There’s One Every Term

A post in which there is much and copious swearing. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
I have a grammar class this term. That, in itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing and, in this particular case, is actually pretty darned good. I’ve got a good group of students who regularly show up and at [...]

Grammar Wednesday

Adverb Placement Edition!
California Teacher Guy has another grammar question (thanks, CTG – I LOVE GW suggestions!!); though, because my computer has mysteriously eaten the email he sent containing the request – again – I can’t quote the query for you.   Grrr.  Paraphrasing, then, CTG wants to know whether it matters where one puts the [...]

The Sub

No, not THAT kind of sub (though… yum!)
I was a substitute teacher for Organic Mama’s composition class on Monday.
The class is tiny – only five students – and it was really a pleasure to work with that small a group. It felt a lot more like my favorite seminars in grad school than my [...]

A Dark and Stormy Book Club

It is with great excitement that I invite you to participate in a new book club!

Hosted by Bo, Saintseester and myself, A Dark and Stormy Book Club is meant to provide the community of traditional book clubs, but without the hassle of trying to find meeting times convenient to everyone (and, of course, allowing for [...]

I Love My Job

I really enjoyed teaching on Thursday.
I spent most of both of my public speaking classes moderating conversations about free speech, Don Imus, and ethics. I’m trying to get the students used to the idea of actually talking to each other instead of directing their comments (usually phrased as questions, a la Taylor Mali’s pet [...]

Taking Issue

I feel a little like I’m poking the beehive with this one – we’ve not had a good linguistic scuffle around here in a while – but I just can’t let it pass.
My grammar students have been asked to purchase this book. It runs for about 83 bucks on Amazon; I suspect that it’s [...]

Grammar Wednesday

The “woulda, coulda, shoulda” edition.
CaliforniaTeacherGuy sent me an email on Sunday asking me to “deal with this, oh, please, on Grammar Wednesday!” (that was actually the title of his email). He said:
“I would of had to purchase it anyways.”
This quote come from an educator’s blog. (I will not say which one.) Two egregious errors [...]

Civics, Ethics, and Imus

I LOVE this part of my public speaking classes.
This is right about the time – round about class three or four – when we start talking about ethics in public speaking (I should note here that, when we’re talking about ‘public speaking’ in this context, we’re actually talking about communication in general – the actual [...]

You’re Not Going to BELIEVE This…

Did I call it, or WHAT?
Last week, I left my speech students with an assignment to watch a speech on YouTube and respond to it. Since I have a bit of crossover in the classes, I asked them to watch different speeches – my early class got Bono’s acceptance of the Chairman’s Award from [...]

Lesson Plans

I’m going to be teaching an extra class next week.  One of the adjuncts that Joe hired to work this term has just discovered that he is gravely ill and, as a result, has had to abruptly quit.  Joe asked me to teach this man’s class on Monday while the adjunct who’s going to take [...]