Not Really

I didn't really use the f-bomb. I just posed it to the class as a "what if." I don't think I have it in me to say that word in the classroom setting. My regard for my profession is way too high. I can think of other ways to shock students. One way is to ask them to raise their hands if they are listening. . . .

What Happened (read the post below first)

Nothing happened other than an orderly report to the new classroom. We settled in and then had a truly interesting conversation based on an article I read in The Oregonian earlier this month about people raising their middle fingers to police officers. The writer managed to report an incident and its background without ever revealing his own perspective. The discussion was a successful place to jump off to an effective start in a class based on the writing mode of argument and persuasion. Their responses to the idea that I could use the "f" word in class surprised me. What would you guess they said?

The Five Minute Blog

The second class of the new term will start in mere moments. The lesson is ready, the roster is prepared, and the scope of the term is in my head. But today is April 1. And I have to move the classroom to a different location. The department secretary prepared a nifty little sign that I will hand walk over to the building of the original classroom, announce the change and then post the sign on the door before we leave en masse for the new classroom site. Will this change be impacted by any sort of April Fool prank? How could it? Let me know if you come up with an idea for prankability with this unusual change. I always try to anticipate how students will react but am not always as successful as I could be.

I'll return to this blog later today and let you know what happens. Stay tuned and have a happy April 1 yourself this good day.

For Lee L. and other Knitters and Teachers

These past five days have been paper and knitting driven for me. A stack, a BIG stack of research papers has commanded my attention and must be finished by tomorrow. I deal with these grading challenges by separating the papers to be graded into piles of five or six and handling the reading load determined by the number of days I have before they are due back to the students.

It's always easier to grade papers that are well-presented so I experience a little thrill whenever these pop up in the pile. It's horrid and even painful when the papers are so bad that I can easily tell that they were thrown together at the last minute. It's even worse when I know I've worked hard to teach the research process at a level where it can be understandable for students. That's the part that bothers me the most. And that's why I try to turn up new teaching tricks every time this comes up in the curriculum. And I won't even say anything about the MLA changing the format for Works Cited entries.

At the same time that I'm grading these papers, I am also working to complete a knitting project that I'm not supposed to be working on. It's the one for the baby sweater that I bought the yarn and pattern for at our all girl beach retreat. Peg and Tracie took us to this yarn store I didn't even know existed after all the times I've stayed in Seaside. Of course I had to buy a project in spite of the fact that I have two projects underway and others waiting in my stash. But this project is tempering the pressure I feel to get the papers graded. "Five more papers and I can work on my knitting for a while" has become the mantra for this five day period. And my thinking constantly returns to the challenge of figuring out just exactly what the pattern means for the sleeve knitting portion of the project.

So paper reading and a new knitting project rule the current world for me. Hmm. . .but then there's Season Two of "Breaking Bad" to factor in.

Watching

Since I'm sort of retired, I have more time to watch TV, an activity I used to scorn. None of that couch sitting, time wasting stuff for me. After all, we don't want to turn into real live Fahrenheit 451 characters, do we? BUT. . .yesterday was an exaggerated exception. I managed to watch The Hurt Locker, The Academy Awards, a Trailblazer game and The Barbara Walters Special almost all at once. It only took one movie order, one program DVRed, and one channel switching process. Don't get me wrong; I'm not proud of this but I was visually entertained for several hours even if my rear end and lower back did get cranky.
I just came from tutoring a student who is finishing up a paper on the subject of greed in The Little Foxes and Uncle Vanya. My thinking skills seem to be in tact

News Flash!

Notice to all the owl lovers: As of today, I have relinquished the bulk of my Owl Grove information to the website at www.wirthwhilebooks.com. The site will become the public entity of owlgrovegirl while this blog will remain for the private enjoyment/amazement of myself and my little band of followers.

On the Web!

I am building a website! I don't have a clue about what I'm doing. Brian says he will help me this weekend and that will be good. In the meanwhile, have a look at www.wirthwhilebooks.com. It's starting to look like something. All suggestions and tips are welcome.