I have been a part of the honors program committee here at RCBC for the past two years or so to create an honors college. Not only have we opened up applications for the classes, but I can happily announce that I will be teaching the first ever honors section of Composition II in the fall. I am really looking forward to this opportunity and already have some ideas for how to proceed with the course and will post more about them in the summer.
What I Am Up To This Summer
Honestly, I am hoping for a quiet summer. So far, I will not be attending any conferences. I am teaching one section of Composition I and two sections of Composition II online and will be on campus later in the summer to begin the process of building a film studies program here at BCC.
I do have a few digital humanities projects I am working on that will get announced as time goes on. Stay tuned.
Teachers Need A Deputy
One of the big lessons I learned this school year was that an effective teacher needs a deputy in the classroom. I had never thought about this before until I was watching a Champion's League soccer match during the spring. One of the commentators began discussing one of the teams in the match's game that weekend. Their star goalie had been injured, but the commentator noted "he has a really good deputy behind him, which is very important" or something like that.
As I sat there watching the match, I got to thinking about how that related to the classroom. I realized after a few minutes that a lot of my best classes while teaching were the ones where I had a student I could rely on as a sort of "deputy" in the classroom. My first semester at BCC, I taught three classes. The morning class was decent, but took a lot of work on my part to really get the class going by the end. However, my afternoon classes both did really well and I think one of the reasons was that I had a good student deputy in both classes.
In the noon class, a Composition I, I did not have one until around the middle of November, but it eventually happened. A young lady who did well in the class, but had been stuck with a bunch of high school friends that dragged her down a bit (I am sure we all see this all the time unfortunately). She suddenly made a strong break with them and really took the initiative to not only perform better, but also help me and other students. At our peer reviews, she moved around the room like a second teacher aiding students I had not gotten to yet.
My class after that, a Composition II, had a student deputy from the first day on. There were some issues with student concerns along the way and she was able to check in with them, report her findings back to me, and then I could implement changes to the class. I would have had a more harder time with my first semester without these students.
This year I had a good deputy in almost every one of my classes that worked well. Without realizing it, I look for this kind of student leadership unconsciously. In the future, I will more actively seek it out and guide other professors who come to me looking for advice to do the same.
End Of Semester Roundup
Prof Hacker’s end of semester checklist post suggested writing some sort of “End of the Semester Roundup” post so I thought I would write one up. This semester was one of great advancements for me. I taught my first college level courses and had a great time doing so. Originally, my schedule involved teaching two sections of Composition I but during the first week of the semester I ended up adding a section of Composition II as well.
Comp I was a lot of work, but well worth it. I saw a lot of advancement in my student’s work as the semester went on. I also saw a lot if disappointing efforts from others. Teaching writing and grammar also allowed me to sharpen my own skills and talk about some of the adventures I have had over the years as a student and academic. Check out the class weblog for more information.
Composition II was a great joy to teach. I got to teach a lot of my favourite canonical authors like Chopin, Gilman, and Ibsen. An unconscious theme of discussing gender and women’s liberation became a focus of our close readings as the semester advanced through short stories to plays (A Doll House, Othello) and then to poets like Plath and Dickinson. Immediately, a handful of students stood apart from the rest of the class but I also saw many others slowly begin to contribute more and more as they became more comfortable with their own close reading skills. My focus in class was on what my students wanted to discuss. Of course, I would bring lecture notes with ideas I wanted to highlight. However, after our daily, randomly selected, journal readers I would ask the class where they wanted to begin, what they wanted to discuss, and that is where we would start. I could talk for hours about most of the texts we read, but I am more concerned with what my students wish to discuss.
One student in particular started the semester off very slowly only to eventually be the first to raise their hand almost every class. Another only contributed on Fridays, somehow, but always blew our minds with their ideas. Almost every student in class had a day where they stood out and shone brighter than anyone else.
The week of my classroom observation by Dr. Alexander coincided with my favorite week of the semester: the week we discussed (post)modern authors like Borges, Coover, and Auster. I was very impressed with my students and their ability to tackle these difficult texts. I can’t wait to teach 102 again and hope I get a chance to pick up a section in the spring. Check out our course weblog.
This semester I ran our course weblogs on WordPress and am thrilled with the results. I have run WP on a number of websites, including this one, for the past four years and couldn’t be happier with the results. In the spring I think I am going to try the dreaded Blackboard for my classes. As an offsite alternative, I believe I am going to wade my toes into the world of Drupal as well. I am going to spend some time over break considering my options.
I also guest lectured for two classes in Dr. McCadden’s upper level class ENG203 The Origins of Literature. I presented two lectures: “Telemachus & The Search For the Ideal Son in Classical Greek Literature” and “The Odyssey & Nonlinear Reading.”
Another project I am going to finish over break is the long-awaited draft of my article on Shelley Jackson for The Quarterly Conversation. I was supposed to have this completed for the winter issue, but the hectic nature of the fall semester got in the way. Veronica Esposito was gracious enough to give me an extension. I’m hoping to have something to him early in the new year.
I have a handful of journal article proposals that I need to send over break as well. A few of them are spinoff projects from my MA thesis and others are ideas that I have brewed for a period of time. Hopefully some of them will be publishable.
in the spring, currently, I am teaching two sections of Comp I. One is MWF, the other TT. This isn’t the most ideal schedule, but hopefully I will pick another Comp I, a Comp II, or another class. I am very happy to have a few weeks off to get some of my work done and prep for the spring. However, I am also excited to get back to Burlington and begin teaching again.
Professor Wend: The First Few Weeks
I thought it would be nice to post an update about my first few weeks teaching at Burlington. First off, I have to say my colleagues and the support staff have been extremely helpful. When I run into professors from the English program they offer help, guidance, and anything else I need. The secretaries in the Liberal Arts department offices have gone above and beyond to help me and answer my often idiotic questions. The print shop, which is a post in and of itself, has aided me and, during that first week, really went out of their way to help me as well. Which leads to…
When I got home the first day of classes, the dean of my department called and asked if I would be willing to pick up an additional course. So now I am also teaching a section of Eng102: Composition II. Unlike Eng101, which is more of a mechanical, and technical, English course, 102 allows me to teach short stories, plays, and later in the semester some poetry. I am really enjoying this class. The conversations have been lively and I have had my brain picked by a few future English majors after class almost every session.
Since the semester began, I have already gone through a few Google Calendar revisions. Originally I was going to allow students to set up meetings with me from 9am-noon when I am off, but I have shrunk that down to 9am-10am because I am doing prep work for my other classes during those other hours. I found a computer lab I am using as an “office” and so far that has worked out fine. The campus is pretty small, so if a student needs to find me they usually can without a lot of pain. I store all of my lecture notes, handouts, etc in Google Docs so I can access them at any time. I’ve also created a very detailed spreadsheet to keep track of grades and attendance. At the end of the semester I will post the templates I have created, once I finish tinkering with them.
So far, I have not had to make a lot of changes to the syllabus or schedule. One change I have made is to add more group work to my 101 classes. Students seem to responding more to working in small groups than they do to me lecturing for an hour. That is fine with me; whatever helps them learn is what matters.
On the sidebar to the right, I have added links to the syllabus, schedule, and course weblog for both of my classes.