February 5, 2014

  • Firsts This Year.

    Sometimes, when I start to create lists in my head,
    or say, “Guess what happened TODAY that has NEVER happened before?” I realize documentation has to occur.

    And, so, I think I should document these items.
    I really, really hope that these are all situations that have just oddly happened in one school year,
    and they are NOT caused by this “millenial” group of students who are supposedly entitled and spoiled and whatever.

    Not all of my students are “millenial-like.” Not all of them did these things below. I’m well-aware of that.
    But, yeah. I really, really hope these things do not happen again, basically.

    1. Student who logged into eCompanion & thought what I was showing them on there would magically pop up. No, um, you have to click on the “Projects” tab and … yeah. Click around, duh?
    2. Student who thought we’d meet in the same room we met for the fall semester… ?
    3. Online student who asked when the first paper was due, where the guide was for it, and did I have a student example? Um, did you bother to look through the online shell? It’s ALL THERE!
    4. Student who has a disability and didn’t go to the disabilities person on campus, yet gives me attitude when I don’t help him/her out. Huh?
    5. Student who leaves book bag in our room instead of taking it with him/her while he/she goes to lunch. Are we students’ lockers now? Um, no.
    6. Student who brought his/her mother to our advising time.
    7. Student who used attractiveness to get my attention.
    8. Student who didn’t log into eCompanion to see his/her grade for fear of “jinxing” it. Yeah, he/she failed. CHECK YOUR GRADE!
    9. Student who, instead of citing his/her source in the paper, just put a hypertext link stating: Click here. Um, no. That will not be happening on my watch.
    10.

    I hope that’s it.
    Remember when I had my first “crier.” That was a long time ago. Now, if anything, I come across arrogance and anger. Yikes.

January 15, 2014

  • The First Day of a New Semester.

    9am class: We came up with a term. “Holy slut” = people who attend church & sleep around, too.
    1pm class: I think I mentioned that I like to drink vodka. What got the biggest laugh? I can’t recall, but I hope it was a good one.
    3pm class: Coming up in a few minutes… It’s the hybrid class, and I don’t know if my eCompanion shell is ready to rock & roll, so I have a Plan B handout (of course).

December 11, 2013

  • MIA.

    I’ve been MIA this whole semester, haven’t I? Sheesh.

    Well, I published my first book. The Anti-Textbook. It’s on Amazon in a physical form and as an ebook (Kindle), too. Adding to that intellectual achievement, I also have lost about 30lbs from just being a lot more healthy (getting active & eating better). Long story short, it’s been an evolving kind of semester!

    I don’t know whether to keep my blog here or not. Xanga has been awesome, but it’s going through changes and I think I got an email about how my Xanga Premium would expire and they wouldn’t be renewing it or something. I don’t know. But I do have blogs on Blogger, so I can always head over there. Right? Right. There is always a spot for writing.

September 29, 2013

  • Assessing the First Paper…

    Since I’m going to be gone from Wed-Sun, and won’t have a lot of access to a “normal” computer, I think I’ll grade a few papers today – Yes, over the weekend (gasp!). I may just shoot for 10 papers, but I wouldn’t mind just assessing the papers of the students who showed up to writing conferences first. I’ve already seen & heard their papers, and maybe that could be their reward for having come in to speak with me.

    And speaking of writing conferences, I need to rethink that whole thing. Many students don’t show up, which is whatever it is, and the ones that do rarely know that they are 1. supposed to meet in my office (so we start out our talk with, “Oh, I didn’t know it was here” when it was on the sign-up sheet AND I said it in class), 2. supposed to bring a paper copy (they’ll often look at my computer, and I’ve started saying I don’t want to give my computer a virus from your USB… I mean, wait, I think they want me to say, “Oh, let me bring it up on my computer and print it off for you because you didn’t bother to do it” OR, even better, “Let me pop it up on my screen, and correct things, and then save it for you without you having to do a damn thing.” All this, again, after it states on the sign-up sheet that they are supposed to bring paper copies)… and 3. super early or super late for the conference. This last one says to me, “I signed up for a time, but that time doesn’t matter; I know you’ll be in your office, so I’m coming to see you when I want to.” Yeah. I should make it mandatory that they attend them AND put the stipulation on them that they won’t earn points unless they bring paper copies to my office on time. You are sick? Lose points. Can’t find my office? No points. I mean, we are preparing them for the “real world” and you have to read directions and know where the hell you are going in the real world. You don’t get to show up at the wrong courthouse for a hearing or hand in your taxes on paper to your Gma.

