Andrushka

The last two days I feel as though I accomplished more than in the previous two weeks. I probably did. Monday night was the beginning of the new term at SeCC. I think it's going to be a good group. They are quite good at asking questions and that's always a good sign. My blind student, Hector, is really great. He has partial vision in one eye, so he can see light and dark and which way I point, just not details like writing or faces. I have two Bosnians who sit with a Russian between them which I think is a fun microcosm of politics. I also have two Iraqis, and for the first time, they are Arabic speakers (previously I've had an Iraqi who spoke Farsi and Sudanese who spoke Arabic but never an Arabic speaking-Iraqi). Also, I have one Congolese Francophone. Then there's the normal contingent of Spanish speakers and a higher number of them are there in the hopes of getting a degree eventually than in my previous classes. For the first time at SeCC, I won't have any East Asian students. Then today I started with my first classes at Union. Basically it was just getting to know each other and going over the syllabus today, trying to put the fear of the Lord and of Scott into their freshmen hearts. It's much easier to start off as a meany in an iron mask than as a softie in a clown suit then expect them to take you seriously. That's a bit of pedagogy I learned from Ms. Perry. Speaking of being derivitive, a lot of how I approach the class is definately Blakish (which I hope doesn't include how I approach returning papers). However, when I went outside myself and listened to myself today, I couldn't quite figure out whose voice I was hearing. Then I visitted with wacky Jacque Smith a bit after lunch. I think my in-class, Comp teacher voice owes a lot to PR-mode Jacque. It might also have something to do with Dr. Minter, one of the Composition professors at UNL who talks just like Jacque (but more like relaxed-mode Jacque). This isn't to say that anyone else would notice the similarities, but I definately felt it again in the second class. It's strange how we construct ourselves in new settings. I'd like to say there was intentionality to the identity I compose, but I think I just fall into patterns without conscious decisions being made. Having said that, I can think of few people better to be derivitive of than Jacque or Dr. Minter, but of course any construction of myself will be quite different from the original. I should ask Jacque whence PR-mode Jacque is derived. Anyway, the first class will be great, I think they will be very participative. The second class, and it may just be because it's right after lunch, is much more interested in talking to their neighbors than as a group, which might be a problem. We'll see how it is as the semester progresses. Ashley, who is an eternal goddess of Light and Goodness, is looking into relocating my classes someplace with a bit more technology. It was my understanding back in the day that Union was moving towards having multimedia projectors in every classroom. You can imagine my mild coronary when I got to class and there was an overhead projector but no computer system. I felt as though I'd walked into the 1950s. Of course, until more teachers at Union realize how wonderful teaching in the 21st century can be, I doubt things will change much. If I can't play my clip from Man to Man to illustrate conflicting epistemes, I can't be responsible for my language. In other news, Serhiy has an insane schedule. He has two evening classes and, combined with his work schedule, that means he'll only be home on Saturday evenings. That's fine, but when you factor in that he also has a 7:30 AM swimming class and that he can never go to sleep right away when he gets home, I don't know when he's going to sleep. More importantly, with alarms going off that early in the morning, I don't know when I'll sleep.

Posted by Scott on 10 January 2006 at 1/10/2006 09:48:00 PM | Permalink