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ladyslvr at 11:35pm on 22/11/2003
ladyslvr at 11:35pm on 22/11/2003We're officially at that point in the semester where it all blurs together. I sat down the other night to do a master calendar of the semester: see what I'd done, when I'd done it, and how to fit in the stuff we have yet to do. It turns out that we have far less semester left than I thought we had. Although, considering that I've been winging it since day one, we haven't done that badly. We have exactly enough time to get the two remaining papers finished. We don't have time for two of the assigned journal collections, so some points will have to be shuffled around. No problems there since we had a lot more peer reviews that originally scheduled.
I'm trying to start planning next semester. All three of my classes are full. In fact, every English 123 class is booked solid. The department has started a waiting list and has issued a decree that no one is to allow schedule overloads. They're trying to use this as leverage with the school to get more sections added and/or to hire more faculty. I'm liking the job security of this. That part's good. The not-so-good is that the Textbook center won't allow any to get books until two weeks before classes start. Without the texts, it's difficult to plan. Then, in a fit of inspiration it hit me .. buy my own copies.
Sometimes the bloody obvious needs pointing out.
So I went over to half.com and whatdoyaknow, I found all three of my textbooks for $0.75 cents each. Needless to say (so I'm going to say it anyway), that's a far better deal than renting them next semester, much less every semester, from the Textbook center. As soon as they arrive, I can get on with the planning. Yes, folks, that'd be me doing my work well before the deadline. Close your mouths.
In other news, I had a TP birthday. DH got me the series three box set, Dad got me the second series of audio adventures (IOW, he sent me enough money to buy them), and Mom got me a new pair of fuzzy pajamas. The second the semester is over, I'll be curling up in those fuzzy pjs and setting down for a glorious nostalgia trip.
While I'm here, let's finish the 5 Things Meme that was making the rounds a month ago.
1. Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks once called me on the phone.
True. Back in high school, my creative writing instructor required every student in her class to enter poetry and prose contests with the works we produced in class. Amongst others, I entered the Gwendolyn Brook's Poet Laureate Contest with my poem Logic. I won. Since it was her contest, Ms. Brooks phoned me herself to deliver the news and to rave about the poem. Incidentally, my undergrad poetry professor hated the poem and told me it was drivel.
2. I had a friend my freshman year of college with whom I spent a great deal of time without ever having any clue as to his name.
True. I think it was via one of my history classes. Somehow I met a guy and started spending a lot of (not romantic) time together. I knew him as Randy. However, he was a very gregarious person with a lot of acquaintances, and everywhere we went, people would walk past and say "hi." But, the name of the person they greeted was always changing. Everyone at his church, for example, called him Frank. I was introduced to them as Katie. It didn't take me long to start wondering if he had also given me a false name. Alas, I changed schools before that mystery was solved.
3. I've never broken a bone or had surgery.
False. It's true that I've never broken a bone. I have, however, had surgery to a remove a cyst from the corner of my eye.
4. Someone once wrote an academic paper about me.
True. A friend who is working on her PhD used me as one of her three research/interview subjects in a paper she wrote about video archiving and tape trading.
5. My high school advisor approved me to take AP Physics and AP Calculus, but said that I wasn't smart enough for AP English.
True. I'm still a touch bitter about this, tho with each successive English degree, the incident becomes more amusing. Frighteningly, it wasn't my intelligence that was the issue. It was a combination of a chauvinistic counselor (he also tried to talk me out of the Calc and Physics with the old "no one likes a smart woman" argument) and the misuse of tracking in the American educational system. Back in junior high, the schedulers had gotten me and another person with the same last name mixed up. I got her English class and she got mine. By the time the mix-up was discovered, it was too late in the semester to fix it. Fast forward to high school, and I was still taking the other girl's English classes (she had been on a lower track than me). By the time AP English came up, because I wasn't on the AP English track, I therefore couldn't be smart enough to take it. Once ya got stuck in a lower track, there was no going back up.
Out of stubbornness, I did take the AP English (writing) exam and got a 3, which was high enough to test out of Freshman Comp at FSU. The end result is, no one has ever taught me how to do basic non-fiction writing. This could be why my academic writing abilitysucks is somewhat lacking.
I'm trying to start planning next semester. All three of my classes are full. In fact, every English 123 class is booked solid. The department has started a waiting list and has issued a decree that no one is to allow schedule overloads. They're trying to use this as leverage with the school to get more sections added and/or to hire more faculty. I'm liking the job security of this. That part's good. The not-so-good is that the Textbook center won't allow any to get books until two weeks before classes start. Without the texts, it's difficult to plan. Then, in a fit of inspiration it hit me .. buy my own copies.
