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September 02, 2005

teaching - week one

*phew*
That's how I felt yesterday when I left class. Glad to have navigated the week, feeling like I was either completely off or on autopilot or otherwise not really on top of my game at all. I think I did okay, and my students were engaged, so I think it went better than it currently feels like it went.

I'm teaching two different courses this term. MW afternoons I teach WRT 307, Professional Writing. This course is required for some of SU's programs, notably the School of Management. On the first day, all but one student acknowledged taking the class because it is required. That one student, unfortunately, got edged out of registering for my section. I was upset about that, but glad to learn that he had successfully enrolled in another section. I hope he likes it. Anyway, 20 students, juniors and seniors, some with real world work experience and some not. Some experienced in a wide range of workplace writing, some not. I think it will be a good mix. This week, we discussed the genres of workplace writing, assigned the Genre Presentation Project and scheduled presentations. In addition, they have written a short essay on what they expect the difference between academic and workplace writing to be. For next week, they have to write a letter of application to my class and accompany it with a resume. So I think we're off to a good start there.

My other class is a WRT 105, meeting TTH at 8 a.m. It's a weird sensation to finish a class at 5:00 in the afternoon one day and be back but in a different class at 8 am the next. The week felt a little off getting used to that rhythm. Since the TTH class meets before the program office opens, I have to be prepared before going into my MW class with all the stuff I need TTH. It requires a bit of planning and forethought.

I'm following the shared syllabus for the course, even though I'm not required to, because I believe the assignments are well-written, deliverable, and serve the tasks of academic writing well. The first unit keys off of the university wide summer reading selection Life on the Color Line by Gregory Howard Williams. The campus has really taken this reading up, to the point of potential overkill for some students. This week, my students read an essay by Manning Marable, which is the introduction to his book The Great Wells of Democracy. I became acquainted with this book in an earlier graduate course I took and found it provocative and compelling. I was very pleased with the work the students did with that essay. Their journal entries and discussion around the two texts this week indicated we will have good, productive, sometimes contentious class discussions around the issues of race in this country. I'm also working to keep their focus on the writing, on why and how certain kinds of writing have more authority than others, how the claims in the texts are being presented and supported - the kinds of things they will need to know how to do in their academic writing here and beyond. So far, I feel very good about the assignments and the results.

I didn't have any classroom or equipment problems. I feel good about that, given what Tyra had going on, and some of what I heard other folks talking about during the week. I did have a rather painful start to the week when I stepped out of Crouse Hinds hall on Monday afternoon without realizing it is a step down. I wrenched my foot pretty good, and after continuing to walk on it all day and into the evening, got home feeling like it was broken. So I was a little foggy Monday afternoon in class, and a little bit still on Tuesday morning. I think it's all good now.

This weekend I hope to get on top of what's to come so I don't feel so scattered. I'd like to return to the classroom on Tuesday morning with a good sense of both schedule and calendar (that is, the work my students will be doing in the weeks ahead and the way my time will flow as I move through those weeks). Every semester is a new rhythm; this one just feel more fragmented than most.

Posted by cageyer at September 2, 2005 12:10 PM

Comments

Posted by: Marcia at September 2, 2005 03:28 PM