Thursday, January 17, 2008

Starting 2008

One of my 2008 Pezolutions is to do a little better maintaining this blog, especially since I lately tend to be busy for days at a time and don't keep up the family chatter too well.

So, here I am. **applause**

I thought I'd share my winter altar space, set up to look like a snowy tableau (right).

I'm teaching five days a week this term-- three classes:

1. At PSU, I'm teaching a freshman composition class. I really enjoy it: the students are like blank slates, and one has a good chance to influence them as writers and to help writing become effective and enjoyable for them. Which is cool, if you're a teacher sort. At 20 students, this is my smallest class.

2. At PSU, I also have an upper div composition class-- "writing as critical inquiry." This is a really fun class because the students are juniors, seniors, and grad or postbac students. They're bright and experienced and not afraid to jump into class discussions, and their writing is fun to read. Which is good, as I have 28 in the class and they're each writing 5 essays, each of which will be revised at least twice.

3. At CCC is a lower division class on argument and rhetoric. It's an interesting class that goes beyond simple composition and into the realm of formal structured arguments. We're focusing on the classic Aristolian model, the Toulmin argument, and the Rogerian method. I have 30 students in this class.

So, that's two jobs (i.e., teaching jobs at two colleges). My third job is working in the CCC writing Center for 3+ hours week, as a one-on-one writing tutor. It's fun, and I have a couple of "regulars" that I've been working with since fall term-- it's nice to be able to see them progress.

My fourth job is working for the Grey School, which pays me a modest-- but increasingly important-- monthly stipend.

And the fifth job consists of selling bits of writing here and there. I haven't sold anything for awhile now, but have a manuscript under consideration. Stay tuned!

It's been a wet, cold winter, and it's gone too fast for me, someone who enjoys winter. I expect I'll look up one morning and find that spring has come. Indeed, I have bulbs beginning to erupt around the yard. Kind of scary when you consider it was 25 here this morning.

That's the news for now....

1 comment:

Rebecca said...

Yay for blogging!