Happy New Year!

I’m spending this last day of ‘07 cleaning out my desk. I’ve recycled old teaching contracts, I’ve reorganized short stories, and I’ve filed away old grade reports. I’m planning on spending a little time this afternoon with the new texts for my classes and thinking about what I’m going to focus on when [...]

Checking In

Hi, Everyone!
I’m sorry I missed Grammar Wednesday yesterday; the combination of break, the holidays, and my family all being home has conspired to throw me off my game a little (but in a good way). I’ll pick it back up next week, I promise.
I’ve been thinking about my upcoming classes and about how I’m [...]

Rallying the Troops

My dear teacher-friends, we have a newbie in need! Grab your rulers and rubrics and your favorite texts and gather ’round!

Derek, over at EatsBugs, had a conversation not too long ago with his principal. It turns out that his principal sent the clear message that Derek needs to work on his classroom management [...]

Santa Hates Bad Grammar, Too

Since I’m running low on school-related material – we’re on inter-term break until the second week of January – I offer this as a Grammar Wednesday piece. A very dear friend sent me an email titled “If Santa Answered His Mail Honestly,” and this was the very first entry:

Dear Santa: I wud like [...]

Proof That I’m Not Just Kidding Myself

Yesterday, during our last class, I asked my literature students if they’d be so kind as to write me a letter giving me some feedback about their experiences in my classroom. I wanted a critique: what worked, what didn’t, what would they suggest I do differently for next term and what would they advise [...]

Done!

Another semester is in the books. I taught my last class of the term this afternoon then went home and submitted final grades to the registrar.
All in all, it went exceedingly well. Of my 13 composition students, only 2 failed. Neither of them failed because of any lack of comprehension or skill, [...]

Grammar Wednesday

I’m sorry, Everyone – I’m uninspired today.
A literature student sent me this email this morning:
 I heard this on the radio and thought of you.  The word of the year for 2007 is…..  this.  Go look at this, what has the world come too???
If you go to the site, you’ll see the top ten words of [...]

End of Term

Sorry, you guys: I keep meaning to post more often here, but I’ve been busy.
It’s the end of the term at TCC. My last class is Thursday, then we’re off until the second week in January, when I’ll teach a hybrid composition class and a traditional literature class. I’ve spent the last several [...]

Grammar Wednesday

GERUNDS!
I’m offering this lesson only because I’ve been noticing that my students (and a good number of other people I encounter in my day-to-day existence) don’t understand how to use them correctly.
A gerund is the -ing form of a verb that functions as a noun; that’s all it is:
Swimming is good exercise.
Wearing a trench coat [...]

Losing One

A student of mine from last semester came to visit me today.  We’ll call her Missy.
It was nice that she came by.  My composition kids are getting “work periods” as classes at the moment: lessons are pretty much over and I’m giving over the class time for their research projects and portfolios (for which I [...]