Teaching Freshman Comp - Week 3 (+ Thesis Report)
Tuesday: I did not go to work. At least, not the job I call "my work" and that pays me about two and a half times what I would make teaching full-time, maybe more. . . I had a full day of things to do on campus. . .
Got to Brooklyn College around 9 AM and waited outside of the auditorium for M. to show up with the coffee she promised, but she was late and not feeling well and I had already gone inside when she arrived sans coffee. Jhumpa Lahiri read from one of her stories in a soft, but steady voice and then answered the questions of the freshmen as best she could. But I felt for her when students asked questions like "What did it feel like to be a child of Indian immigrants in the late sixties/early seventies when there were fewer Indians here?" "Uh, that's one of the reasons why I write short stories, to try and answer that question" She replied, and then went on. She is also very beautiful, which is neither here nor there, except that she was as nice to look at as she was to listen to.
Afterwards, we went to Starbucks (yeah, I know - but it is the only coffee place near campus) along with another adjunct/grad student, and while we sat there discussing our teaching, gossiping about the English department and talking theses, I realized that the in-class writing I had marked to give back that day and planned to go over with my students was still sitting atop my coffee table at home. Sigh. And then it began to rain, and then it began to pour.
Umbrellaless, we went from there to the faculty computer lab on the third floor of the library. I never knew the place existed! Print as much as you want. Quieter. Cozier. The place to work when on campus since I don't have a real office and the adjunct's office can be anything but quiet (see below). I spent some time doing research for my master's thesis and up til then had been unable to find even one scholarly article directly addressing The Fortress of Solitude - not exactly surprising, seeing as how contemporary it is - but on Tuesday I found one that had just been published this last spring, which touches on the topics I will be writing about. "Gentrification, Authenticity and White Middle-Class Identity in Lethem's Fortress of Solitude." Three things about this article: 1) I felt as if the author either did not read the text closely enough, ignoring all sorts of relevant bits, or he purposefully avoided things that complicated his thesis, and 2) Some of the bits were annoyingly similar to shit I have written/have been writing. I feel scooped in a way, but then again. . . This just gives me something to address if I were to try and publish something on it. And 3) the name of the book is "THE Fortress of Solitude", not just "Fortress of Solitude." This is a quibble.
At 12:15 was the English department staff meeting, which I was not required to go to, and I was even told by some adjunct colleagues that our opinions would be dismissed or resented by the full-timers - but if anything, that made me want to go even more, as I take that kind of thing as a challenge. Plus, I was tentatively supposed to meet my thesis advisor on Tuesday and figured she might be there, as even though she is on sabbatical, she is still involved in some stuff on campus, and had said she would be on campus on certain Tuesdays, and had mentioned this one in particular. As the semester has started and I have a lot of writing to do, I was getting a little worried about not having met yet, so I figured I had to go to at least check and see if she'd be there. She wasn't.
The meeting itself was rather boring, but it was fun to watch the classroom full of faculty behind those desks, making corny jokes and being kinda dorky.
As the meeting ended a lot earlier than scheduled, I decided to bite the bullet, jump back on the subway and ride all the way back home and get those papers I had forgotten. It is a 50 minute train ride each way (about), so I spent the time reading. I ate a quick lunch at home and then went back to campus in time for my office hours, and then at 5:05, class. . .
I gave back their in-class writing on the Moore essay and I assured them that all the red ink did not mean it was all bad, it was just that I prefer red because is stands out, so both positive and negative comments were in red. I also told them that their papers were not corrected. I just circled the errors and they could fix it on their own, and that if they wanted go over the paper they could come to my office hours. Of course, I reiterated the part about coming to office hours in the comments of those I felt needed the most help.
I also took a few minutes to write "they're/there/their" and "its/it's" and "companies/company's", and the good ole, "to/too/two" - just to go over them. Not everyone had these specific problems, but some (mostly the second and third) were common enough that I felt that it was time well spent to go over it. We then went over the essay again, or at least the specific section they were to write about (corporate influence on public schools) because many of them seemed to write about anything but, and did not use specific examples from the essay as I had asked (they can use the book when they write, I'm not asking them to memorize nothing. . ). Also, I felt some of them could not adequately explain Moore's feelings on corporate involvement in public schools - so I wanted to make sure they got it.
Just to be clear, I am not grading these, and I am not writing this to put my students down. I know for some of them this is a lot harder work than they had to do in high school (others seems just fine, and at least one makes me wonder why she didn't test out of Eng I) and these assignments are meant as practice for them and as a diagnostic tool for me.
I lectured for a little bit about introductions and theses and conclusions, and we went over a hand-out I gave them with sample introductions and theses, and then gave examples of theses that were too vague or factual, and had them tell me why they were not ideal. We used the example of the essay that was due Thursday to talk about the concepts and apply them directly to the assignment they were ostensibly working on.
After that we talked about Lahiri's "Mrs. Sen's" for a little bit and then I had them write for 20 to 25 minutes about views of family in the story and to include why they thought these scenes/examples were in the story.
