disgusted with the work itself. Let me explain . . .

Picture an open space about the size of a football field. Fill the area with hundreds of waist-high cubicles each equipped with one computer and one chair. Position 2 trainers for every 10-15 people and you have an idea of the job setting. The first day was training day which meant that a team leader gave us instructions on the scoring criteria through the use of headphones.

The positives?

  • The job is over.
  • I got paid.
  • I could hear to do the job. This is no small thing, given the room size, acoustics, and verbal exchange on both sides of my cubicle. This would have been a near impossible hearing assignment with only one implant. My older C1 has a battery life of just over 3 hours these days, so I'd have been dead-in-the-water and missing the training while removing the headphones to change my battery.
  • We were permitted to use our cellphones at the lunch break. I could hear Gerry well using either ear.

The negatives?

  • My ears were really sore after training day. The headphones were the small earsize type with very little padding. Oh, my aching earhooks!
  • The task was an exercise in sheer monotony. Each day my computer was programmed to evaluate one test item, awarding each student a score of 0, 1, or 2 at my "click". The same question, again and again and again. On Friday alone, I scored a whopping 2,121 entries. Talk about tedious, fanny-fatiguing utter boredom!! Years ago, Gerry and I took a tour of a pretzel factory and came away feeling sorry for those poor souls. I told Gerry after the second day that I'd be happy to twist dough tomorrow!
  • Too many third graders have horrid penmanship. Don't teachers model how to use an eraser these days? I couldn't believe that what I was seeing was each child's best effort. No wonder the USA's educational ranking in the world is slipping fast.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

The Magic Flute

OK, I know it wasn't magic to the rest of the congregation, but to me it was so incredible. I could actually hear the flute part while we were all singing the hymns during church this morning. Our church really sings with gusto and our choir often takes off with embellishments and "extras" during the final verse. Yet the glorious pure tones of the flute came through it all. As usual, the strings and organ were also accompanying our voices, but I had never been able to hear the flute part until today - - - less than 3 weeks into bilateral hearing. It was such a moving and worshipful experience, a cherished CI moment.