Third Week of Class: MLK Day and 3 Student Conferences

I didn't get to meet with my students face to face on Monday because of MLK Day. The weeks seem to be flying and there doesn't seem to be much time to do everything work-wise, social-wise, family-wise.

Two students cancelled their student conferences with me this week for a variety of reasons. This is the first semester that I am forcing my students to come to my office and talk about their papers. However, I am only requiring that they see me once, so I don't suppose that is too torturous for them.

The meetings provided time for us to get to know one another better and discuss drafts of their first papers. For most of the students, I headed them off at the pass on their traditional argument approach. Most were trying to construct an argument rather than present their rhetorical stance in their claim. I had assumed that doing a traditional argument would be much easier than doing a constructive or Rogerian approach. Surprises never cease and it pays to follow the adage that "Never assume anything."

My students' first drafts are all in and graded based on the annotations they did on their drafts and the completed self-review worksheets they copied and pasted to their drafts. The assignment is worth 25 points and is considered an editing assignment. In order to get them to scuba dive and not snorkle when they review their work, they will need to know how to annotate effectively. Most are on their way; some will just do the minimum and write words like, "develop" or "delete" and leave it at that.

I am looking forward to reading significantly different revised drafts next week.

Life is indeed good. Teaching rocks!!

Second Week of Class

Monday, January 14, was a face-to-face class complete with California quiche, Arabic bread, fruit, cheese and crackers!

It is a great class and very responsive. I planned too much, as usual, and didn't get everything done. Jennifer was my timekeeper and gave me an extra ten minutes (which I shouldn't have had).

The big surprise of the day came when I saw the students had a different edition of the text than I had. I had the old edition. One of the essays assigned for the group work was one that the students didn't have in their texts. No one mentioned this, which led me to believe that no one had done the readings assigned for that day.

A few students didn't bring their books to class and lost participation points.

The fun moments, I think, were having the students take the "Remember Me " quiz in which they had to identify the students with their activity (from the first day ice breaker) and then the giving out of prizes for the catchiest title on the essay on abolishing college football.

I was very pleased with the first online assignment in which students had to revise a title of an essay, revised sentences, write a 'pow' intro, and answer questions on the difference between active and passive reading. I enjoyed reading the students' responses and look forward to a fun and productive semester with them.

Establishing a community of learners who work well together and are not afraid to take risks is my goal this semester.