Friday Evening
Woot. I am, I think, up to date on comments I needed and wanted to post or reply to. Hurrah!
I ran into my adviser and one of my professors in the coffee shop this morning. On one hand it was great to see them, but on the other it was very stressful to think about how much work I've NOT done this summer. But I briefly mentioned the "seeing many doctors" thing, and trying to get healthy, of which my adviser approved (she saw me in a bad spot this Spring.) The three of us talked classes and travel and theatre. Unfortunately, this meant I didn' t have the time I usually take in the mornings to prep (again) for class.
But class worked out, too. I had already planned on letting them go early (to, hopefully, draft papers.) The problem with a composition class, in my opinion, is that *so* much of the important work of composition is, well, composing, which is to say, just sitting down and bloody well writing something. And while that can happen in the classroom, some students (like myself) aren't very good at it doing it in the classroom. (Although one of my students pointed out that he likes writing in the classroom because if he goes back to his dorm he'll just play with his XBox. I said that I understood, and that finding a space to work is very important. I, for example, work in coffee shops.)
I like my students, generally. There are 16 of them total. Two of them are very, very quiet, and rather poor writers, and so I'm having no luck reaching them. I'm trying, though. One of them is a football player with a major in business and he writes amazingly. Fuck, what a waste. I mean, not that he's a football player, but that he'll be a business major. He has a talent with words that should be nurtured. (He also wrote a free write on My Bloody Valentine and his second paper is going to be on Friday the Thirteenth, which amuses me for reasons I cannot explain to him.)
About 2/3rds of my class are athletes, mostly football and basketball. This has actually been really good for me because in a school like ASU, sports are really important. But... I know nothing about them and have no interest. AND many of the student athletes I've had in my classes before didn't do the work and had a hyooge sense of entitlement, which these students don't have. I don't know if this latter is because they're brand new (this is the first class for most of them) or if because I just have a better batch of students or what.
I handed back their graded first papers today. It'll be interesting to see how the dynamic in the classroom shifts now. (It *always* shifts after the first major grade.)
After class I ran into my professor again, which was good because I had scheduled a meeting with her for Tuesday (to talk about student evals for the class I TAed for her) which it turned out I couldn't make (and emotionally is better to have later in the week when there's the chance of having gotten some of my own work done, too.)
I came home, ate lunch, played a spot of Puzzle Pirates. Then I crashed, as I so often do after teaching. I've had a lovely nap and have now caught up on LJ, as I said above. Whee.
I know it's a Friday evening and very few people are online, but I have a Life By Committee question for you all...
Tomorrow is Winter in July at the Phoenix Zoo (where I am a member, but have not gone since becoming one-- oops.) It sounds like much fun (see info here.) It would, however, require getting up very early. Tomorrow I also *must* visit A.'s cats (this is a sizeable time commitment as it takes 40 minutes to get there, 40minutes to get back, and I should, y'know, spend some time with them.) AND, in the evening I have agreed to hang out with H. and D. and see their new house and have dinner out with them. That wouldn't happen 'til about 7:30 (they like to eat late). Given that I will NEED a nap in there somewhere, knowing my body's current style of (not)working, should I really try to do all of that??
Aminals. in Snow. Only chance to see 'til next Winter in July, next year.
Other information: I would be going alone to the zoo because I don't know anyone who's interested.
Also, I should clean my house and do laundry and unpack from the trip. And I cannot do any of those things on Sunday since that is when I *must* comment on student drafts (as I'll only be *getting* the student drafts at 5 tomorrow via email.)
Of course, I should be reading Coriolanus (for Tuesday) and working on my dissertation materials. (Oh the guilt.)
Thoughts?
I ran into my adviser and one of my professors in the coffee shop this morning. On one hand it was great to see them, but on the other it was very stressful to think about how much work I've NOT done this summer. But I briefly mentioned the "seeing many doctors" thing, and trying to get healthy, of which my adviser approved (she saw me in a bad spot this Spring.) The three of us talked classes and travel and theatre. Unfortunately, this meant I didn' t have the time I usually take in the mornings to prep (again) for class.
But class worked out, too. I had already planned on letting them go early (to, hopefully, draft papers.) The problem with a composition class, in my opinion, is that *so* much of the important work of composition is, well, composing, which is to say, just sitting down and bloody well writing something. And while that can happen in the classroom, some students (like myself) aren't very good at it doing it in the classroom. (Although one of my students pointed out that he likes writing in the classroom because if he goes back to his dorm he'll just play with his XBox. I said that I understood, and that finding a space to work is very important. I, for example, work in coffee shops.)
I like my students, generally. There are 16 of them total. Two of them are very, very quiet, and rather poor writers, and so I'm having no luck reaching them. I'm trying, though. One of them is a football player with a major in business and he writes amazingly. Fuck, what a waste. I mean, not that he's a football player, but that he'll be a business major. He has a talent with words that should be nurtured. (He also wrote a free write on My Bloody Valentine and his second paper is going to be on Friday the Thirteenth, which amuses me for reasons I cannot explain to him.)
About 2/3rds of my class are athletes, mostly football and basketball. This has actually been really good for me because in a school like ASU, sports are really important. But... I know nothing about them and have no interest. AND many of the student athletes I've had in my classes before didn't do the work and had a hyooge sense of entitlement, which these students don't have. I don't know if this latter is because they're brand new (this is the first class for most of them) or if because I just have a better batch of students or what.
I handed back their graded first papers today. It'll be interesting to see how the dynamic in the classroom shifts now. (It *always* shifts after the first major grade.)
After class I ran into my professor again, which was good because I had scheduled a meeting with her for Tuesday (to talk about student evals for the class I TAed for her) which it turned out I couldn't make (and emotionally is better to have later in the week when there's the chance of having gotten some of my own work done, too.)
I came home, ate lunch, played a spot of Puzzle Pirates. Then I crashed, as I so often do after teaching. I've had a lovely nap and have now caught up on LJ, as I said above. Whee.
I know it's a Friday evening and very few people are online, but I have a Life By Committee question for you all...
Tomorrow is Winter in July at the Phoenix Zoo (where I am a member, but have not gone since becoming one-- oops.) It sounds like much fun (see info here.) It would, however, require getting up very early. Tomorrow I also *must* visit A.'s cats (this is a sizeable time commitment as it takes 40 minutes to get there, 40minutes to get back, and I should, y'know, spend some time with them.) AND, in the evening I have agreed to hang out with H. and D. and see their new house and have dinner out with them. That wouldn't happen 'til about 7:30 (they like to eat late). Given that I will NEED a nap in there somewhere, knowing my body's current style of (not)working, should I really try to do all of that??
Aminals. in Snow. Only chance to see 'til next Winter in July, next year.
Other information: I would be going alone to the zoo because I don't know anyone who's interested.
Also, I should clean my house and do laundry and unpack from the trip. And I cannot do any of those things on Sunday since that is when I *must* comment on student drafts (as I'll only be *getting* the student drafts at 5 tomorrow via email.)
Of course, I should be reading Coriolanus (for Tuesday) and working on my dissertation materials. (Oh the guilt.)
Thoughts?