Sept. 1 Labor Day

For the first time in four days I feel half way alive. I came down with a fall cold Thursday, and have been suffering ever since. For a few days there I was a walking snot machine, dribbling everywhere. But, this morning, I can breath without too much difficulty, my throat is not sore, and I feel semi-energetic.

My first week of teaching went ok. I am beginning to settle into the class, and I feel less nervous with each class I teach. Life is starting to pick up once more, and soon I will be racing around wishing I had not been sick at the start of the month and able to get some of the things I was supposed to get done done.

We received a little bit of rain last week as well. Enough to drown one of the plants, poor thing. The forecast for the next week looks decent, warm weather, mostly sunny, and nice all around.

Happy Labor day to all those who have to labor to live. I certainly feel lucky to have a soft (though poor paying) job.

Wednesday August 27

I awoke to the sound of rain on my window, a suitably peaceful end of August sound. We have had so little rain this summer that I had forgotten what rain sounds like.

When wandering around downstairs last night closing blinds, I thought how strange it feels for me to be living in the city. I spent so many years out in the bush that I still feel unsettled in the city. Given the price of gas I am glad I live close enough to school that I do not have to sell my toes to get around.

School is going. Monday's class was a boring event for me and the students. Yesterday's went better, I had more fun, and I think the students did as well. Today I am going to attend a lunch thing that will allow me to hear how people build collaborative writing assignments, and then I have another workshop.

I have been busy, but most of what I have been doing is boring. School work and no play makes Mike have nothing to say.

Saturday, August nearly over

Day two of teaching went well. It was less exciting than day one, mostly because I sat in class and the students spent half of it doing an in class writing thingie. I am, for the most part, impressed with their writing abilities. They do need improvement, but they are already quite competent, which is to be expected I suppose. If they were not competent they would not be in this class. The fun part begins now, as I start to introduce them to science writing, I get to watch their competence collapse. I think my biggest problem will be to figure out how to do the things I want to do in the little time I have available. 50 minute classes limits what I can do. Trying to get groups together, have them look at some problem, and then report back to class takes time. I feel like finding one of them time dilators, bringing it to class and increasing the amount of time I have to torture the students. Ahh well, soon it will be Christmas and i will be panicking cause I have done nothing, so off to work I go.

Day One

I finished my first solo an hour ago. Siting in my cubicle just before class, I was nervous and tense. I remembered some of the tips I learned way back in the drama course I took two falls past, and used them. They helped a great deal, surprise something I learned in school actually having an application! I also used some of my cognitive training to redirect my anxiety. I said, yes I am nervous, but that is normal in this situation. However, I said I am also excited and looking forward to meeting my class. That is, in some ways, quite strange. There I am, in front of 22 strange faces, and I am looking forward to meeting them.

Before entering class, I had an entire sequence of events worked out. I would walk downstairs, down the hall, open the class door, and let every one in. when I actually stepped out of the stairwell, the door to my class was wide open, and there was a strange person standing in my space. Ack! I think to me, me I says, did I make some kind of major gaffe? Fortunately the woman standing there began walking out mumbling something about wrongly placed signs and some such, but really, her anxiety, I think, made her make an error. So, my class had a bit of a surprise to start their afternoon off.

Given my own distaste for the first class icebreakers that I have had to endure, I kept the one in my class short and sweet. I had them say their name, first and last, and where they were from, and that was it. I believe the first day is stressful enough without having to torture the students. And these ice breakers are not really for the students benefit but the teachers. From there I walked through the syllabus, then through some of the resources available, and finally gave them the first diagnostic. Low stakes writing, but some writing nonetheless. This is a writing course, they need to start by writing.

I answered some questions about the assignment, and sent them on their way. They managed to get out a few minutes early, so they should be mixed in their reactions, happy to escape early, disappointed to have to actually do some work.

The best part of the whole experience is that I enjoyed myself even though I was nervous at the start.

So, the first day went well, though I can't help wondering what they thought of weird old me.

And so

it begins. My summer ends and I have to start thinking once more. A painful and unsettling idea to try to contain within my aging brain box. This morning's meeting will be a long and painful event. I suspect it will be like the monthly safety meetings I had to sit through back in Cold Lake. Mandatory events are hard to attend. I could sit through a long movie or play, if it were something I wanted to see, without too much whinging, but these things are quite horrid. My plan to make it less horrid is to walk to school. Hopefully that will ease some of the blechs and blahs I have this morning.

The next four months will be busy, but we hope they will also be interesting. This is a strange position to be in. I feel a bit unseated. The patterns and pieces of my life no longer fit seamlessly or easily.

I will likely not update this site until Thursday or Friday, after I have taught my first class or two all alone.

Friday August 15

It is extremely quiet this morning. It is cold enough outside that the ac is not running, so, for the first time in a long time the blowers are not running. I can hear the cats stomach rumbling from here, and that is a long way for sound to travel, trust me.

I have been semi-stressed this week. I submitted my syllabus for comments Monday, and I have not heard back yet.I have been tinkering with it all week, and I am reasonably satisfied with what I have, but I need to get the feedback or I will implode.

Next week will be busy. I have a comp thing Monday morning, an MFA thing Tuesday, my first workshop Wednesday, and then the class I am teaching Thursday and Friday. My class syllabus may be online Monday, and it may be openly accessible. If so, I will put a link here for those who are interested in seeing what I have been doing lately.In the meantime you can go here and scroll down to see me listed among faculty/staff. Reality encourages the urge to flee to somewhere warm, say one of the Caribbean islands? It is all experience in one form or the other I suppose.

My course site is now live if you want to oooh and ahhhh. Just click here.