Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star...

As I've embarked on my "teaching career" I've found that you have to take the good with the bad. Play good cop one day and bad cop the next. Encourage a student while ripping them a new one. And hold yourself to the same standards as you do your students. That being said, some of my students took great delight in catching me and "punishing" me with my own rules.

Just like every first day of class, I went over my expectations, the class syllabus, how to access Blackboard, yada, yada, yada. One thing I mentioned was that they weren't to text or have their cell phone ringers turned on or else I would make them get up in front of the class and sing. What's a little public humiliation between friends? To prove how serious I was about the rule, within the first week of school my phone "rang" in each of my classes (I set an alarm, but they don't know that) and the students took glee in making me sing. I was forced to sing "I'm a Little Teapot," with the motions, in both classes. Throughout this whole semester only one student has been forced to sing...and that was the last problem I had from him in this regard.

Don't worry, I'm getting to the point of my story. Unfortunately, just this morning my cell phone went off again. The ONE day I forget to put my ringtone on silence and I happen to get a call during my 8:30 AM class. Whod've guessed? Oh the squeals of glee from my students (hey, this is my posting, so if I said they squealed, they squealed). I tried to nonchalantly pass it off, but they called me out. What was their punishment this time? They told me to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" while standing on a chair and patting my head while I rubbed my stomach. (What evil students!) Of course I have my pride so I said no...to the chair part.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star...

Wanna go Half-sies on a Baby?

Did the blog title hook your attention? I hope so because today, in class, I talked about opening and closing paragraphs of a paper and I hit the intro aspect pretty hard. The main thing I talked about was getting the reader's attention. For my example I used personal ads from a newspaper. I put two side-by-side and had the students pick which one got their interest the most. Was it the one whose first line was "SWM, 56, 6'9", 159lbs, w/mustache..." or was it the one that said "IF SHALLOW LUST IS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR ANSWER THE AD ABOVE,..." They, of course, picked the "lust" one and then I had them pretend everyone in the world is single so they could write the ad for anyone. Obama got an ad written about him, as did Will Smith, some cougar-ish 68 year old woman looking for an 18-35  year old to help her spend her money, and some guy who's "hook" is the title of this blog. I can honestly say when the student shared his hook I gaffawed a huge laugh.

It was a good day in class. 

New outlook, New purpose

So I've decided I've kind of been missing the point of this blogging thing. Sure I use it as a tool to let my family and friends know what's going on with me, but what about what's making my laugh, roll my eyes, cringe, gnash my teeth, and generally pique my interest? So instead of seeing my blog as a "chore" I'm trying to view it as an opportunity. I'm an english major, so why does the idea of writing make me sigh? Hmmmm....

In that light, I've been constantly reaffirmed this week. I've gotten positive feedback both from my advisor and students I teach that I'm not completely sucking at this "teaching" thing. This week I've had students asking me what time I'm teaching next semester and what class I'm teaching because they want to, if possible, take another class from me. Yeah! I'm not horrible! Unfortunately for them (insert cackle here) I'm actually teaching the exact same class next semester as I am now--so if I get repeat students...um, can I trade them with another teacher for a different one (kinda fantasy football league-ish)? Because obviously they/I didn't do something right the first time.

It's Autumn and my Housemate is Driving me Crazy!!!

It's officially fall. The leaves have turned colors and committed suicide on sidewalks, roadways, and yards. I can see my breath puff out in front of me when I walk around campus (which always makes me think I should be in better shape), and I can pull on my favorite hoodie or warm clothing and not worry about sweating up a storm in class.

I love sweater weather!

With that being said, my housemate, a guy by the name of Chris, is driving me crazy!!! "Now Patty," you're probably saying. "He's a guy and you have to make allowances for how dirty guys are." Um, I know this. I shared a house with two guys and a was one of three girls among 14 kayaking/climbing guides who shared the main living quarters when I lived in Valdez, AK. Guys can be dirty, thoughtless, tactless, and rude (and to set the record straight, I had no problem living with the guys in Alaska)...but that's not my problem here.

There are a lot of small things Chris does/doesn't do that annoy me to no end. Along with that are a number of little things I can't quantify to reasonably justify my exasperation with him. Let's just say I won't be sad to see him go, but he's signed a year lease...just like me. I'll learn to ignore, adjust, or stop being passive-aggressive, but so help me!

There's my praise for autumn and my venting for my housemate. Two ends of the happiness spectrum.

No Worries!

Hopefully this won't become a habit -- only blogging once a month. Needless to say my life has been a bit hectic. I have a newfound respect for teachers. I never realized how difficult it is to constantly be "on your game" as you're teaching classes while staying current with homework assignment, papers, and readings. Sheesh!

Although I feel overwhelmed quite a bit, I also feel blessed. I live with people who I enjoy...for the most part...and teach students I look forward to seeing every other day...for the most part. I can't have everything the way I want it!

Sage (my chocolate lab) has settled in nicely. My roommate Chris brought his dog, Keaton, to live at the house too and generally speaking Sage ignores Keaton. Heaven forbit Keaton gets too close to me or Sage's toys because then she starts growling. Sage is very possessive. Just a few nights ago Christiana (my housemate) and I were upstairs in the hall just sitting on the floor talking about our days and Sage was chillin next to me. The moment Keaton walked to the top of the stairs and Sage saw her, Sage immediately put a paw across my legs as if to say, "MY human." It was the funniest thing. Christiana and I laughed about it for quite awhile. What was even more funny was that after Sage made her move, Keaton turned around and walked back down the stairs. I guess Sage's point was made.

Class-wise things are going good. I'm still struggling in my Grad-level class, but things are starting to click into place in my mind. Now if I can just find a topic for my paper... German is going well also. I tend to stress about the tests and worry I won't remember everything, but when I get into the classroom & look at the test I just want to kick myself because it's never as hard as I think it's going to be. Must be the overachiever in me.

I have to say the highlight is teaching Freshman English 101. The students have loosened up enough now that they enjoy razzing me when I misspell a word on the board (little snots!) and don't get offended when I tell them to stop complaining and suck it up. They honestly make me smile on a daily basis...because I don't smile enough!

Another long post, but hopefully I'll become a more active blogger. I hope this gets you up-to-date on what's going on with me. Feel free to ask questions in the comment section and I'll try to answer them.

No worries!