Thursday, January 12, 2012

Faux Pas and Mind Tricks

Today - Class 5:00 - 6:50

After a 3-week hiatus, the spring semester has begun. It was nice to have time off, but now I'm finding myself having difficulty adjusting to a new schedule.
So far, classes are great--they always start out with a glimpse of promise, then towards the middle of the semester, students start getting lazy, start trying to take the easy way out, and start trying to take advantage. I'm just hoping this honeymoon phase lasts a few more weeks.
I've met with two classes this week, and I meet with my third class tomorrow. I actually have a pretty nice schedule for now:

Monday - Class: 11:30 - 12:50
Tuesday - Class: 5:00 - 6:50
Wednesday - Class: 11:30 - 12:50 / Server PM
Thursday - Class: 5:00 - 6:50
Friday - Class: NOON - 2:50 / Server PM
Saturday - Server / Server
Sunday - off

I could probably serve more for right now, so I've been picking up Sundays, but once the assignments start rolling in, I'm going to need the extra time.

I've made adjustments to the vocabulary assignment, so I feel good about that so far. Except students really think I'm out to make their life miserable. The new assignment involves me providing them with a list of vocabulary words that correspond with the current chapter (or chapters, if we're covering more than one at one time). At the close of the chapter, the lists are due in the form of a log that I have provided for them. My Writing class's first vocabulary log is due on Tuesday, but they are starting Chapter 2 as part of their homework over the weekend, so I provided them with the Chapter 2 vocabulary list. One student today says, "So, we have to do the log for Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 by Tuesday?" I should've said "yes," but that would just be mean. Another student completed his Chapter 1 log already because he thought it was due today, even though it was not listed as part of the homework for this week (because it's not due until next week). It's like they want to make it harder on themselves. Whatever.

So two days in a row I've made faux-pas in class. Yesterday, I may or may not have offended my students' religious beliefs; although I think I'm over it. Today's faux-pa, however, I just can't shake. I'm sure the student won't look it up, but I hate when I give a fact off the top of my head, then I realize later that that fact is incorrect. I'm supposed to be their teacher for crying out loud! Then, I have to remember that I am human, and to exhibit humility illustrates that fact. I am allowed to be wrong. It's okay. If he does look it up, I will probably just play some Jedi mind-trick on him to make him think that I knew I was wrong all along; I just wanted to see if he would be curious enough to test me on it.

Ahh, the joys of teaching.

Tomorrow - Class: NOON - 2:50 / Server (closing)

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