oh my goodness. it's been forever, due to the untimely (finals period of course) crashing of not one, but TWO computers. TWO. my real computer had some awful "fatal keyboard problem." I was working on a paper and couldn't help but noticing how it took about 10 minutes for one measly word to show up on the screen, so i reverted to my formerly trusty backup, my old-school-first year of college computer. ahhhhhhhhhh it has some kind of memory-dump issue, and i cannot connect it to the internetzz to save my life. oh well, i managed somehow to get through finals relatively unscathed. unfortunately i had to work on papers until about a week before school started again, but they all managed to get in. latin didn't kill me as i had expected, and now of course i miss the structure, discipline and wonderful taste of its abuse. medieval latin is just not having the same hold on me this semester, though it is still fun. i miss the precision and rules though.
this semester seems like it is off to an interesting start. lots of classes, all of which are pretty intense. i'm going to need to start writing for some soon, as crazy as that sounds to my procrastinating ears. i'm teaching a lit class for the first time and loving it. what has been blowing me away the most is the students' enthusiasm. they are all so HAPPY!! and write me emails with lots of HI MRS.Xs (though i am not married, wear no rings and am just a few years older then they are...whywhywhy? do i look older than I am or something? blerg) and loads of !!!!! marks. it is a new terrain for me, this verve and pep. Where do they get it from? and at 8am in the freaking morning. unbelievable. i was not like that even at their age.
if i want to teach a lit class next semester, i need to make a proposal for a class soon. hmmm, i'm not sure. i love love love teaching the lit stuff, and it is great experience i'm sure, since the class is completely self-designed (i'd definitely do something different next time, just to mix things up, though i've noticed people usually just repeat the same texts in a different order...nah, i want to go with different time-periods and totally different texts...and maybe theater??) but there is something about teaching language that just makes me go ga-ga. mannnn i love it. i don't even mind teaching every day and still getting paid the same for MORE hours. hmm, i will have to decide soon.
before i decide however, i should probably prepare for class in less than 8 hours. durrrr...why do i never manage to get this done over the weekend? nuts, i am nuts and need to organize my time better. for sure.
2 comments:
Teaching your first lit class--that has to be great! I will proceed to ask a million questions: Did you teach composition first? What are you having your students read (and do you get to prepare your own syllabus)? Do you have issues with students not doing the reading? What type of papers do you assign?
(I'm sorry, I may be attempting to experience your joy vicariously:)
I see that several of my questions on the previous blog are answered here--my apologies (I'm behind on the RSS). I daresay you are more a pilgrim than I, regarding your eager willingness to teach more for the same pay. This really irked me last semester, when I taught two for the price of one. I felt like an exploited resource. I was further frustrated by the attitude of the Campus Grad Student Association, which seemed to feel that it happens everywhere, in every field, etc. My feeling is that this type of fee schedule is harmful to students. I would like to be an altruistic, Robin Williams ala Dead Poets Society teacher, but the [non] payment for the course I taught played in direct proportion to my preparation.
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