    Jeez louise.

September 11, 2013

  • English 120 Hidden Point.

    “Twerk” and “selfie” were added to the Oxford Online Dictionary recently.
    What do you think of this?
    Email me your thoughts (10+ sentences).
    This is due before this coming Saturday at midnight.

    p.s. This blog usually looks a lot nicer.

  • And this is why…

    When students skip class, and they ask me to catch them up, they are giving me more work. They skipped that hour – slept in or whatever – and now instead of giving themselves the “work” of finding out what we did on their own, I have more work.
    It doesn’t seem fair, and while I know life isn’t fair, I never asked my college instructors what we did. I just suffered the consequences of missing class.
    I know this generation isn’t my generation, but if I have to deal with their “new attitudes,” then they should have to live with my “old rules” of how classes run.

    No wonder I detest students who skip and ask me what we did.

September 10, 2013

August 13, 2013

  • More Lists. Of Lists.

    Today’s List:

    Email TYCA reps with TYCA to You topic. Deadline for them Sept 1; deadline for me Oct. 1.
    Create a list of things to revise or update or whatever for tomorrow on campus.
    — Read the items I scanned in yesterday & figure out where they should go on the teacher-version of the schedule. 
    Brainstorming: “Children’s Insults,” by Peter Farb (1 page) & “Freewriting,” by Peter Elbow (2 pages) should/could all be assigned in the first weeks of the semester (because it takes the students awhile – for some reason – to get Carlin’s book).
    “The Self,” by Jose Ortega y Gasset (2 pages) & “My Daily Dives in the Dumpster,” by Lars Eighner (4 pages) could follow those readings, too, if necessary.
    Later on in the semester, I could use: “Notes on Punctuation,” by Lewis Thomas (2 pages) & “How Dictionaries are Made,” by S.I. Hayakawa (2 pages) & “On Going Home,” by Joan Didion (2 pages) & “Declaration of Independence,” (3 pages) & “Campus Racism,” by Nikki Giovanni (3 pages) & “On Being From Fargo,” by Tim Lingren (3 pages) & “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” by Thoreau (7 pages) & “August 2002: Night Meeting,” by Ray Bradbury (4 pages).
    Tomorrow’s List (and Thursday’s List and possibly Friday’s List):
    — Revise Project 1.5, Project 2, Project 6, and Project 7 in English 110.
    — Update student-version of Eng110 syllabus; it really just needs the basics (deadlines mostly & when to have what books?) on the schedule.
    — Revise GBP in English 120 to encompass more CCSS. What else needs revision in that course for those standards?
    *Page count based on how many copied pages it was coming out of the copier, not pages in the book it came from.

August 12, 2013

  • I got my butt – and bags & bags of stuff (paper towels, tissue, etc.) – all the way to campus, and now I don’t know where to start.

    So, what do I do first? Log into my computer, check FB, check email, and then come here to compose a To Do List.
    Yeppers. Here she goes:
    Bring boxes of stuff I want to get rid of to bug & put in trunk. On the way home, bring that stuff to the thrift store in Breck. Yay.
    — Recall projects I wanted to change in Eng110. Incorporate ideas from TEDx. = Created a Brief Eng110 Catalog of Projects where I list what we might do, but I’ll create detailed handouts too. 
    Clean up office more?
    Scan in readings at Copy Center (there was one about dumb people from some book I saw when I was cleaning last week?).
    — Change the dates in the Online WL240 course because that class might “go.” Double-check things in the Online Eng120 course?
    — Revise this list as I go along today.
    — Visited with Cheryl & Dana!
    *Later: Power of the Purse party at mom’s house; Audrey is in town, too! Yippee!

August 1, 2013

  • I guess I have been too busy to recreationally read this summer? I’m not proud of that, but instead of a guilt trip, I’ll vow to read three books before school starts (Sedaris’ latest book is just sitting in my Kindle!!)… AND watch some TED talks, too. I just downloaded their app & I’m going to the TEDx event in Fargo next Friday! So excited to geek out!