Sometimes the bloody obvious needs pointing out.
So I went over to half.com and whatdoyaknow, I found all three of my textbooks for $0.75 cents each. Needless to say (so I'm going to say it anyway), that's a far better deal than renting them next semester, much less every semester, from the Textbook center. As soon as they arrive, I can get on with the planning. Yes, folks, that'd be me doing my work well before the deadline. Close your mouths.
In other news, I had a TP birthday. DH got me the series three box set, Dad got me the second series of audio adventures (IOW, he sent me enough money to buy them), and Mom got me a new pair of fuzzy pajamas. The second the semester is over, I'll be curling up in those fuzzy pjs and setting down for a glorious nostalgia trip.
While I'm here, let's finish the 5 Things Meme that was making the rounds a month ago.
1. Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks once called me on the phone.
True. Back in high school, my creative writing instructor required every student in her class to enter poetry and prose contests with the works we produced in class. Amongst others, I entered the Gwendolyn Brook's Poet Laureate Contest with my poem Logic. I won. Since it was her contest, Ms. Brooks phoned me herself to deliver the news and to rave about the poem. Incidentally, my undergrad poetry professor hated the poem and told me it was drivel.
2. I had a friend my freshman year of college with whom I spent a great deal of time without ever having any clue as to his name.
True. I think it was via one of my history classes. Somehow I met a guy and started spending a lot of (not romantic) time together. I knew him as Randy. However, he was a very gregarious person with a lot of acquaintances, and everywhere we went, people would walk past and say "hi." But, the name of the person they greeted was always changing. Everyone at his church, for example, called him Frank. I was introduced to them as Katie. It didn't take me long to start wondering if he had also given me a false name. Alas, I changed schools before that mystery was solved.
3. I've never broken a bone or had surgery.
False. It's true that I've never broken a bone. I have, however, had surgery to a remove a cyst from the corner of my eye.
4. Someone once wrote an academic paper about me.
True. A friend who is working on her PhD used me as one of her three research/interview subjects in a paper she wrote about video archiving and tape trading.
5. My high school advisor approved me to take AP Physics and AP Calculus, but said that I wasn't smart enough for AP English.
True. I'm still a touch bitter about this, tho with each successive English degree, the incident becomes more amusing. Frighteningly, it wasn't my intelligence that was the issue. It was a combination of a chauvinistic counselor (he also tried to talk me out of the Calc and Physics with the old "no one likes a smart woman" argument) and the misuse of tracking in the American educational system. Back in junior high, the schedulers had gotten me and another person with the same last name mixed up. I got her English class and she got mine. By the time the mix-up was discovered, it was too late in the semester to fix it. Fast forward to high school, and I was still taking the other girl's English classes (she had been on a lower track than me). By the time AP English came up, because I wasn't on the AP English track, I therefore couldn't be smart enough to take it. Once ya got stuck in a lower track, there was no going back up.
Out of stubbornness, I did take the AP English (writing) exam and got a 3, which was high enough to test out of Freshman Comp at FSU. The end result is, no one has ever taught me how to do basic non-fiction writing. This could be why my academic writing ability
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
That does change things, you would have to buy them because, yes, they want the students to buy the books you have desk copies for. Damnit. Though if you were adopting a book, that might be different. I would never rent them though, because you might grow fond of parts of them and want to repurpose that chapter for other classes.
(no subject)
Why would any serious student want to rent.
Okay .. um .. I think the key word here is "serious." Consider for a moment where I teach and who I am teaching to, then think about whether your statement is still valid.
(no subject)
You've got a point. Actually that leads into the whole "Why won't an outline work" mentality.
undergrad profs
Good for you for testing out of freshman comp!
Re: undergrad profs
Some of us know quite a lot :) The problem is, it's hard not to see freshman and assume. Especially after you've dealt with hundreds of them.
The poetry professor in question was a big lover of modern poetry. She just didn't like my modern poetry. She wanted her poetry to make sense, which is fair enough since I also prefer poetry that makes sense. I've never been able to understand what Gwendolyn Brooks or anyone else saw or liked in Logic.
Good for you for testing out of freshman comp!
Errr .. not really. It was fun at the time. Unfortunately, it meant that I never learned how to write non-fiction well, which was a continual cause of stress and low grades for the rest of my college career. Now I make a living teaching the class, and I feel handicaped because I have no idea what the class is supposed to entail.
BTW, welcome to LJ, kyt.