When we talk about “expectations” two funny events come up to my mind (I love laughing).

The first one happened recently when I visited my sister in law over the holidays. My 6-year-old niece was talking about expectations she had for her life, while drawing, and how some of them haven not occurred and she was disappointed…OK, let me stop right there…WHAT!! I laughed so hard that afternoon because of the way she said it (like an old lady). I also thought, how at her short age she is already setting expectations in her life. This is when I realized that expectations are a big thing in people’s life for them to success.

The second event is also a funny one. I love baking at home and a few months back I decided to recreate a Peruvian Jello cake called “Torta helada”. It is a mixture of a cake layer within two layers of gelatin – one a fruity Jell-O and the other one a fluffy gelatin parfait (if you have the chance, please try it!). I had all the ingredients and I was also excited to use a new baking “spring form” pan. Well, something went wrong with my  cake batter (too liquidly) and when I tried to place it inside the pan, a lot of it was coming out from the sides. FAILED, that was the only pan I had in my apartment so I had to use 2 mini pans (different sizes). This was not what I expected as I wanted all the layers of the cake to be the same size. At the end, my cake was an example of an “expectation vs reality meme” (it was not worth taking a picture) but even though I failed, I enjoyed the process and why not give it another try? Maybe it will look better than the following pic 🙂 

I hope you laughed at my failure but to be honest , expectations are required for everything especially in any relationship. As the teacher I want to become, I would like my students to always have expectations about the course and question themselves: What do I gain from participating in this class? In what way will this course help me in my career?  

As of right now, I am a student in BIOL 7801 and I am asking myself these questions today. My answers are very concise and simple.

• I expect to learn on how to be a better mentor, mentee, leader and teacher.
• I expect to be more knowledgeable with science education research.
• I expect to put in practice the pedagogical influences I will learn in this class.
• I expect to get active feedback from my peers and instructor.
• I expect to become a better blogger and inspire other people to try it. (This is my first time trying this and I am liking it! 🙂 )

I am also a student taking a concepts class in Viral Immunology. My first class was this past Wednesday and the professor was very straight forward on what to expect about this course. He seemed very organized and approachable which I admire in a professor.

I really hope to accomplish all my expectations set for this semester and if this is not possible, I will remember what my little niece said and have a good laugh about it.

Have a nice week!

– Adani