Thursday, November 12, 2009

yesterday

*didn't want to go to Bangla class. After one hour, I left. The teacher wrote words on the board and after we carefully copied them down, he erased about 1/3 of the letters and said, oh no, that's just how they're pronounced. Now we'll see the correct spelling. I do not want to copy down incorrect spellings. I *know* how these simple words are pronounced. argh.

*getting to the U early is good: less traffic, cafeteria still serving breakfast, I take time for tea.

*students in the first class doing peer reviews. Six arrive on time. The other five come in at five minute intervals, all needing individual explanations about the peer review, the assignment for Monday, the changes in the syllabus. should have known when I was on the verge of tears, that something is wrong. usually I can handle this.

*sudden interview pops up for a job search I'm on. oops, must go upstairs to sit in on it. (opening a writing center here).

*still no good lecture for the 2pm class. the one about feminist theory. I can handle things I know less about far better. how to squeeze in something that was one of my minor subjects for my whole MA and a main subject of my phd into 90 minutes, much more difficult. wanted to show a clip: didn't have a pen drive, took my laptop, could have either the powerpoint *or* the internet, not both simultaneously, opted for the internet first, get the clip up, no sound. oh, the dept provides speakers, not the classroom and you have to arrange for them in advance. the things we don't know to ask for.

*one single annotated bibliography turned in on time in that class. without any annotations. gave everyone who asked a one-day extension. we'll see what that yields today.

*home. figured out that this is a real sinus headache and simple otc medication will contribute immensely to me feeling more human.

*Matan has a cello lesson.

*I go to the much-anticipated PTA-sponsored meeting on raising teens in Dhaka. more on this later.

*I get home to find the door bolted and Matan doesn't answer. key won't help. try the doorbell and cell phone. no answer. pound a lot. neighbors offer help. I try leaving a message on facebook -- maybe he's in his room with the door closed, and air-conditioner on, and earphones? no, he's not online. try the intercom from their house. no answer. pound more. wake the 4th floor folks. pound more. door bell runs out of batteries. pound more. cell phone doesn't answer. pound more. now the third floor is involved. landlord and his father come up. they try waking Matan from the roof with a hose hitting his window. no response. the landlord suggests that Matan will wake up eventually and miss me. I think maybe he'll wake up hungry. so I slide a note under the door asking him to open the lock and call my cell phone. meanwhile I hang out at the neighbors. the landlord's dad doesn't give up. he's sending someone up the side of the building from the 4th floor. this person taps on the window and flashes a light in at Matan. Matan wakes up. they come running to get me because Matan is not opening the window to this stranger. he opens the door. sees many neighbors. whole thing took 1.5 hours...

*took awhile to fall asleep.

4 comments:

  1. I am never going to whine about my day again: you are experiencing an amazing amount of stress, my dear, and without enough peeps to bitch with. (Not that we actually bitched, but you know what I mean.)

    I've started to doing a lot of work *in class* that even five years ago I would have had students do as homework. It's an example of adapting to a crumbling educational system . . . but one must adapt.

    Take care, take care, take care: know we're thinking about you.

    Love,
    Julie

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  2. Interesting thought, that you have to have them do the work in class instead of as homework. Certainly these students to not have the same learning culture as the MN students. Can't imagine how an online class would achieve anything. Carol

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  3. Actually Julie is posting that as a MN colleague. Yes, we do have to work in class on so many things that could have been homework not so long ago.
    I worked with one student on Thursday and asked him if he had read ch 10, the one with all the examples and sample essays, and no, he simply hadn't thought that would be worth his time. No wonder his essay looked the way it did.

    Online -- I think that I can set it up so that people have to do x (maybe a quiz on a chapter) before they can go on to y (say turning in an essay). Often I won't accept an essay without an annotated bibliography just so I know they read more than the first three items that came up on Google...! Kris

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  4. Sounds like a sign is in order: DO NOT SET THIS BOLT UNTIL WE ARE BOTH INSIDE!

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