Plato's Jeopardy

I had so much fun in class today! I hope my students did too. I am definitely expanding this game for future classes.

Grading Fiasco

Overwhelmed as I have been with my online class, I have fallen severely behind on grading. As a student, I always hated when it was midterm before I had any clue what kinds of grades I was getting in a class. Those instructors pissed me off and frustrated me to no end. While my students have not quite experienced delayed grades to that extreme, I still feel like one of those instructors that I hated (I can think of one in particular). If I could just get caught up, the remainder of the semester would be much more enjoyable. But this task seems impossible. As soon as I get one assignment graded, another has been submitted. I wish I could hold off on a couple due dates, but since we began the semester at a slow pace, I can't afford to slow things down now. In fact, we need to pick it up just slightly. Corey Taylor says, "I can't be afraid of my patience." I'm generally good at having patience with my students, but I have no patience with myself. If I can just keep working steadily, I'll get through it and so will my students. It may not be an ideal semester for any of us, but things will be better next time.

Fall Semester Underway

Well today marks the end of the second week of the fall semester. It's a little odd being both a student and an instructor this semester, but I'm enjoying it. I figure that taking classes will help me connect better with my students and better understand their academic needs and concerns. My TR a.m. section of 112 is going smoothly. My only concern is the diffidence I've witnessed so far in almost everyone but the front row. It is, however, only the second week, so my hope is that everyone will become comfortable enough with me and their peers to engage in discussion.

My online section is what has been causing me the most frustration. My literacy with computer technology is above average but I've basically just learned what I needed whenever it became necessary. Teaching this course has already presented me with deficiencies in this area of my own personal education. I want to serve my students in ways that most effective and which create an environment conducive to collaborative learning. In addition to my own technological challenges, some of my students are experiencing mini meltdowns, I fear. I've been trying to assuage their anxiety, but I'm not sure how effective I'm been in that endeavor. I can only hope that as the semester progresses, I'll get better at leading a group of 60 students through the course material in this virtual environment.

LIT 111 Frustrations

I think that antipathy might be too strong a word for what I feel toward my literature class this summer, but it's damn close. My students are phenomenal (although I wish some would contribute more to discussions). I've just had too many stressful events in both my personal and professional life this summer that have prevented me from devoting myself to this class as I would like to. What should have been a relaxing and pleasurable experience for me has turned into a chore. I feel that I am failing my students in some regards. To top it all off, I'm not really sure what's appropriate for an introductory literature course. Most of these students are simply fulfilling a gen ed requirement. They don't need to literary analysis skills. If I teach this course again, I think I might turn in into a cultural affairs course where we study novels in relation to current events, looking to literature - to art - as a means of understanding our world in more complex ways. Yes, I think that's exactly what I'll do.

The only comfort I get from this disaster of a semester is that I am payng attention to my own deficiencies and using them to revise my syllabus in beneficial ways for future semesters and future students.

Literacy Narratives

I just recently finished reading and commenting on my COM students' first essays (I know what you're thinking: There are only two weeks left of the semester; how are you just now finishing with the first essay?! I apologize, really. This semester has been a nightmare for me. I've never been so disorganized.) I always love reading these papers. The students have such diverse experiences and the ways in which language has impacted them is often so profound. This summer brought me a group of hard-working students. It shows in their drafts. Only a few were below a 'C' average, but that mostly had to do with confusion regarding the goals of the assignment. Having had such a great experience reading their first essays, I'm really looking forward to seeing what they all have to say about higher education in the U.S. as I read through their second essays this weekend.

Elations & Frustrations

My COM 111 students are pretty amazing (if not as enthusiastic as last semester's students). I have a few very strong writers whose writing I look forward to reading. I doubt any of my students this semester will fail unless they decide to make some stupid choices like not turning assignments in. Last week, we discussed revising, and I tried a new activity that worked well for me as a way to better understand effective organization. I had them literally cut their drafts apart with scissors and peice them back toegther again. Most of the students who offered feedback thought the activity was helpful in one way or another, so I look forward to trying it again the next time I teach this class. Plus, it was just way more fun than staring at a computer screen, randomly (and probably arbitrarily) cutting & pasting. I'll be reading their first essays this weekend, and I can't wait to hear teh stories they have to tell.

My LIT class, on the other hand, is not going as well as I'd like. The students are great (at least half of them are on the fast-track to getting A's in the course. But I feel a little out of my element. I love literature, but comp/rhet is my specialty. I picked all new novels this summer, and the work load is so overwhelming that I am having a hard time keeping up with my own schedule. I have no idea how the students feel about the course so far, but I hope that they enjoy the informal class structure. Hopefully, I can get caught up on grading in that class. I know this is one of their primary frustrations.

1st Day of Summer Classes

The first day of classes went well. I think it is going to be a good semester. I'll be glad when we get through some of the preliminary work and can start having some more fun in class.