I assigned them the last page of the handout to read before the next meeting and made a few other logistical announcements as they fidgeted and half-stood or moved their bodies in their seats towards the door. It annoyed me. Next time, I will tell them that I expect them to not make for the door until I actually dismiss them. It's distracting and I feel rushed. I don't want to feel that way. I can totally be the hard-ass teacher - (Kinda in the same way that I am the one in my circle of friends who broaches the subjects no one wants to talk about and calls people on their bullshit when it is necessary and that everyone is usually thankful for it after the air is cleared. Being a friend is a responsibility, and if you fuck-up, it is your friends' duty to fucking tell you and try to set you back on the right track. Just like, if I fuck-up I expect my friends to call me out or sit me down. I rely on that. Anyway, not sure where the fuck that tangent came from, but my point is, I don't want to have to be a "lay down the law" kind of teacher, but I am willing to be) -
Tuesday night I got my shit ready for Thursday's class since. . .
Wednesday: I went to the Mets game. They won! I marked some of the in-class writing on the Lahiri story on the subway ride home. But I did not get home until sometime after midnight. I collapsed, because sooner than I liked the alarm went off and it was suddenly. ..
Thursday: 6 AM. So fucking bleary-eyed. . . After work I headed to campus, and on my way up to the adjunct's office I ran into J. who was in a couple of classes with me over the last two years and is among my favorite people I have met while in my program, and what was a quick-hello-pass-each-other-on-the-stairs became a near 40 minute conversation, that was joined in the last few minutes by another former classmate of ours (who is another of my faves). I only bring it up because these meetings and conversations are as much as my graduate experience, and it is nice to meet people you genuinely hope you will stay in touch with. . J. actually said some very flattering things about my writing and ideas that just made me feel good because they were genuine. And since she is the smartest and most articulate person I have met while at Brooklyn College (surpassing several members of the faculty), it means a lot.
When I finally got to the office, I started talking with M. about her having to cancel her class on Tuesday because of being sick, when all of a sudden this other adjunct kind of interrupts and begin to monopolize the public space that is the adjunct's office with a loud negative foul-mouthed rant. She railed against everything. The students, the department, the required reading, New York City, random authors, and mostly about her boyfriend of four years who broke up with her on their anniversary and told her he never loved her to begin with. . . Now, I don't want to seem like a cold or uncaring person, because I know how fucking crushing it is to be broken up with by someone you live with and love and have long-term plans with, but. . . a mix of her general negative attitude towards everything, and her willingness to shout her personal business to the whole office made me feel like I understood why someone would break up with her. It was just obnoxious! I like the hour I spend in the office before class, looking over my notes and talking quietly with colleagues about teaching or just shooting the shit a little bit, relaxing - and this woman totally destroyed that calm. M. looked at me and said, "Do you want to go upstairs to class?" A lot earlier than she normally would, and I agreed. This other woman had literally driven us from the room! We discussed it with disbelief as we went upstairs.
I gave back the in-class writing from Tuesday, and once again went over some of the common mistakes. I reminded them to use specific examples from the text and to avoid summation of the plot. I handed out a checklist for them to use when reviewing each others papers to keep them focused on the writing and the elements they should be looking for, and we went over the various points. They then broke up to into groups, traded papers and they went at it. I could tell that some of them really got into it, making notes on each others papers and discussing points, while others did read each other papers, but mostly talked among themselves about language and communication, which was fine. I broke them up into random groups so they would not just sit with their friends, and part of the point was to get them to get to know each other a bit and get used to sharing their writing. I wanted them discussing the topic. It was all good.
I had them bring in two copies of their paper, and while they did the "peer review" I looked through the ones I am going to go over and mark up over the weekend and hand back before the final draft is due next Thursday.
After that, we talked a little about the papers we had read, and then we talked a little about comparing and contrasting, and I mentioned the two essays they are to read for next week, one by former senator Rick Santorum, "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good," (the title is fairly self-explanatory, and for those who know who Rick Santorum is it is even easier to guess what it says) and one by Evan Wolfson entitled "What is Marriage?" which is in favor of same-sex marriage. I was going to tell them to keep a list of similarities and differences as they read, but one of my students suggested it in our class discussion before I brought it up, which made me happy.
At 7 pm I met up with my thesis advisor in a cafe on 4th avenue (a block away from Dean street, coincidentally enough) and talked over my progress in applying to doctorate programs, and we went over the ones I am applying to, and she made some more suggestions, and then we hammered at my master's thesis idea and she gave somewhere to start. I like the way she works. "Forget secondary sources for now," she said. "I want you to write everyday about the two texts, and when we meet in two weeks we'll look at it and by then a chapter outline will emerge." So my working title for my thesis is: "Positional Identity and the Brooklyn of Lethem and Kazin," and it concerns urban space and its shaping of identity in contemporary American literature, Brooklyn lit being my focus.
I am planning on going to the Brooklyn Book Fair on Sunday because Lethem is speaking (and so is Dorothy Allison, though she is not a Brooklynite), and my advisor said she might be able to put me in contact with him because she knows him from past events and runs into him in the neighborhood all the time. My advisor worries, however, that meeting the author of the book I am writing about might unduly influence me, but I am not worried. I am not one to be easily influenced. Anyway, mostly I just want to confirm if his younger sister Mara, is the same Mara Lethem I went to junior high school with in Park Slope.